TV Show Review - The Sinner (Season 1)

Season: 1
Genre: Thriller/ Drama/ Crime
Number of episodes: 8
Year: 2017
Starring: Jessica Biel, Bill Pullman, Christopher Abbott, Dohn Norwood

Description: While are the beach with her husband and son, Cora Tannetti (Jessica Biel), for reasons unknown, stabs a beachgoer to death, sparking a police investigation.

Review: Sometimes man’s psyche is underestimated. In a number of unstable people, one wrong moment or wrong event can turn into drama. Unfortunately, this is often pointed out to us often enough. However, it turns out more often that such a person had already had something more on his mind and had done something terrible before. The things that get under your skin the most are often only the people who didn’t even have a criminal record for their attempt at destruction. These cases grab you extra hard, because you are so curious what drove those people to their deed. “The Sinner” tells exactly such a story.
The story follows Cora Tannetti. A happily married woman and mother of son Laine. Her life doesn’t feel perfect, but it does it for her. A day at the beach with the family only turns out to be a complete reversal. This seemingly normal mother stabs a young man to death in broad daylight, in the presence of many beach visitors. Of course, Cora is arrested by the police and the case seems to be closed. Nevertheless, detective Harry Ambrose want to know more about Cora’s motive. As it turns out, this doesn’t seem to be there at all. Cora did not know the man. She doesn’t know why she did what she did. This obvious murder case turns out to be much more complex than initially thought. The killer is known, but what’s the motive?
“The Sinner” triggered me when I saw the trailer, as this felt like a crime series with a completely different twist. As a viewer, you witness the murder. So it’s not a whodunit, where they are looking for the killer. It’s more of a search for why it happened. And the first episode really sets the tone for the series. The murder is depicted very graphically and if you’re not used to blood and violence on TV, it will hit you extra hard.
Jessica Biel deserves a lot of credit for her role as Cora. It’s not an easy role to play and she really brings the character to life.
After this shocking first episode, which was very strong, it could only go downhill. I was afraid they couldn’t keep that same high level of intensity. And although you think you get the answers to why Cora did what she did pretty early on in the series, nothing is exactly what it seems. A lot of plot twists and character shifts occur along the way. The eventual climax isn’t very surprising, I had a prediction earlier on in the series. But the way they handled the story and they worked towards that end, was creative enough to keep me interested.
“The Sinner” is a good crime thriller, which I watched in one sitting. I was invested the entire time, even though the eventual climax wasn’t the biggest surprise of the series.

100 Movie Challenge 2014 - # 146: Total Recall

Director: Len Wiseman

Genre: Actie/ Science Fiction/ Thriller

Runtime: 118 minutes

Year: 2012

Starring: Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Bryan Cranston, Bill Nighy, John Cho

Description: A factory worker, Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell), begins to suspect that he is a spy after visiting Rekall - a company that provides its clients with implanted fake memories of a life they would like to have led - goes wrong and he finds himself on the run.

Review: Remakes of big movies are really popular these days. You take a big film from the last twenty to twenty five years, modernize it a bit, throw in some famous actors and a success is guaranteed. Right? There are movies that where ready for a remake, like “Cape Fear” by Martin Scorsese or “Ocean’s 11” by Steven Soderbergh. And the Hitchcock classic “Psycho” was a film that didn’t really need that at all. Len Wiseman’s “Total Recall” falls right in the middle.

It’s 2084 and due to a chemical war the biggest part of the world is uninhabitable. Two big areas fight for the power on earth. Factory worker Douglas Quaid lives in The Colony with his wife Lori. He has a recurring dream where he and a woman are being chased. Quaid wants more from his life and he decides to visit the company Rekall. They implant memories. Quaid chooses a memory as a secret agent, but before they can implant it something goes wrong and he turns out to be a wanted man. When Quaid is chased by the police he finds out that nothing is what it seems.

With a remake it’s hard not to compare. “Total Recall” from 1990 was Paul Verhoeven’s break. The biggest difference between the two movies is that in the original the planet Mars is a big part of the film. In the new one, the movie is set on planet earth. Verhoeven’s version had some self-mockery, but Wiseman is going for a more serious approach and gives it a political touch. And the look of the film reminds you a bit of “Blade Runner” as well. Originality is hard to find here. It does look very good, the visuals and action sequences are amazing. But it’s hard to take in the environment because it all goes in warp speed.

Colin Farrell is off course a better actor then Arnold Schwarzengger and he’s a believable action hero. My biggest problem with the film is that you never really know if the events really happened or were all in Quaid’s head.

“Total Recall” is an entertaining action/ sci-fi film that takes itself a bit too seriously. Visually it’s stunning and Colin Farrell is doing a solid job as Quaid. But the movie never convinces you the way the original did.

Rating: 3/ 5