100 Movie Challenge 2014 - # 26: Side Effects

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Genre: Drama/ Thriller/ Crime
Runtime: 106 minutes
Year: 2013
Starring: Rooney Mara, Jude Law, Channing Tatum, Catherine Zeta-Jones

Description: Emily Taylor (Rooney Mara) becomes severely depressed with emotional episodes and suicide attempts. Her psychiatrist, Jonathan Banks (Jude Law), after conferring with her previous doctor, eventually prescribes an experimental new medication called Ablixa. This medicine has some strange side effects, which will change Emily’s life.

Review: Soderbergh has a great variety of genres and themes. “Side Effects” is a psychological thriller full of complots, deceit and twists.
The movie starts as a drama, when 28-year old Emily welcomes home husband Martin after him being in prison for four years. When things should get better, Emily’s depression gets worse and she even tries to commit suicide. She comes in contact with Dr. Jonathan Banks, who prescribes her Ablixa, a medicine that isn’t on the market yet. Emily starts to experience some side effects, which lead to her doing something that can never be undone. From there on the movie takes a different turn and it leaves the viewers gasping for air.
Like I said in the beginning, “Side Effects” starts as a drama but makes a switch to a psychological thriller halfway through. The unexpected plot twists are what make this film exciting and unpredictable. You can not see it coming. Although some of the storylines are a bit absurd and especially towards the end it feels a bit improbable, it doesn’t take the tension and surprise element away.
Soderbergh decided to stop making films, but this is a good movie to end off a series of movies he made in the last 24 years. He gave the audience a worthy goodbye, because “Side Effect” is a movie that surprises and shocks you. It’s definitely more than meets the eye.

Rating: 3,5/ 5

Movie Trailer Sunday (58)

This weeks trailers are about out-of-body experience, minions, a cottage, side effects to some kind of drug and aliëns trying to escape planet earth.

John Who Dies at the End
Description: Soy Sauce is a drug that promises an out-of-body experience with each hit. Users drift across time and dimensions. But some who come back are no longer human. Suddenly a silent otherworldly invasion is underway, and mankind needs a hero. What it gets instead is John (Rob Mayes) and David (Chase Williamson), a pair of college dropouts who can barely hold down jobs. Can these two stop the oncoming horror in time to save humanity? No. No, they can't.
Director: Don Coscarelli
Starring: Chase Williamson, Rob Mayes, Clancy Brown, Glynn Turman, Paul Giamatti
Trailer: Trailer "John Who Dies at the End"
Comment: Weird but funny.

Despicable Me 2
Description: Gru (Steve Carell), the girls, the unpredictably hilarious minions ... and a host of new and outrageously funny characters return in the sequel to the animated hit.
Director: Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin
Starring: Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Miranda Cosgrove, Russell Brand, Al Pacino, Steve Coogan, Ken Jeong
Trailer: Trailer "Despicable Me 2"
Comment: I really liked the first one, especially the little yellow men who looked like tic tacs.

Cottage Country
Description: Todd (Tyler Labine) wants everything to be just perfect at the family cottage where he plans to propose to Cammie (Malin Akerman). But things go awry with the arrival of Todd's slacker brother Salinger (Daniel Petronijevic) and his free-spirited girlfriend Masha (Lucy Punch). When Todd accidentally dispatches his irksome sibling with an axe, Cammie is determined not to let murder stand in the way of their happiness.
Director: Peter Wellington
Starring: Tyler Labine, Malin Akerman, Daniel Petronijevic, Lucy Punch
Trailer: Trailer "Cottage Country"

Side Effects
Description: A troubled woman (Rooney Mara) who is coping with the imminent release of her husband (Channing Tatum) from jail begins to take a new prescription drug with unforeseen consequences.
Director: Steve Soderbergh
Starring: Jude Law, Rooney Mara, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Channing Tatum
Trailer: Trailer "Side Effects"

Escape From Planet Earth
Description: On planet Baab lives admired astronaut Scorch Supernova (Brendan Fraser). He is a national hero to the blue alien population. A master of daring rescues, Scorch pulls off astonishing feats with the quiet aid of his nerdy, by-the-rules brother, Gary (Rob Corddry), head of mission control at BASA. When BASA's no-nonsense chief Lena (Jessica Alba) informs the brothers of an SOS from a notoriously dangerous planet, Scorch rejects Gary's warnings and bounds off for yet another exciting mission. But when Scorch finds himself caught in a fiendish trap set by the evil Shanker (James Gandolfini), it's up to scrawny, risk-adverse Gary to do the real rescuing. As the interplanetary stakes rise to new heights, Gary is left to save his brother, his planet, his beloved wife Kira (Sarah Jessica Parker) and their adventure hungry son Kip!
Director: Cal Brunker
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Rob Corddry, Jessica Alba, James Gandolfini, Sarah Jessica Parker
Trailer: Trailer "Escape From Planet Earth"
Comment: