A movie that lives true to the words “psychological thriller”. The Gift written and directed by Joel Edgerton will keep you interested throughout.
IMDB: 7.1/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 93%
Running Time: 108 minutes
Plot: 9/10
Although the plot starts like most other movie a good looking, loving couple buying new house in a new place and then they meet a guy who’s more than friendly, which changes their life. But don’t be fooled by the starting coz it won’t proceed like any other movie you would’ve seen and the way the story turns out in the end will just blow your mind. The direction is amazing as the debutant director keeps you guessing not only what’s about to happen next but also about the main characters of the movie and who they really are. I want to say so much more but I’m scared I’ll end up giving out spoilers.
Acting: 8/10
Rebecca Hall, Joel Edgerton, Jason Bateman are all top notch in the movie making it very difficult to judge who did the best job. Whatever it is that the story demands the three will have you convinced that’s who they are and just when you feel sure about them, they’ll re-convince you.
Best Lines
Simon: Back then, everybody had a name, I was Simple Simon.
Sibling rivalry couldn’t probably get worse than this. As a kid Baby Jane is a vaudeville star who doesn’t care about her sister Blanche, as she grows young and takes onto the acting profession she is overshadowed by Blanche as an actress, Blanche then meets with an accident binding her to a wheel chair and Jane has to now attend to her bringing her food and helping her survive. She starts loathing Blanche even more given the situation and dreams of returning back to fame.
Plot – 8/10
The plot starts in 1917 when Baby Jane is a star and Blanche is ignored, it quickly moves onto 1935 when they are both actors and then a quick jump again to 1962 where the rest of the movie takes place. Blanche played by Joan Crawford is loving, forgiving, caring and wheelchair bound and Jane played by Bette Davis is wicked, mean, rude but can move around (Hey! That rhymed) The movie has a few other characters but it’s mostly about the Jane and Blanche and how Jane goes from bad to worse to the worst, her transformation from being a pain to being insane (A rhyme again! Man, I’m on a roll today!) Is pictured amazingly and so is Blanche’s progression from the paralysed but gleeful woman to the starved, tortured victim. The movie doesn’t get slow and new turns are introduced whenever it starts to get a bit monotonous. Just when you think “Oh! So this is how it will end” you will be corrected.
Acting – 9/10
The supporting actors do a fine job of playing the friendly neighbour, the concerned maid and the needful pianist. Joan Crawford evokes sympathy and portrays love, fear, strength and weakness all equally well but the star of the movie is definitely Betty Davis, I’m thinking that no one else could’ve played the part better even if the movie was made today. You will hate her, fear her and even sympathize when she wants you to. Brilliant!
Over all, this movie is a must watch right from the beginning to the end.
If watching a decent movie is what your tarot card reader predicated for you, you may just end up watch The Gift. With a lot of known faces Cate Blanchett, Keanu Reaves, Katie Holmes, Hilary Swant and a few familiar ones like Giovanni Ribisi, Greg Kinnear, J K Simmons it will bind you to itself from the start and the end will surprise you.
IMDB: 6.7/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 57%
Running Time: 111 minutes
Plot: 6/10
So, Annie Wilson played by Cate Blanchett is a tarot card reader, a single mother of three and the one with “The Gift” who helps the police solve this one case of a missing girl which disturbs her life. The plot is decent to keep you hooked to it throughout but in the end you’ll probably be just like “Oh that was it?” but wait, there’ll be little more to watch.
Acting: 8/10
The performances are awesome Cate Blanchett nails it as the strong but scared soothsayer. Keanu Reeves plays a wife beater, child threatener (if that’s even a word) but does he play a murderer? Whatever he does play though, he plays it well, although it was a bit hard for me to believe that “The One” to save mankind from the machines taking over used to be a bad guy once, he was pretty convincing.
Overall, it’s a decent movie, not the best one you’ll watch but what the plot lacks is filled in by some great performances and perfect casting!!!
You must’ve seen horror movies set in an abandoned house, hospital,
asylum or a jungle, the thing that sets this film apart is that this one is set in
an almost out of service police station. The police station has been shifted to
a new location, all calls have been routed there and all Officer Jessica Loren
needs to do during her first shift and first day at the job is just wait for a
hazmat truck to pick up the evidence and keep an eye on the police station,
although her first shift is the “Last Shift” and she ends up doing much more
than she signed up for.
It’s mostly a one woman show. Juliana Harkavy as Jessica
Loren does her part really well and keeps you interested as she fights the
supernatural. There are other characters too in the movie, but it’s mostly her vs.
the environment.
Direction –
6/10
Director Anthony DiBlasi doesn’t offer anything new to watch
here. You can expect the girl “suddenly” appear below the desk at least 15
seconds before that happens. The make up and the look of the haunters though is
really well done and is hard to look at for too long.
To wrap it up, watch this movie for the ending which you
probably won’t see coming and for Juliana Harkavy who does a really good job as
the frightened but determined rookie police officer.
This one is not based on a true story but it easily could
have been. We have an honest cop and a strong willed woman going against the
system to solve a murder that happened in Northern Ireland.
IMDB: 7/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 83%
Running Time: 108 Minutes
Rating
Plot – 7/10
The plot is great, who doesn’t like murder mysteries after
all. The story begins soon enough not much time is spent on characters back story,
the characters develop as the story progresses and you will end up connecting with
the characters soon enough, especially Brian Cox’s character. It does loose a
little bit of grip later on though. As the story builds up and the plot keeps
thickening, it keeps the movie watchers extremely interested and it never gets
boring but in the end it kind of disappoints but the disappointment is what
keeps the movie close to reality.
Acting:
9/10
Brian Cox: It was so unusual to see Brian Cox as a good guy
as we are so used to seeing him as the villain like William Stryker in X2 or Agamemmon
in Troy but your prejudice won’t last as you see him playing the part of “The
cop who can’t be bought” extremely convincingly.
Frances McDormand: Be in Fargo, Almost Famous or Burn after
Reading, leave it to her to play the part and she will do it flawlessly
(especially Fargo, didn’t you just love her in the movie) and she doesn’t disappoint
here either, you will feel sorry for her as she mourns and you’ll be with her
as tries to uncover the truth behind her boyfriends murder. Fabulous!
Direction - 7/10
Ken Loach is known for his socially critical directing style
and for his socialist ideals, which are evident in his film treatment of social
issues such as poverty, homelessness (Cathy Come Home, 1966) and labour rights
(Riff-Raff, 1991, and The Navigators, 2001).
*source Wikipedia
In “Hidden Agenda” his magic doesn’t work just as much as the
interest in the movie gradually dissipates but he really can’t be blamed for it
as the story is that way.
Best Lines
Sir Robert Neil: You know Ireland can be a wonderful place...
if it wasn't for the Irish!
Ingrid Jessner: Mr. Kerrigan, how far you'll be willing to go
with this?
Kerrigan: If... and it's still a big if, if Harris is in
anyway connect with the shooting I don't care whose toes I tread on, he becomes
part of the investigation. No more, no less. Okay?
In
European folklore a creature— a "Changeling" was left by the fairies
in place of a human child. A film that explores child cruelty, indifference
that existed among men and women in the 1920s, the politics, the corruption,
the ill treatment of mental patients and serial killings. All of this has been
put together perfectly in 141 minutes.
Among all these, a mother has to find
her son and do what no one else dared to do.
Directed
by the celebrated CLINT EASTWOOD, the gripping story will get you to the edge
of your seat. It may seem unrealistic and too good to be true but trust me, if
it was anything less than perfect, it wouldn’t have been on our must watch
list.
ORIGIN
This
is a true story of a kidnap and murder case of “Wineville Chicken Coop” of the
1928 in Los Angeles, CA. The movie script was written by J MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
after spending years researching the story and going through thousands of pages
of Los Angeles city documentation related to this case.
IMDB:
7.8
Rotten
Tomatoes: 62%
Run
Time: 141 MIN
RATING
PLOT
TWIST: _ / 10
Well
there are quite a lot of surprises but the plot itself does not have a twist.
It does have its moments but again keep in mind the plot is a real life tragedy
which is why it will keep u completely hooked and at the edge of your seats,
such is the suspense.
ACTING: 9 / 10
Although
every actor justifies the role of the character and leaves no room for flaws,
my personal favorites are:
ANGELINE JOLIE: While she might have
acted in many great movies, nothing can be as good as this one, in the movie,
when she is struggling to find her son or fighting against the corrupt police
department, you can sense her desperation. This makes the movie even more
intense and every time Jolie appears on the screen you will find yourself
looking for the same answers as hers.
JASON BUTLER HARNER: While the movie
searches for a clue of what might have happened, the person responsible for the
character has to work a lot as every eye on the screen is searching for him (MR
HARNER). He has rendered full justice to the role and will keep you guessing on
what could happen, until the very end.
DIRECTION: 9/10
This
is my second review of a CLINT EASTWOOD movie and I will say the same ‘WELL,
IT’S CLINT EASTWOOD”, but what is more interesting is the amount of effort that
was put into the development of script by MR. STRACZYNSKI.
It
all began with him preventing officials of LOS ANGELES CITY HALL from burning
numerous archived documents which also included transcript of COLLINS CASE
HEARING. He spent roughly 20 years in development of the script going through
archived criminal, county courthouse, city hall and city morgue records which
added up to roughly 6000 pages. It was given to RON HOWARD and then when he
stepped down, CLINT EASTWOOD immediately agreed to direct the movie.
Universal Legal Department found the script so moving to that they refused to believe it to
be true. Hence, Mr. STRACZYNSKI provided photocopies of news clipping from
every 15-20 pages in the script. All this was done to make sure people knew it
was a TRUE STORY and not BASED ON one.
LOCATION: 6/10
The
movie takes you back to the year 1920. Most of the film was shot in LOS
ANGELES including areas like SAN DIMAS, SAN BERNARDINO & PASADENA.
BEST
LINE
Mrs. Collins, I have made it my mission in life to bring to
light all the things the LAPD wish none of us ever knew about. A department
ruled by violence, abuse, murder, corruption and intimidation. When Chief Davis
took over the force two years ago, he said...
We will hold court against gunmen in the streets of Los
Angeles. I want them brought in dead, not alive, and I will reprimand any
officer who shows the least mercy to a criminal.
He picked 50 of the most violent cops on the force, gave
them machine guns and permission to shoot anyone who got in their way. He
called them the Gun Squad. No lawyers, no trials, no questions, no suspensions,
no investigations. Just piles of bodies. Bodies in the morgues, bodies in the
hospitals, bodies by the side of the road. And not because the LAPD wanted to
wipe out crime. No. The LAPD wanted to wipe out the competition. Mayor Cryer
and half the force are on the take. Gambling, prostitution, bootlegging, you
name it. Because once you give people the freedom to do whatever they want, as
the Lord found in the Garden of Eden, they will do exactly that. This police
department does not tolerate dissent, or contradiction, or even embarrassment.
And you are in a position to embarrass them and they do not like it. They will
do anything in their power to discredit you. I've seen that happen too many
times to start going blind now. That's why I wanted to meet you, to let you
know what you're getting yourself into and to help you fight it, if you choose
to.
