Rated: Rated R for strong bloody brutal violence and torture, a scene of rape, and pervasive language.

Genre: Drama, Thriller

Release Date: 16 October 2009

Runtime: 109 min

Director: F. Gary Gray

Cast: Jamie Foxx, Gerard Butler, Colm Meaney, Bruce McGill, Leslie Bibb, Michael Irby, Gregory Itzin, Regina Hall, Annie Corley, Reno Laquintano, Josh Stewart

Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler) is a genius planner and inventor. One night two robbers, Ames (Josh Stewart) Dixon (Reno Laquintano) and  invade his home in Philadelphia and gruesomely kill his wife and daughter, leaving him to die on the floor. The killers are caught, and Assistant DA Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) is assigned the case. Nick is ordered by the DA to make a deal with Dixon to testify against his partner Ames for a 10 year plea bargain prison sentence. Clyde does not want Nick to make the deal, but Nick says it was too late and the deal is done, the other option may have resulted in both men walking away. Ames was given the death penalty. After 10 years, the Dixon is released from prison, and he soon ends up dead. Clyde is arrested under suspicion and subtly admits to Nick that he did it, although not really confessing. Clyde is put in jail, and he warns Nick that he must fix the broken justice system that failed him and his family or else anyone connected to his case will soon die. Even from jail, Clyde’s threats become a reality, and Nick must stop Clyde before his family is next.

The best part of this film is watching Clyde’s plans unfold. The anticipation builds up in you until something goes BOOM on the screen. This is one of those films where you cannot help but root for the “evil” side. I enjoyed every killing on screen, and yes this may mean I am sadistic but you ought to watch the movie and see for yourself if your support switches from Clyde’s side to Rice’s. Overall the message of ‘Justice needs a lesson’ is a little extreme and the way that they are taught a lesson is a little silly, however some of the points brought up did stir up a little something in me. The fact that the justice system is not really as blind as they claim to be, and that sometimes (often times) they slip up. Fair enough. No system works at 100% efficiency.

carole Drama, Thriller

Rated: PG-13

Genre: Thriller

Release Date: April 24, 2009

Run time: 1 hr 49 min

Director: Steve Shill

Cast: Beyonce Knowles, Idris Elba, Ali Larter

I wasn’t expecting Obsessed to be a fantastic movie when I found out that Beyonce was in it, but I was not expecting it to be this terrible. Terrible might be an understatement actually. I was so bored with this movie; I don’t know how I even finished it. Maybe I was hoping it would get better.

Sharon (Beyonce) is the wife of V.P. Executive Derek (Idris Elba), once a temp who worked for him now the mother of his child. They have the perfect life and are happily in love. Along comes Lisa (Ali Larter) a gorgeous blond temp replacing Derek’s sick assistant Patrick. She immediately is drawn to Derek and the games begin. Certain incidents happen, in the bathroom at their Christmas party, then again in the parking garage. When Derek rejects her advances she becomes obsessed (as if you hadn’t figured that out yet) with him and starts stalking him. She is completely delusional, as she follows him to a business retreat and tries to kill herself in his hotel room.

Sharon gets upset (let’s make that hysterical) while the detective tries to talk to Derek about the incident in the hotel room, continuously interrupting the detective and giving such attitude without even hearing her own husbands point of view. She really annoyed me at this part, and then it only got worse. The confrontation between Lisa and Sharon is just ridiculous. I don’t even know what else to say about this movie, but it left me wishing I hadn’t watched it.

Jenn Thriller

Rated: R

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama

Release date: February 13, 2009

Run time: 1 hr 58 mins

Director: Tom Tykwer

Cast: Clive Owen, Naomi Watts, Ulrich Thomsen

Interpol agent Louis Salinger (Clive Owen) partners up with Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Eleanor Whitman (Naomi Watts) in an attempt to expose a high-profile financial institute’s role in an international arms dealing ring.

With a plot such as this, you would expect the movie to be exciting and fast paced. The movie starts off quite slow, beginning with details of who exactly is the IBBC (the International Bank of Business and Credit) and what they can do. Salinger had been tracking the IBBC for years, turning it into a game for him, determined to bring them down.

The action in The International was very slow until the middle of the movie where the exhilarating shootout takes place in Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan. The movies ending left us wondering what Salingers determination and drive to take down the IBBC was even for, was it for the better of the world or was it a personal vendetta, an obsession.

Nothing is really ever answered. I heard from many sources that the movie left them feeling bored and wondering what happened. For those who haven’t seen the movie yet, you must stay focussed to follow along and understand the ending. This is the kind of movie where if you take a bathroom break, you’re left very confused. Hopefully you will be sitting with someone who can explain what just happened or if you’re in the comfort of your own home, press rewind (for all you VHS oldies) or back on your DVD remote. Overall it’s not a terrible movie, but if you’re looking for a fast paced non stop action movie, I would look elsewhere. If you like Clive Owen you will certainly like the movie.

Jenn Action, Adventure, Drama, Thriller

Rated: R

Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller

Release Date: 28 February 1997

Runtime: 127 min | 147 min (extended cut)

Director: Mike Newell

Cast: Al Pacino, Johnny Depp, Michael Madsen, Bruno Kirby, James Russo, Anne Heche, Robert Miano, Zach Grenier, Zeljko Ivanek, Jack Rann, Andrew Parks, Brian Tarantina, Rocco Sisto

Donnie Brasco is an Academy Award–nominated 1997 film by Mike Newell, starring Al Pacino, Michael Madsen and Johnny Depp. It is loosely based on the real-life events of Joseph D. Pistone, a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent who successfully infiltrated the Bonanno crime family, one of the Mafia’s Five Families based in New York City during the 1970s, under the alias “Donnie Brasco”. Depp met with Pistone several times while preparing for his role.

Posing as jewel broker Donnie Brasco, FBI agent Joseph D. Pistone (Johnny Depp) is granted entrance into the violent mob family of aging hit man Lefty Ruggiero (Al Pacino). When his personal and professional lives collide, Pistone jeopardizes his marriage, his job, life and, ultimately, the gangster mentor he has come to respect and admire.

The real life Joseph D. Pistone praises the film, saying that it is very accurate in its depiction of the historical people portrayed in the film. Pistone says that Depp moved and spoke like him, as well as using similar facial expressions to his. Joseph D. Pistone did say that Al Pacino’s Lefty Ruggiero was a bit downplayed from the real life Lefty but still great. Pistone also praised the performances of Michael Madsen as being “right on the money” and said that Bruno Kirby’s portrayal of Nicholas Santora was accurate as well.

As a regular movie watcher I found the movie to have great appeal. It was so easy to fall into the mob world and to totally get drawn into the storyline. I have personally seen this movie over 10times and I love it every time. Depp gives an ingenious performance as a complicated man with deeply divided loyalties. When he tells his wife, “This job is eating me alive. I can’t breathe anymore,” we can feel the defeated anger in Joe/Donnie. Truly this film never ceases to entertain, a modern mob classic, in my opinion, that I feel needs to be seen at least once.

carole Crime, Drama, Thriller

Rated: R

Genre: Drama, Thriller, Crime

Release Date: 16 July 2004

Runtime: 101 min

Director: Joshua Marston

Cast: Catalina Sandino Moreno, Virgina Ariza, Yenny Paola Vega

María Álvarez, a 17-year-old Colombian girl (Catalina Sandino Moreno), works in sweat shop-like conditions at a flower plantation to help support her family. However, after finding herself pregnant by a boyfriend whom she does not love, forced to bring in the money for her unemployed sister (a single mother) and being unjustly treated by her boss, she quits and decides to find another job, despite her family’s vehement disapproval. On her way to Bogotá to find a new job, she is offered a position as a mule — one who smuggles drugs by swallowing drug-filled pellets. Desperate, she accepts the risky offer, swallows 62 wrapped pellets of cocaine and flies to New York City. After a close call at the US Customs (she was about to be X-rayed, until customs found out she was pregnant), she is set free and sent to a hotel where she is to remove the pellets from her body. The traffickers arrive to take the drugs. To retrieve the pellets from Lucy, a fellow mule who died when one of them ruptured inside of her, the traffickers cut open her stomach, then disposed of her body. After seeing this ruthless world firsthand, Maria decides to escape the drug-trafficking cartel.

An amazing movie even for those of us who have to read the English subtitles. This movie was really deserving of the praise and awards that it had received. Although disturbing, it is impossible to sit through Maria Full of Grace and not be affected by the circumstances of the characters. Moreno, with her wide, watchful eyes, owns the film. Her performance is perfectly natural and profoundly moving. Maria Full of Grace is a remarkable picture, full of suspense and discovery. I highly recommend that this be a movie that you add to your “must see” list.

carole Crime, Drama, Thriller

A couple of posts ago we added the summary of the movie Orphan. It read as a very interesting movie and gave me the slightest hope that there was a horror movie out that would finally get me to jump in my seat. The cherry on top of this guarantee is that I personally find thriller/horror films that include children, such as The Shinning, to be creepy enough as it is. So is Orphan the children filled horror flick that will fulfill my long time craving for mini theater heart attacks?

To get straight to the point, it was not. I felt let down once again last night, that’s not saying the movie was not done well. The best technique I felt that the director (Jaume Collet-Serra) used was the fake build up. It usually goes without saying that when someone on screen is in the bathroom with the mirror open, once they go to close it, someone shows up in the reflection unexpectedly. This type of psyching out the audience I felt was great technique because I noticed people around jump even though there was no reason to, Jaume even used the music build up that lead to nothing.

It is very natural for movie goers to become their own Sherlock Holmes at the theater and attempt to come up with the final conclusion of what is happening on screen, and I have to give credit to the writers, the final “ohhh” moment was something that I did not come up with as an explanation for the orphans behavior. All in all I would suggest you do go see the movie, especially if you scare easily.

carole Fantasy, Horror, Thriller

Rated: R

Genre: Drama, Horror, Thriller

Release Date: 30 May 2008

Runtime: 86mins

Director: Bryan Bertino

Cast: Liv Tyler, Scott Speedman, Gemma Ward, Laura Margolis, Kip Weeks, Glenn Howerton

I really do not know what to say about this movie other than I never wanted 86 minutes of my life back more than I did after the end of this movie. The concept is simple enough The Strangers is a 2008 American suspense-horror film written and directed by Bryan Bertino. The film revolves around a young couple Kristen McKay and James Hoyt (Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman), who are terrorized by three masked assailants, who break into their remote summer house and damage all means of escape.

According to production notes, the film was inspired by true events from director Bryan Bertino’s childhood: a stranger came to his home asking for someone who was not there, and Bertino later found out that empty homes in the neighborhood had been broken into that night. In interviews, Bertino stated he was “very impressed” with some of the theories circulating on the Internet about the “true events” the movie is allegedly based on, but said his main inspiration was from the true crime book Helter Skelter. In my opinion I do not care what the movie is based on, it was slow and did not have enough happening on the screen to keep a viewer following. I truly found it difficult to concentrate on the movie.

SPOILER ALERT: The first 80 minutes were by far the most uninteresting parts of a movie I have seen in a LONG time, and I watch a lot of bad movies. However I must say that the last few minutes in the movie were different because when Kristen asks “why are you doing this” I thought the masked person’s answer was amazing “because you were home”. There you have it…a simple reason to go on a killing spree. The ultimate reason I liked the last few minutes of this film? Because only once in a blue moon does the happy couple end up dead.

carole Drama, Horror, Thriller

The third film in the Underworld Saga Underworld: Rise of the Lycans goes back hundreds of years to explore the origins of the centuries-old blood feud between the aristocratic vampires known as Death Dealers and their onetime slaves, the Lycans. Rise of the Lycans finally gets to the root of why the vampires and werewolves really can’t stand each other.

Viktor (Bill Nighy) the aristocratic vampire is the ruler. When a Lycan woman has a human baby boy, Viktor resists the urge to kill him. Instead Viktor names him Lucian (played by Michael Sheen) and keeps him as his pet. When Lucian grows up he begins a forbidden romance with Viktors daughter Sonia (Rhona Mitra). When Viktor discovers the truth, he takes drastic steps to ensure that Sonia will never be able to see Lucian again. Lucian retaliates with the Lycan slaves by attacking full force on Viktors kingdom.

Micheal Sheen gives a blazing solid performance as the enslaved hero of Rise of the Lycans. Lucian, you’ll recall from Undeworld the ancient leader of the Lycans. Rise of the Lycans is his origins story.

Without Len Wiseman or Kate Beckinsale attached, I was expecting a straight-to-DVD type knockoff. And, indeed, Rise of the Lycans, from director Patrick Tatopoulos (he did the special effects for the first two flicks) is considerably less stylized that Wiseman’s entries, but that actually works to its advantage. It’s not a particularly memorable film, but for fans of the first two installments of the Underworld trilogy, Rise of the Lycans embodies the same guilty pleasure.

I still enjoyed the first two installments a little more then Rise of the Lycans. Not because it wasn’t entertaining, probably only because I’m a Kate Beckinsale fan and she is not in the third film. Which makes sence, because it goes way back to before the first film.

Jenn Action, Fantasy, Horror, Thriller

So I watch the TV Series True Blood on HBO. I just discovered today another vampire TV Series that premiered in 1997 and was on the air for 2 seasons. The series stems from the movie by David Bowie The Hunger. Good news if you don’t like illegal downloading, the 2 seasons are now available on DVD. Probably only online for now. I haven’t seen any of the episodes yet, but it looks really good, and it was from a 1983 movie, which apparently was really good.
I’m surprised I never heard of the movie or the show. Now that I’ve gotten into vampires I noticed every show and movie that is vampire related… all thanks to Twilight. Loved Twilight. I’ve almost finished reading the series.. on the last book more than halfway through. Then I got into True Blood, the TV Series on HBO. Which to me is such a fantastic show. I think about watching the new episodes before it airs.. I get all excited. Then I started watching older vampire movies that never used to interest me.. Dracula, Interview with the Vampire. I even downloaded a Japanese movie about Vampires, which wasn’t actually that great.
So get on it people. Google search The Hunger and check it out!

Jenn Fantasy, Horror, Thriller David Bowie, The Hunger

Release date: September 18, 2009

Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Cast: Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Johnny Simmons, Adam Brody

Director: Karyn Kusama

When a gorgeous cheerleader (Megan Fox) is possessed by a demon and starts feeding off the boys in a small Minnesota farming town, her “plain Jane” best friend (Amanda Seyfried) must kill her, then escape from a correctional facility to go after the Satan-worshipping rock band responsible for the horrible transformation.

Hmm, this sounds interesting enough; however does anyone else see the similarities between the True Blood poster and the Jennifer’s Body poster? Who are they kidding, forget similar, it’s almost an exact replica, except the tongue is licking the other side of the mouth. Another point that a lot of folks are blabbing about is the fact that the poster for Jennifer’s Body has been out for a year. What’s with that, the movie is coming out in September.

So I’m wondering if people will go and see this movie after all. I’m thinking they will. Guys everywhere will be running to the theaters even if reviews conclude the movie as terrible. Mainly for one reason, Megan Fox is in the movie. The girl can hardly act, but she is the hottest thing out there these days, according to guys everywhere.

Well we have the whole summer to wait and see if the movie is a hit or a bomb. In the meantime check out the movie poster for Jennifer’s Body, tell me it’s not almost the same as the True Blood Poster.

Jenn Horror, Thriller Demon, Megan Fox