Alan: Seven Psychopath’s brings up the question, “Who here is really sane?” Yeah, sure we might think that we’re completely normal human beings…but deep down, I think it’s safe to say that we are all just a little bit unhinged. We all have some thoughts that might seem crazy to some people, and to an extent that’s what Seven Psychopaths does best, let’s all of the crazy out. [Read more...]
Review: The Next Three Days
11/19/2010 by Leave a Comment
Paul Haggis’ prison break thriller delivers a great final act but fails to make us care about the characters at all in the film’s preceding two acts essentially neutering the emotional impact of the film.
The film is finely acted, has a very intriguing premise in the reverse jail break, and is pretty clever in it’s progression of the escape plot. What doesn’t work is little to no characterization, characters doing things completely out of the blue with no validation, and a perplexing handling of the “did she do it” portion of the plot.
Speaking of the plot, it revolves around a young family that is torn apart when the mother, Lara, is abruptly arrested for the murder of a colleague she had recently a large argument with in the workplace. After the appeals process runs out, her husband, John, abruptly decides to break her out of prison. He tracks down an escape artist out of the blue and this sets in motion the steps he begins to take to try and free Lara from prison.
Review: Unstoppable
11/12/2010 by Leave a Comment
Tony Scott’s latest, Unstoppable, is a straight forward suspense action thriller that fails to ever live up to the intensity it hopes to create.
The plot is simple; a runaway, unmanned, train is barreling through Pennsylvania carrying explosive materials. It must be stopped before it hits an elevated turn in the middle of a highly populated town and two rail employees, one at the edge of the retirement the other just starting his career, decide to go after it and attempt to bring it too a stop. What follows is a series of events meant to build suspense and danger but the results fall flat.
The film’s pace is relentless and the film takes place more or less in real time. The movie starts and doesn’t waste a moment getting the train on the run but for all the supposed high suspense this film is supposed to have there are literally only three quick instances of suspense to be had in the picture. Three, that’s it, and obviously you know how every one of these is going to end before they even happen as well. Outside of these brief moments as we lead up the finale we are left to endure endless rotating shots of Denzel Washington and Chris Pine in their train cab. [Read more...]
