Category Archives: Mystery Film

2004, Crime, Detective, Mystery Film, Occasional gore, Plot Twist, Police Story, Psychological Thriller, Serial Killer, Sex Scenes, Stalker, Suspense, Violent

Twisted (2004)

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From NetFlix:

Female cop Jessica (Ashley Judd) is more dedicated to enforcing the law than most of her colleagues, since she feels she has a lot to make up for: Her father moonlighted as a serial killer. Could it be that the apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree? That’s what Jessica thinks when she finds herself at the center of her own investigation as past lovers inexplicably start dying at a breakneck pace.

Did I guess who-done-it ? No, I was wrong twice. Try your own luck.

Good acting, well shot in San Francisco, well-known actors, sexy! Could have been an hour TV crime show but the film is still a strong B+. Not a total waste of time.

2008, Conspiracy, Drama, Mystery Film, Plot Twist, Sex Scenes, Suspense

Passengers (2008)

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From NetFlix:

When therapist Claire Summers (Anne Hathaway) starts working with the surviving passengers of a plane crash, she discovers that their individual accounts of the tragedy differ significantly from the airline’s official version. As Claire digs deeper for the truth, beyond the airline’s sanitized statements, the survivors suddenly begin to vanish, leaving her swimming in a dark abyss of intrigue and conspiracy.

Give this somewhat mediocre mystery suspense film a “B”. Patrick Wilson (best seen in Little Children (2006)) has fun flirting with Anne Hathaway while she expends a fair amount of energy resisting.

Basically the entire film drives to an ending that had a big enough surprise to catch me unawares (although I had some suspicions).

2000, Crime, Detective, Direct to Video, Imperfect, Mediocre, Mystery Film, Plot Twist, Psychic Phenomena, Serial Killer, Suspense

Eye of the Killer (2000)

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From NetFlix:

After a blow to the head, haggard Det. Mickey Hayden (Kiefer Sutherland) acquires an extraordinary new ability: He can visualize the owner of anything he touches. This homicide-solving talent comes in handy when Hayden gets assigned to the hardest case of his life. A serial killer named Jabberwocky has resurfaced, pinning a note to his most recent victim challenging Hayden to stalk the murderer again in this direct-to-video thriller.

Despite being a mediocre film about psychic phenomena, the plot has some good surprises (including the very end). Alcoholic, depressed detectives are now such a cliche. And why do they often hang out in gay bars when they are really straight ? The fact that this film is a direct-to-video should be enough of a warning.

Is this damning with faint praise ?

2007, Crime, Drama, Explicit sexual discussion, Mystery Film, Nudity, Plot Twist, Suspense

Perfect Stranger (2007)

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From NetFlix:

This thriller directed by James Foley stars Halle Berry as Ro, a woman who risks her life to discover the identity of a stranger lurking on the Internet who might hold the answers to her friend’s murder. As Ro digs deeper, she discovers a murky world of online deception peopled by the likes of Harrison Hill (Bruce Willis), a mysterious figure who could either be a friend or a foe. Giovanni Ribisi, Leigh Spofford and Jason Antoon also star

If you look up Giovanni Ribisi in IMDB you will find he has appeared in at least 80 productions. For me he stands out in this film as the most interesting character. He often plays a dark role.

Bruce Willis, I am happy to say, in this case succeeds by playing Bruce Willis. His collisions with Halle Berry are clever and tense.

Tell me if you guessed the surprise ending. Also pay attention to the last few seconds of the film and tell me what is going on (hint: “look through the window”).

2010, Horror, Mystery Film, Plot Twist, Suspense, Violent

Shutter Island (2010)

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From NetFlix:

World War II soldier-turned-U.S. marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) investigates the disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane, but his efforts are compromised by his own troubling visions and by Dr. Cawley (Ben Kingsley). Mark Ruffalo, Michelle Williams, Emily Mortimer and Max von Sydow co-star in director Martin Scorsese’s plot twist-filled psychological thriller set on a Massachusetts island in 1954.

Only for a while did this film seem messy and possibly just an ordinary “seeing ghosts” film. Stick with it! If you ever guess what is really going on, please email me (I probably won’t believe you). I can only imagine that Denis Lehane’s book might be even better than this film recreation. Probably Ben Kingsley and Max von Sydow are the standouts in this not-really-a-horror film.

I was glued to my seat.

2000, Crime, Drama, Mystery Film, Nudity, Plot Twist, Revenge, Supernatural, Suspense, Violent

The Gift (2000)

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From NetFlix:

When the authorities find a drowned woman’s body, a small-town psychic (Cate Blanchett) starts having visions of who committed the murder, which means she’s the only one who can testify to what truly happened … and that she could be the killer’s next target. Giovanni Ribisi, Keanu Reeves, Hilary Swank, Katie Holmes and Greg Kinnear co-star in this moody Sam Raimi thriller co-written by Billy Bob Thornton

For most of the film I was sure I knew who the killer was. I was wrong. Sam Raimi and Billy Bob Thornton tell a good story that pulls you into the troubled lives of just about every character. And what a set of characters it is:

  • Cate Blanchett carries the show.
  • Giovanni Ribisi most recently played “Parker Selfridge” in “Avatar”.
  • Keanu Reeves does a great job as a mean red-neck villain.
  • Greg Kinnear was the father in “Little Miss Sunshine”
  • Hilary Swank gets beaten up a lot by her vicious husband Keanu Reeves
  • Gary Cole appeared many times in “The Good Wife” as the ballistics expert
  • J.K. Simmons appears everywhere. He is the long-suffering boss of Kyra Sedgwick in “The Closer”.
  • Katie Holmes is Rachel from “The Dark Knight”

It’s hard to lose with a cast like that.

1991, Crime, Drama, Imperfect, Love Story, Melodrama, Mystery Film, Plot Twist, Revenge, Suspense, Violent

Dead Again (1991)

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From NetFlix:

Los Angeles gumshoe Mike Church (Kenneth Branagh) takes the case of a woman (Emma Thompson) beset with amnesia and soon makes the startling discovery that he and his client are connected — via reincarnation — to a lurid, 40-year-old murder. Branagh is convincing as an American private investigator, and he gets fine support from Thompson (his real-life wife at the time) in this inventive modern noir thriller.

Give a ‘B’ to this somewhat dated film. However, it is just plain fun to see a lot of actors at a young part of their lives. After all, the film is almost 20 years old and a lot can happen in 20 years (such as Branagh and Thompson getting a divorce). Some of the actors are:

  • Kenneth Branagh who speaks a credible American sprinkled here and there with a few choice curse words. He plays two roles.
  • Emma Thompson speaks British. She plays two roles.
  • Who would have thought that Derek Jacobi was ever young. Recall him as the stuttering “I Claudius” ? He even manages to stutter in this film.
  • A year after this film Wayne Knight was the unforgettable “Newman” from “Seinfeld”
  • Andy Garcia you know well. Don’t miss the scene in which he is an old man dying of throat cancer from a lifetime of smoking. He speaks through a hole in his Adam’s apple. He begs Branagh for a cigarette and smokes it through the same hole.
  • I did a double-take. “That can’t be Robin Williams, can it?”. Sure enough!

The acting sometimes breaks down. Amazing to see how technology (cellphones, etc) would have completely changed the scenery in just 20 years. Still it was fun seeing handsome and beautiful people in their prime.

1989, Detective, Drama, Explicit sex, Explicit sexual discussion, Mystery Film, Nudity, Suspense, Violent, Vulgar

Sea of Love (1989)

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From NetFlix:

Lonely, burnt-out NYPD detective Frank Keller (Al Pacino, in a Golden Globe-nominated performance) is on the hunt for a serial killer who uses personal ads to attract potential victims in director Harold Becker’s taut, suspenseful thriller. Unfortunately, Frank falls hard for Helen (Ellen Barkin), the alluring top suspect in the case. Now, their white-hot attraction could save him — or kill him.

In every Al Pacino film I have seen, his personality is more or less the same: wisecracking tough guy. Although this film is no exception to that comment, the younger Al Pacino here is slightly softer, slightly more vulnerable. His paring with John Goodman works well. Catching the serial killer, while the central theme, is really secondary to Al Pacino’s dealing with his sad personal life. “Sea of Love” is as representative of any Pacino fiilm that I have seen, although he was excellent in Angels In America (2003).

2001, Could Be Hard To Watch, Crime, Detective, Drama, Drugs, Horror, Imperfect, Medical Theme, Mystery Film, Occasional gore, Suspense, Violent

From Hell (2001)

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From NetFlix:

Johnny Depp stars as an opium-huffing inspector from Scotland Yard who falls for one of Jack the Ripper’s prostitute targets (Heather Graham) in this Hughes brothers adaption of a graphic novel that posits the Ripper’s true identity. Ian Holm and Robbie Coltrane co-star in this genre-bending drama that marked Albert and Allen Hughes’s laudable attempt to break out of their pigeonhole as “black directors.”

Dark, gory, not Depp’s best. In a sense this is a mystery story: who is Jack the Ripper ? It’s almost as this film goes out of its way to discredit the Victorian power structure and especially the royal family. Give this film a shaky B and find something else.

2008, British Mystery Series, Detective, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Gritty, Made For TV, MHz Choice, Mystery Film, Occasional gore, Suspense

Wallander (2008)

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June 2020 Update:

Wallander has moved to MHz Choice. There are two Wallander series in MHz Choice.

————————– NEW REVIEW ————————————-

From Netflix:

By now (August 2016) you can stream from Netflix 3 seasons of the British Wallander with Kenneth Branagh.  Each episode lasts about an hour and a half.  Each of the 3 seasons offers 3 independent stories. However, you should start from the beginning and watch in sequence because running through the entire 9 stories is the theme of Wallander’s personal life: loneliness, struggles with his eccentric father, relation with his daughter, etc.

One advantage of streaming is that there are captions.

More than ever, I consider these somewhat “noir” stories a DO NOT MISS!

————— OLD REVIEW ———————————————

From NetFlix:

Kenneth Branagh delivers a bravura performance as Swedish sleuth Kurt Wallender in three stories drawn from Henning Mankell’s best-sellers. With violence on the rise in once-peaceful Ystad, the dour detective battles crime as well as personal demons. This trio of TV mysteries finds Wallander connecting a woman’s suicide with government corruption, pursuing a cabbie’s killer and coping with the murder of a colleague during a tough investigation.

There is already a review for “Before the Frost (2002)” which was an excellent Wallander story. The present review is for a two-disk series (two separate NetFlix disks) from 2008. Kenneth Branagh again does an outstanding job portraying a dedicated detective whose personal life is in shambles. As such, the three stories (the second disk contains two stories) are dark. Kenneth Branagh is shabby and haggard throughout.

One caveat: there are NO subtitles available for those of us who are hard of hearing.

Also remember that everything takes place in Sweden despite the actors being British.