Category Archives: Plot Twist

2008, Conspiracy, Could Be Hard To Watch, Detective, Occasional gore, Plot Twist, Revenge, Sex Scenes, Suspense, Violent

Tell Tale (2008)

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From NetFlix:

In this thriller inspired by Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart,” Josh Lucas stars as Terry, a single dad who’s kept alive by another man’s heart — a scenario that suits him fine until he discovers that the ticker’s original owner was murdered. Worried that he might come to a similar end, Terry embarks on a desperate search for the donor’s killer in this Michael Cuesta-helmed film produced by Ridley and Tony Scott.

At first I thought this would be a B-grade forgettable film and perhaps it is. However, it was compelling enough that I stayed glued to the screen. Your opinion would be appreciated if you ever watch this film. There are just too many other better films to watch.

While not offering any spoiler to this mystery plus vengeance film, it does seem that lately I have watched many films with a theme of organ transplant (“Repo Men”, “Never Let Me Go”, “Dirty Pretty Things”). I was a bit put off by the vigilante aspects of the film, but it is just a story.

There is one very gory scene toward the end which I cannot discuss without spoiling.

With my poor hearing and because there were no subtitles available, I had trouble understanding how the detective was complicit in the plot. Help would be appreciated.

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).

2005, Imperfect, Mediocre, Plot Twist, Psychological Thriller, Redemption, Suspense

The Lazarus Project (2005)

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From NetFlix:

Ben (Paul Walker) thought his life was over when he was sentenced to death by lethal injection. But following his execution, he awakens to a whole new world. After learning he’s been hired as a groundskeeper at a crumbling psychiatric facility, Ben realizes he’s earned a second chance. But whether he’s truly come back from the dead — or never died in the first place — remains a mystery. Linda Cardellini and Piper Perabo co-star.

Do NOT see this film. Instead see Shutter Island (2010).

In a certain sense this film is the reverse of “Shutter Island”. If Dennis Lehane had not written “Shutter Island” in 2003, I would have suspected he was inspired by “The Lazarus Project”.

Watch it if you must, but see if you don’t object to the following: Our hero is ending his prison probation with a job that seems to require no computer skills. Skip ahead to the “Shutter Island”-like captivity and finally he is so clever that he suddenly develops an amazing ability with computers. Moreover he is so clever that his captors give up without much fight. I just don’t buy it.

2005, Book Review, Child Molestation, Complicated, Dark, Detective, Explicit sex, Kidnapping, Occasional gore, Plot Twist, Rape, Revenge, Serial Killer, Sex Scenes, Suspense, Violent

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2005)

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From the book jacket:

Harriet Vanger, scion of one of Sweden’s wealthiest families, disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.

Stieg Larsson has written a trilogy entitled “Millennium” whose three books in order are:

  • The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
  • The Girl Who Played With Fire
  • The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest

My Vintage Books paperback edition is 644 pages long. Because the book is such a page-turner I devoured the book in a weekend. I was intent on reading the book before I watched the Danish film version.

Much of the narrative alternates often between the activities of Blomkvist and Salander, somewhat like ships in the night. Eventually they work closely together. Take “closely” to have two meanings because Blomkvist in the course of the novel sleeps with three different women.

Expect some graphic rape scenes, sadistic serial killings, and really nasty members of the Vanger clan. Also expect to have a lot of fun.

Initially I tried to maintain a written list of the many characters. Finally the novel itself provides a table of Vanger family members to which I often referred.

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, Complicated, Conspiracy, Crime, Plot Twist, Scam Artists, Spanish, Suspense

Nine Queens (2000)

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From NetFlix:

Two small-time grifters (Ricardo Darin and Gastón Pauls) endure a series of tense negotiations when they attempt to sell a sheet of counterfeit stamps for a hefty sum, but the process is made more stressful when one of the con men’s estranged sister (Leticia Bredice) becomes involved. Fans of American writer David Mamet will appreciate the twists in this Argentinean caper from writer-director Fabián Bielinsky

Google for “Nine Queens”. You will discover that whereas all reviews praise the film as a wonderful “Who is conning whom ?” game, many reviews criticize the ending. I myself could not quite accept the surprise ending. In fact, the best review suggested that when you get to one of the final scenes in which Juan is in a subway and the screen fades to black, then stop watching immediately.

Still, it was fun watching the many clever ways thieves can con their victims. Thanks to NetFlix for suggesting this movie personally to me. Do you suppose NetFlix thinks I’m a crook ? Note, in this regard, how just about every thief in the film says he is not a crook (echoing a famous United States former president).

Spanish with subtitles.

2007, Crime, Detective, Mediocre, Plot Twist, Suspense, Violent

Cleaner (2007)

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From NetFlix:

After years as a detective, Tom Carver (Samuel L. Jackson) runs a business specializing in cleaning up crime scenes. But when he realizes his latest gig at a ritzy suburban house might have been a cover-up for a homicide, he must clean up the injustice. Our hygienic hero gets far more than he bargained for in director Renny Harlin’s twisty crime thriller, co-starring Ed Harris as Carver’s old partner and Eva Mendes as a grieving wife.

There’s nothing wrong with this fairly mediocre police who-done-it. It would have made a nice one-hour TV show. Samuel Jackson and Ed Harris make a good pair. Keke Palmer as Jackson’s daughter does a fine job. Amazing how often Luis Guzmán shows up in films (and I always assume he is the bad guy). See how long it takes before you predict the plot twist.

2009, Could Be Hard To Watch, Drama, Military, Plot Twist, Quentin Tarantino, Revenge, Suspense, Violent, War

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

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From NetFlix:

A Jewish cinema owner (Mélanie Laurent) in occupied Paris is forced to host a Nazi movie premiere, where a radical group of American Jewish soldiers called the Basterds, led by Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), plans to roll out a score-settling scheme. The face-off is about to go down — that’s if Col. Hans Landa aka “The Jew Hunter” (Christoph Waltz, in an Oscar-winning role) doesn’t get in the way. Quentin Tarantino directs this World War II-set spaghetti Western.

“Quentin Tarantino” tells you immediately that this will be a violent film. In fact,
the first two acts (Nazi atrocity, Jewish retribution) suggest that this film could just be a litany of vindictive anti-Nazi butchery. But each act brings something fresh, suspenseful, clever, and of course violent. There are many plot twists, almost all in the form of something that goes wrong with an assassination plan. In that sense the fun never stops.

However, I was at first offended by the fact that the entire climax is a hoax perpetrated on the viewers. Such a thing never happened. So is this film someone’s rage fantasy against the horrors of the Nazi regime ? Sad to say I got a lot of pleasure watching the good guys bash the bad guys. I should be ashamed. Violence begets violence and it has to stop somewhere. In this regard please read the section of the Wikipedia article entitled “Critical Reception” which reinforces my objections.

If you understand French, German, and Italian you will have another source of pleasure from this romp.