Category Archives: Suspense

2008, Crime, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Lawyers, Suspense, TV Series

Canterbury’s Law (2008)

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From NetFlix:

Julianna Margulies stars in this prime-time Fox drama as spirited attorney Elizabeth Canterbury, a woman who balances her desire to help others seek justice with her own ongoing struggle to deal with her son’s unsolved disappearance. Though Elizabeth’s professional life is decidedly driven, her personal life with her law professor husband, Matt (Aidan Quinn), is haunted by their shared grief over losing their only child.

Because of her success in the TV-series “The Good Wife” Kathy and I are enthusiastic fans of Julianna Margulies. In that series she is a quiet but determined woman lawyer who has been wounded by her well-known husband’s public adultery.

In this earlier series “Canterbury’s Law” she again plays a lawyer with an entirely different personality. Here she is aggressive, more-or-less honest, with a “seek justice at any cost” attitude.

From what I have seen so far of the series, the plots are involving, well-written, and at the level of the “Law and Order” TV series.

Addendum: Having watched more of the series, I am now even more excited about the series. Don’t miss it!

There are only two DVDs for the series. We watched it with subtitles.

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.

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.

2009, Child Molestation, Crime, Detective, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Drugs, Gangs, Gay theme, Rape, Suspense, TV Series, Violent, Vulgar

Southland (2009)

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From NetFlix:

This hard-hitting drama follows the trials and triumphs of a group of dedicated Los Angeles cops, including tough veteran John Cooper (Michael Cudlitz), who begins this show’s first season training rookie patrolman Ben Sherman (Benjamin McKenzie). Other characters sworn to serve and protect include Detectives Russell Clarke (Tom Everett Scott) and Lydia Adams (Regina King), single-mom patrol officer Chickie Brown (Arija Bareikis) and more

If you liked “NYPD BLue” or “Law and Order”, you will love “Southland”. Full of tense crime scenes and personal stories, the series is DYNAMITE! Enough said.

2009, Child Molestation, Could Be Hard To Watch, Crime, Detective, Drama, Serial Killer, Suspense, Violent

The Lovely Bones (2009)

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From NetFlix:

When 14-year-old Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan) is murdered, she watches from above as her family deals with her tragic death — and as her killer prepares to strike again. Torn between vengeance and healing, Susie’s loved ones are forever changed. Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz star in Peter Jackson’s adaptation of Alice Sebold’s riveting, best-selling novel; Susan Sarandon and Oscar nominee Stanley Tucci co-star.

Normally I can start a film one night and interrupt it and resume another night, but NOT with this film. The suspense is extremely well-done and at times very subtle (you watch someone try to replace a floorboard without being heard by the killer a floor below; the movement is excruciatingly slow). Acting is good and the story is heartbreaking and well structured. Certain scenes (e.g. abduction) could be difficult to watch.

I offer one reservation: Susie inhabits the state of existence between death and heaven. This “place” is a seemingly endless succession of sometimes beautiful, sometimes threatening, always imaginative scenes. But enough is enough. I became really tired of watching Susie tread through field after field.

Mark Wahlberg does a fine job as the grieving father. See him also in The Basketball Diaries (1995), The Departed (2006) , and We Own the Night (2007) .

Rachel Weisz plays the mother. See her also in Definitely, Maybe (2008), Enemy At The Gates (2001), and The Brothers Bloom (2008).

Stanley Tucci was a standout and I did not even recognize him because he has hair in this film. His role as the serial killer George Harvey was perfect and impressive.