Category Archives: Complicated

2012, Clever Plot, Complicated, Crime, Detective, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Finance, Lawyers, Marital Infidelity, Plot Twist, Sex Scenes, Suspense, Wonderful acting

Arbitrage (2012)

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From NetFlix:

As billionaire Robert Miller struggles to divest his empire before his fraud is brought to light, fate takes a nasty turn. Now desperate and running out of options, Miller turns to an unlikely source for help.

Richard Gere plays Robert Miller who has to be the coolest crook on the planet.

Call this well-written, well-acted film a suspense drama because throughout you will sitting on the edge of your seat wondering two things: Will our crooked hero get caught in his fraud and manslaughter and what lives will he ruin as he spins his web of deceit?

Pay attention as one development leads to another. Keep in mind what Miller espouses as his twisted philosophy: “The world is cold”.

Any hint of the ending would be a spoiler. But Susan Sarandon, who plays Miller’s wife, really comes through.

DON’T MISS THIS FINANCIAL THRILLER!

2012, Clever Plot, Complicated, Crime, Gangs, Imperfect, Mayhem, Plot Twist, Sci-Fi, Violent

Looper (2012)

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From NetFlix:

In the year 2042, Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a Looper, a hired assassin for the mob who kills people sent from the future. But what will he do when the mob decides to “close the loop,” sending back Joe’s future self (Bruce Willis) for assassination?

Bruce Willis should not attempt to cry in a film. In a B-film this is probably not the end of the world. In no way does Joseph Gordon-Levitt suggest a young Bruce Willis. Never mind the acting.

“Looper” tells a potentially complicated story about time-travel, although it lets its narrator looper explain slowly and carefully what looping is all about. If you need help with the details you could read the Wikipedia explanation.

What adds interest to the film is not so much two instances of the same person trying to kill each other, but the human interest involving Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) the narrator: Is his life really pointless? Will he find love?

For me the most fascinating part involved Sara and her son Cid. Pierce Gagnon is one of the best child actors I have ever seen. IMDB does not give his age. At times I could not believe that so seemingly young a child could express so much in a role. His vacillations between rage and a childlike composure were something to watch.

Just suspend disbelief and enjoy the plot.

2011, Car Chase, Clever Plot, Complicated, Conspiracy, Crime, Frenetic, Love Story, Norwegian, Nudity, Occasional gore, Plot Twist, Revenge, Sex Scenes, Suspense, Violent

Headhunters (2011)

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From NetFlix:

Living way beyond his means, corporate recruiter Roger Brown steals rare artwork to maintain his lavish lifestyle. But when he plans to boost an especially valuable painting, he targets a man who has headhunting skills of a different variety.

Hold onto your seats because this plot twists and turns like an angry alligator. From one minute to the next you will be surprised by all the unexpected, and usually violent, events.

In Norwegian with subtitles, even though the actors are Norwegian, still there is a surprise in store. Just how the names of the actors are pronounced is beyond me. Aksel Hennie as Roger Brown and Synnøve Macody Lund as his drop-dead beautiful wife Diana were excellent actors that I have never seen before. However, I kept staring at Nikolaj Coster-Waldau who plays the villain Clas Greve and wondering where had I ever seen this Norwegian actor. Surprise … he played Jaime Lannister in the TV series “Game of Thrones” (which you should NOT miss!) where he seemed to speak perfect English.

Much of the plot has Roger Brown running for his life from one horrible experience to another. But his ingenuity is remarkable.

Expect an incredibly satisfying ending. But you have to also expect unending suspense.

2011, Complicated, Computer geeks, Could Be Hard To Watch, Detective, Explicit sex, Nudity, Occasional gore, Rape, Religious Theme, Sadism, Serial Killer, Suspense, Torture, Violent

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

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From NetFlix:

When a young computer hacker is tasked with investigating a prying journalist, their separate missions become entangled amid a decades-old conspiracy. David Fincher directs this English adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s novel.

By now you have probably read Stieg Larsson’s book (or maybe the entire Millenium trilogy). Because I have done so, I was a little disappointed in some few plot changes. But for the most part the film follows the book.

All the characters are well chosen. Daniel Craig correctly plays an understated Mikael Blomkvist. Blomkvist was equally a calm and quiet character in the Swedish film version. For my tastes Christopher Plummer looked too healthy as Henrik Vanger at the start of the film. But after his heart attack he looked like a tired, sick old man. Yorick van Wageningen is a wonderfully sleazy lawyer who rapes Lisbeth and gets paid back in spades. Stellan Skarsgård is excellently creepy as Martin Vanger.

But in the end the film captures the book well. Enjoy!

2010, Arabic, Complicated, Could Be Hard To Watch, French, Grim, Plot Twist, Prison, Rape, Redemption, Slow, Violent, War

Incendies (2010)

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From NetFlix:

When their mother’s will implores them to deliver letters to the father they thought was dead and a brother they never knew about, twins Jeanne (Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin) and Simon (Maxim Gaudette) journey to the Middle East and attempt to reconstruct their family’s hidden history. Adapted from a Wajdi Mouawad play, director Denis Villeneuve’s Oscar-nominated drama flashes back to intense scenes set during the Lebanese civil war in the 1970s.

Yet another film that is hard to watch, “Incendies” dramatically is better than The Whistleblower (2010). Just be aware that the pace of the film is very slow.

In a certain sense the film involves solving a mystery in which two twins after the death of their mother are asked in her will to find their father and a brother that they had never heard of up to the mother’s death.

Languages are French and Arabic with (subtitles) because the action takes place during the incredibly confusing 1970 Lebanon civil war. If you are confused by the end of the film, try reading the Wikipedia summary which for me explained things I had missed (especially towards the end of the film). You may be surprised by the final piece in the puzzle.

Although this is a brutal film, it is not as explicit as The Whistleblower (2010).

For me watching this film was well worth the patience required.

2000, Boxing, British, Complicated, Crime, Dog Story, Frenetic, Gangs, Mayhem, Satirical ultra-violence, Violent, Vulgar

Snatch (2000)

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From NetFlix:

An Irish gypsy gets involved in a match-fixing boxing racket, a vast diamond heist is about to go down and London’s gangster underworld is blown open in this blink-and-you’ll-miss-it, twisty crime caper featuring a motley cluster of characters. Guy Ritchie (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) writes and directs; Stephen Graham, Dennis Farina, Rade Serbedzija, Jason Statham, Benicio Del Toro and Brad Pitt star.

“Snatch” is yet another example of what I call “satirical ultra-violence”. Think “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels”. Or just think “Jason Statham”. Probably an early example of this type of film was “Pulp Fiction”.

However, in this case Jason Statham is not an action doll. Instead he is the sarcastic well-spoken narrator with a really stupid sidekick Tommy. In fact, despite the many sometimes difficult-to-understand British dialects, the dialog is often very polite understated English spoken in moments of complete destruction or mayhem. There are many wonderful sight gags that made me laugh out loud. And of course there is a lot of VIOLENCE, although I have trouble remembering any visible gore. The idea is to laugh at violence that seems too improbable to be possible. What have we come to ?

As usual there are many characters and many subgroups all interacting. If you don’t mind the violence, than just enjoy the nonsense and mayhem. You will love the dog!

2006, Complicated, Computer geeks, Crime, Frenetic, Suspense, Violent

Firewall (2006)

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From NetFlix:

State-of-the-art security system creator Jack Stanfield (Harrison Ford) has cemented his reputation as a man who’s thought of everything. But when a criminal (Paul Bettany) finds a way into Jack’s personal life, everything Jack holds dear is suddenly at stake. Virginia Madsen, Alan Arkin and Robert Patrick co-star in this taut thriller from acclaimed British director Richard Loncraine (Richard III, Wimbledon).

Even if you don’t follow the technical mumbo-jumbo (which may or not be accurate or possible as far as I know), the story maintains its tension up to the very last second. Critics gave it a mixed review according to the Wikipedia article, some saying Ford’s performance was formulaic and uninspired. For an old guy (he was 64 at time of filming) he sure gets into some awful fights.

However difficult it is to portray a sociopath I don’t know, but Paul Bettany was frighteningly convincing. He was the priest in the 2011 film “Priest”.

Nothing special but it held my excitement-starved attention.

2003, Clever Plot, Complicated, Dark, Disturbing Image, Mediocre, Plot Twist, Psychological Thriller, Serial Killer, Suspense, Violent

Identity (2003)

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From NetFlix:

Complete strangers stranded at a remote desert motel during a raging storm soon find themselves the target of a deranged murderer. As their numbers thin out, the travelers begin to turn on each other, as each tries to figure out who the killer is. John Cusack, Jake Busey, Rebecca De Mornay, Clea DuVall and Ray Liotta co-star in this spine-tingling thriller that culminates in a surprising twist for everyone concerned — including the murderer.

Let me begin by quoting someone else’s opinion:

Good, smart psychological thrillers are so rare that we all ought to be grateful for James Mangold’s IDENTITY. It begins terrifically well and keeps up this pace for most of its running time. It also keeps you guessing right up to the end. Some may find this part over-the-top, but it has stayed with me longer than I expected, and I keep turning it ’round and ’round in my mind. Here’s a good idea, filmed with all the necessary follow-through of intelligent writing, good acting (from a top-notch cast) and clever directing. And considering the amount of corpses that pile up in the course of events, there is relatively little gore. All in all, IDENTITY’s a class act.

Not everyone will gush so much over the film, including yours truly. That phrase “over-the-top” describes how I reacted to the end of the film. With so many known good actors the film should have been better. When the actors shout A LOT, that is a bad sign.

Let us review the actors:

  • John Cusack was in “High Fidelity” and Grace Is Gone (2007).
  • Ray Liotta was in “Powder Blue” and “Crossing Over”
  • Alfred Molina was the girl’s father in An Education (2008)
  • Pruitt Taylor Vince is the actor that fascinates me. You might remember him from the TV series “The Mentalist” in which for many episodes he was the Mentalist’s boss’s boss. He is a corpulent bald man whose eyes suffer from nystagmus, a condition which causes a person’s eyes to move involuntarily. Once you see him, you will never forget him.

Although I don’t regret spending the time watching this film, you can do better.

2009, 2010, 2011, British, Child Molestation, Complicated, Crime, Detective, DO NOT MISS, Lawyers, Made For TV, Rape, Suspense, Wonderful acting

Law and Order: UK (2009)

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From NetFlix:

Dick Wolf’s long-running “Law & Order” franchise expands across the pond in the first season of this gritty police procedural that’s set on the streets of London and based on scripts from the American series. The first case finds detectives Ronnie Brooks (Bradley Walsh) and Matt Devlin (Jamie Bamber) teaming up with prosecutors James Steel (Ben Daniels) and Alesha Phillips (Freema Agyeman) to get to the bottom of a baby’s untimely death.

Don’t get me wrong, Kathy and I love all the American “Law & Order” shows. But I find that this British version is better, more intense, and offers more courtroom drama. Beginning in 2009 the series ran into 2011. And then one of the lawyers, James Steel, used some plot excuse to leave the show and as far as I know the series ended at that point.

If you like “Law and Order”, DO NOT MISS THIS TV SERIES!

2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, British, Complicated, Computer geeks, Conspiracy, Cynical, DO NOT MISS, Flirting, Love Story, Made For TV, Political Suspense, Suspense, Terrorist Attack, Torture, TV Series, Wonderful acting

MI-5

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From NetFlix:

This award-winning series dramatizes the professional exploits and personal lives of the “spooks” of MI-5, the British equivalent of the FBI. No-nonsense head officer Harry Pearce (Peter Firth) guides a band of dedicated spies who risk their lives every day. The team includes expert and junior members who must balance real life with the job’s requirement for complete secrecy, no matter the cost. Matthew Macfadyen and Richard Armitage co-star.

Beginning in 2002 and continuing at least to 2010, this British TV-series is “utterly smashing”. Intense, sometimes hard to watch, but incredibly exciting in just about every episode. What makes some episodes difficult to watch is that the members of MI-5 are forced at times to make hard decisions that involve “collateral damage” (meaning some poor soul dies), so much so that those members are often damaged themselves and actually leave MI-5 (i.e. leave the show). In fact, be prepared for many, sometimes disappointing cast changes. For example Rupert William Penry-Jones (the character Adam Carter) started the show and then disappeared for awhile to be replaced by Matthew Macfadyen (the character Tom Quinn) who then leaves the show and is replaced by Rupert William Penry-Jones.

There are too many wonderful characters to even mention them. You can find them all listed in IMDB.

In addition to spook plots, there are also many romances. But any romance for a member of MI-5 is next to impossible because even their significant others cannot know what these spooks do for a living.