Thriller

277 posts in 'Thriller'

Ten “Grindhouse” Films Worth Watching

by Chris and Kris   ⋅   April 6, 2007   ⋅   Comments [8]

With the arrival of Grindhouse in the theaters today, a lot of lists are coming out with “Grindhouse” films recommended by professional critics. Some of them are actually pretty good. But, for the majority of them, if you look closely at the lists, you’ll realize the recommenders never actually saw the films listed. Some of [...]

Zodiac movie review he-said-she-said screener!

by Chris & Kris   ⋅   February 27, 2007   ⋅   Comment now

SHE SAID:
@$)^(*)!+ That’s the Zodiac killer saying the movie is really good. Or else that’s him saying dammit, you almost caught me.
David Fincher’s stab (eh) at the Bay Area’s gruesome Zodiac serial killer is decidedly un-Fincher-esque. If you’re a salivating fan of the director’s previous slick CG swoops or gloomy moodiness (i.e.: Se7en, [...]

MOVIE REVIEW . Number 23

by Kris   ⋅   February 25, 2007   ⋅   Comments [3]

The power of suggestion leads us down a dark road of deceit and doggie death daydreams in Number 23. Sporting a Kevin Bacon style mullet, Jim Carrey portrays an ordinary dog catcher named Walter Sparrow. Now Carrey’s portrayed God (Bruce Almighty), the Grinch, the Riddler and other over-the-top personae, but Walter is seemingly [...]

MOVIE REVIEW . Dog Bite Dog (aka: Gau ngao Gau)

by Chris   ⋅   December 27, 2006   ⋅   Comment [1]

There are shocking films, there are violent films, and there are disturbing films, and the occasional picture that combines all three. But rarely do you come across a film that exhibits pure savagery. Pou-Soi Cheang’s Dog Bite Dog is just such a film. Steeped in unbridled brutality and oppressive nihilism, it is a draining, disgusting, [...]

MOVIE REVIEWS [Capsules] . Vibrator, G@ME, Rampo Jigoku

by Chris   ⋅   November 22, 2006   ⋅   Comment now

Vibrator
I do my best to see good in films these days. I think I’ve come a long way from my cranky green critic self. But Vibrator has brought out the cranky in me. It is an absolutely terrible film. Plodding, shallow, and self important, it is an absolute chore to sit through.
Lauded as “Japan’s Answer [...]

MOVIE REVIEW . Hard Candy

by Kris   ⋅   September 25, 2006   ⋅   Comments [7]

Hard Candy is a modern-day Little Red Riding Hood. But you have to remember that Little Red Riding Hood didn’t exactly depict a girl who was entirely innocent and chaste, but rather the final lure for those with the taste for evil. It’s easy then to assume that the wolf in this case [...]

MOVIE REVIEW . The Black Dahlia

by Chris   ⋅   September 16, 2006   ⋅   Comments [12]

When it comes to failed films by renowned directors there seem to be two categories: the modest misses, and flaming cinematic train wrecks. DePalma’s Black Dahlia belongs in the latter, a catastrophic failure of proportions not seen since Verhoven’s Showgirls. The film is chock full of embarrassingly inept acting and sloppy set design, which in [...]

10 Films to Make You Feel Sick

by Chris and Kris   ⋅   August 27, 2006   ⋅   Comments [5]

LisTen up!We’ve been seeing quite a lot of uninspired top 10 lists these days, and decided to start posting our own to remedy the situation. You’ll start seeing lists of 10 throughout the coming months. First up, inspired byt the recent Takashi Miike Masters of Horror controversy, Dreamlogic.net’s list of 10 films guaranteed to make [...]

Review Smash! Lady in the Water, Basic Instinct 2, Stray Cat Rock, and more

by Chris and Kris   ⋅   July 24, 2006   ⋅   Comment [1]

Lady in the Water
Including a critic in your film, and making him the brunt of jokes and ridicule is guaranteed bad reviews, even if the film is quite good. This is certainly the case with M Night’s latest, Lady in the Water, a tale of a lost sea nymph who winds up in the pool [...]

MOVIE REVIEW . The Guard from Underground

by Kris   ⋅   June 19, 2006   ⋅   Comment [1]

Poor Miss Narushima. On her first week at a new job, she is sexually accosted by her new boss, informed that her department will soon be eliminated, she gets trapped in the creepy storeroom and is stalked by a giant (albeit welterweight at best) ex-sumo wrestler turned security guard with a penchant for wearing [...]

MOVIE REVIEW . Running Scared

by Kris   ⋅   June 11, 2006   ⋅   Comments [6]

Who woulda thunk? Who woulda thunk Running Scared would be such a fun rush. When Chris first asked me to watch it with him, I just blinked at him thinking he meant the Gregory Hines/Billy Crystal movie with the same title, except in my mind it was the Gregory Hines/Baryshnikov movie and I was [...]

MOVIE REVIEW [Capsulefest] . Mission: Impossible III, Art School Confidential, Hollow Man 2

by Kris   ⋅   May 31, 2006   ⋅   Comments [3]

Mission Impossible III - See Tom bleed. See, wait no, now the blood is missing. See Tom bleed again. Oh, but oh no, gone again. In the first few cuts (no pun intended), it is evident that we either have an anal retentive director or Mr. Cruise is setting his acting [...]

DVD REVIEW . Tokyo Psycho

by Chris   ⋅   May 21, 2006   ⋅   Comment now

I first noticed Tokyo Psycho at Asia Star in San Francisco. The cover immediately caught my eye (see left), and seemed to promise something far more disturbing than anything I’d seen in quite some time Shortly thereafter I saw the Panik House release at Amoeba, complete with amazing jigsaw puzzle of the cover graphic, and [...]

MOVIE REVIEW [SCREENER] . Silent Hill

by Chris and Kris   ⋅   April 21, 2006   ⋅   Comments [43]

Kris and I drove deep into the ghettos of Milpitas (Mill-pete-ass), braving hip-hop kids, speak-and-spell readers, and pretentious cinematic greenhorns (aka: film students) to catch a late evening screening of Silent Hill. Was it any good?
She Said:
Thanks to my awesome awesome friend “CapnT”, Chris and I got to view this sneak preview. Now I know [...]

Lucky Number Slevin movie review

by Kris   ⋅   April 17, 2006   ⋅   Comments [3]

If you were to analyze it, Lucky Number Slevin proffers many questions, most tear into the plot and needn’t be asked anyway. Questions like, can a Rabbi (played by the wonderfully odd Sir Ben Kingsley) also be an adequate mob kingpin? Can benevolent Morgan Freeman (as The Boss) portray the Rabbi’s ultimate [...]

MOVIE REVIEW . Sympathy for Lady Vengeance

by Chris   ⋅   March 5, 2006   ⋅   Comment now

Everything seems to be receiving the trilogy treatment these days. As long as a movie is somewhat successful you can bet on at least two more installments. Take a look at Fast and the Furious and X-men, both with third installments due out this year. Truly amazing trilogies are few and far between, and I’m [...]

Doppelgänger movie review

by Kris   ⋅   December 8, 2005   ⋅   Comments [2]

Let me remind you that Yakusho Koji (Tampopo, Charisma, Memoirs of a Geisha) is much more than a pair of walking cheekbones with a ‘fro. He possesses the ability to simultaneously emote strength and warmth, intelligence and naïveté, charming fragility with weight-of-the-world endurance. This is why he’s perfect in the role of Michio [...]

MOVIE REVIEW . Derailed

by Chris   ⋅   November 14, 2005   ⋅   Comments [2]

Kris and I actually snuck into Derailed after watching Jarhead. Smart, subtle, engaging, it was everything this film was not.
Derailed is the story of The Clive (Clive Owen), former teacher, Chicago ad exec (ugh….business people), engaged in a sexless marriage to a beautiful woman and father to a diabetic brat. One day, [...]

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