SE7EN

In this suspense chilling investigation, two detectives, a veteran, William Somerset (Morgan Freeman) and rookie David Mills (Brad Pitt) are investigating a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sin as his modus operandi. This film comes with an incredible chase, huge climax and some uncomfortable moments. The murders are in ways you can not imagine so prepare your self for a heavy crime story.   Gwyneth Paltrow is David Mills’ wife and Kevin Spacey also stars, Kevin Spacey’s name is no where to be seen on my dvd case, nor IMDB first cast page but you won’t miss him!

The chase is incredibly nerving and thrilling. The start may seem slow paced and tame but it is filled with build up of iconic inspection in the dark with torch lights; an inspection of a suspects apartment is very chilling. You want to ask how each murder was done, how did it happen. Soon afterwards you wonder why you asked, and it is the same with each one!  This movie is very clever and well paced.

IMDB se7en

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Rating 8.2/10

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Basic Instinct

Psychological murder mystery thriller set in San Francisco, California.  Basic Instinct crosses sexual boundaries in film making in that it is extremely explicit.  Michael Douglas plays Nick Curran, the Detective who is investigating the murder of a rock star with an ice pick.  Sharon Stone is Catherine Tramell, she is a murder mystery writer who has written about a murder with an ice pick and therefore she has given herself the perfect alibi – “I’d have to be pretty stupid to write a book about killing and then kill him the way I described in my book. I’d be announcing myself as the killer. I’m not stupid. “.  However, she was the last person known to be in contact with the victim.    Jeanne Tripplehorn also stars as the Psychologist who is helping Nick to overcome his alcoholism and itchy trigger finger.

The music is haunting and the winding roads round the coast to Catherine’s beach house make your spine go all tingly.  The chemistry between Douglas and Stone in this movie is electric and charged with sexual tension.  It is gripping in suspense and the script is exceptionally strong.  Every time Stone appears on the set you fall for her charm.  You get sucked in.  You will try to find the clues but the movie is too clever for you!
IMDB Basic Instinct

Trailer

Rating 8.6/10

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The Usual Suspects

Film was made in 1995.

This is actually a line up of Stephen Baldwin (Alec Baldwin’s brother), Gabriel Byrne, Benicio Del Toro (License to Kill, Bond film), Kevin Pollak and Kevin Spacey – see picture below.  These are the usual suspects because they are all hardened and notorious criminals except for Spacey who plays Roger “Verbal” Kint, a cripple who has defrauded people.  Fortunately by happy co-incidence in bringing these fellas together in a fairly bad mood means that they are ready for some pay back time on the police.  They plan and execute a crime from their shared cell while awaiting to be charged which sets the ball rolling for all of them to part-take in another crime but this one will be one of certain death with huge money stakes involved and they have no choice but to agree.   This tale is rather chilling in that the man behind everything is somebody akin to the devil.

To sum up, the actual hopping around from past to present disturbs your concentration of the facts from the very beginning.  I was always asking myself are we in the now?  The very first scene is the most important part of the film so pay attention to get a head start.  A clever plot and some extremely good acting, particularly Kevin Spacey who won an Oscar.  The mood was just right.  We enjoyed this film.
IMDB The Usual Suspects

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Rating 8.5/10

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The Machinist

Christian Bale works himself up into a frenzy in this psychological thriller/mystery. There is seriously something wrong with him, he cannot eat, he cannot sleep and he cannot remember. He has to resort to writing everything down on post-its in order to carry on a normal enough life to exist. He works in a factory with a bunch of guys and nobody likes him very much, lets just say he doesn’t have “friends”. As the movie progresses, he gets weirder, you will him out of his madness, but most shocking is the anorexic state that Bale has got himself into in order to make this film! There are a few red herrings but pay attention to detail it all adds up in the end. Summing up the film was dingy on the grey scale and dirgy like a day’s work in a lathe factory.

IMDB The Machinist

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Rating: 6.3/10

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Shutter Island

This film gets you on the Island and seriously messes with your mind. A patient is missing from the mental institute on an island. Leonardo DiCaprio, a federal marshal, is sent to investigate and find the missing patient. As soon as he arrives you want DiCaprio to get off the Island….but there is a storm and the ferry will not be arriving.  Spine chilling, thrilling and gripping.  Solid performance from Leonardo DiCaprio as expected and good casting of Ben Kingsley as the Psychiatric doctor.  We felt it made an impact on us – need a shrink!

IMDB Shutter Island

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Theme music – Krzysztof Penderecki – Symphony No. 3 – Passacaglia – Allegro moderato

Rating: 8.6/10

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Inception

The ability to plant an idea in somebody’s subconscious that will take seed and grow is Inception.  In order to do this DiCaprio puts his victims into a dream state and he can take his colleagues with him all sharing the same dream to get the job done.  We are taken into a dream within a dream within a dream – 3 levels of subconciousness where time is compounded so that in the 1st level, 5 minutes of our time becomes a week, 2nd level becomes 6 months and in the 3rd, its 10 years so you can get a lot of work done in very little time the deeper you go.  Bringing everyone back has to be properly co-ordinated or you could end up in the subconscious abyss (a whopping 50 years or more before returning to reality).   Awesome anti-gravity sequences, flashes of genius in terms of story telling and mind bending graphics together with a large cast of stunt people. I loved all of the cast but Leonardo Di Caprio needs special mention and so does Marion Cotillard.  I watched the first 30 mins twice because I didn’t get the opening sequence, am I the only one?  This affected the rating.
IMDB: Inception

Trailer

Rating 8.9/10

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Vanilla sky

Mystery psychological film that turns into a sci-fi – if you don’t believe me, watch it!

Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz and Jason Lee from “my name is Earl”. Gripping opening as Tom Cruise is a charismatic playboy who is dumb struck when Penelope Cruz comes into his life as his best friend’s date. She captivates all who watch her and is particularly lovely in this film, her bad English is also endearing in this film (not always a bonus in others).  Cameron Diaz plays the psychological nightmare and events unfold that change his life forever.  Tom Cruise hops from dream state to reality and it is left is up to you to sort out what’s real and what’s not so, in this respect it belongs to the psychological thriller/mystery genre.  As the film progresses you are less likely to sort out the mess.  Great background music tracks to enhance the film along with shots of Times Square and New York.

While the ending did not do the film justice, looking through that, the film is a enjoyable music and story. Ending could have been cleverer resulting in a 7.6 rating.
IMDB link Vanilla Sky

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Rating: 7.6/10

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The Prestige

There are three parts to a trick, the pledge where you are shown something ordinary, the turn where the extraordinary happens with it and the prestige where there is a twist.   Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman are rival magicians who begin to sabotage and interfere with each others performances in order to damage their reputations.   When Christian Bale finds the ultimate illusion, their rivalry is fuelled and Hugh Jackman is obsessed with trying to recreate the illusion. Full of the amazing lengths magicians go to in order to wow their audience, much more than just smoke and mirrors and a rather clever ending.
IMDB The Prestige

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Rating 8.4/10

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