Category: Mystery / Thriller
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The Reluctant Fundamentalist: What is the Pakistani dream?
The Reluctant Fundamentalist – 2012 Director Mira Nair Starring Riz Ahmed, Kate Hudson, Liev Schreiber, Kiefer Sutherland, Om Puri, Shabana Azmi, Martin Donovan Screenplay William Wheeler Written by Mohsin Hamid and Ami Boghani I am thankful for the cinematic voice that is Mira Nair. Who else could take a subject as potentially divisive as a man’s movement from a devoted…
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Now You See Me is a cute date that vanishes after the show
Now You See Me – 2013 Director Louis Leterrier Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Mélanie Laurent, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Common, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Michael Kelley, Elias Koteas Screenplay Ed Solomon, Boaz Yakin, Edward Ricourt Now You See Me is the kind of trick that shows you how its done while its setting you up for the next trick. Four magicians (Eisenberg, Fisher, Harrelson and Franco)…
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Mud: The dream of love lives on
Mud – 2012 Written and Directed by Jeff Nichols Starring Matthew McConaughey, Tye Sheridan, Reese Witherspoon, Sam Shephard, Jacob Lofland, Sarah Paulson, Ray McKinnon, Michael Shannon, Joe Don Baker, Stuart Greer, Michael Abbott, Jr., Bonnie Sturdivant I was never more fiercely dedicated to the pursuit of love than when I was in the Grade School. My nerves…
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Stoker: People disappear all the time
Stoker – 2013 Director Park Chan-Wook Starring Mia Wasikowska, Matthew Goode, Nicole Kidman, Dermot Mulroney, Jacki Weaver, Lucas Till, Alden Ehrenreich, Phyllis Somerville, Ralph Brown, Judith Godrèche Written by Wentworth Miller This is Mia Wasikowska. She is beautiful, innocent, haunted, playful. She is hiding in plain sight. When one thinks they have her character is the moment they could not be…
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Jack Reacher plays like a procedural with an edge
Jack Reacher – 2012 Written and Directed by Christopher McQuarrie Starring Tom Cruise, Jai Courtney, Rosamund Pike, Richard Jenkins, Werner Herzog, David Oyelowo, Robert Duvall, Alexia Fast Taking on book franchises can be a tricky business. One can run the risk of pissing off the fan base even before the movie is released. Tom Cruise managed to…
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Zero Dark Thirty or Forty, Whatever it Takes.
Zero Dark Thirty – 2012 Director Katheryn Bigelow Starring Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Ehle, Joel Edgerton, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Mark Strong, Harold Perrineau, Chris Pratt, Édgar Ramírez, Mark Duplass, James Gandolfini Screenplay Mark Boal I spent much of the Bush administration reading books about the wars in the middle east after 9/11. Most of it was read in disgust…
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Arbitrage: If Ted Kennedy can do it…
Arbitrage – 2012 Written and Directed by Nicholas Jarecki Starring Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Tim Roth, Brit Marling, Laetitia Casta, Nate Parker Arbitrage uses a couple of old stories, combines them, and with some very good acting turns, makes it worth your time. What starts out as a congenial old guy, Robert Miller (Gere) who dodged…
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End of Watch: I’ve got your back
End of Watch – 2012 Written and Directed by David Ayer Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Peña, Natalie Martinez, Anna Kendrick, David Harbour, Frank Grillo, America Ferrera, Cody Horn End of Watch is one of the most gripping police dramas made in many years. Its power is in an immediate filming style which uses primarily smaller digital cameras…
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Skyfall has a gritty and majestic sweep
Skyfall – 2012 Directed by Sam Mendes Starring Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Dame Judi Dench, Naomie Harris, Bérénice Marlohe, Albert Finney, Ben Whishaw Screenplay by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, John Logan 50 years is a long time. The distance from the first Bond film, Dr. No, and the legacy of the films of Daniel Craig may as well…
Ebert Did It Better: Gasbag Reviews 