Archive for the 'Mystery' Category

The Dark Knight

Published
by
Chalupa
on August 4, 2008
in Action, Based on a comic, Black Comedy, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Sequel and Thriller
. 0 Comments

Liz and I were able to catch the latest installment in the Batman series over the weekend.  We’re both glad we were able to catch it on the big screen.  After all the buildup, hype, and raving reviews, we finally got to see what everyone was talking about.


I was very impressed with Batman Begins and I wasn’t in any way disappointed with The Dark Knight.  I’m already looking forward to the next one.  Heath Ledger did an amazing job with The Joker.  I was reading someone’s comments somewhere and they were talking about how they’ve never been a Ledger fan until now.  They also never realized how menacing and diabolical the Joker could actually be, and after thinking about Jack Nicholson’s portrayal from 1989, they realized that Nicholson was just delivering the same role he had been for the previous 20 years or so.  You may or may not agree with that, but it was a little mind blowing to me.  Maybe I haven’t seen enough of Nicholson’s films, but I’ve never quite understood why people are so enamored by him.  Yeah, he has some good films out there with great performances, but I’ve never been that impressed.  It’s really too bad Ledger isn’t with us anymore for any follow-up films.

Often times in sequels, it’s hard to make something that lives up to the original.  I think Christopher Nolan did a good job in raising the bar by bringing in the Joker, but there’s always room for some improvements.  I don’t think Christian Bale had to really act that much this time around.  The gutteral “batman voice” got a little annoying and old, but it makes sense he was talking differently to try and hide his identity.  Aaron Eckhart did a decent job.  I’ll always remember him as Nick Naylor from Thank You for Smoking.  It’ll be interesting to see if he makes a comeback in the future.

I think Gary Oldman had a much more active role this time around.  He’s such a great actor and it’s nice to see him able to spread his wings a bit.  I liked Maggie Gyllenhaal more than Katie Holmes in the role of Rachel Dawes.  She also fit in pretty well.  It wasn’t like some films where actors change for a particular character and the whole time you’re confused as to who exactly that person is.  Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman were wonderful as usual.  Some friends of mine complained after the first film that they were grossly underutilized.  I kind of agreed, however, it was nice to actually have a “real” actor play the role of Alfred for a change.  I was just happy to have a live body in the role.

Some of the scenes with the Joker are a bit disturbing, but this is rated PG-13, so there’s not a whole lot to worry about.  They cut away at just the right moments in certain scenes.  Liz and I both said we got a little bored in the middle, but overall we thoroughly enjoyed it.  I would highly suggest getting out and seeing this one before it leaves the theaters.  You won’t be sorry.

Rating: ★★★★½

In the Valley of Elah

Published
by
Chalupa
on July 9, 2008
in Based on a true story, Crime, Drama, Iraq, Mystery, Thriller and War
. 0 Comments

I’ve been finding it intersting that more and more movies are coming out about the war in Iraq.  The other day it just dawned on me that in 20 years, this war will be just like Vietnam in that there will be plenty of books, movies, etc out there for people to learn from.

In the same way that Lions for Lambs seemed so lame compared to Charlie Wilson’s War, I think Robert Redford’s film once again pales in comparison to In the Valley of Elah.  The first pair goes together because they both deal with war in Afghanistan.  The second pair also makes sense because they both deal with the current “War on Terror” or “War of Terror” as Borat puts it.

This film deals with a soldier that has just returned from home, but turns up missing.  Tommy Lee Jones, plays the boy’s father, is trying to figure out what happened to his son.  Being a veteran, and a bit of an investigator himself, Hank Deerfield isn’t satisfied with the lackluster efforts and figuring out just what happened to his son.  Through trial and tribulation, Hank finally gets Detective Sanders, Charlize Theron, to take a real look at the case and try to piece all the parts together.  In the meantime, Hank is trying to make sense of some of the videos his son had been sending home to him from the battlefield.

This is truly a sad and tragic story, but I feel that it gave me a little peak into what some of these people are going through.  Every once in a while I catch a blip on the news about what’s going on in that region of the world.  The only real thing that’s actually affecting me are gas prices and the economy tanking.  I’m not in the armed forces though, and there’s very little chance of a draft happening again so I’d be really surprised if I ever experienced anything like this first hand.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Bubba Ho-tep

Published
by
Chalupa
on June 9, 2008
in Based on short story, Comedy, Horror, Independent and Mystery
. 0 Comments

This was one movie I kind of dismissed as looking stupid back in the day, but a good friend and old roommate of mine raved and raved about it.  So I eventually put it on my Netflix list and it finally showed up.  I was pleasantly surprised.  All I really knew was it had something to do with Elvis and starred Bruce Campbell of Evil Dead fame.

If you’re a fan of aforementioned series, I’m sure you’ll get into this film, otherwise, there’s a slight chance it might be a little weird for you.  Bruce Campbell plays Elvis, that’s right Elvis Presley.  You see, Elvis got tired of the fame and fortune and switched identities with an impersonator he met.  They had an agreement to switch back if Elvis ever wanted to, but then the impersonator died of a drug overdose and Elvis decided to just keep on keeping on.  Presently he’s in a nursing home and his only friend is a black man who believes he’s John F. Kennedy.

Some funky things have been happening around the nursing home.  A lot of people have been dying.  Elvis and Jack discover there’s a re-animated mummy that’s been feasting on the residents and decide to “Ask not what your nursing home can do for you, but ask what you can do for your nursing home.”

As I mentioned before, if you’re into the Evil Dead series, Bruce Campbell, B-movies, or are looking for something unique and quirky - then this is definitely a film for you.  I enjoyed it and hope you will too.

Rating: ★★★½☆

Eastern Promises

Published
by
Chalupa
on March 27, 2008
in Crime, Drama, England, Graphic Violence, Investigation, Mob, Mystery, Russian, Thriller and Twist
. 0 Comments

Eastern Promises is a follow-up of sorts to A History of Violence. Both are directed by David Cronenberg, Viggo Mortensen stars in both, and they are both stories about somebody involved in the mob. While Cronenberg’s first mob film takes place in the US, Eastern Promises involves Russian mobsters and takes place in London.

Viggo’s character, Nikolai, works for a very notorious crime family. He’s the driver and he does more than just drive the car from point A to point B. One night he encounters Anna, played by Naomi Watts, as she is looking for somebody at the restaurant owned by the Nikolai’s employers. Anna works at a hospital and a girl died recently giving birth to her daughter. The young girl had a diary which contained a business card for said restaurant. Even though Anna speaks little Russian herself, it is part of her heritage and her uncle, who claims to be ex-KGB, warns her to stay away from the situation. Anna soon finds herself in the midst of a complicated situation as I’m sure you can guess.

One very interesting aspect of this movie is tattoos. In this crime society, tattoos are given as badges and marks of honor. They essentially tell the story of your life. The tattoos are also standardized so anybody can recognize your past glories and exploits merely by noticing the tattoos you have. In the same respect, having tattoos you did not earn can be quite detrimental to ones wellbeing.

Viggo Mortensen is AMAZING in this film. He’s a bit of a method actor in that he heavily researches roles he has and becomes the characters he plays. I know that most people only know him from his exploits in a little trilogy called Lord of the Rings, but seriously guys, Mortensen is a great actor that has been around for a while. I think the first film I remember seeing him in was Crimson Tide. I’ve since seen him in Witness, Carlito’s Way, The Prophecy, Young Guns II, G.I. Jane, and Psycho. The only movie I’ve seen him in that I wasn’t a big fan of was Hidalgo. If you’ve seen any of these and enjoyed Mortensen’s acting skills you should definitely check out some of his other films.

Other noteworthy performances came from Armin Mueller-Stahl, Seymon, who plays the head of the crime family. You’ll probably also recognize Vincent Cassel from Ocean’s 12 and Ocean’s 13. I always remember him as the creepy brother from Brotherhood of the Wolf and the one movie I always throw out there for “wow factor”, Irreversible.

I really enjoyed this film and hope you do too. Let me know if you have any thoughts or comments.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Eastern Promises

Eastern Promises

Published
by
Neville
on November 6, 2007
in Crime, Drama, England, Graphic Violence, Investigation, Mob, Murder, Mystery, Russian, Thriller and Twist
. 1 Comment

I have a confession to make: director David Cronenburg is one of those critically acclaimed directors I just don’t get.

However, his last film “A History of Violence” was the first one I watched and felt its power. I felt there was something there, even if I wasn’t fully understanding just how complex it was.

Similar to “A History of Violence,” “Eastern Promises” stars the talented Viggo Mortensen and the underrated Naomi Watts in a crime drama revolving around babies, body parts and a sect of the Russian Mafia in London. Written by Stephen Knight, the screenwriter that gave us “Dirty Pretty Things,” another story more specifically about black market body parts, “Eastern Promises” begins with a jolt. True to Cronenburg’s form it seems, the violence in his films is often drawn out–shot without music or edited with stylized style–and it’s also visceral. So are the scenes in “Eastern Promises.” They touch on delicate subjects (underage prostitutes, abortion, homosexuality, pure human deception) and everything seems to be marked by the sins of these Mafia characters (similar to their iconic-like tatoos). The tagline for the film reads: “every sin leaves a mark.” And this is really what the movie is all about. It unpacks this idea through its visuals and asks its audience to be subjected to its darkness (make no mistake about it, it is dark). But can we bear it? Can we endure through it?

I think the film could’ve been more effective (or at least more accessible to mass audiences) if more music was in the film, but I’m quickly learning that this is not Cronenburg’s style. He seems to like revealing things, not as if it’s cinema but as if it’s real life, and this tension is felt continually throughout the film. Do I believe things like this go on? Absolutely. But can I ever see myself as one of them? Probably not.

It wasn’t until the film’s end until I sensed any kind of humanity in the “villian” characters of the film. What distinquishes people as people and people as monsters? This is another question the film asks.

Mortensen and Watts are both strong here and both give convincing performances with convincing accents. But so much darkness is here I wonder if Cronenburg would’ve been wise to have let a little more light in (into the scenes, into the colors, in the images/icons of the film). I know this is neo-film noir from a very experienced and artistic filmmaker but I still can wonder, right?

All in all, worth a rental, not quite worth the $10 cinema ticket price (unless you want to really really feel the violence–then maybe you should go to the cinema and watch it).

Bourne Ultimatum

Published
by
Chalupa
on August 16, 2007
in Action, Adventure, Assassination, Based on a book, Conspiracy, Mystery, Sequel, Thriller, Trilogy and Twist
. 0 Comments

If you were a fan of the first or second movies, Bourne Identity or Bourne Supremacy, I can pretty much guarantee you’ll love the third installment. This isn’t another one of those tragic trilogies that took a good thing and drove it into the ground…Matrix, cough, cough. They kept it coming and kept improving things throughout the series.

There’s some faces you’ll recognize and there’s also some new ones. You already know Jason (Matt Damon), Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) and Pamela Landy (Joan Allen). Some new faces you might recognize are David Strathairn, Paddy Considine, Albert Finney and Scott Glenn. I was really excited to see Paddy Considine in here. I hope this boosts his career a bit. I thought he was amazing in In America, enjoyed him in Cinderella Man and loved him in Hot Fuzz. Everything kind of comes full circle this time around. You find out how things started, who is responsible for everything and as always, nobody can quite catch Jason Bourne.

Once again the government goes after Bourne to cover their tracks, and end up creating even more of a mess that needs to be covered. This time there’s no playing around though. If you know what the word “ultimatum” means, the movie definitely lives up to it.

I don’t really have much else to say about this. I loved it. Go out and see it. Tell us your thoughts.

Hot Fuzz

Published
by
Chalupa
on May 7, 2007
in Action, Comedy, Conspiracy, Crime, Mystery and Parody
. 0 Comments

If you were fan of Shaun of the Dead, I think you’ll definitely like this one. I enjoyed SOTD, but thought Hot Fuzz was a lot more funny. You’ll recognize a lot of faces in here like Bill Nighy, Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, Simon Pegg, Timothy Dalton, Paddy Considine, Jim Broadbent, and maybe even Peter Jackson. Well, maybe not Peter Jackson. He is in there though.

The story goes something like this - there’s this really good cop, Nicholas Angel, who gets sent to a sleepy village in the middle of nowhere because he’s making everybody look bad in London. His arrest rate is 400% higher than anybody else. Our super-cop is then paired up with the police chief’s son of this sleep town, who happens to be obsessed with action and police movies. Even though this town has the lowest crime rate in the country, Nicholas starts to realize a lot of “accidents” seem to happen. Turns out there’s a huge conspiracy going on and he intends to solve it.

Right now I’m sure the movie doesn’t sound too exciting. What I’ve failed to mention is the hilarity that ensues in the dialog, the acting, the different cops interacting, etc, etc. I would have to say this is, hands down, the funniest movie I’ve seen so far this year. If there’s something better out there I’d love to see it. I haven’t laughed this hard in a theater since Borat. I think some of the hilarity comes from Simon Pegg. If you didn’t know, he was a writer for both Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Sorta reminds me of how Wes Anderson’s movies are so funny, yet the Wilsons are usually involved in the script. If you are a fan of Pegg, you might want to check out a couple of his upcoming movies - Run, Fat Boy, Run (directed by David Schwimmer), How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, and “La Triviata” (co-writen and co-directed by Pegg and Nick Frost).

The Prestige

Published
by
Chalupa
on January 15, 2007
in Based on a novel, Drama, England, Fantasy, Mystery, Revenge, Sci-fi, Suicide, Thriller and Twist
. 0 Comments

Back in September there were commercials and previews out for two movies about magicians: The Illusionist and The Prestige. Trying to keep them separated in my head was quite a task. I even went to see The Illusionist in the theater and thought I was going to see The Prestige. Even though I enjoyed that outing and was entertained by the film, I recently found out The Prestige is way, way better. It even made me want to go watch Batman again after seeing Christian Bale and Sir Michael Caine in action together a second time.

In this film you have two magicians who have been around each other for a long time and are competing to see who is best. There is also a grudge war between the two that all started with an unfortunate accident that resulted in Angier’s wife’s death. In the end, the obsession to be on top ruins both men’s lives and there are a few twists in there that aren’t easily seen through from the beginning.

This film is full of wonderful actors. It was definitely a treat to see Bowie back in action. I think his performance as Nikola Tesla blows his Labyrinth performance out of the water. Andy Serkis plays his assistant. I’m glad to see he’s getting more work. The two magicians are played by Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale. Michael Caine is an engineer who builds and designs the illusions and Scarlett Johansson plays an assistant. Besides just being a great movie, I think this film also portrays what an unhealthy obsession can do to somebody when taken to extreme levels.

One thing I really appreciated was the lack of offensive material. So often in the box office I see films that great, except I can’t recommend them to certain people because of certain content contained throughout. This is one that will hopefully keep you entertained, and, isn’t full of nudity, violence, language and drug-use. So go out and see it. I caught it at our dollar theater. Hopefully it’s playing somewhere around you for cheap too.

The Illusionist

Published
by
Lij
on September 15, 2006
in Based on a book, Based on a novel, Conspiracy, Drama, England, Independent, Mystery, Romance, Thriller and Twist
. 0 Comments

When we went to see The Illusionist the other night, I couldn’t remember if it was the movie with Christian Bale or the movie with Edward Norton. I didn’t know until a preview for The Prestige came on, and I thought, “Oh, that’s the movie with Christian Bale. I must be seeing the one with Edward Norton.”

The Illusionist is the story of Eisenheim (Ed Norton), who is, obviously, and illusionist. From childhood, he was in love with the beautiful heiress, Sophie (Jessica Beil), who reciprocated his love. They were eventually separated by her family, and Eisenheim left to travel the world and discover the secrets of illusion.

Fifteen years later, he returns to Vienna, where Sophie is engaged to the crown prince. They meet and their love is rediscovered, but this does not sit well with Police Inspector Uhl (the always wonderful Paul Giamatti), who is always trying to figure out how Eisenheim does his illusions.

The love story isn’t entirely convincing, and the plot is a bit obvious, but this is still an entertaining movie. It’s one part magic story, one part murder mystery, and one part love story.

I liked it.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Published
by
Chalupa
on June 26, 2006
in Based on a book, Based on a novel, Black Comedy, Buddy Comedy, Comedy, Film Noir, Filmmaking, Murder, Mystery, Neo Noir, New York, Suicide, Thriller and Twist
. 0 Comments

From the previews I was really looking forward to this movie, but I have to say I was pretty disappointed with it after actually seeing it. I really wanted to just turn it off while watching. I felt like it was giving me attention deficit disorder. The flow was choppy and hard to follow, the events just didn’t make sense, the lines were cheesy, etc. I then realized why the movie seemed so weird. They were trying to mimic a myster-detective-trashy-romance paperback series they reference throughout the movie. When I finally realized this, everything started to make sense. However, I still didn’t like the movie.

For starters, we have Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer and Michelle Monaghan as the three main characters in the film. Downey is a theif-actor who is job shadowing Kilmer. Kilmer is an actual private detective investigating some murders. Monaghan is Downey’s childhood/high school crush that randomly turns up and runs into Downey. The movie is narrated throughout by Downey as he re-tells this story with Kilmer interjecting a couple times. I will say the movie is clever, but it’s probably a little too clever for most people to follow. So much so that I really, really wanted to just turn it off. Luckily I have a rule that I need to just watch movies til they’re over because you never know how you might feel about it after the credits start to roll.

Some of the reason it’s hard to follow, in my opinion, is because the story is being narrated. And just like when some people tell a story, Downey would accidently leave a part out or have to re-tell something. So the story would backup or pause while the details were worked out. The story also jumped from one character to another, which isn’t bad in itself (Look at Pulp Fiction for example), but didn’t flow very well. Another problem I had is that things just weren’t making sense. I felt like I was watching a soap opera at times. This can be explained by the following-the-book-genre theory of mine. People would say weird things or have stupid ideas, crazy thoughts, do weird things, etc. Many of the situation just seemed contrived and not real. There were even several times where nudity was introduced. However, it didn’t have a point and it wasn’t really that American Pie/National Lampoon-esque either. You know - the kind that draws in the 13-20 yr old crowd.

If I didn’t think this movie was the way it is, I would say this is probably the worst movie I’ve seen in a long time. I’m sure there are many that would disagree with me on this one, so maybe you should give it a watch yourself and then put up a comment as to what you think.