Rick's Flicks Picks on AWN: Thriller

ANONYMOUS (2011) (***1/2)

rdemott2 — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 01:01:52 -0700

Roland Emmerich is best known for destroying the world in films like INDEPENDENCE DAY, GODZILLA, THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW and 2012. This period political thriller is the furthest from his other work as any film he has done. It’s also easily his best film. Do I believe in its central premise that Shakespeare didn’t write his plays? Not any more than I believe that Shakespeare based ROMEO AND JULIET one his own love affair with a noble woman who dreamed of acting.

MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE (2011) (***1/2)

rdemott2 — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 18:02:03 -0700

Wayward souls are often the prey of sociopaths. They either turn into victims or accomplices or something in the middle. Cult leaders from Charles Manson to Jim Jones have used the veneer of family and community to twist people's minds into believing terrible things. They make it too scary to leave. The outside world becomes foreign. So how can one cope if they do get away?

THE IDES OF MARCH (2011) (***1/2)

rdemott2 — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 02:24:32 -0700

It’s not surprising that George Clooney would make a political film. What might be surprising is how cynical the film is about our political process. For sure Clooney works in liberal ideas, but it’s not the point. His character just happens to be a Democrat. The political policies his character talks about easily be switched to the other side and it wouldn’t change the central theme, which is that politics is completely compromised with flawed humans looking out for themselves.

TAKE SHELTER (2011) (***1/2)

rdemott2 — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 00:43:43 -0700

What if you couldn’t trust your own thoughts? Curtis begins to believe this might be the case. He is starting to have dreams so vivid that he doesn’t know what is real and what was just in his head. Mental illness runs in his family. He seeks help, but is it enough to make him aware of the line between reality and his delusions?

INCENDIES (2011) (****)

rdemott2 — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 01:13:14 -0700

What if upon your mother's death you learned that your father was still alive and that you had a brother you never knew about? Then you were asked to find them. Through the process you learn shocking details of your mother's past. What if the woman that always seemed a little weird was actually a legend in her native country?

CONTAGION (2011) (***1/2)

rdemott2 — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 17:47:39 -0700

This film is a germaphobe's worst nightmare. You'll finish watching this movie and want to wash your hands. There have been other disease outbreak films before, but none have been this realistic, which of course makes it more frightening.

Blu-ray: LIMITLESS (2011)

rdemott2 — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 16:36:41 -0700

Neil Burger's smart drug thriller comes to Blu-ray is a sharp AVC encoded 1080p transfer. As the main character goes from loser to genius, the color palette changes and the disc never misses the mark. Whether it's the desaturated world of the character off the drug or the bright vibrant world of him on the drug, the colors are always spot on, even black level stay consistent over the style change. Details pop throughout the film, especially in the "on the drug" moments, which is perfectly suited for the subject matter where the drug enhances the user's perception. Some minor aliasing is the only problem I witnessed, but like I said it was minor and pops up in the usual kinds of places.

LIMITLESS (2011) (**1/2)

rdemott2 — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 00:38:27 -0700

What if you could take a pill and it unlocked the vast potential of your mind? That’s what this film purposes. The problem is that writers not on the drug have a hard time representing what a person with a four digit IQ is really like. I highly doubt that someone that smart would end up in a thriller, but that’s what the film is.

HANNA (2011) (***1/2)

rdemott2 — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 08:44:05 -0700

There are a bunch of movies that this thriller brings to mind. It's like THE PROFESSIONAL crossed with the BOURNE series and a touch of KICK-ASS. The first and last of those films because of the young female protagonist and the middle one for its reality grounded action. But then you get a dose of fairy tale woven in as well.

SOURCE CODE (2011) (***)

rdemott2 — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 11:36:19 -0700

Duncan Jones follows up his ingenious "ideas" sci-fier, MOON, with this more conventional sci-fi thriller. That said I'm not saying that film is mindless in the least. It actually has lots of ideas, maybe too many. It's like watching GROUNDHOG DAY filtered through Hitchcock and 12 MONKEYS.