Posts tagged Thriller
“The Town” Not Pretty, but Good and Exciting
Sep 22nd
“Not Pretty, but Good and Exciting”
THE TOWN is the second film that Ben Affleck has directed, and he also stars in it along with Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Blake Lively, Pete Postlethwaite, and Chris Cooper.
The story takes place in modern-day Charlestown, a square-mile rough neighborhood near Boston known for its criminals and unsolved murders, and sometimes the actors’ accents are so thick that it is difficult to understand what they are saying.
The film opens with a bank robbery, the four robbers all wearing skull masks, and they take the pretty bank manager hostage with them in their escape.
When they release Claire, the robbers take her driver’s license and tell her that if she talks to the FBI, they know where she lives and they will come to her home, rape her, and kill her.
Naturally, Claire has to talk to FBI Special Agent Adam Frawley, and while she is being questioned, she asks, “Should I have a lawyer here?”
Frawley tells Claire that anyone who lawyers up during questioning is usually guilty, and because Claire doesn’t want to be involved any more than she already is, she doesn’t tell Frawley one piece of information about the robbers that she observed.
Meanwhile, the leader of the robbers, Doug MacRay, follows Claire, meets her “accidentally,” they start talking, and he takes her out for a drink. She doesn’t know who Doug really is, they start dating, and at one point Claire tells Doug the information that she withheld from the FBI.
Claire tells Doug that on really sunny days, she always thinks of someone dying, because her younger brother died on such a day, which will play an important part in a later scene in the film.
Doug is planning another big robbery, but he tells his partner and childhood friend, Jim, and the rest of the team that it will be their last job, after which they will just hit bars.
This time the team all wear nun’s masks, and the getaway chase through the streets of Boston is exciting, especially when a bridge shows up.
Of course, whenever crime is involved, nothing ever goes on as planned.
THE TOWN is not pretty, but it sure is good, exciting entertainment, it’s dedicated to the good people of Charlestown, but made about the “bad” people, and I sure am glad it was.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Chloe” Raises Questions about Sexual Fidelity
Mar 31st
“Raises Questions about Sexual Fidelity”
CHLOE is a domestic thriller and a sexual suspense film that raises questions about sexual fidelity, but the answers are much too nicely tied up at the end to prevent any embarrassment to the characters.
Or confusion for the audience, either, for that matter.
Julianne Moore plays Catherine, a successful gynecologist in Toronto, and the story begins with her arranging a surprise birthday party for her husband, David, who is played by Liam Neeson.
David is a college professor, and he is in New York City giving a lecture on opera. When a pretty girl asks him out to dinner after the lecture, David changes his plans to fly directly back to Toronto and thus misses the surprise birthday party that Catherine was giving for him.
The next morning back in Toronto, David lies to Catherine and tells her that he missed his flight back and that was why he was late getting home.
However, Catherine sees a text message on David’s phone that says, “Thanks for last night. Miranda.”
Catherine doesn’t confront David about his lie, but instead does something more drastic. David has always been too flirtatious with women he just meets to suit Catherine, and she suspects that he is cheating on her.
So, when Catherine meets Chloe, a high-priced call girl played by Amanda Seyfried, Catherine hires Chloe to “accidentally meet” David, just to see what David will do and then report back to Catherine.
Well, you can see where this is going, can’t you?
Or maybe not.
Chloe and David meet a second time, but when she reports back to Catherine, Catherine says that she shouldn’t have involved Chloe in this, she made a mistake, and she tells Chloe to stop.
However, something happens which causes Chloe not to stop, and the relationship between her and Catherine changes. Not only that, but when Chloe is at Catherine’s office, Chloe meets Catherine’s teenage son, Michael, and a fourth major character enters the messy situation.
For what it is worth, this film by Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan is based on a 2004 French-Spanish film called NATHALIE, which has been called a “pretentious character study,” but which I have not seen.
CHLOE kept me guessing right up until, oh, about the halfway point when I figured out what was going on, and then I lost interest.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”