It is hard to add a lot of new insight to a movie that has been reviewed thousands upon thousands of times and is liked so much that it is ranked #46 in the AFI’s Top 100 List of Greatest Movies. With that said, most reviews of A Clockwork Orange were written in 1971, when the movie was released. I watched this movie for the first time in 2011, 12 years after the death of its director, Stanley Kubrick (The Shining, Full Metal Jacket). To date, this will be the oldest movie that I have reviewed.
Category Archives: Suspense
All Good Things (2010)
Based loosely on the true story of one of the most prolonged missing person cases in New York, Andrew Jarecki’s (Capturing the Friedmans) All Good Things tries hard to tell a story but ultimately fails to form anything meaningful or lasting. I say it is based “loosely” on a true story because this case is still an open case. As a result, this story is a wishy-washy mess based upon a jumble of fact, rumor, conjecture, and psychoanalysis. By the end of the movie, you could care less about what happens to each of the characters. You would rather just have some logical conclusion. Unfortunately, that’s not what you get. I felt myself wanting and wanting to like this movie, but I grew increasingly frustrated as the movie dragged toward its unsatisfying conclusion.
The Horseman (2008)
The Horseman is Australia’s version of Taken without the star power and filmed with a much lower budget. It stars Peter Marshall (pretty much an unknown in the United States) in his first starring role as Christian Forteski, a distraught father who goes on a killing rampage after discovering clues that have led to the death of his 20-something-year-old daughter. It’s a revenge flick, and while there isn’t anything new offered when compared to similar movies, it still holds the viewer’s attention. Some of that might have to do with an unknown cast because it was shot exclusively with handheld cameras or not produced in America. So, while you’ve seen this plot in hundreds of different movies if you can stomach the torture scenes, you’ll be entertained. And while you might not remember anything about this movie two weeks from now, you’ll remember that it did hold your interest.
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Salt (2010)
The one thing I kept focusing on during my viewing of Salt was that this movie was written specifically with the idea that Tom Cruise would be playing the lead role. Instead, Cruise opted to co-star with Cameron Diaz in the romantic adventure Knight and Day. And while Knight and Day was pleasantly entertaining and a movie I recommend, Cruise would have preferred to have Salt in his filmography rather than Knight and Day. I believe he took Knight and Day because the role allowed him to be a quirky, jovial type of character and also because many might identify Salt as a Mission Impossible franchise movie.
Dark Country (2009)
Thomas Jane’s directorial debut leaves much to be desired. I enjoyed Dark Country more and more for the movie’s first two-thirds. However, the film loses me once it starts going from trying to be a believable mystery to an over-the-top parade of being there/done those moments. I can appreciate movies that force a character to go mad until he slowly reaches the depths of hell (Apocalypse Now, 1408, American Psycho, and, of course, The Shining). But if this is the result you aim for, you will need a first-time director to accomplish that. Dark Country could have gone in a dozen different directions. Unfortunately, for me, and probably for you, too, I was led on a path that left me dissatisfied.
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