Thriller Films
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Self/Less (PG-13)
Self/less is the latest example of an increasingly common type of thriller, to which, for lack of a pithier designation, I will refer to as the “Idiotic As It Seems, It Might Also Actually Happen Soon” movie. Normally this type of story will involve a character in some sort of life crisis who undergoes a […]
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Ex Machina (R)
Ex Machina derives its title from the Latin “Deus ex machina,” meaning “god from the machine.” The film’s removal of God from its titular equation is apropos, as is the allusion to classical tragedy. In this polished directorial debut, Alex Garland (writer of 28 Days Later and Sunshine) has crafted something of a modern Greek […]
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Blackhat (R)
Blackhat begins with a sinister shot from outer space of the whole world connected. Thin blue lines spiderweb across the globe as the camera zooms in on one particular power plant in one particular country. The camera continues to zoom through a computer screen in the power plant and zip past bands of cables – […]
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A Simple Plan (R)
“The finest trick of the devil is to persuade you that he does not exist,” writes Baudelaire. It is the greatest trick of modernity, beginning with the Enlightenment, as well. And, if the various modern social projects from capitalism to communism had anything in common, it was their motivation to convince all of us that […]
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Whiplash (R)
“I’d rather die drunk and broken at 34 and have people at a dinner table talk about me than live to be rich and sober at 90 and nobody remember who I was,” says Andrew Neyman (Miles Teller), the protagonist of Damien Chazelle’s sophomore feature film Whiplash. Andrew wants to be a great drummer – like […]
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No Good Deed (PG-13)
No Good Deed is a genre piece pleasantly confident within its limitations. Its direction, script and acting all equally disclose an unimaginative professionalism that bears comparison to any number of films of a similar mold. While it must be admitted that the break-in suspense flick is hardly a genre with many permanent classics (the Audrey […]
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A Most Wanted Man (R)
The surveillance state has a human face. In A Most Wanted Man’s telling of it, it is the gruff, unshaven, alcohol-bloated, nicotine-addled visage of Gunther Bachmann (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a spy who looks like he has a way to travel before he can come in from the cold. As the lead field agent of a […]
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Marathon Man (R)
In the acting community, John Schlesinger’s Marathon Man is known as the source of a conversation between Laurence Olivier and Dustin Hoffman that supposedly occurred behind the scenes. Hoffman, the story goes, was explaining how he’d stayed up for three days straight in order to best convey his character’s exhaustion. Olivier then quipped “Why don’t […]
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The Constant Gardener (R)
The name Teresa, or Therese, is common in the recent history of the church. It’s most recognizable bearer is perhaps Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who founded the Missionaries of Charity. This Catholic Congregation, like its founder, is dedicated to the free care of HIV/AIDS suffers, tuberculosis patients, the mentally ill, abandoned children, lepers, refugees, etc. […]
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Hours (PG-13)
Low-budget, independent films require a few important things to engross an audience. Since they do not have the budget of a blockbuster, they rely heavily on the script and the actors. In theory, Hours should have had both. In practice, it had neither. Our story opens on a soon-to-be father and mother entering a hospital […]
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No Country for Old Men (R)
This Best Picture of 2007 captures the bleakness of human existence with its harsh Texas landscape and pitiless villain. Llewelyn Moss finds some money, takes it, and is ruthlessly pursued by Anton Chigurh. The lines of brutality and brotherhood are hazy between them. The movie seems to promote fate and despair, but it actually has […]