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Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated Virtuosity (1995) in Movies
Jun 4, 2020
Inside Your Head
Virtuosity- is a intresting sci-fi action thriller. Where Russell Crowe was the villian. He was so insane and crazy in this movie, i loved it. The only downfall was towards during the 3rd/the final act, it got so insane and crazy that I had no idea what was going on and i would have to watch it again. So if your going to watch this movie, be warned you have to do a second viewing cause of how insane and crazy it gets.
The plot: A former cop who has been imprisoned for murdering the psychopath who killed his family, Parker Barnes (Denzel Washington) is recruited to test out a new virtual-reality program where the goal is to apprehend a computer-generated being called SID 6.7 (Russell Crowe), who has been modeled on hundreds of deranged criminals. When SID manages to escape into the real world, Barnes must capture or destroy him before the soulless entity can go on a killing spree.
It mixes sci-fi, action, suspense and crazyness into one movie. A must watch if you haven't heard or seen it.
The plot: A former cop who has been imprisoned for murdering the psychopath who killed his family, Parker Barnes (Denzel Washington) is recruited to test out a new virtual-reality program where the goal is to apprehend a computer-generated being called SID 6.7 (Russell Crowe), who has been modeled on hundreds of deranged criminals. When SID manages to escape into the real world, Barnes must capture or destroy him before the soulless entity can go on a killing spree.
It mixes sci-fi, action, suspense and crazyness into one movie. A must watch if you haven't heard or seen it.
Sarah (7800 KP) rated Gatecrash (2021) in Movies
Feb 19, 2021
Enjoyably strange
Gatecrash is a 2021 psychological thriller from Lawrence Gough, based on a play by Terry Hughes. It opens with a rather beautiful and picturesque shot of the English countryside at dusk, when a speeding car disturbs the peace and alongside a prominent score, promises us a rather tense and thrilling start to the film.
And in this aspect it doesn’t disappoint. Gatecrash disposes with any preamble and pitches us straight into the action. A couple return to a rather maze-like and futuristically styled home in the middle of an argument, but what at first seems like a domestic argument is in fact much more serious: the husband, Steve (Ben Cura), has just committed a hit and run. He’s drunk, abusive and wants his wife, Nicole (Olivia Bonamy), to take the blame. And it wasn’t just an innocent accident as Steve not only knocked someone over, he drove over them again in his rush to flee.
The first 15 minutes follows this argument and then as it ends as Nicole and Steve separate inside the house; him to clean up any evidence from the accident and her to discretely take a pregnancy test. This soon begins to drag, and fortunately we’re saved by a sinister phone call from the landline, that appears to be coming from Steve’s mobile, that he hasn’t seen since the hit and run. This soon escalates into something verging on horror territory as we follow Nicole around their now claustrophobic house.
It’s this middle act that I enjoyed the most as Gatecrash turns into a tense and almost terrifying thriller, as Nicole and Steve have to face off against a mysterious and menacing police officer (Samuel West) who arrives on their doorstep. West is possibly my favourite part of this film, his character is completely over the top and ridiculous yet still portrays this strange, ominous air. It’s strange to find a character who is immensely fun to watch yet still manages to terrify you. He’s further helped by his character’s unexplained and questionable motives that give this thriller an intriguing air of mystery.
Following on from the aftermath of the hit and run, the film jumps to a later time after Nicole has had her baby and again the couple are visited by another mysterious stranger, this one called Sid (Anton Lesser). At first Sid seems like a kind, lovely old man but his unusual air and conversation soon unveil yet more hidden and sinister motives that culminate in a tense finale.
It’s this final act that I was least keen on. At first the dialogue between Sid, Nicole and Steve is gripping but it seems to drag on and keep going round in circles before it finally gets to some dramatic piece of action. This dragging dialogue is definitely Gatecrash’s biggest flaw, and this is in no doubt down to it’s theatre origins. On the stage I can see dialogue like this working well, but as a film it needs a lot more oomph to keep our attention. The cast do well to keep us entertained though, Olivia Bonamy puts in a very understated performance as Nicole and Ben Cura was delightful to watch as Steve purely because the character is a rather despicable excuse for a man. And fortunately Gough’s cinematography works well with the few action scenes to try and make up for the slumps in the dialogue heavy earlier scenes.
Overall Gatecrash is a fairly enjoyable thriller and is worth watching purely for its general air of mystery and the tense and exciting second act.
And in this aspect it doesn’t disappoint. Gatecrash disposes with any preamble and pitches us straight into the action. A couple return to a rather maze-like and futuristically styled home in the middle of an argument, but what at first seems like a domestic argument is in fact much more serious: the husband, Steve (Ben Cura), has just committed a hit and run. He’s drunk, abusive and wants his wife, Nicole (Olivia Bonamy), to take the blame. And it wasn’t just an innocent accident as Steve not only knocked someone over, he drove over them again in his rush to flee.
The first 15 minutes follows this argument and then as it ends as Nicole and Steve separate inside the house; him to clean up any evidence from the accident and her to discretely take a pregnancy test. This soon begins to drag, and fortunately we’re saved by a sinister phone call from the landline, that appears to be coming from Steve’s mobile, that he hasn’t seen since the hit and run. This soon escalates into something verging on horror territory as we follow Nicole around their now claustrophobic house.
It’s this middle act that I enjoyed the most as Gatecrash turns into a tense and almost terrifying thriller, as Nicole and Steve have to face off against a mysterious and menacing police officer (Samuel West) who arrives on their doorstep. West is possibly my favourite part of this film, his character is completely over the top and ridiculous yet still portrays this strange, ominous air. It’s strange to find a character who is immensely fun to watch yet still manages to terrify you. He’s further helped by his character’s unexplained and questionable motives that give this thriller an intriguing air of mystery.
Following on from the aftermath of the hit and run, the film jumps to a later time after Nicole has had her baby and again the couple are visited by another mysterious stranger, this one called Sid (Anton Lesser). At first Sid seems like a kind, lovely old man but his unusual air and conversation soon unveil yet more hidden and sinister motives that culminate in a tense finale.
It’s this final act that I was least keen on. At first the dialogue between Sid, Nicole and Steve is gripping but it seems to drag on and keep going round in circles before it finally gets to some dramatic piece of action. This dragging dialogue is definitely Gatecrash’s biggest flaw, and this is in no doubt down to it’s theatre origins. On the stage I can see dialogue like this working well, but as a film it needs a lot more oomph to keep our attention. The cast do well to keep us entertained though, Olivia Bonamy puts in a very understated performance as Nicole and Ben Cura was delightful to watch as Steve purely because the character is a rather despicable excuse for a man. And fortunately Gough’s cinematography works well with the few action scenes to try and make up for the slumps in the dialogue heavy earlier scenes.
Overall Gatecrash is a fairly enjoyable thriller and is worth watching purely for its general air of mystery and the tense and exciting second act.
Awix (3310 KP) rated John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019) in Movies
May 15, 2019 (Updated May 16, 2019)
Astoundingly violent, wholly absurd thriller sequel. Short-fused hitman Wick (Reeves) goes on the run from the authorities of the underworld, demonstrating his mastery of gun-fu, knife-fu, horse-fu and library-book-fu along the way. The plot is almost entirely secondary to Reeves committing bloody slaughter on a mind-boggling scale.
Essentially a fantasy film in every way that matters, and the middle section flags noticeably, but once again it gets the tricky balance between taking itself too seriously and just being silly about right, although the film has a hard, sadistic edge that feels new. Helped by terrific action choreography and some outrageous overacting from most of the cast. The decision to keep the door flapping open for Chapter 4 may test the goodwill of some viewers, but this is another good bad movie, up to the standards of the last one.
Essentially a fantasy film in every way that matters, and the middle section flags noticeably, but once again it gets the tricky balance between taking itself too seriously and just being silly about right, although the film has a hard, sadistic edge that feels new. Helped by terrific action choreography and some outrageous overacting from most of the cast. The decision to keep the door flapping open for Chapter 4 may test the goodwill of some viewers, but this is another good bad movie, up to the standards of the last one.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Murder by Decree (1979) in Movies
Feb 27, 2018 (Updated Feb 27, 2018)
Ah, nothing says 'fun' like a movie based on the activities of a brutal real-life misogynistic serial killer. Classy Sherlock Holmes pastiche is as much a vehicle to disseminate one particular Jack the Ripper theory as it is entertainment; fortunately it works very well as the later.
Not really a very good Sherlock Holmes movie - Holmes and Watson are clearly twenty years apart in age, weirdly, and Holmes' fearsome intellect is not much on display; his main method here seems to be to wander about until he stumbles over the solution to a mystery. But a distinguished cast and nice production values make up for the all-over-the-shop script, and the action at the end of the movie is well-staged. Hardly an ideal Holmes, but an entertaining mystery-thriller in a post-Hammer horror sort of style, issues of taste excepted.
Not really a very good Sherlock Holmes movie - Holmes and Watson are clearly twenty years apart in age, weirdly, and Holmes' fearsome intellect is not much on display; his main method here seems to be to wander about until he stumbles over the solution to a mystery. But a distinguished cast and nice production values make up for the all-over-the-shop script, and the action at the end of the movie is well-staged. Hardly an ideal Holmes, but an entertaining mystery-thriller in a post-Hammer horror sort of style, issues of taste excepted.
SS-GB
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Sarah (7800 KP) rated 21 Bridges (2019) in Movies
Jul 4, 2020
Predictable and unoriginal
This has been on my Amazon watch list for quite some time, and I have to say I'm a little underwhelmed. For a cop action type thriller it's not bad, but nothing special.
Chadwick Boseman is probably the main selling point in this and for me it was nice to see him in something that wasn't Marvel. The rest of the cast though are either poor (Sienna Miller) or drastically underused (JK Simmons). The main problem with this film is the plot. From the cliched opening scenes to the final act, the majority of it was just so predictable, mostly because its nothing we haven't seen before. And despite their best efforts, you don't end up feeling very much for the two criminals. It's not the worst film I've ever seen but nor is it the best. Vaguely entertaining for 90 minutes but sadly not particularly memorable.
Chadwick Boseman is probably the main selling point in this and for me it was nice to see him in something that wasn't Marvel. The rest of the cast though are either poor (Sienna Miller) or drastically underused (JK Simmons). The main problem with this film is the plot. From the cliched opening scenes to the final act, the majority of it was just so predictable, mostly because its nothing we haven't seen before. And despite their best efforts, you don't end up feeling very much for the two criminals. It's not the worst film I've ever seen but nor is it the best. Vaguely entertaining for 90 minutes but sadly not particularly memorable.
Michael Packner (32 KP) rated The Guest (2014) in Movies
Jun 27, 2019
The villain is superbly acted (4 more)
The film is extremely tense
The blood splatter is 80s-tastic
The music fits the film well
The diner scene is pretty damn cool
Adam Wingard strikes again with another seriously strong film. This one feels part home invasion horror and part 80s action thriller. There's some really nice blood splatter from gunshots in this flick. The villain is portrayed to perfection in a performance on par with Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler and Ledger in The Dark Knight, or at least that's my opinion. The plot is a bit wild but it's a fun ride with some really memorable sequences. The diner scene in particular was pretty spectacular even though in the grand scheme of the finale it wasn't the biggest attraction. All in all a very entertaining film and another hit for Wingard to keep him in my top 5 modern filmmakers.