Thriller Movies

I have a general rule. If a movie is coming to On Demand before or shortly after its theatrical release, it isn’t worth watching. If the studio isn’t willing to promote or release what appears to be a mainstream film to a large audience, then I’ll assume it isn’t fit for the big screen. Thankfully, I make exceptions to this rule on occasion – and in the case of The Ledge, the exception pays off.

Read FilmJabber’s full The Ledge movie review.

Of all the movies I watched at the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) this year, none was more rewarding than Salvation Boulevard, the agnostic comedy starring Greg Kinnear, Pierce Brsonan, Marisa Tomei, Jennifer Connelly and Ed Harris. A lighthearted, offbeat laugh fest, the movie wasn’t as awarding as the experience, that of being crammed into a theater full of atheists who relate all too well to the jokes on display.

Read FilmJabber’s full Salvation Boulevard movie review.

My experience at the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) has been pretty hit-or-miss, though it’s trending in the right direction. Of the five movies I’ve seen thus far, the first three were wastes of time, so much so that they’ve marred my entire experience.

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Ten days into the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), I finally attended my first showing, a sold-out screening of the upcoming drama-thriller The Whistleblower, starring Rachel Weisz. The movie, about sex trafficking in post-war Bosnia and the subsequent follow-up by the United Nations and United States, is unfortunately a dull, somewhat cluttered affair.

Read FilmJabber’s full The Whistleblower movie review.

A videotaped version of David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo red band trailer has finally found its way online. The movie trailer is apparently playing in European theaters (though that’s to be disputed, given that it has a red MPAA label), and it’s rumored that the American green band trailer will debut next week with X-Men: First Class.

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The Terminator and The Usual Suspects are very similar in many ways. People die in both of them. And they are regarded as two of the best movies in modern cinema. One is about a cyborg sent from the future to assassinate the mother of humanity’s last chance, the other about a gimpy Kevin Spacey and a mysterious underworld figure. Very similar indeed.

Both movies were recently released by MGM and 20th Century Fox in book format. Book format!

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Sexy college girls. Frat parties. Obsessive roommates. Minka Kelly and Leighton Meester. The recipe is there, but chefs Christian E. Christiansen and Sonny Mallhi managed to make their dish taste like soggy cardboard. The Roommate is now on Blu-Ray and DVD, but no one should care.

Read FilmJabber’s full The Roommate movie review.

Would you be considered suicidal if you don’t want to kill yourself but are going to jump off a building nonetheless? In the upcoming thriller The Ledge, a young man named Gavin (Charlie Hunnam) has an affair with a beautiful woman (Liv Tyler) – but love can be killer. When her fundamentalist husband (Patrick Wilson) discovers them, he forces Gavin to make a choice: sacrifice his own life, or that of the woman he loves.

That’s just not a very nice thing to do.

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What a year for Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. Or, more importantly, audiences of their films. In 2010, two of the biggest stars on the planet contributed to the world not one, not two, but three bad movies. They capped off the year by joining forces to make The Tourist, a pitifully dull and stupid caper that somehow was nominated for Best Comedy at the Golden Globes.

Read FilmJabber’s full The Tourist movie review.

From Peter Weir, the director of Master and Commander, comes the epic escape and survival film The Way Back. Released in December 2010 on its way to less than $3 million domestic box office gross, The Way Back is yet another head scratcher. With a captivating story and powerful performances, The Way Back deserves much more attention than it received, even with a disastrous ending.

Read FilmJabber’s full The Way Back movie review.

Intelligence can be a Godsend. It can also be a pain in the ass, especially when you’re addicted to it. In Limitless, Bradley Cooper discovers a pill that makes him the smartest man on the planet – and gets him into loads of trouble.

Read FilmJabber’s full Limitless movie review.

The first few months each year are typically a terrible time for movies. After an injection of quality in December, Hollywood unleashes hell upon audiences, throwing garbage left and right and hoping things will stick. As brutal as these early months can be, there is a positive side: one or two films – typically ones no one saw coming – turn out to be well worth the price of admission.

Read FilmJabber’s full The Lincoln Lawyer movie review.