Posts Marked Suspense Thriller

  • The Ghost Writer Review by Tim Hayes

    May 7th, 2010

    Mr. Hayes is not only the ALMT publicist and lead editor,
    but also contributes film journalism and reviews to Critic’s Notebook and Cinemattraction.

    Tim Hayes on Theatrical Thursdays

    The Ghost Writer (2010) dir. Roman Polanski

    Studio: Summit Entertainment
    Director: Roman Polanski
    Screenwriter: Roman Polanski, Robert Harris
    Starring: Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Kim Cattrall, Olivia Williams, Tom Wilkinson, Timothy Hutton, Eli Wallach
    Genre: Thriller
    MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for language, brief nudity, violence & a drug reference)
    Official Website: TheGhost-RomanPolanski.com

    Echoes from real life crop up all over the place in “The Ghost Writer” (or “The Ghost”, depending where you live). As well as Pierce Brosnan’s portrayal of an exiled British Prime Minister who seems a lot like Tony Blair, there’s director Roman Polanski and his own exile from the law to factor in as well.

    If your taste in political thrillers requires a car chase and Kiefer Sutherland headbutting a neutron bomb, then “The Ghost Writer” will not make you happy. This is the other kind. It’s all about atmosphere, stoic characters, infidelity, and Polanski returning to his favorite theme of small groups stuck in chilly isolation. Plus it has the wildcard of black satire, thanks to a recognizable world statesman made to look simultaneously noble and a complete dope.

    Ex-PM and professional smiling-person Adam Lang, hounded by accusations of collusion in CIA extraordinary renditions and torture, is marooned in the US while international war crimes lawyers sharpen their pencils. At the same time an unnamed ghost writer (Ewan McGregor) is in residence, working on Lang’s memoirs. The previous ghost writer washed up dead on a beach, so the new one has every reason to be nervous.

    Actors love making films with Polanski since they get to play fallible and wicked at the same time. This one has rare sights like Kim Cattrall acting her age and McGregor being quite witty, but Olivia Williams outclasses the rest as the complex Mrs Lang and gets all the best lines.

    It’s all very moody and windswept and filled with Polanski paranoia. Set in a barren part of Massachusetts, but actually filmed with plenty of obvious green-screen in a corner of Germany from which all life seems to have fled, the film makes it seem as if Lang is mired in a limbo of his own creation.

    Which could go for the director too. If Polanski was making a point about the legacy of misunderstood men under the media spotlight, he could have done with hammering it a bit harder. But by “The Ghost Writer’s” memorable last shot, it’s clear he still deserves the label of an uncommon film maker. What to do about all his other labels remains the problem.

    READ TIM HAYES’ EXTENSIVE REVIEW OF “THE GHOST WRITER” OVER AT
    CRITIC’S NOTEBOOK.

    May 7th,2010 Blogging, Film Reviews by Tim Hayes, Theatrical Thursdays, Video | Sections: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

  • Edge of Darkness review by Tim Hayes on Theatrical Thursdays

    February 4th, 2010

    It’s Thursday, which means it’s…

    Tim Hayes on Theatrical Thursdays

    Mr. Hayes is not only the ALMT publicist and lead editor,
    but also contributes film journalism and reviews to     Critic’s Notebook and Cinemattraction.

    Tim Hayes on Theatrical Thursdays

    Edge of Darkness (2010)
    dir. Martin Campbell

    Release Date: January 29, 2010
    Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
    Director: Martin Campbell
    Screenwriter: William Monahan, Andrew Bovell
    Starring: Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston, Shawn Roberts, Bojana Novakovic, Frank Grillo, Gbenga Akinnagbe
    Genre: Suspense Thriller
    MPAA Rating: R (for strong bloody violence and language)
    Official Website: Edge-of-Darkness.com

    Mel Gibson hasn’t had a starring role since 2002, unless you count his appearances in the headlines. So on paper “Edge of Darkness” looks a pretty safe bet, a return to the tough-guy action movies he always seemed to have a good time making in the old days.

    Things don’t work out that way. The film gets bogged down in a complicated plot about arms dealers, corrupt corporations and Government espionage, and never manages to properly work out who all the groups of armed killers roaming around Boston really are. Now and again something interesting pops up (like a Republican senator from Massachusetts, which must have seemed nuts when the film was written), but the plot never gets everything straight long enough to hit the gas pedal.

    Gibson still throws himself into his roles at 100 mph and there’s plenty for him to chew on in the story of Thomas Craven, whose daughter is senselessly murdered. It’s a tragic plot, and the deep creases on Mel’s lived-in face are a good fit with Craven’s bottomless horror. But that’s the only dimension he’s got, a grief-stricken brawler with a short fuse.


    The other problem is “Taken”. The more Mel grits his teeth and charges across the landscape with some guy’s guts on his windshield, the more it feels like the writers watched last year’s Liam Neeson revenge thriller and wanted to borrow some of its style. Doesn’t happen, not least since Neeson is the greatest actor in the world, while Mel is still just Mel.

    READ TIM HAYES’ FULL REVIEW OF EDGY OF DARKNESS over at CRITIC’S NOTEBOOK

    February 4th,2010 Blogging, Film Reviews by Tim Hayes, Theatrical Thursdays | Sections: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | No Comments