Category Archives: Suspense

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Speed Racer (2008)

After the success of the Matrix trilogy (of which I think only the first one was really good) the Wachowskis were a “hot property” in Hollywood. With their love for comics, they wrote them for Marvel before they started making movies, they adapted V for Vendetta to the big screen. It turned out that this wasn’t their last comic book adaptation as they decided to make Speed Racer their next project. Although the original was a popular manga in Japan, it became big in the US as well when it broadcasted as a cartoon during the sixties. For the movie adaptation they received a budget of 120 million and they have managed to create a unique movie. Continue reading →

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Beautiful Life (2011)

The Dutch film industry has produced quite a lot of fun kids movies. Films like “Het Geheim”, “Kikkerdril” and “Het Paard van Sinterklaas” are all entertaining movies for the smaller movie audience.

Beautiful Life (the Dutch title would translate to My Grandfather the Bank Robber) is another one that can be added to the list. It tells the story of a father/grandfather (Michiel Romeyn) who after the death of his wife is seen as someone with dementia. His granddaughter Grace (Zoë van der Kust) doesn’t really believe it as she sees how he is struggling with his loss. She tries to help him as much as she can. She doesn’t know her own father as she never met him. She only knows his name and that he was from Surinam (one of the former Dutch colonies). Her mother doesn’t want to tell her why he wasn’t around for her. When her grandfather shows her his picture it ignites the flame for her to begin her search for some answers to her questions. Continue reading →

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The Adjustment Bureau (2011)

Determinism and free will are two concepts that are complete opposites. Is your path through life already fixed or is it you who makes all the choices? These are the ideas that The Adjustment Bureau takes to build its story on. Matt Damon is politician David Norris, a very succesful and driven man who is about to make it big in politics and could even go as far as the White House. When he meets Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt) his life changes when he finds out that there is no such thing as coincidence. Continue reading →

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London Boulevard (2010)

London Boulevard isn’t the first gangster movie in which a criminal, in this case Mitchel (Colin Farrell), who has just been released out of prison want to leave his past behind him. “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in” as the Godfather reminds us. Although more of these type of movies have been made it’s alway possible to tell this in an exciting new way. Is London Boulevard capable of providing this or is it comparable to a TV dinner? Continue reading →

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Sympathy for Mr.Vengeance (2002)

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is the last part of the Chan-wook Park’s revenge trilogy (Old Boy, Lady Vengeance) which I hadn’t seen yet.
The deaf and mute Ryu (Ha-kyun Shin) has to give up his art study to take care of his sister, who is very ill and needs a kidney transplant in order to survive. He gets a job at a factory and has to work extremely hard to be able to take care of his sister and save money for an operation. Everything seems to go fine, until his boss Dong-Jin Park (Kang-ho Song) fires him. As he wants to help his sister he tries to find a solution through illegal ways, but when these don’t seem to work he decides, together with his girlfriend, to kidnap Dong-Jin Park’s daughter and ask for ransom money. The plans don’t work out as they had in mind. Continue reading →

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Primer (2004)

There are some movies, which you have to see several times in order to start understanding their stories. Examples of this are Donnie Darko and Memento. Some people call these “mindfuck” movies, as you’ll have to think quite a bit to get what the film maker wanted to say. It’s a genre which you either love or hate, as you’ll be thinking about these type of movies for days. I really love these type of movies so was looking forward to seeing Primer. Continue reading →

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The Thing (1982)

Antarctica, a cold and desolate place, which is only visited by researchers and the occasional tourist. In other words a perfect setting for a science fiction/horror movie as there isn’t any place you can hide, except for the camp you are living in. You also know that you will have to solve all your issues yourself as there is nobody coming soon to rescue you. Add to that, that you actually don’t know if the people around you are still human and you have the perfect ingredients for a tense situation where you don’t know who you can trust. Continue reading →

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Lady Vengeance (2005)

Lady Vengeance is the third film of Park Chan-Wook’s revenge trilogy (the other two are Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Oldboy). The protagonist is Lee Geum-ja (Lee Young Ae) who has just been released from prison after she was sentenced to go there for murdering a little boy. She’s innocent though and has been able to plan her revenge on the real killer (played by Choi Min-Sik). During her prison sentence she made a name for herself and after her release she can use the friends she made there to execute her plan. Continue reading →

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13 Assasins (2010)

When you are talking about samurai movie there of course is only on movie against which you measure other ones, Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai in which a small village has to be defended by a couple of samurai warriors hired by the village.
The story of 13 Assasins is slightly different: an evil lord, Naritsugu Matsudaira, reigns with an iron fist and isn’t afraid of using mutilation and rape to make everyone fear him. He’s about to climb on the political ladder which could have a big impact on the land. The samurai decide that he has to be stopped and they devise a plan to assassinate him. Continue reading →