Archive for the ‘Thriller’ Category
Sunday, September 13th, 2009
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Director Robert Luketic adapts Ben Mezrich’s best-seller Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M. I. T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions to tell the true-life tale of six genius students who used their brains to beat considerable odds. Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) may be shy, but his wallflower reputation betrays his inner brilliance. As smart as Ben may be, however, if he can’t pay his tuition he’ll be kicked out of M. I. T. Fortunately, the answer to all of Ben’s problems is right there in the cards. Recruited to join a team of extremely gifted students who have used their mastery of numbers to beat the odds at blackjack, Ben procures a fake identity in order to join the casino scammers and their brilliant leader — eccentric math professor and stats genius Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey) — in some highly profitable weekend excursions to Las Vegas. Counting cards isn’t illegal, and by using a complex series of signals, this team has cracked the code. Of course, it doesn’t take long for Ben to become seduced by the glamorous Las Vegas lifestyle, and the attention afforded to him by his sexy teammate Jill Taylor (Kate Bosworth) finds him pushing his luck to the absolute limits. Laurence Fishburne stars as Cole Williams, the Sin City security chief who catches on to the group and makes it his mission to expose their lucrative blackjack scam. |
| Also Known As: |
21 |
| Genres: |
Thriller, Psychological Thriller, |
| Running Time: |
122:00 |
| Actor List: |
Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, Aaron Yoo, Liza Lapira, Jacob Pitts, Laurence Fishburne, Jack McGee, Josh Gad, Sam Golzari, Helen Carey, Jack Gilpin, Donna Lows, Butch Williams, Jeffrey Ma, Frank Patton, Steven Richard Vezina, Chaska T. Werner, Kyle D. Morris, Ernell Manabat, Frankie DeAngelo, Marcus Weiss, Anthony DiMaria, Christopher Holley, Scott Clark Beringer, Terasa Livingstone, Jeff Dashnaw, Colin Angle, Supriya Chakrabarti, Bradley Thoennes, Kieu Chinh, Alice Lo, Sally Livingston, Henry Houh, Frank Chen, Spencer Garrett, Celeste Oliva, Tom McGowan, Ruby Hondros, Christian Mello, Greg Seymore, |
Posted in Psychological Thriller, Thriller | No Comments »
Sunday, September 13th, 2009
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Ben Affleck’s adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s novel Gone, Baby, Gone stars Casey Affleck as Patrick Kenzie, a private investigator from working-class Boston who takes on a case involving a kidnapped girl. The girl’s aunt begs Patrick to take the case because he has connections to criminal Boston that the police do not. He agrees and along with his partner, Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan), they uncover a web of corruption that threatens the relationship between the two. Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman co-star as members of the Boston Police Department. |
| Also Known As: |
Gone Baby Gone |
| Genres: |
Thriller, Detective Film, |
| Running Time: |
115:00 |
| Actor List: |
Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, John Ashton, Amy Ryan, Amy Madigan, Titus Welliver, Michael Kenneth Williams, Edi Gathegi, Mark Margolis, Madeleine O’Brien, Slain, Trudi Goodman, Matthew Maher, Jill Quigg, Sean Malone, |
Posted in Detective Film, Thriller | No Comments »
Monday, August 31st, 2009
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Sam Rockwell and Vera Farmiga star in director George Ratliff’s uncomfortable psychological thriller Joshua, as Brad and Abby Cairn, an affluent young stockbroker and his wife, raising children in New York City. Their firstborn, the nine-year-old Joshua (Jacob Kogan) is a frighteningly intelligent child - to such a degree that he thinks and acts decades ahead of his age. Nearly always clad in formal wear and demonstrating limitless brilliance as a pianist - with a marked predilection for “dissonant” classical pieces - Joshua gravitates toward his gay aesthete uncle (Dallas Roberts) as a close friend, but distances himself from his immediate kith - particularly when Abby brings a newborn baby sister home from the hospital and unwisely alienates the young tyke. As the days pass, one at a time, the mood at the house regresses from healthy and happy to strange, unsettled and disorienting; meanwhile, bizarre events transpire. As the baby’s whines drive an already strained Abby to the point of a nervous breakdown, Joshua devolves from eccentric to downright sociopathic behavior, discarding all of his toys, disemboweling a stuffed animal, and killing off pets. One at a time, family members also begin to suffer tragic fates - but are they Joshua’s fevered and psychotic doings or merely the result of happenstance? |
| Also Known As: |
Joshua |
| Genres: |
Thriller, Psychological Thriller, |
| Running Time: |
105:00 |
| Actor List: |
Sam Rockwell, Vera Farmiga, Celia Weston, Dallas Roberts, Michael McKean, Jacob Kogan, Nancy Giles, Linda Larkin, Alex Draper, Stephanie Roth Haberle, Ezra Barnes, Jodie Markell, Rufus Collins, Haviland Morris, Tom Bloom, Antonia Stout, Randy Ryan, Evan Seligman, Patrick Henney, Gurdeep Singh, Nicholas Guidry, Darrill Rosen, Daniel Jenkins, Erik M. Solky, Shianne Kolb, Lacey Vill, |
Posted in Psychological Thriller, Thriller | No Comments »
Monday, August 31st, 2009
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Neil Jordan’s The Brave One stars Jodie Foster as a happy woman whose life changes irrevocably after a brutal assault leaves her partner (Naveen Andrews) dead. The woman, feeling that the police investigation will be unable to catch the perpetrators, begins to live in constant fear. This outlook results in the woman eventually dispatching vigilante justice. Terrence Howard co-stars as the officer in charge of the investigation. |
| Also Known As: |
The Brave One |
| Genres: |
Thriller, Psychological Thriller, |
| Running Time: |
122:00 |
| Actor List: |
Jodie Foster, Terrence Howard, Nicky Katt, Naveen Andrews, Mary Steenburgen, Ene Oloja, Luis Da Silva, Jr., Blake Foster, Rafael Sardina, Jane Adams, Gordon MacDonald, Zoe Kravitz, John Magaro, Victor Colicchio, Jermel Howard, Dennis White, Julia Garro, Brian Delate, Lenny Venito, Carmen Ejogo, Dana Eskelson, Angel Sing, Yolande Bavan, Ivo Velon, Tina Sloan, Jaime Tirelli, Larry Fessenden, Nguyen Anh Hoa, Brian Tarantina, Michael Anthony Williams, Jesus Ruiz, Hope Adams, Joseph Melendez, Ted Neustadt, Brett Berg, Dr. Jeffery Manko, Mick Cunningham, Lisa Joyce, Tom Greer, David Naizir, Robert Michael McClure, Tashya Valdevit, Lai-Si Fernandez, Moises Acevedo, Dennis Johnson, Jack Caruso, Jim Taylor McNickle, Rosanne C. Lucarelli, Leif Riddell, DeShaun Stallworth, Michael J. Burg, Creighton James, Clayton Dean Smith, Barbara Gayle, Anna Margaret Hollyman, Lily Mercer, Musto Pelinkovicci, Dean Meminger, Cheryl Wills, |
Posted in Psychological Thriller, Thriller | No Comments »
Sunday, August 30th, 2009
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When a man who specializes in cleaning crime scenes washes away the evidence of a murder before the crime is reported, he soon becomes drawn into a deadly mystery in this thriller directed by Renny Harlin, and starring Samuel L. Jackson. |
| Also Known As: |
Cleaner |
| Genres: |
Thriller, Crime Thriller, |
| Running Time: |
92:00 |
| Actor List: |
Samuel L. Jackson, Ed Harris, Eva Mendes, Luis Guzman, Keke Palmer, Robert Forster, Edrick Browne, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Maggie Lawson, Marc Macaulay, Christa Campbell, |
Posted in Crime Thriller, Thriller | No Comments »
Saturday, August 29th, 2009
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Phillip Noyce directed Joe Eszterhas’s adaptation of Ira Levin’s novel about voyeurism, starring Sharon Stone as Carly Norris, a book editor on the rebound from an emotionless seven-year marriage. Carly decides that a change of location will help her in the healing process, so she moves into a sleek Manhattan high-rise. In her new apartment, she meets a collection of curious neighbors —Vida (Polly Walker), who snorts cocaine along with ingesting all the dark secrets of the building and its tenants; Jack Landsford (Tom Berenger), a successful writer who also wants to also be successful with Carly; and Zeke Hawkins (William Baldwin), Carly’s new landlord. Carly is attracted to Zeke, but she sees that he is hiding something from her. Unbeknownst to Carly, Zeke, an obsessive voyeur, watches his tenants from a bank of television screens at his headquarters. But when Carly discovers Zeke’s voyeurism, she herself becomes obsessed with the daily lives of her neighbors. |
| Also Known As: |
Sliver |
| Genres: |
Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Erotic Thriller, |
| Running Time: |
106:00 |
| Actor List: |
Sharon Stone, William Baldwin, Tom Berenger, Polly Walker, Colleen Camp, Martin Landau, Amanda Foreman, CCH Pounder, Nina Foch, Keene Curtis, Patricia Allison, Jim Beaver, Anne Betancourt, Mark Bramhall, Victor Brandt, Steve Carlisle, Nicole Chamberlain, Wendy Cutler, Ryan Cutrona, Steve Eastin, Matthew Faison, Cliff Fleming, Radu Gavor, Robin Groves, Craig Hosking, Amanda Mackey-Johnson, Allison Mackie, Sid McCoy, Bernie McInerney, Robert Miano, Marnette Patterson, Anthony Peck, Nicholas Pryor, Cathy Sandrich, Mik Scriba, Frantz Turner, |
Posted in Erotic Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Thriller | No Comments »
Saturday, August 8th, 2009
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A man with the ability to see the future and change the outcome of events before they occur is forced to choose between saving himself and saving the world in this supernatural thriller starring Nicolas Cage and directed by Lee Tamahori (Die Another Day, The Edge). Cris Johnson (Cage) is a Las Vegas magician who possesses the unique ability to witness the events of the immediate future moments before they happen. As a child Cris was subjected to a series of cruel experiments by government scientists and doctors, but a change of name and a new identity allowed the tortured psychic to elude detection and start a new life away from the prying eyes of his former captors. Though his clairvoyant vision only extends a few minutes into the future, it has still allowed Cris to eke out a living as a low-rent Las Vegas magician while earning a little extra cash at the blackjack tables. Up to this point in his life Cris has never used his power for anything substantial, but when he experiences a vision of Los Angeles being incinerated in a nuclear holocaust, the small-time magician realizes that he could hold the key to saving millions of lives. But as low as he has tried to lie in recent years, Cris has never completely escaped detection by the government. Now, as terrorists prepare to unleash the ultimate horror on an unsuspecting city, FBI counter terror agent Callie Ferris (Julianne Moore) sets out to capture Cris and convince him to use his exceptional gift to prevent the nuclear nightmare from becoming a terrifying reality. Jessica Biel, Peter Falk, and Thomas Kretschmann co-star in the film, which is based on a short story by acclaimed sci-fi author Philip K. Dick. |
| Also Known As: |
Next |
| Genres: |
Thriller, |
| Running Time: |
96:00 |
| Actor List: |
Nicolas Cage, Julianne Moore, Jessica Biel, Thomas Kretschmann, Tory Kittles, Peter Falk, Jim Beaver, Enzo Cilenti, Jason Butler Harner, Jos Zuiga, Michael Trucco, Laetitia Danielle, Nicolas Pajon, Sergej Trifunovic, Charles Chun, Patricia Prata, Jon Hughes, Jack Ong, Alice Kim Cage, Edith Fields, Lorilynn Failor, Jessica Barth, Logan Christopher, Richard Kay, Bonita Friedericy, Danny Downey, Mike Runyard, Adam Lieberman, Miranda Frigon, Sam Kim, Max Lee, Thomas Siyuja, Sr., Kaynece Watahomigie, Dimitri Watahomigie, Nuce Ty-Teray, Nuce Marshall, Mavis Jones, Paul Rae, Hinetoa, Jeff Michael, Lisa Joyner, Dean Cudworth, Chris Palermo, John Scanlon, |
Posted in Thriller | No Comments »
Monday, July 20th, 2009
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Part high-tech spy thriller and part psychological study, Eye of the Beholder was Ewan McGregor’s first feature film following his mainstream breakthrough performance in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. The Eye (Ewan McGregor) is an agent of the British Secret Service, equipped with the latest in high-tech crime fighting gadgetry and assisted by his indefatigable collegue, Hilary (k. d. lang). The Eye’s latest assignment is a surveillance project; the son of a well-known politician has been spending a great deal of money on someone, and they would like to know who and why. A little sleuthing reveals that the mysterious person taking the cash is a woman named Joanna (Ashley Judd), but the trail gets much stickier when the Eye witnesses Joanna pulling a knife and killing the politician’s son. Normally, he’d take the shortcut to putting her behind bars, but some time ago he lost contact with his daughter when his wife left him; Joanna reminds the Eye of his daughter, and he’s too fascinated with her to bring her to justice. The Eye now follows Joanna obsessively, and discovers that she’s also involved with a blind man (Patrick Bergin) and has a history of emotional instability from being abandoned by her father at a young age. Eye of the Beholder was directed by Stephan Elliott, best known for the comedy The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. |
| Also Known As: |
Eye of the Beholder |
| Genres: |
Thriller, Detective Film, Psychological Thriller, |
| Running Time: |
107:00 |
| Actor List: |
Ewan McGregor, Ashley Judd, Patrick Bergin, k.d. lang, Jason Priestley, Genevive Bujold, Jason Baerg, Howard Bilerman, Maria Bircher, Bob Brewster, Anne-Marie Brown, Kaitlin Brown, Al Clark, Carole Collin, Carl Crevier, Amanda Davis, Leonard Farlinger, Lisa Forget, Gayle Garfinkle, Garth Gilker, Dr. Erwin Goldberg, James Hieminga, Erik Johnson, Don Jordan, Tom Karle, Una Kay, Philip Le Maistre, Stephane Levasseur, Josa Maule, Steven McCarthy, Vera Miller, Louis Negin, David Nerman, Michel Perron, Charles Powell, Donovan Reiter, Maria Revelins, Cara Reynolds, Nadia Rona, Stephanie Sbrega, Merlee Shapiro, Sam Stone, Michelle Sweeney, Janine Theriault, Al Vandecruys, Mauro Venditelli, Vlasta Vrana, Russell Yuen, |
Posted in Detective Film, Psychological Thriller, Thriller | No Comments »
Sunday, July 19th, 2009
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A haunted New York City detective must delve into his dark past in order to stop a serial killer whose highly artistic modus operandi seems uncannily similar to that of a madman who stalked the city streets five years prior. When reclusive detective Stan Aubray (Willem Dafoe) gunned down the man suspected of being the “Uncle Eddie” murderer, he thought his nightmare had come to an end. But now a new crop of victims has begun to turn up, each bearing the distinctive mark of the maniac whom everyone had presumed to be dead. Much like the unfortunate victims of “Uncle Eddie,” the bodies in this latest batch have been carefully arranged in a manner that reflects the artistic style known as anamorphosis — where hidden meanings can be revealed by viewing the crime scenes from different perspectives. Could this be the work of a copycat killer, or is it possible that Detective Aubray and his men killed the wrong man on that fateful day five years ago? All signs indicate that the latest killings were carried out with Detective Aubray specifically in mind, prompting him to reexamine the painful questions that he had struggled all these years to suppress. On one side, Detective Aubray faces the scrutiny of a bright young detective (Scott Speedman) who has his own unique ideas about the killings, and on the other, a disturbed young woman (Clea Duvall) who proves a dangerous link to Detective Aubray’s mystery-shrouded past. Only by confronting the possibility that he fears most will Detective Aubray finally be able to overcome his own stifling sense of guilt and finally uncover the truth about the most gruesome crimes ever committed in New York City. |
| Also Known As: |
Anamorph |
| Genres: |
Thriller, Psychological Thriller, |
| Running Time: |
103:00 |
| Actor List: |
Willem Dafoe, Scott Speedman, Clea Duvall, James Rebhorn, Peter Stormare, Amy Carlson, Yul Vsquez, Deborah Harry, Don Harvey, Samantha MacIvor, Paz de la Huerta, Desiree Casado, Robert Kirk, Robin Goldsmith, Marcia Haufrecht, Monique Curnen, Paul Lazar, Lucy Martin, Mick Foley, Sharrieff Pugh, Ashleigh Springer, Gary Ray Bugarcic, Amir Arison, Elizabeth West, Stephen Daniels, Edward Hibbert, Barbara Sicuranza, Robert G. Mckay, Michael Buscemi, Virginia Wing, Jordan Charney, Martin Pfefferkorn, Manny Siverio, Eugene Harrison, Erik M. Solky, Billy Anagnos, Paul McClure, Jeff Chena, |
Posted in Psychological Thriller, Thriller | No Comments »
Friday, July 10th, 2009
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Feeling that they are doing God’s will, two Catholic men from Boston set out to kill everyone in this Reservoir Dogs-style vigilante thriller. Brothers Conner and Murphy MacManus (Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus) take to performing their divine duty against the Russian mob. They massacre a bunch of unsuspecting Mafioso in a scene of absurd violence, then they let more blood in a mass killing of porn-shop customers. Instead of getting thrown in jail, they are dubbed “saints” by the Boston Herald, and they are praised by brilliant, tortured, and gay FBI agent Paul Smecker (Willem Dafoe). |
| Also Known As: |
The Boondock Saints |
| Genres: |
Crime, Thriller, Crime Thriller, |
| Running Time: |
110:00 |
| Actor List: |
Willem Dafoe, Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman Reedus, Billy Connolly, David Ferry, Brian Mahoney, Bob Marley, Carlo Rota, Jimmy Tingle, Ron Jeremy, David Della Rooco, |
Posted in Crime, Crime Thriller, Thriller | No Comments »