Blogcritics Category: Video: Suspense and Mystery

These Films Sleep Well: The Rest of the Thin Man Series (1936-1947, W.S. Dyke)

Joshua Wiebe — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 07:04:11 EDT

The Thin Man sequels examined.
Last Friday, I had a friend over to celebrate the twenty-third anniversary of Orson Welles' death, and, like always, we began to discuss movies, in particular the order of my collection. I explained it to him in as simple terms as I know how (chronological but grouped sporadically by director, writer or series) and used the Thin Man series as...

Movie Review: Mirrors

Ross Miller — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:27:30 EDT

There's enough scares here to make an otherwise bad film watchable.
It is true that horror movies can commit every sin in the cinema book if the scares are present. It can have bad acting, underdeveloped characters, an unbelievable storyline, and so and so forth but as long as it can scare you a decent amount of times its flaws can be overlooked. Mirrors is one such example of this; out with the scares this is a...

Movie Review: Body of Lies

A.J. Hakari — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 17:29:43 EDT

Ridley Scott takes on the spy genre in a taut, engaging, and well-acted thriller.
Body of Lies is the latest in a new breed of spy pictures designed to undo the fantasy world chiefly created by the James Bond series. Here, there's nothing romantic about the world of espionage, for every day offers the main character a whole slew of opportunities to potentially wind up six feet under. Body of Lies is still a crackerjack...

DVD Review: Missing

Dan Schneider — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 21:51:21 EDT

Solid thriller that had potential to be great.
The 1982 political film, Missing, by Costa-Gavras (his first American production), is soon to be released on DVD by The Criterion Collection. It’s a good film, but not a great one. This is mostly because it lacks any real poetry, the way Ingmar Bergman’s anti-war film, Shame, has. Yes, it’s well plotted, well acted, well directed,...

DVD Review: The Happening

Dusty Somers — Thu, 9 Oct 2008 21:07:01 EDT

The Happening lives up to the negative hype.
It’s become rather fashionable of late to criticize M. Night Shyamalan, and despite the indiscriminate nature of much of the bashing, it’s not that difficult to see why. I, like many others, became an instant fan of Shyamalan with his breakout The Sixth Sense, and although I am in the distinct minority here, I loved Unbreakable as well....

TV Review: Eleventh Hour - "Resurrection"

Mary K. Williams — Thu, 9 Oct 2008 13:46:11 EDT

Comparisons will be made to Fringe and X-Files. So what? Is the show entertaining? Does it hold interest? Yes.
Eleventh Hour, a new, hour-long drama from CBS, stars Rufus Sewell (John Adams, The Illusionist, A Knight’s Tale,) as Dr. Jacob Hood, a biophysicist and government science advisor, and Marley Shelton (Planet Terror, American Dreamz) as his FBI watchdog/protection officer, Rachel Young.In the opening episode, “Resurrection”, Hood...

DVD Review: Deception

Sherry Lipp — Wed, 8 Oct 2008 19:25:41 EDT

Ewan McGregor and Hugh Jackman fail to ignite this "thriller."
There is not much to keep the audience guessing in the generic psychological thriller Deception. The story is so by-the-numbers that the outcome can easily be figured out long before the movie ends. The only real mystery of this film is what inspired the promising cast to take part in such tripe.Ewan McGregor plays Jonathan, a timid accountant...

DVD Review: The Eleventh Hour

Blake Matthews — Tue, 7 Oct 2008 22:02:45 EDT

The Eleventh Hour follows Professor Ian Hood who troubleshoots threats coming from scientific endeavors for the Joint Sciences Committee.
For decades now, American TV has adapted some of the better British shows. The one that comes to my mind immediately is Man About The House which we know as Three’s Company. There have been more successes, but there have been some flops as well -- Coupling comes to mind, which was a smash in the UK, but fizzled out very quickly here. Later...

DVD Review: Pathology

writnkitten — Mon, 6 Oct 2008 18:32:41 EDT

Pathology is a preposterous film filled with sub-par acting, unlikable characters, gratuitous nudity, and gore.
I wanted to like Pathology, I really did. After all, the film stars one of my favorite Heroes, Milo Ventimiglia, as well as the bewitching Alyssa Milano (Charmed, My Name Is Earl). Alas, the film’s premise walks a thin line between intriguing and preposterous, and, more often than not, falls on the side of preposterous.Pathology is written by...

TV Recap: Dexter - "Finding Freebo"

Michael Prince — Mon, 6 Oct 2008 14:06:17 EDT

Another great episode of Dexter with a twist at the end that will have you at the edge of your seat.
This week's episode of Dexter, "Finding Freebo," further cements Dexter as one of the best shows on television. A warning before you read on: this is a detailed review of the second episode of season three of Dexter and it contains heavy spoilers. Read at your own risk.The show kicks off shortly after last week's episode with...