GENRE: Mystery

Movies Shutter Island Movie Shot

I’ve had mixed feelings about Martin Scorsese‘s films. Most recently we were offered The Departed and while much of it was clearly brilliant the plot had holes big enough to fly an airship through them. Seeing previews of Shutter Island made me think quite a bit about his past efforts and how many of them […]

Movies Paranormal Activity Movie Shot

This past weekend I caught the low-budget chiller Paranormal Activity. The film is shot in what many now call the Blair Witch style—that is it uses unknown actors in basic settings using minimal equipment to tell its story. Unfortunately for me the film wasn’t showing at my favorite theater but instead at the AMC theater […]

Movies Moon Movie Shot

Next up I saw a film I doubt few will get the chance to see. It’s playing at a local art house theater and nowhere else that I could find. The movie is called, simply, Moon. It stars Sam Rockwell as a lonely miner living on the backside of the moon somewhere in the “near” future. The movie […]

Movies State of Play Movie Shot

The next movie on my hit list is State of Play. This is a fairly forgettable, and yet solid, effort featuring an all-star cast including Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren and Robin Wright Penn. The film focuses in the rising career of a young congressman (Affleck) and a time-worn investigative journalist (Crowe) who are brought together by a […]

Movies Watchmen Movie Shot

This past weekend found me at the theater for my first official 2009 movie, The Watchmen. The movie is taken from a highly-celebrated and successful graphic novel of the same name. The movie also was the focus of legal wrangling that threatened to derail the entire project. If you don’t know the story (and most […]

Movies Doubt Movie Shot

This Friday we tempted the Gods by venturing forth to see Doubt. This is the movie version of a Tony Award-winning play about a 1964 Catholic school and the people who shape its direction. Let me jump right to the main impact. This is one of those movies you see to watch an acting Tour […]

Movies Changeling Movie Shot

Clint Eastwood has always amazed me. Here’s a guy that has re-invented himself so many times over the years. He starts out in spaghetti westerns and moves on to better westerns, then becomes a top action hero followed by a solid drama actor and finally one of the very best directors the industry has to […]

Movies Mirrors Movie Shot

Another trip to the local AMC turns into another huge mistake to see the horror movie, Mirrors. The AMC theater has done nothing but annoy us from the beginning. It’s a huge tease. Wonderful looking building, 24 screens, lots of concessions, great seats, great audio but then reality sets in. The costs are outrageous and it […]

Movies Transsiberian Movie Shot

This past weekend we saw a total of three movies. First up was an indy film that got solid reviews called, Transsiberian. It stars Woody Harrelson, Emily Mortimer and Ben Kingsley. The official synopsis describes it like this: “A Trans-Siberian train journey from China to Moscow becomes a thrilling chase of deception and murder when […]

Movies Tell No One Movie Shot

Saw two films this weekend again. The first one is a French movie called Ne Le Dis A Personne that’s marketed here as Tell No One. The story is about a pediatrician (French star François Cluzet) who loses his wife (Marie-Josée Croze) in a brutal murder and then has to cope with the consequences of it. He has […]

Movies Atonement Movie Shot

Caught Atonement this weekend which means I’ve now managed to see all five of the Oscar nominees for Best Picture. This one is a solid selection. This is a movie whose previews were a bit misleading regarding the plot, at least for me. It’s the story of how someone, especially a child, can misconstrue what it […]

Movies The Orphanage Movie Shot

A mother returns to the home she grew up in and stumbles upon a shocking mystery in The Orphanage. Let’s start right off by saying that the marketing of this film is extremely misleading. Its poster and trailer proclaim it as being “Presented by Guillermo del Toro,” but del Toro is credited only as the […]