About Time (Richard Curtis, 2013) 3/10
When the supporting cast - Bill Night, Lindsay Duncan, Richard Griffiths, Richard E. Grant - prove more interesting than the two insipid leads - Rachel McAdams & Domnhall Gleeson - the film is a total washout. The silly time traveling scenario is rather foolish. All the best parts are between Gleeson and the wonderfully droll Nighy who steals every scene.
Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Distant Drums (Raoul Walsh, 1951) 4/10
Routine action adventure set in the Florida everglades during the 1840s. Gary Cooper and a group of cavalry men storm a fort, rescue prisoners and blow up an arms arsenal stolen by seminole Indians. Chased by the "savages" the group trek through the dangerous everglades. Max Steiner's thunderous score accompanies them while stock footage of alligators, snakes and flamingos add colour. The spectacular Florida locations are interspersed with fake backdrops but filmed in spectacular colour which adds much to what is essentially a rather tepid actioner. Cooper has the requisite star presence but is as wooden as always.
Routine action adventure set in the Florida everglades during the 1840s. Gary Cooper and a group of cavalry men storm a fort, rescue prisoners and blow up an arms arsenal stolen by seminole Indians. Chased by the "savages" the group trek through the dangerous everglades. Max Steiner's thunderous score accompanies them while stock footage of alligators, snakes and flamingos add colour. The spectacular Florida locations are interspersed with fake backdrops but filmed in spectacular colour which adds much to what is essentially a rather tepid actioner. Cooper has the requisite star presence but is as wooden as always.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Kings Go Forth (Delmer Daves, 1958) 5/10
In France during an offensive against the retreating Germans an American lieutenant (Frank Sinatra) and a cocky captain (Tony Curtis) both fall in love with an American girl (Natalie Wood) who was raised on the Riviera. She in turn loves the captain who rejects her when he discovers she is a mulatto. A cocktail of war heroics and soap opera with racial undertones remains unconvincing due to the screenplay playing it too safe and lovely Natalie Wood totally miscast. The role had originally been written with Dorothy Dandridge in mind who would have been a better choice. Unfortunately due to censorship they would not have been able to show love scenes between her and the two male stars which was easily possible with Wood who was making inroads then as an adult star in Hollywood. Elmer Bernstein's score is a major plus.
In France during an offensive against the retreating Germans an American lieutenant (Frank Sinatra) and a cocky captain (Tony Curtis) both fall in love with an American girl (Natalie Wood) who was raised on the Riviera. She in turn loves the captain who rejects her when he discovers she is a mulatto. A cocktail of war heroics and soap opera with racial undertones remains unconvincing due to the screenplay playing it too safe and lovely Natalie Wood totally miscast. The role had originally been written with Dorothy Dandridge in mind who would have been a better choice. Unfortunately due to censorship they would not have been able to show love scenes between her and the two male stars which was easily possible with Wood who was making inroads then as an adult star in Hollywood. Elmer Bernstein's score is a major plus.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
The Man From Colorado (Henry Levin, 1948) 5/10
Two friends return from the Civil War and one (Glenn Ford) suffers from PTSD while the other (William Holden) tries to look out for him as his violent tendencies increase. Ellen Drew plays the woman they both love. The film, although set in the old West, shows the deep psychological effects of war on returning soldiers. The film came out a few years after WWII ended and tries to deal with the problem faced by returning vets.
Two friends return from the Civil War and one (Glenn Ford) suffers from PTSD while the other (William Holden) tries to look out for him as his violent tendencies increase. Ellen Drew plays the woman they both love. The film, although set in the old West, shows the deep psychological effects of war on returning soldiers. The film came out a few years after WWII ended and tries to deal with the problem faced by returning vets.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
The Fastest Gun Alive (Russell Rouse, 1956) 7/10
Psychological Western has a great performance by Glenn Ford as a soft spoken, gentle but tortured man who is suddenly called upon to draw a gun against a crook (Broderick Crawford) who calls himself the fastest gun alive. Going against everything he believes in, after a traumatic incident in his past, he is goaded by the townfolk to defend them much to the dismay of his pregnant wife (Jeanne Crain). Completely out of place is an energetic dance number to accomodate young Russ Tamblyn. One of many films about cowardice that came in the wake of "High Noon".
Psychological Western has a great performance by Glenn Ford as a soft spoken, gentle but tortured man who is suddenly called upon to draw a gun against a crook (Broderick Crawford) who calls himself the fastest gun alive. Going against everything he believes in, after a traumatic incident in his past, he is goaded by the townfolk to defend them much to the dismay of his pregnant wife (Jeanne Crain). Completely out of place is an energetic dance number to accomodate young Russ Tamblyn. One of many films about cowardice that came in the wake of "High Noon".
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Breakheart Pass (Tom Gries, 1975) 6/10
This film mixes a number of genres - a detective murder mystery set on a train in a Western setting - and evokes a number of films like "The Lady Vanishes", "Ten Little Indians" and "Murder on the Orient Express". Based on the thriller novel by Alistair MacLean who also wrote the screenplay. A group of disparate individuals find themselves traveling on a train bound for a fort. The train is carrying desperately needed medical supplies for an outbreak of diptheria at the fort. The passengers - a Utah governor (Richard Crenna), his aide (Charles Durning), a sheriff (Ben Johnson), a wanted criminal (Charles Bronson), a major (Ed Lauter), the fort commander's daughter (Jill Ireland) and a cook (former light-heavy weight champion Archie Moore). When passengers start getting murdered the criminal turns detective to solve the mystery. Action packed film is fairly routine but has enough spectacular stunts which keeps the plot moving at a fast pace. Bronson, then at the height of his fame, is stone faced as usual and sleepwalks through the film. Ireland has yet another thankless part in support of her husband. Yakima Canutt's final film as stunt coordinator features some amazing work on top of the speeding train.
This film mixes a number of genres - a detective murder mystery set on a train in a Western setting - and evokes a number of films like "The Lady Vanishes", "Ten Little Indians" and "Murder on the Orient Express". Based on the thriller novel by Alistair MacLean who also wrote the screenplay. A group of disparate individuals find themselves traveling on a train bound for a fort. The train is carrying desperately needed medical supplies for an outbreak of diptheria at the fort. The passengers - a Utah governor (Richard Crenna), his aide (Charles Durning), a sheriff (Ben Johnson), a wanted criminal (Charles Bronson), a major (Ed Lauter), the fort commander's daughter (Jill Ireland) and a cook (former light-heavy weight champion Archie Moore). When passengers start getting murdered the criminal turns detective to solve the mystery. Action packed film is fairly routine but has enough spectacular stunts which keeps the plot moving at a fast pace. Bronson, then at the height of his fame, is stone faced as usual and sleepwalks through the film. Ireland has yet another thankless part in support of her husband. Yakima Canutt's final film as stunt coordinator features some amazing work on top of the speeding train.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
The Man Who Would Be King (John Huston, 1975) 5/10
Huston's long gestating project - during the 1950s both Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable were attached - finally came to the screen with Sean Connery and Michael Caine as two rogues from the British army during the Raj who fancy becoming kings in Kafiristan. This is a decent adventure film but hardly a classic because Huston films it as a broad comedy which is extremely jarring. Based on a story by Rudyard Kipling (Christopher Plummer) who here performs a bookend to the wild and wacky adventures of two irreverant British soldiers - a Scotsman (Sean Connery) and a cockney (Michael Caine) - who decide to trek to Kafiristan, a remote province of Afghanistan, beyond the Hindukush mountains where no white man has set foot since Alexander. Against all odds the two charlatans succeed while taming various tribes, forming a small army of derelects and fooling the local priests into thinking the Scotsman is a direct descendent of the greek king. Lavishly produced film shot by Oswald Morris on location in Morocco (which substituted for India) has both stars sharing great chemistry. Too bad the screenplay is full of potholes and their "adventures" not only become more and more prepostrous but also very tedious. The performances by the two stars keep the film afloat which would have been far better if Huston had cut out the comedy and filmed it as straight drama.
Huston's long gestating project - during the 1950s both Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable were attached - finally came to the screen with Sean Connery and Michael Caine as two rogues from the British army during the Raj who fancy becoming kings in Kafiristan. This is a decent adventure film but hardly a classic because Huston films it as a broad comedy which is extremely jarring. Based on a story by Rudyard Kipling (Christopher Plummer) who here performs a bookend to the wild and wacky adventures of two irreverant British soldiers - a Scotsman (Sean Connery) and a cockney (Michael Caine) - who decide to trek to Kafiristan, a remote province of Afghanistan, beyond the Hindukush mountains where no white man has set foot since Alexander. Against all odds the two charlatans succeed while taming various tribes, forming a small army of derelects and fooling the local priests into thinking the Scotsman is a direct descendent of the greek king. Lavishly produced film shot by Oswald Morris on location in Morocco (which substituted for India) has both stars sharing great chemistry. Too bad the screenplay is full of potholes and their "adventures" not only become more and more prepostrous but also very tedious. The performances by the two stars keep the film afloat which would have been far better if Huston had cut out the comedy and filmed it as straight drama.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
American Made (Doug Liman, 2017) 6/10
The Tom Cruise killer smile along with aviators - both of which made him a star 21 years ago - play a big role in this tale of charming TWA pilot, Barry Seal, who is hired by the CIA to fly over South American countries to photograph suspected communist groups. Along the way he decides to multi-task and becomes a drug runner for the Colombian drug cartel smuggling coke into the United States and laundering money. The CIA turns a blind eye while asking him to fly arms into Nicaragua for the Contras. He is soon a rich man and the fall, when it finally comes, is spectacular. This black comedy relies totally on the charm of Cruise who has a field day with the part although the rat-a-tat speed of the screenplay fails to explain what made this man take so many risks. For the money certainly, which seduces him, but he is also a man with a family so it makes no sense why he keeps going on with the wild schemes. This is yet another film created to show off the star in all his cocky glory. It's fun if you go along with no questions asked but problematic if you delve deep into what's up on the screen.
The Tom Cruise killer smile along with aviators - both of which made him a star 21 years ago - play a big role in this tale of charming TWA pilot, Barry Seal, who is hired by the CIA to fly over South American countries to photograph suspected communist groups. Along the way he decides to multi-task and becomes a drug runner for the Colombian drug cartel smuggling coke into the United States and laundering money. The CIA turns a blind eye while asking him to fly arms into Nicaragua for the Contras. He is soon a rich man and the fall, when it finally comes, is spectacular. This black comedy relies totally on the charm of Cruise who has a field day with the part although the rat-a-tat speed of the screenplay fails to explain what made this man take so many risks. For the money certainly, which seduces him, but he is also a man with a family so it makes no sense why he keeps going on with the wild schemes. This is yet another film created to show off the star in all his cocky glory. It's fun if you go along with no questions asked but problematic if you delve deep into what's up on the screen.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Suburbicon (George Clooney, 2017) 3/10
The Eisenhower era is superbly evoked via outstanding production design - the identical suburbun homes all lined up neatly with manicured lawns and clean-cut folks occupying them. The screenplay (by the Coen brothers) wickedly puts a black family amidst this antiseptic lot much to the horror of the entire neighborhood but then fails to sustain this plotline. Instead the story veers off into noir territory - a house is broken into by two intruders and a family is taken hostage and chloroformed. A disabled woman (Julianne Moore) dies and her young son is devastated. When the deceased's husband (Matt Damon) and aunt (also Julianne Moore) pretend not to identify the intruders in a police lineup the son becomes suspicious along with the insurance investigator (Oscar Isaac) on the case. The setting up of the two plots is clever - a dig at race hysteria in the United States where murderous white people are getting away with murder while communities are blinded by racist anger - but the screenplay can't decide where to go with it. The sequence with the black family seems to have been introduced for shock value as a means to address race issues and has no connection to the murder/insurance scam scenario. There are two films stuck in here vying for first place and unfortunately neither gels. Everything is lifeless about this film from Clooney's direction to the deadpan performances by Damon and Moore. Skip this film.
The Eisenhower era is superbly evoked via outstanding production design - the identical suburbun homes all lined up neatly with manicured lawns and clean-cut folks occupying them. The screenplay (by the Coen brothers) wickedly puts a black family amidst this antiseptic lot much to the horror of the entire neighborhood but then fails to sustain this plotline. Instead the story veers off into noir territory - a house is broken into by two intruders and a family is taken hostage and chloroformed. A disabled woman (Julianne Moore) dies and her young son is devastated. When the deceased's husband (Matt Damon) and aunt (also Julianne Moore) pretend not to identify the intruders in a police lineup the son becomes suspicious along with the insurance investigator (Oscar Isaac) on the case. The setting up of the two plots is clever - a dig at race hysteria in the United States where murderous white people are getting away with murder while communities are blinded by racist anger - but the screenplay can't decide where to go with it. The sequence with the black family seems to have been introduced for shock value as a means to address race issues and has no connection to the murder/insurance scam scenario. There are two films stuck in here vying for first place and unfortunately neither gels. Everything is lifeless about this film from Clooney's direction to the deadpan performances by Damon and Moore. Skip this film.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
The Crown (Phillip Martin, Benjamin Caron, Phillipa Lowthorpe, Stephen Daldry, 2017) - Season 2 10/10
Season 2 of the series smacks down straight into the 10 year old but extremely turbulent marriage between Queen Elizabeth II (Claire Foy) and Prince Phillip (Matt Smith). He is bored, frustrated with his role as husband to the monarch, a philanderer and harboring deep rooted familial trauma from his childhood. Meanwhile Great Britain is in turmoil after Prime Minister Anthony Eden's (Jeremy Northam) folly with the Suez Canal leading to his resignation and the appointment of Harold Macmillan (Antony Lesser). The new PM in turn not only suffers his own downfall over the Profumo affair in 1963 but silently tolerates his wife who carries on a 37 year affair with a bisexual politician ending only with her death. Meanwhile there is more turmoil of the heart on the homefront - a bitter Princess Margaret (Vanessa Kirby), still reeling over an old love affair, meets up with society photographer Tony Armstrong-Jones (Matthew Good) who turns her on because he shows contempt for her and the royal family - he literally seduces her with his camera in a great sequence set in his studio where he takes a photo of her with her bare shoulders making her seem naked and which he sends to be published in The Times causing many raised eyebrows. They get married and Margaret enters a hedonistic lifestyle fuelled by booze and wild parties. The series also delves into the Queen's meeting with Jackie Kennedy (Jodi Balfour), married to President Kennedy (Michael C. Hall) of the United States who is insecure with his wife's popularity and let's his jealousy surface behind closed doors. We also get glimpses of other royal characters - Lord Mountbatten (Greg Wise), the Queen Mother (Victoria Hamilton) and the Duke of Windsor (Alex Jennings). This superbly acted and impecably produced series covers the years 1957-64 and ends with the Queen having two more children and settling into a sort of resigned comfort in her own marriage. The next two seasons will have a brand new cast playing the same characters with Olivia Colman taking on the role of the Queen vacated by the marvelous Claire Foy.
Season 2 of the series smacks down straight into the 10 year old but extremely turbulent marriage between Queen Elizabeth II (Claire Foy) and Prince Phillip (Matt Smith). He is bored, frustrated with his role as husband to the monarch, a philanderer and harboring deep rooted familial trauma from his childhood. Meanwhile Great Britain is in turmoil after Prime Minister Anthony Eden's (Jeremy Northam) folly with the Suez Canal leading to his resignation and the appointment of Harold Macmillan (Antony Lesser). The new PM in turn not only suffers his own downfall over the Profumo affair in 1963 but silently tolerates his wife who carries on a 37 year affair with a bisexual politician ending only with her death. Meanwhile there is more turmoil of the heart on the homefront - a bitter Princess Margaret (Vanessa Kirby), still reeling over an old love affair, meets up with society photographer Tony Armstrong-Jones (Matthew Good) who turns her on because he shows contempt for her and the royal family - he literally seduces her with his camera in a great sequence set in his studio where he takes a photo of her with her bare shoulders making her seem naked and which he sends to be published in The Times causing many raised eyebrows. They get married and Margaret enters a hedonistic lifestyle fuelled by booze and wild parties. The series also delves into the Queen's meeting with Jackie Kennedy (Jodi Balfour), married to President Kennedy (Michael C. Hall) of the United States who is insecure with his wife's popularity and let's his jealousy surface behind closed doors. We also get glimpses of other royal characters - Lord Mountbatten (Greg Wise), the Queen Mother (Victoria Hamilton) and the Duke of Windsor (Alex Jennings). This superbly acted and impecably produced series covers the years 1957-64 and ends with the Queen having two more children and settling into a sort of resigned comfort in her own marriage. The next two seasons will have a brand new cast playing the same characters with Olivia Colman taking on the role of the Queen vacated by the marvelous Claire Foy.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
The Party (Sally Potter, 2017) 9/10
Potter dispenses with her usual experimental cinema and presents here a concise, highly compact and energetic chamber piece. A group of friends gather at a suburban house to celebrate the election of a politician (Kristin Scott Thomas). From the outset there appears to be something amiss - her husband (Timothy Spall) is in an almost catatonic state playing loud music and seemingly under the influence of booze. Their guests are an equally jittery lot - a lesbian couple (Cherry Jones & Emily Mortimer) expecting triplets, a cynical American (Patricia Clarkson) in tow with her unlikely partner (Bruno Ganz) who is a German aromatherapist and a coke snorting banker (Cillian Murphy) who arrives without his wife Marianne, who happens to be the hostess' political colleague and co-worker. The party dissolves into farce as one by one the characters reveal home truths unleashing long suppressed venom leading to a lot of sweating, vomiting and violence which also involves the discovery of a gun. The hilarious twist at the end caps the disastrous evening. Highly theatrical film, with flashes of Anthony Schaffer and Harold Pinter, is starkly shot by Aleksei Rodionov in crisp black and white and superbly acted by Scott Thomas, Clarkson and Spall perfectly in rhythm to the eclectic music on the soundtrack consisting of tangos, jazz, blues, salsa and gypsy music. Hysterically funny film.
Potter dispenses with her usual experimental cinema and presents here a concise, highly compact and energetic chamber piece. A group of friends gather at a suburban house to celebrate the election of a politician (Kristin Scott Thomas). From the outset there appears to be something amiss - her husband (Timothy Spall) is in an almost catatonic state playing loud music and seemingly under the influence of booze. Their guests are an equally jittery lot - a lesbian couple (Cherry Jones & Emily Mortimer) expecting triplets, a cynical American (Patricia Clarkson) in tow with her unlikely partner (Bruno Ganz) who is a German aromatherapist and a coke snorting banker (Cillian Murphy) who arrives without his wife Marianne, who happens to be the hostess' political colleague and co-worker. The party dissolves into farce as one by one the characters reveal home truths unleashing long suppressed venom leading to a lot of sweating, vomiting and violence which also involves the discovery of a gun. The hilarious twist at the end caps the disastrous evening. Highly theatrical film, with flashes of Anthony Schaffer and Harold Pinter, is starkly shot by Aleksei Rodionov in crisp black and white and superbly acted by Scott Thomas, Clarkson and Spall perfectly in rhythm to the eclectic music on the soundtrack consisting of tangos, jazz, blues, salsa and gypsy music. Hysterically funny film.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Girls Trip (Malcolm D. Lee, 2017) 5/10
Fitfully amusing chick flick - a gender reversal of "The Hangover" - has four long time friends reconnect after many years. The women are - a talk show host (Regina Hall), a writer (Queen Latifah) who runs a gossip blog, an anal divorcée (Jada Pinkett Smith) and the irreverant motor mouth (Tiffany Haddish) who spend a raucous weekend in New Orleans where they rediscover each other, have meltdowns, bitch each other out, go on the hunt for sex, trip on absinthe, get drunk, dance up a storm and stand up for each other when the going gets tough. The humour is loud, obnoxious and broad - if the all-white "Bridesmaids" had as it's major setpiece a scene with a character defecating. This one has two characters spraying urine on an unsuspecting crowd of people and goes one better with a hilarious scene that involves fellatio with a grapefruit and banana. The film has nothing really new to say. It's all been done in countless previous films but scores points by making the story about black female empowerment, the positivity of prayer and self-help sentiment. The actresses all give winning performances with Tiffany Haddish hilarious as the foul mouthed tough chick who never lets up with her constant stream of wisecracks. The film's major downside is its excessive length and with thirty minutes chopped off it could have been a far better ride.
Fitfully amusing chick flick - a gender reversal of "The Hangover" - has four long time friends reconnect after many years. The women are - a talk show host (Regina Hall), a writer (Queen Latifah) who runs a gossip blog, an anal divorcée (Jada Pinkett Smith) and the irreverant motor mouth (Tiffany Haddish) who spend a raucous weekend in New Orleans where they rediscover each other, have meltdowns, bitch each other out, go on the hunt for sex, trip on absinthe, get drunk, dance up a storm and stand up for each other when the going gets tough. The humour is loud, obnoxious and broad - if the all-white "Bridesmaids" had as it's major setpiece a scene with a character defecating. This one has two characters spraying urine on an unsuspecting crowd of people and goes one better with a hilarious scene that involves fellatio with a grapefruit and banana. The film has nothing really new to say. It's all been done in countless previous films but scores points by making the story about black female empowerment, the positivity of prayer and self-help sentiment. The actresses all give winning performances with Tiffany Haddish hilarious as the foul mouthed tough chick who never lets up with her constant stream of wisecracks. The film's major downside is its excessive length and with thirty minutes chopped off it could have been a far better ride.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Lockout (Steve Saint Leger & James Mather, 2012) 7/10
This action packed nonsense has a strong whiff of the 1980s as it channels the wisecracking Bruce Willis from "Die Hard" and Kurt Russell's "Snake Plissken" from "Escape From New York". A former CIA-operative (Guy Pearce), wrongly convicted of espionage, is forced to rescue the President's daughter (Maggie Grace) who is being held hostage by a group of manic cutthroats in a maximum security prison in outer space. Campy and outlandish action film has the delightfully droll Pearce tossing verbal zingers as he kicks some serious ass while playfully bantering with the plucky hostage. Cheesy but great fun.
This action packed nonsense has a strong whiff of the 1980s as it channels the wisecracking Bruce Willis from "Die Hard" and Kurt Russell's "Snake Plissken" from "Escape From New York". A former CIA-operative (Guy Pearce), wrongly convicted of espionage, is forced to rescue the President's daughter (Maggie Grace) who is being held hostage by a group of manic cutthroats in a maximum security prison in outer space. Campy and outlandish action film has the delightfully droll Pearce tossing verbal zingers as he kicks some serious ass while playfully bantering with the plucky hostage. Cheesy but great fun.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
The Foreigner (Martin Campbell, 2017) 4/10
During a terrorist bombing in London amongst the dead is a young chinese girl. Her grieving father (Jackie Chan), an old businessman, goes into a revenge fueled frenzy seeking out the killers. A cat-and-mouse scenario enfolds as he goes after an Irish politician (Pierce Brosnan) who years before belonged to the IRA and may hold the key to the killings. Chan, who starts out as a doddery old man, suddenly turns into "Rambo" during the relentlessly brutal action scenes and goes through his Hong Kong movie shtick which basically covers up his lack of acting. Brosnan, speaking with an Irish brogue, merely goes through the motions looking rather bored throughout. Boring film.
During a terrorist bombing in London amongst the dead is a young chinese girl. Her grieving father (Jackie Chan), an old businessman, goes into a revenge fueled frenzy seeking out the killers. A cat-and-mouse scenario enfolds as he goes after an Irish politician (Pierce Brosnan) who years before belonged to the IRA and may hold the key to the killings. Chan, who starts out as a doddery old man, suddenly turns into "Rambo" during the relentlessly brutal action scenes and goes through his Hong Kong movie shtick which basically covers up his lack of acting. Brosnan, speaking with an Irish brogue, merely goes through the motions looking rather bored throughout. Boring film.
Re: Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
Paycheck (John Woo, 2003) 1/10
I hate it when thrillers are complicated by science fiction mumbo jumbo. No, I don't want to "think" while watching an action flick. An engineer (Ben Affleck) fiddles with technology and uses it to create something new after which the company he works for erases his memory. Why? Something to do with patent infringement. When a billionaire (Aaron Eckhart) offers him a huge paycheck to work on a project he takes it on as a means to retire. After three years of working on the project his memory is erased and he discovers that he forfeited his paycheck and sent himself 20 random objects instead. With the FBI after him he goes on the run, helped by a girlfriend (Uma Thurman) he cannot remember, trying to decipher the mystery. Director Woo, firmly and sadly entrenched in North American culture, goes through the motions with tired action set pieces - a motorbike chase and an exploding laboratory that seem like leftover scenes from a 30 year old Bond film. Affleck is beyond awful in this extremely juvenile excuse for a thriller. Avoid this and watch anything by Hitchcock instead.
I hate it when thrillers are complicated by science fiction mumbo jumbo. No, I don't want to "think" while watching an action flick. An engineer (Ben Affleck) fiddles with technology and uses it to create something new after which the company he works for erases his memory. Why? Something to do with patent infringement. When a billionaire (Aaron Eckhart) offers him a huge paycheck to work on a project he takes it on as a means to retire. After three years of working on the project his memory is erased and he discovers that he forfeited his paycheck and sent himself 20 random objects instead. With the FBI after him he goes on the run, helped by a girlfriend (Uma Thurman) he cannot remember, trying to decipher the mystery. Director Woo, firmly and sadly entrenched in North American culture, goes through the motions with tired action set pieces - a motorbike chase and an exploding laboratory that seem like leftover scenes from a 30 year old Bond film. Affleck is beyond awful in this extremely juvenile excuse for a thriller. Avoid this and watch anything by Hitchcock instead.