Thriller & Mystery > 1936 Thriller & Mystery > H

Know the ones you're with

Advantages: Creepy, shocking twist
Disadvantages: Obviously horribly dated

...men who are planning to sabotage the capital. His wife, Mrs Verloc and her young brother, Stevie, know nothing of his secret, thinking that he is just an ordinary, hard-working man. A detective is sent to work at a nearby fruit stall to keep an eye on Mr Verloc. Known as Ted, he befriends Mrs Verloc, but doesn't manage to keep his cover, forcing Mr Verloc to show his hand. The results are devastating. Will any of the Verlocs ever be the same again? ...
...films, this was made a little earlier than I am used to - back in 1936. However, it is a Hitchcock film, something that I always struggle to resist. And although it is seventy years old and is obviously dated in more ways than one, it is still a film that has something to offer for a modern day audience, provided that it is prepared to look beyond the fact that it is in black and white. Sylvia Sidney plays Mrs Verloc, the central character. Although ...

sunmeilan 10.10.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Sabotage (DVD)

Terror strikes London - Hitchcock 1

Advantages: Hitchcocks genius, an incredibly tense scene & all around greatness
Disadvantages: None at all relly.

Sabotage – Wilful destruction of buildings or machinery with the object of alarming a group of persons or inspiring public uneasiness. Such is the dictionary definition of the word and the first thing you see on screen when you watch Sabotage. Made in 1936 Sabotage is another of the movies made by Alfred Hitchcock in the UK before he headed off to Hollywood and even bigger worldwide acclaim. Mr Verloc owns a small cinema in central London that he ...
...at Piccadilly Square. Sabotage is based on the novel Secret Agent written by Joseph Conrad, who also wrote Heart of Darkness the story that became the acclaimed movie Apocalypse Now, and much like a lot of very early Hitchcock movies has a very basic premise. Of course with only 73 minutes to tell the whole story then you are not going to get a very complex movie by todays standards. It does have a thrilling story though and one of, if not THE most ...

Ailran 13.11.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Sabotage (DVD)

Action-packed with some witty dialogue but still flawed somehow

Advantages: Quite thrilling when it gathers pace, seemed an authentic depiction of London, some humour
Disadvantages: Something about Downey Jnrs depiction of Holmes didnt work somehow, not for all ages/the squeamish

...Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novels, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson start out by catching a serial killer who dabbles in the the supernatural, an evil man called Lord Blackwood who is sentenced to death, indeed Watson confirms he's dead after he's hung. Things take a distinctly sinister turn, however, when they discover than Blackwood has apparently risen from the dead and Holmes recalls what he told him before he was hung, which indicated that more ...
...actor (Robert Downey Jnr.) played Sherlock Holmes, while an English actor (Jude Law), played his right hand man, Dr. Watson. Now of course I knew that before I went to see the movie, infact I quite like Robert Downey Jnr. as an actor and I have enjoyed some of his other movies and the fact that he plays the main character was one of the main reasons I wanted to see it in the cinema but there was something about him playing this role that I just didn't ...

IzzyS 27.12.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Sherlock Holmes

What goes around comes around..

Advantages: Enigmatic
Disadvantages: Perhaps too long

...I wouldn’t say this was in that impact category but certainly a quality piece of film. The drama begins with the return of thirty-something award winning war photographer Paul Harris (Mathew McFadden) to the small rural town of Steimer where he grew up, his first visit for 17 years. The night bag over the shoulder arrival is for dad’s funeral, mum long returned to the Earth, Paul’s relationship with big brother Andrew (Colin May) still not good after ...
...As per normal in these movies Paul has awakened ghosts from his and others past on his return, none more so than a long lost relationship with Penny (Miranda Otto), the reason, we discover later, he skipped town. Deciding to stick around and sort out the family estate, his brother begrudging Paul’s promised third of the Will & Testament, the rest going to an unnamed charity, things take an unexpected turn in his closed world with the arrival of a ...

thedevilinme 22.12.2009 · Read full review
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Review of In My Father's Den (DVD)

About as fun as being stuck in the Channel Tunel

Advantages: Acting
Disadvantages: Yawnnnnnnn

The dust-cover proudly states that this is the best film of the new millennium! They obviously haven’t seen Brazilian Girls Go Wild In Cancun then. I took both films up on their boasts and I can confirm there was only one winner—and I didn’t need the subtitles. Talk about over rated. I had heard good things about Hidden; it had won the Palm De Or` in Cannes no less. But it’s French and so that means its going to be very talky and actor centered, ...
...the limited and predictable script. For a movie pushed as a mysterious thriller the only mystery here is how it won anything, dribbling out to a very disappointing finish. One broadsheet even voted this film of the decade?? The movie opens with a single static shot of the front of one of those comfy urban secluded houses in a nice middle class Paris superb. From across the street we observe the house panacea and everyday movements in the street ...

thedevilinme 20.12.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Hidden (DVD)