Thriller & Mystery > Action & Adventure Thriller & Mystery

Not fantastic

Advantages: Schwarzenegger with guns...duh
Disadvantages: Fairly run of the mill stuff, Arny's early work.

...on the DVD certainly doesn't help matters. But all in all, Raw Deal is great as a budget film, but don't pay over the odds for it. Personally I'd prefer to get a newer action film with a bigger budget and descent special effects like many of his later offerings. ...

irishsquare 28.11.2005 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of Raw Deal (DVD)

Silence of the Lambs - Sink your teeth into this

Advantages: Iconic, powerful, mesmeric and brilliantly performed
Disadvantages: Seen as homophobic. Gruesome and disturbing

...the book by Thomas Harris, Silence of the Lambs is actually a sequel to the lesser-known and Hopkins-less "Manhunter" (later remade with Hopkins as "Red Dragon"). It features rookie FBI agent Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) on the hunt for serial killer Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb (Ted Levine), so named for his habit of skinning his female victims. To track this elusive killer, Starling is forced to enlist the help of the intelligent but insane Doctor ...
...the Labyrinth: The Making of Silence Of The Lambs Original Featurette Deleted Scenes Anthony Hopkins Phone Message Outtakes Reel Stills Galleries Teaser Trailer Hannibal Trailer Original Theatrical Trailer TV Spots Collectable Booklet Conclusion --------------- Winning all five major Academy Awards (Best Movie, Best Director, Best Leading Actor, Best Leading Actress, Best Screenplay) is quite an achievement. Doing it a year after the movie is released ...

stevek181 05.11.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Silence Of The Lambs (DVD)

Kingdom of the Idiots

Advantages: Plenty of bang for your buck.
Disadvantages: It's appalling portrayal of Arabs.

...Adam Leavitt. But once in the desert kingdom, Fleury and his team encounter cultural and political opposition to their presence. As they unlock the secrets of the bomb site they uncover evidence of an extremist cell determined to cause further destruction. Actor-turned-director Peter Berg takes what could be a potentially insightful movie on American foreign policy and turns it into a brainless, balls-to-the-wall action fest. It is a celebration ...
...Republican whipping boys; The Middle East. If only Berg had taken some time to research the current political climate, perhaps he would have come up with something far less offensive to anyone of Arabic descent. But instead he has decided to paint every non-American character as a backwards-thinking, anti-American potential terrorist. If they aren’t actively involved in bombing softball games with the intention of killing innocent families of hard-working ...

afy9mab 05.11.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Kingdom (DVD)

A topical film that will shock you

Advantages: A subject that people can relate to with some powerful scenes
Disadvantages: Some themes could have been made more of

Harry Brown is an ex military man who is out to set the world to rights single handed. He lives on a rough council estate and in order to visit his wife who is ill in hospital he has to walk past an underpass where the local gang of kids hangs out. It would be quicker for him to walk that way but he doesn’t dare. The kids throw abuse, both verbal and physical to everyone who dares to pass them. They terrorise the locals but no one is doing anything ...
...and ends up dead and Harry decides that enough is enough. I wasn’t sure that I would enjoy this film when I saw the trailer and I felt it was quite slow to start. But after the first 20 minutes in really captured me and I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. It started with quite a lot of different story lines which didn’t really seem relevant, especially the part where his wife was ill. The only relevance I saw in this was that the gang being ...

wolfey59 03.11.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Harry Brown

Round 'em up!

Advantages: Excellent thriller, great performances
Disadvantages: None for me

...on a boat, one of the few survivors, a cripple known as Verbal, is forced by the police to tell them what happened. His story starts a few weeks before. A truck is hijacked in New York, and, because of a lack of suspects, the police round up five career criminals, including Verbal, who could have been involved, but weren't. As revenge, they decide to carry out a heist against the police, who have been running an illegal taxi service. However, the ...
...what is Soze's plan for the men? And is Verbal going to live the rest of his life in fear of him? Verbal is played by Kevin Spacey in what I think is easily his best performance. Spacey has the ability to be suave and good-looking, creepy or a total innocent, depending on what role he takes on. Here, he borders on the innocent, for all he's a career criminal, and it is easy to feel sympathy for him. Nevertheless, there is a streak of iron in there ...

sunmeilan 03.11.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Usual Suspects (Special Edition) (DVD)