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Advantages: Solid film
Disadvantages: Nothing special

Presumed Innocent is a very clever 1990 crime thriller with a lot of courtroom scenes and a brilliant plot to keep us guessing all the way through. Director Alan J Pakula twists and turns the film all the way through so that, in true crime thriller style, the plot thickens........... Harrison Ford plays Rusty Sabich, prosecutor. When the woman he works with and had an affair with, Carolyn Polhemus, is found brutally murdered, he digs to find out ...
...as the guilty party and the murder is pinned on him. Anxious to clear his name, and with his friends in his own office turning against him, Sabich hires his long term courtroom adversary, Sandy Stern (Raul Julia) to defend him and find out whodunnit! The film is a decent one, and is adapted from the novel of the same name by Scott Turow. I have read a couple of his books, but not this one, so I cannot draw a comparison to how true the adaptation ... Read review

Advantages: Acting, Directing
Disadvantages: Limited in terms of plot

Dead Calm is a thriller from director Phillip Noyce, who followed this film with 'Patriot Games', 'Clear And Present Danger' and 'The Bone Collector'. It is a 1989 film with a good cast, and itsx running time is an easy to watch 93 minutes. The director is a specialist of the thriller genre, so you expect a good yarn here. The Plot Joe and Rae Ingram are a couple who embark on a trip in their yacht for a few days of rest and relaxation as a couple ...
...encounter Hughie Warriner, stranded at sea on a vessel that is not functioning. The Ingrams do the right thing and invite Warriner aboard, not knowing the dangser they have invited into their lives. Thus involves a game of deadly kidnapping and desperate cat and mouse game, with the experienced seafarer Ingram pitting his wiles against the criminal cunning of Warriner. The Cast and Performances Sam Neill and a very young Nicole Kidman play couple ... Read review

Advantages: Brilliant pyschological thriller
Disadvantages: none

When a homeless man dies in the trauma rooms of one of New York's busiest hospitals, no one gives it a second thought. Except for Dr. Guy Luthan who finds the symptoms which caused the death, very strange along with the fact the man was already wearing a strange hospital wrist band. As he investigates the death further, he uncovers an underground medical research program, which is headed by Dr. Lawrence Myrick, one of the countries most respected ...
...a cure for paralysis by testing medicines on homeless people. What will Luthan do about this disregard for medical and moral ethics? What will Myrick do as his secret may be revealed at the cost of his career? This is an interesting and entertaining thriller which poses a very real question of how far should medical research go. It also allows us to see Hugh Grant step out of his comedy roles and take on the role of the inquisitive, emergency room ... Read review

Advantages: Kathy Bates and Jennifer Jason Leigh are superb
Disadvantages: Deals with child abuse and wife-beating - can be disturbing

...plot Kathy Bates stars as Dolores Claiborne and the film opens with a scene showing Dolores apparently beating her employer, played by Judy Parfitt, to death. As a result of this crime, her estranged daughter, Selena (played by Jennifer Jason Leigh) pays a visit home for the first time in years after finding out from a faxed newspaper article that her mother is in trouble. Relations are strained, but Selena is reluctant to see her mother go to prison. ...
...She then becomes withdrawn and Dolores comes to realise that her daughter is being abused by her father, Joe, played by David Straitharn. Joe is often drunk and hits Dolores - she frequently has to hide the pain from Selena - so when one day, during an eclipse, Joe falls down a disused well-shaft and dies, no-one is exactly crying for him. Despite the abuse, Selena seems to have selectively forgotten about this part of her life, and still blames ... Read review

Advantages: intense suspense, Costner looks great, smooth and slick, Pritchard the sinister aide!
Disadvantages: superfluous ending twist, subsequent viewings not as good as first, lack of extras on DVD

No Way Out is quite simply one of the best films ever made in my opinion! It relies very much on the fast pace and the element of surprise - there are many twists and turns. So if you haven't already seen it I urge you with all my heart and film-loving soul not to read the following paragraphs of plot detail until you have. It truly will spoil the film - it would have for me anyway. The first viewing is amazing but subsequent viewings cannot match ...
...romantic and sexy, you have no idea what a tense and fast ride you are going to end up getting with this film! The suspense gets so high I was punching my duvet on the bed shouting 'no way! no way!' Slightly embarassing to admit but true nonetheless. And yes Kevin Costner does look amazingly fit in his slim fitting white navy uniform. This is when he is in his early thirties. The sex scene in the back of the limo is very erotic and sensual. The plot ... Read review