Thriller & Mystery > G Thriller & Mystery > H > up to 5 GBP

Before Bourne, before Bond, there was.. Thornhill??

Advantages: The first of the great Hollywood Thrillers..with all the frills..
Disadvantages: Tame for modern audiences

...wanted to see more. North by Northwest (1959) Directed by Alfred Hitchcock 131 minutes Starring: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Martin Landau The plot has holes so gaping you could fly a crop duster through: The Plot (if you can suspend your belief): Grant stars as Roger Thornhill, a Maddison Avenue advertising exec. Through a case of mistaken identity, he is believed to be a secret agent for the government, who just happens to ...
...movie polls that are released. North By Northwest however is THE first extravagant, technicolour thriller which would’ve shaken viewers by their lapels on the big screen. From the suave hero who is phased by nothing, the sinister villain, the beautiful girl, thunderous music, the humour and exotic location: this film has it all. In fact, Albert Broccoli based his James Bond screen adaptation on this film and picked Sean Connery for the role due to ...

runningman77 25.02.2009 · Read full review
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Review of North By Northwest (DVD)

The softer side of Hitchcock

Advantages: A charming and witty soft fifties thriller - pleasing to the eye.
Disadvantages: More cool than chilling - it's not nail biting stuff.

...my spine - it failed to do so. This is one of Hitchcocks later films and with it, he seems to have lost much of what it was that made us love him so much - Psyco, the Birds, Dial M for Murder this is not. However, if you step back from your expectations you can find this an enjoyable and entertaining film. It is beautifully executed, with stella perfomances from Cary Grant - at his smooth, cool and sexy best (if not getting a little bit old) and ...
...robberies taking place is enough to keep the viewers interest ticking along, despite a slightly predictable finale. The script is suave, stylish and amusing despite what is lacks in suspense. Special features include a 'making of' documentary featuring interviews from several of the production crew and some interesting insights into the working of Hitchcock, Grant, et al. All in all I would say that this film is worth buying if you are a fan of either ...

polskey 11.09.2005 · Read full review
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Review of To Catch A Thief (Special Edition) (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
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Hidden (DVD)