Thriller & Mystery > Nachmanoff, Jeffrey Thriller & Mystery

The Idiots Guide to the War on Terror

Advantages: Competent
Disadvantages: The War on Terror for idiots?

...Certificate -13? Traitor is the latest in a long line of offerings in the post 911, "War on Terror" genre, these movies coming thick and fast now like the body bags piling up out there in the desert to be loaded on to C140s in our vulgar pursuit of cheap oil and gas. But the problem is the bulk of these films are American made and so don't really tackle the real reasons for the wars, the US government and media outlets being particularly guilty for ...
...role. For me Traitor proves enough is enough in the genre now and this is one film too many and its time to move on. The whole thing is getting boring on film with most of the bases covered in this ubiquitous news generation conflict. The angle of the Don Cheadle playing the treacherous Black American Islamic convert to Al-Quieda means he's unlikely to end that way. That casting just doesn't make sense. It's almost as if they picked the star first ...

thedevilinme 08.11.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Traitor (DVD)

Good side, bad side, good side, bad si....hang on, which am I on?

Advantages: Cheadle, tactful plot well delivered
Disadvantages: Still a bit of the americanised treatment of a terrorist film

...western world and offends others. Traitor does enough to maintain a bit more distance from the 'blame', and while it still depicts a predominantly Muslim collective as the villains, it does deal with issues with a certain sense of class, and goes so far to emphasis western influence and corruption as a major factor. We open with Samir Horn, as a child, witnessing his father being blown up in a terrorist car explosion. Fast forward and the now adult ...
...with some action scenes. Traitor is currently available to buy from amazon.co.uk for £7.98. It's a very good drama come thriller, with excellent moments interspersed by good plot continuance and development. It isn't perfect, and at a couple of points I wavered with my concentration, but this was for a mere second or two of daydreaming before I was snapped back to reality with something else happening. Recommended! ...

pmcds 01.11.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Traitor

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)