Every now and then I watch a film and wonder how on earth the writer (in this case Matthew Kennedy) could ever come up with the story... This is undoubtedly one of those films! Lily Collins is "Lauren", a high-flying Assistant District Attorney whose wealthy father dies of an heart attack. He leaves the bulk of his fortune to his wife (Connie Nielsen) and cute Congressman son (Chace Crawford) but she receives a surprisingly derisory sum and a mysterious key. When she goes to investigate, nothing can prepare her for what she will find; nor for the consequences of this, frankly preposterous, discovery. For any mystery to be successful, it must have some anchor in plausibility, and boy does this not. The supposedly intelligent, savvy, daughter makes such a surprising series of choices - risky, naive and downright stupid at times - that her character is compromised from way too early on to make this much more than a muddle of a film with Simon Pegg as an extremely unlikely, and unconvincing, protagonist. Worth a watch on a dark, wet, winter's night I suppose - but aim low.
**A new meaning for the expression “having skeletons in the closet”.** In fact, this film seems to be determined to give new meaning to the famous popular expression “having skeletons in the closet”. I can't say it's a totally bad movie, because there's a lot of much worse and very popular crap floating around. The film is a good attempt at a thriller film with a lot of mystery, and that manages to entertain us satisfactorily. No, that doesn't make it a good movie. It's just decent. The script begins with the sudden death of a very rich banker, patriarch of the Monroe family, a family well inserted in the white and wealthy Anglo-Saxon elite that governs everything and everyone in the USA, solidly founded on its “Ivy League” degrees, on the Skull & Bones, on the power of Wall Street and high finance. After the reading of the will and the (quite unequal) distribution of the inheritance, the eldest daughter of the deceased, Lauren, who is in the attorney general's office in Manhattan, discovers that her father had a dark secret: an isolated bunker on the family property where a man has been held for thirty years. But this man knows the family's darkest secrets. I have to admit that the script works on good premises. What is the politically and economically influential family that has no hidden secrets and seeks to maintain a good public image? However, there are really questions of logic that fail a lot: how is it possible for a man to be imprisoned for thirty years without becoming severely ill, losing bone and muscle mass, losing the ability to digest food? It's absurd. And the protagonist's marriage seems just a facade, as she is almost never seen with her husband and daughter. The ending is also excessively sudden and does not satisfy us. It is quite obvious that a smart lawyer would have gone to great lengths and sought out more information before taking any action regarding this imprisoned man. Simon Pegg is excellent in the role of the imprisoned man. Despite the character being treated in a rather careless and illogical way by the script, the actor did a very good job and tried to adapt as much as possible to the character he had ahead of him. I also liked Lily Collins, but the actress is too young for her character, she looks like a young graduate, or an intern, and not an important prosecutor. She doesn't even seem to have the experience for it! Technically, the film is quite restrained. There are no great visual or special effects, everything takes place in well-selected settings and environments, and the costumes don't bring any surprises, and neither the cinematography. The film's environment, however, is worked out in the right way, and manages to gradually thicken as the characters act.
Brussels, Belgium, 1959. Michel and Charly Kichka, two Jewish brothers, enjoy a happy childhood with their parents and their two sisters. Henri, their discreet and usually silent father, does not speak at all about his past, so they imagine that as a young man he was an adventurer, a pirate or a treasure hunter.
Movie Star Rating : 7.3 Read More
An American girl, Daphne, heads to Europe in search of the father she's never met. But instead of finding a British version of her bohemian mother, she learns the love of her mom's life is an uptight politician. The only problem now is that her long-lost dad is engaged to a fiercely territorial social climber with a daughter who makes Daphne's life miserable.
Movie Star Rating : 6.2 Read More
When a sudden flood traps a group of strangers in an outback roadhouse it becomes clear that the threat from within the group is far greater than from raging torrent outside.
Movie Star Rating : 3 Read More
A successful Savannah defense attorney gets romantically involved with a sexy, mysterious waitress troubled by psychopaths and dark family secrets.
Movie Star Rating : 5.6 Read More
Seibei Iguchi leads a difficult life as a low ranking samurai at the turn of the nineteenth century. A widower with a meager income, Seibei struggles to take care of his two daughters and senile mother. New prospects seem to open up when the beautiful Tomoe, a childhood friend, comes back into he and his daughters' life, but as the Japanese feudal system unravels, Seibei is still bound by the code of honor of the samurai and by his own sense of social precedence. How can he find a way to do what is best for those he loves?
Movie Star Rating : 7.7 Read More
Malchow, German Democratic Republic, 1980. 20-year-old Anne is hiding Juri, a deserter of the Red Army. The two fall in love with each other. But their love is threatened: there is an arrest warrant and possibly a death sentence waiting for Juri. The two leave the country and flee to the West, leaving Anne’s six-month-old daughter Inga behind. Inga grows up with her grandparents and thinks that her mother died during a swimming accident. 25 years later she meets the literature professor Robert, who sends her on the trail of her past. He met Inga’s mother Anne during one of his seminars. At first Inga is resistant, but then she asks for Robert’s help. Together they take off on a journey through Germany, in search of Inga’s mother Anne...
Movie Star Rating : 5.9 Read More
After his family tries to kill him and he has been pronounced dead, Michel returns from the dead and sets about getting revenge on his family members. He sends each one a voodoo doll, warning of their fate. Wandering over the streets of Paris, Michel is the haunted and hunted, as he himself hunts his villainous kin.
Movie Star Rating : 5.7 Read More
When underappreciated video specialist Joe Scheffer is brutally humiliated by the office bully Mark McKinney in front of his daughter, Joe begins a quest for personal redemption. He proceeds by enduring a personal make-over and takes martial arts lessons from a B-action star. As news spreads of his rematch with Mark, Joe suddenly finds himself the center of attention, ascending the corporate ladder and growing in popularity. He's determined to show everyone in his life that he is not a nobody, but a force to be reckoned with.
Movie Star Rating : 5.7 Read More
Mean Girls 2024 - Movies (Apr 23rd)
Drive-Away Dolls 2024 - Movies (Apr 23rd)
MR-9 Do or Die 2023 - Movies (Apr 23rd)
Justice League Crisis on Infinite Earths Part Two 2024 - Movies (Apr 23rd)
Accidental Texan 2023 - Movies (Apr 23rd)
Exhuma 2024 - Movies (Apr 23rd)
Arthur the King 2024 - Movies (Apr 23rd)
Monkey Man 2024 - Movies (Apr 23rd)
The Cost 2023 - Movies (Apr 23rd)
Dangerous Waters 2023 - Movies (Apr 23rd)
Downtown Owl 2023 - Movies (Apr 23rd)
Token Taverns 2023 - Movies (Apr 22nd)
Time Addicts 2023 - Movies (Apr 22nd)
Tigers on the Rise 2024 - Movies (Apr 22nd)
Fern Brady Autistic Bikini Queen 2024 - Movies (Apr 22nd)
Tiger 2024 - Movies (Apr 22nd)
Hip-Hop and the White House 2024 - Movies (Apr 22nd)
Locked in My House 2024 - Movies (Apr 22nd)
My Child Has My Doctor’s Face 2024 - Movies (Apr 21st)
When Evil Lurks 2023 - Movies (Apr 21st)
Flying for the Flag 2023 - Movies (Apr 21st)
Aldis Next Big Thing - (Apr 23rd)
Interior Design Masters with Alan Carr - (Apr 23rd)
Teen First Dates - (Apr 23rd)
Bargain-Loving Brits in the Sun - (Apr 23rd)
WWEs Most Wanted Treasures - (Apr 23rd)
Have I Got a Bit More News for You - (Apr 23rd)
Saturday Kitchen - (Apr 23rd)
The Chase Australia - (Apr 23rd)
Tipping Point Australia - (Apr 23rd)
Accused - (Apr 23rd)
Inside the Force - (Apr 23rd)
NCIS - (Apr 23rd)
WWE Raw - (Apr 23rd)
This Old House - (Apr 23rd)
Bob Hearts Abishola - (Apr 22nd)
The Neighborhood - (Apr 23rd)
Contraband- Seized at the Border - (Apr 23rd)
Spring Baking Championship - (Apr 23rd)
Seeking Sister Wife - (Apr 23rd)
Ugliest House in America - (Apr 23rd)