Elementary my dear Edgar. The Raven is directed by James McTeigue and written by Ben Livingston and Hannah Shakespeare. It stars John Cusack, Luke Evans, Alice Eve and Brendan Gleeson. Music is by Lucas Vidal and cinematography by Danny Ruhlmann. "On October 7, 1849, Edgar Allan Poe was found, near death, on a park bench in Baltimore, Maryland. The last days of his life remain a mystery" It's a real smart idea that the makers have here, putting their own theory forward on what happened in the lead up to Poe's death. Essentially a period whodunit procedural as Poe (Cusack) and Inspector Emmett Fields (Evans) race against time to find the person who is killing in the style of Poe's literary works. Poe's love interest, Emily Hamilton (Eve), is in grave danger, so as to add extra peril and suspense into the clock ticking drama. It's a safe piece of entertainment, one that acquaints the uninitiated with Poe's work and his life struggles away from the writing bureau. The detective angle is fun and the murders grizzly and appropriately Gothic in execution. Unfortunately it rarely convinces as a period piece. The dialogue is often out of sync with the era, Eve is miscast, the score is inappropriate and it always feels like actors playing at period rompery. It's a shame that it is bogged down by such irritants because Teague's direction is stylish, while the art design deserves a round of applause. Cusack is fun to watch, but more at ease playing Sherlock in the second half of the piece than a tortured soul in the first, and Evans is confident in the straight backed gentleman detective stakes. There's a good time to be had here on a surface whodunit follow the clues experience, and Poe fans will delight at catching the many references to his life and spiky works, but it unfortunately misses the mark in too many key areas. 6/10
I just happened to find this movie in the program listings yesterday. Movies based on Edgar Allan Poe can be a bit hit or miss but I like quite a few of his works so I decided to give this one a try. I have to say that it is surprisingly good. The Victorian era setting together with the rather dark plot and atmosphere makes for a very enjoyable old times thriller. The movie is based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe but not in the usual way that one would think when one says based on. Instead the story in this movie is a new story spun around Edgar Allan Poe as a person where his work is used by the evil mastermind in that the various stories are re-enacted in real life…with deadly results. I, for obvious reasons, have no idea how Edgar Allan Poe was as a person and I did not really have any pre-conceived opinions before watching this movie either. I can imagine that he, as a poet and writer of rather grisly stories, might have been a wee bit excentric though so to me John Cusack’s performance as the rather excentric, somewhat alcoholic and sometimes almost insane but still brilliant Edgar Allan Poe was a very good one. Not that the rest of the actors are below par by any means. The story, if you take it apart and remove the parts taken from Poe’s original works, is not really something to jump up and down over. However, put it together with the bits and pieces from Poe, add the characterization of Poe by Cusack, the dark Victorian ambiance and generally well implemented cinematics and you have a movie that is, as I wrote above, surprisingly good.
A serial killer is loose on the streets of Atlantic City. His ten victims are prostitutes, his methods are ruthless and yet his motives are unknown. Two embattled homicide detectives, Mayfield and Jesse, are in a race against time to catch this killer. They have just a few hours to utilize all of their resources and prevent murder number eleven. But with very few leads, very little support, and luck playing against them they are in for a long night because being wrong is unforgiving and number eleven is already gone.
Movie Star Rating : 4.4 Read More
It is 1879 in the Dakota Territories, a band of men who set out to find and recover a family of settlers that has mysteriously vanished from their home. Expecting the offenders to be a band of fierce natives, but they soon discover that the real enemy stalks them from below.
Movie Star Rating : 5.9 Read More
An ancient Egyptian priest named Imhotep is revived when an archaeological expedition finds his mummy and one of the archaeologists accidentally reads an ancient life-giving spell. Imhotep escapes from the field site and searches for the reincarnation of the soul of his lover.
Movie Star Rating : 6.8 Read More
The third installment of the infamous "is it real or fake?" mondo series sets its sights primarily on serial killers, with lengthy reenactments of police investigations of bodies being found in dumpsters, and a staged courtroom sequence.
Movie Star Rating : 3.3 Read More
Johnny Tyronne, action movie star and ladies man, is traveling through the Middle East on a goodwill tour to promote his latest movie, "Sands of the Desert". Once he arrives, however, he is kidnapped by a gang of assassins who were so impressed with his on-screen adventures that they want to hire him to carry out an assassination for them.
Movie Star Rating : 4.7 Read More
Two serial killers meet and fall in love in an asylum for the criminally insane. Upon escaping their corrupt captors, they flee to the country to try and lead a happy, normal life. Unfortunately, "normal" turns out to be a state of mind...an elusive state of mind.
Movie Star Rating : 6 Read More
Kale is a 17-year-old placed under house arrest after punching his teacher. He is confined to his house, and decides to use his free time spying on his neighbors. Things start to get weird when guests enter the Turner's house and don't come back out. Kale and his friends, Ronnie and Ashley, start to grow more and more interested in what is actually happening within the house of Robert Turner.
Movie Star Rating : 6.7 Read More
Kingdom of Hungary, 17th century. As she gets older, powerful Countess Erzsébet Báthory (1560-1614), blinded by the passion that she feels for a younger man, succumbs to the mad delusion that blood will keep her young and beautiful forever.
Movie Star Rating : 5.9 Read More
When a notorious German serial killer is captured after committing some of the most heinous acts against humanity ever imaginable, a farmer and police officer from a sleepy rural community on the outskirts of Berlin is drawn into the case as he searches for the answers to a murder that has shaken his tight-knit community.
Movie Star Rating : 6.7 Read More
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