thriller

This movie leaves out the few things in the book that are actually interesting and leaves us with a dull hodge-podge of a film. Only watch if you're curious. I expect that the English adaptation will be far better.

This is the Swedish adaptation of Stieg Larsson's book of the same name. I watched it a couple of years ago when it came out and rated it a 6. However, now that I've read the books, I decided to give it a rewatch. Oddly, I could barely remember much of it. But, I do now know that it's quite a ridiculous adaptation of a good book. There are way too many changes and some of them are drastic. Characters are killed off. The police are involved in matters which were hushed up in the book. The Daniel Craig adaptation appears to be a work far truer to the book than this one.

This book by Stieg Larsson is an entertaining mystery-thriller and something of a coming-of-age story as well. The reader is always rooting for the female protagonist, Lisbeth Salander, who is a reclusive, reticent, abused woman with hidden "superpowers". A good read without any major holes in its plot as long as you suspend a little sense of disbelief in the build-up. The setting in Sweden gives it that extra something as well.

Headhunters is a Norwegian thriller and as such has a lot of action, violence, a couple of nice twists, and some generous nudity. It's a fun watch and IMO, its best attribute in terms of its plot is that the baddie isn't aware of the second of two major threads that run concurrently throughout the movie. It's quite refreshing.

The direction is a bit dodgy in places as is the screenplay. But I recommend watching it if you enjoy the genre.

P.S. Bonus star for being Scandinavian.

I watched the movie first many, many years ago. Looking back it's mostly a faithful reproduction of this excellent Chuck Palahniuk novel, albeit not as "schizophrenic". The book mostly reads well. However, whether it was because I'd seen the movie before or not, the "Reveal" wasn't as satisfying as there were a number of suggestive hints throughout the lead-up which seemed to give the game away too early.

One of those rare situations where I enjoyed the film adaptation more than the book. That said, this is recommended reading.

A film that teaches you that if you have the balls (and tons of money), you can get away with all kinds of shit. A good watch with solid performances by Richard Gere and the delectable Brit Marling of "Another Earth" fame. The casting is good and the direction is tight.

I've just finished reading Tom Clancy's The Teeth Of The Tiger. The story, set in Ryanverse, involves Jack Ryan's son - Jack Ryan Jr. - and two of his nephews - Dominic and Brian Caruso, who are recruited to be part of an off-the-books outfit (set up by Ryan Sr. when he was president) named "The Campus".

I actually did not know that Prometheus is part of the Alien franchise. If I did, I would have given it a miss as such films are simply not my cup of tea. That said, the final product was reasonably entertaining. However, as with most of these horror-thriller movies, the script is marked with random bouts of unrealistic idiocy to get the plot moving, something that I really can't bear for any length of time.

I suspect that this will be a fun film to watch in 3D.

Ah! The joys of reading a well-written spy thriller. TTSS shows that it's not really the James Bonds that keep the world running, but the 'M's. The story is loosely based on Kim Philby and the Cambridge Five who were contemporaries of the author, John Le Carré as a member of MI6.

Insomnia is a Christopher Nolan film starring Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hillary Swank. The film is effectively a psychological suspense murder thriller where the good guy has to - through a series of circumstance - work with the bad guy. Pacino and Williams are top notch and Swank is a little overeager. The plot is, even if a little contrived, intriguing, and the dialogue delivery well above par.