I went to see Iron Man last night. Robert Downy, Jr. stars as Tony Stark, a genius inventor who’s come up with numerous revolutionary military solutions for the United States’ defense and war use. After hostile forces kidnap him from the military convoy he’s riding in, the only way for him to live is for him to build a super intelligent rocket system to be used by the enemy against the United States. He instead builds a computerized suit of armor and becomes Iron Man.
The plot in this movie was action-packed and fact-paced. Downy shines in this role and gives the movie an edgy tone. The special effects, explosions, and other CGI were well done. I’ve always gone into the superhero movies of the past few years thinking I won’t like them, but have always ended up impressed. This movie was no exception. For great action and suspense, check this one out. Oh, and stick around after the credits for a bonus scene and lead-in to Iron Man 2, scheduled for release on April 30, 2010.
WARNING: Spoiler Review! If you haven’t seen this movie and plan on it, you’ve been warned.
Joshua Jackson plays Benjamin Shaw in this suspenseful drama that follows a couple on their honeymoon to Japan. Shaw is a professional photographer and plans on working while they’re on their trip. The couple hits a girl walking down the road to the cabin they’ll be staying in for the week with their car and feel horrible about it.
Then the couple begins to experience paranormal behavior when they take pictures at the cabin and notice strange things in the pictures when they’re developed. The first picture seems to resemble a ghastly looking woman kissing Shaw. The paranormal pictures just get more and more haunting from there.
In the end, it is revealed that the girl in all the pictures is a woman who Shaw dated before he met his wife who became obsessed with him. When he didn’t return her love, she stalked him and would not leave him alone. In a flashback, you see that one night in the past, under the influence of alcohol, he drugged the woman and posed her with friends of his for scandalous pictures. She is killed and it’s revealed later that she comes back to haunt Shaw and his wife only to warn her of his past evil ways that she would have otherwise never known about.
WARNING: Spoiler Review! If you haven’t seen this movie and plan on it, you’ve been warned.
I went to Charlottesville for the night last night and ended up going to see Untraceable at the Downtown Mall movie theater after dinner. I went in expecting to see a thriller, but I got more than I bargained for.
Diane Lane stars as FBI Special Agent Jennifer Marsh, who works in a field office dealing with internet crimes. A tipster alerts the unit that someone has posted a website that streams live video showing innocent people getting tortured to death. The more people log onto the website, the faster the victim dies.
The first victim is a kitten stuck to a sticky mouse trap. The killer then moves on to people he’s kidnapped. The first person is drained of his blood, the second is burned to death with heat lamps, and the third is bathed in battery acid. Each time, the victim dies more quickly than the last because the number of people on the site keeps growing, just out of the public’s sheer curiosity. Marsh is the fourth and final kidnapped individual, and is hung upside down over a garden tiller and lowered more rapidly as viewership increases. Just before she is lowered to her death, she starts swinging herself back and fourth enough to grab onto a rafter and free herself. She proceeds to shoot her captor, and the FBI, recognizing her house on the streaming web video, comes to her rescue, only to find she’s already killed him.
We later learn that the unnamed killer started the site because the local news station aired his father’s suicide, caught on a traffic copter over a major bridge, repeatedly and he wanted revenge. All of the victims are tied to either the news station or FBI.
Overall, the movie was very well done. It somewhat portrays the FBI as lazy people who sit around and stare at computers all day, but for the most part, it was an excellent portrayal of a terrible situation that could very much be reality with all the internet technologies we have today. I found the storyline to be compelling and action-driven, with no dull points or erroneous material. If you’re looking for a fist-clincher that keeps you right on the edge of your seat, and can deal with a few scenes of intense gore and blood, check out Untraceable.
I went to see P2 tonight with Tori. I haven’t seen a good thriller lately. I knew it would be suspenseful, but this movie had me clinching my fists and on the edge of my seat the entire time.
The whole thing starts out in a New York City office building. The main character, Angela, is working late on Christmas Eve and ventures down to her car alone, in the parking deck underground on level P2. When her car won’t start, she seeks the assistance of the security guard, Tom, who seems friendly enough at first. After pretending to try to jumpstart her car, he locks the door to the building exit without her knowledge as she waits for a cab. When she goes back down to the parking lot, he drugs her and puts together a Christmas meal for the two of them in the security office while she’s unconscious.
The movie gets gruesome when Tom takes a man who hit on Angela after drinking at the office Christmas party and duct tapes him to an office chair, then proceeds to ram him into the concrete wall with his car, in an effort to “help” her, as he says throughout the movie. There are a lot of other gruesome scenes after that, but it was a really well-made movie. I won’t completely give away the entire plot. If you’re looking for some good suspense, check this movie out.