Mystery

[7] Five disparate stories intertwine in absurd ways in this bizarre but beautifully executed Tarantino-esque flick from Japan. The main story, by a narrow margin, focuses on a man who keeps killing and burying his wife only to find her home again, ready for their next lethal sparring match. Then there’s the exploits of a British hitman (Vinnie Jones) who is obsessed with asking people …

[4] Samuel L. Jackson and Julianne Moore star in this clunky mystery about a New York detective tasked with prying information from a distressed woman whose toddler was kidnapped in a stolen car, while also trying to prevent an escalating race riot. Yeah. Freedomland is a hot mess of a movie. Jackson’s two objectives don’t seem to have any connection to one another and the …

[7] Four magicians team up with a wealthy benefactor to basically rob from the rich and give to the poor in enormous productions that garner them more and more celebrity. Jesse Eisenberg, Dave Franco, Woody Harrelson, and Isla Fisher play the magicians, while Michael Caine plays their sugar-daddy — but it’s Mark Ruffalo who actually stars in Now You See Me, as we experience the …

[7] Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant star in this Stanley Donen (Singin’ in the Rain) film about a recent widow fighting off a handful of mysterious bad guys who believe she knows where her husband was keeping a stolen quarter million in cash. Charade is a successful blend of thriller, romance, and dark comedy with a number of twists and betrayals that will keep you …

[3] I don’t know what the hell I just saw. I could tell you what it’s about, but it’d be misleading. See, it’s about a discharged cop (Kevin Kline) who is roped back into the police to help them find a serial killer. Only very little screen time is actually devoted to that scenario. It’s mostly about this cop’s myriad relationships. There’s his old flame …

[6] Jake Gyllenhaal stars in this ambiguous mystery about a man who becomes obsessed with tracking down his perfect doppelganger. Upon meeting, the two men (both played by Gyllenhaal) are confused, jealous, and fearful of each other. Things come to a head when they agree to switch places in their romantic relationships, a move seemingly prompted by perceived jealousy and a desire for sexual infidelity. …

[3] In this morose and supremely depressing film from Marc Forster (Monster’s Ball, Finding Neverland), a troubled college student (Ryan Gosling) seeks the help of a shrink (Ewan McGregor), who then investigates the boy’s life to see if there might be any merit to his vow to commit suicide later that week. I might have liked Stay better if it were a reality-based drama, but …

[7] Is Michelle Pfeiffer seeing a ghost in her lakeside home, or is she just losing her mind? That’s the premise behind this intimate thriller from director Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, Back to the Future). Pfeiffer does a fine job and Harrison Ford is interestingly cast as her husband, a role that turns out to be more against his type than you’d imagine. The story …

[7] Ben Affleck stars as a man whose wife appears to have been violently abducted from their home. Due to his unusually calm demeanor, the local law enforcement and the public both begin to think he might have killed her, but the truth is something a little more complicated than that. All the fun in this David Fincher movie (based on the novel by Gillian …

[7] Melanie Griffith and Matthew Modine rent out a room of their San Francisco dream home to the tenant from Hell and barely escape to tell the tale. Michael Keaton plays the psycho boarder, a guy who hammers and makes noise all night long, lets cockroaches loose in the building, kidnaps their cat, and eventually encourages physical assault — all in an effort to use …

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