Basically, if you’re into really well-made sci-fi-action-zombie-post-acopalyptic-action-gorefests, this one’s for you.
All in Thriller
Monthon Arayangkoon's THE VICTIM
This Thai ghost story/crime thriller is convoluted, intense — and scary.
Guillaume Iverne & Arthur Qwak's DRAGON HUNTERS
I was transfixed by this animated film, not because of the story — a traditional mix of family-oriented fantasy quest elements — but because of the astonishing artistic imagination on display throughout the film.
Je-gyun Yun's TIDAL WAVE (HAEUNDAE)
As disaster movies go this one is pretty good. We get to know an odd group of people and wonder, of course, which will survive When The Big One Hits.
Sylvester Stallone's THE EXPENDABLES
Team of over the hill mercenaries rescue damsel in distress in a tiny corrupt island based military dictatorship. In the process the island is reduced to smoking rubble and piles of corpses.
Na Hong-Jin’s “THE CHASER”
Following the success of Silence of the Lambs, movie and TV audiences have been treated to many pale imitations, most of which have failed to excite or provide any serious dramatic interest
Val Guest's DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE
Val Guest’s businesslike direction and matter-of-fact approach to depicting extraordinary circumstances in a near-documentary style here yield a still-watchable and very entertaining thriller that takes place in London in the early 1960’s.
Park Chan Wook's THIRST
Plot summary:
* Devout priest volunteers for medical experiment
* Becomes lustful vampire as a result
* Sex/violence/building-hopping/tragedy/ensue
Pierre Morel's TAKEN
This movie is silly, prepostrous, nonsensical, and the plot has more holes than the strainer I use Sunday mornings to defrost frozen blueberries when I bake muffins.
I loved it.
Alex Proyas' KNOWING
In KNOWING director Proyas (Dark City, I, Robot, Garage Days) takes disparate elements (end of world, numerology, randomness vs. determinism, single father raising son alone, calamity, Nicolas Cage, and some of the most visceral and amazing special effects I’ve seen since Benjamin Button) and weaves them into a mix you’ll either love or hate.
Tony Scott's “THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123”
This is an enjoyable Summer action vehicle that’s held together by Scott’s taught action direction, witty dialog, and effective performances by Washington, Travolta, and Gandolfini.
McG's TERMINATOR SALVATION
This is a worthy continuation of the Terminator franchise. There’s enough new stuff here to keep your attention, the action is spectacular, and the characters are sufficiently differentiated to create some dramatic tension despite being frequently out-staged by the savage action sequences.
The “invisible aliens among us” story has been done many times before. This one focuses less on wild histrionics than continually escalating terror.
Timur Bekmambetov's WANTED
Talk about no redeeming social value! But it’s great fun.
Halfway through I thought about stopping but I’ve decided to give this movie another chance after reading the Netflix reviews.
This non-political story about a young terrorist-in-training takes place in a series of backwoods training camps in India, culminating in the travel and preparation of a young teenage female to blow up herself, and a target official selected by her mentors, in a crowded public place.
Steven Spielberg's MUNICH
That the issues raised by this faux history of events kicked off by the massacre of Israelis at the 1972 Olympics are still so relevant is a testament to Spielberg’s intelligence and sense of morality.
It also helps that he’s a terrific film-maker who is willing to attack complex topics in an intelligent, personal, and thoughtful way.
Robert Schwentke's FLIGHTPLAN
This tightly plotted thriller pits Jodie Foster against the disappearance of her character’s little daughter on a giant super-jumbo airliner in midair. Playing a jet aircraft engineer who helped design the aircraft where most of this midair plot takes place, Foster pits her innate intelligence and cunning against both the disappearance and her natural instinct to panic.