Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Year: 2009

Country: USA

Rating:

Starring: Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, Rosamund Pike, Boris Kodjoe, James Francis Ginty

Director: Jonathan Mostow

My Review: A sci-fi thriller by the director who did Breakdown, U-571, and Terminator 3. This movie stars Bruce Willis in the role of a police detective who works from home. Actually, everyone works from home. With the advent of Surrogates (life-like robots, controlled remotely be their operators), most people prefer to live their lives remotely. Enjoying their physically perfect, sexy, and nearly indestructible surrogates to the dangerous drudgery of 'real' life. When surrogate operators start dying by proxy, Tom Greer (Willis) and his partner Peters (Radhan Mitchell) set to work investigating the first murders this utopia society has seen in years. The use of Surrogates isn't universally accepted, and the 'Prohpet' of this resistance movement may hold the key to these murders and the lethal weapon which kills Surrogate and Operator simultaneously. While the movie was somewhat predictable, but the ending was excellent. 3 out of 5.

Summary: People are living their lives remotely from the safety of their own homes via robotic surrogates -- sexy, physically perfect mechanical representations of themselves. It's an ideal world where crime, pain, fear and consequences don't exist. When the first murder in years jolts this utopia, FBI agent Greer discovers a vast conspiracy behind the surrogate phenomenon and must abandon his own surrogate, risking his life to unravel the mystery.

Genre: Crime, Horror, Mystery, Thriller

Year: 1955

Country: France

Rating:

Starring: Simone Signoret, Véra Clouzot, Paul Meurisse, Charles Vanel, Jean Brochard

Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot

My Review: Les Diaboliques (The Devils) is a amazing movie. Suspenseful, mysterious, and a little supernatural. Two women team up to murder the sadistic headmaster of a French provincial boarding school. The headmaster is a womanizing, cheating bully, who mentally abuses all the women he encounters. His wife (the owner and financier of the boarding school) and his mistress (another teacher at the boarding school), just can't take it anymore. They team up to commit a heinous crime, drowning the brute in a bathtub. Just when they think they've gotten away with it, the body disappears! As their crimes haunt them, the threat of revelation pushes suspense to the limit, when a private investigator begins a search for the missing man. Outstanding acting, direction, cinematography and lighting. Henri-George Clouzot is a master of cinema. I must have more. 5 of 5.

Summary: The wife and mistress of a sadistic boarding school headmaster plot to kill him. They drown him in the bathtub and dump the body in the school's filthy swimming pool... but when the pool is drained, the body has disappeared - and subsequent reported sightings of the headmaster slowly drive his 'killers' (and the audience) up the wall with almost unbearable suspense...

Genre: Drama, Thriller

Year: 1964

Country: USA

Rating:

Starring: Dan O'Herlihy, Walter Matthau, Frank Overton, Edward Binns, Fritz Weaver

Director: Sidney Lumet

My Review: Director Sidney Lumet (Serpico, Dog day afternoon, Network, The Verdict) directs this doomsday scenario with clinical precision. A bit like 'Dr. Strangelove'; this movie removes the comedic color, and injects a healthy dose of fatalism into the Nuclear threat scenario. A computer screw-up sends an American bomber crew on a suicide mission to bomb moscow with it's thermonuclear payload. Will the U.S. president (Henry Fonda) authorize the Soviet shoot-down of the errant B-58? Will this computer malfunction spell the end of all mankind? As the eggheads, politicians and warmongers argue the pros and cons of thermonuclear war, the clock ticks down to armageddon. A great cast and some excellent cinematography. Outstanding suspense is basically ruined by the lack of soundtrack and a clinical approach that leaves the viewer unbelieving in the primacy of the film. The saving grace is the final moment of the film, a huge surprise, an amazing twist that deserved better direction. 3 out of 5.

Summary: A series of human and computer errors sends a squadron of American B-58 bombers to nuke Moscow. The President, in order to convince the Soviets that this is a mistake, orders the Strategic Air Command to help the Soviets stop them.

Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Year: 2009

Country: USA, Germany, UK, Italy

Rating:

Starring: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Moon Bloodgood, Helena Bonham Carter, Anton Yelchin

Director: McG

My Review: The movie opens with the execution of a death-row inmate. Marcus Wright donates his body to science with little reservation. His life is forfeit, but maybe his salvation will come in the form of a cancer cure… Jumping forward into the post-apocalyptic landscape of 2018. John Conner (head of the human resistance) is valiantly trying to rescue mankind from the clutches of militaristic robots controlled by the 'Skynet' super computer. The story is fairly lack-luster. Featuring a back and forth battle between humans and robots. Woven into the action flick is a subplot of 'Man in the Machine'. While the action sequences and music were outstanding, the story itself played second stage in this blockbuster filled with pyrotechnics and sweaty leading men. The camera work, chi and special effects were all executed flawlessly. 3 out of 5.

Summary: It's the early stages of the war between man and machines. And the savior John Conner is doing everything he can to make sure man survives. He thinks he's found a way to ensure that, and he also learns that the machines have targeted the man who's suppose to father him, Kyle Reese, so he tries to find him. One of Conner's soldiers meets a man named Marcus Wright who has no knowledge of Judgment Day. When they reach the base they discover Wright is part machine and suspect that he was sent by Skynet but Wright claims that's not true.