Acclaimed actor John Malkovich takes on the role this time of Tom Ripley, the chameleon whom now lives in a mansion in Italy with his beautiful wife and lush aristocratic lifestyle. An old acquaintance from the past returns to his life, and asks that he help him knock off enemies. Ripley wants no part of it, but he does have someone in mind who will, with the right persuasion. Ripley is one of the main characters of this story, someone whom we follow throughout the story. He’s a sick, demented character through his humble facade. Ripley twists and turns everything for his own benefit.
Tag Archives: Crime
Confidence (2003)
“It’s all confidence,” main character Jake Vig declares (Ed Burns), a slick and charming conman who leads an assembled group of conmen into some of the most brilliant cons. Taking a page right out of the classic “The Sting”, a group of professional conmen pull a fast job on a schmuck at a club, but when they discover that the schmuck they duped was about to deliver his money to mob boss Winston King, one of their men is killed and now they must confront King. King, a rather erratic but threatening boss makes a deal with them: if they pull a job on his rival Morgan Price he’ll give them a cut of the money and let them live, now with many uneasy partnerships with a few new conmen, a difficulties with an investigator who is on their tail, they must pull the con and not get arrested. But who is getting conned? And who can be trusted?
Ripper (2001)
Director John Eyres does manage to capture the appropriate mood for a film with a concept such as this. The set pieces range from grim, to bleak, to bright, to sometimes very sleek, plus he manages to take an old tired horror device: a dark and stormy forest and manages to make it a bit tense with some suspense clearly evident to the audience awaiting the identity of the killer. Jack the Ripper, the famous or infamous serial killer has been fodder for horror movies for decades, and as always is the case, every new movie attempts to put a different spin on the serial killer, attempts to turn and twist, and flip the serial killer into a new movie, but alas, there are very few movies that can take the most interesting serial killer of all time and turn him into a good film.
Buffalo Soldiers (2001)
In the chaotic tradition of “Dr. Strangelove”, the controversial “Buffalo Soldiers” based on the book by Robert O’Connor, is another dark cynical look at the U.S. military in mayhem, chaos, and anarchy while being run by psychotic or incompetent officers is a truly odd and some times far out dark comedy that was shelved due to its massive slurring of the U.S. Military as thought by many, though I prefer to see it as a farce of the U.S. Military. Spawning a stir from audiences, some of which becoming violent and screaming that this film was Un-American, It shows soldiers who are so bored during the period of the cold war they’re resorting to drugs, gambling, and violence to ease their boredom, but this film, while sometimes very intense and extremely odd in the area of the Cohen Brothers is a rather enjoyable yarn that should be watched by anyone who loves dark comedies.
Narc (2002)
On the surface “Narc” looks like just another cop film about two officers trying to solve a murder, but deep within the surface of the story and concept, this is really a tragedy, a heartbreaking tragedy about two men with demons they can’t escape. Both are a paradox; One officer, is a man who has everything to live for, he’s a family man, the other has nothing to live for, no life, but a great job, the only thing that really links them is their past and the determination to solve a murder and redeem their sins. In the climactic police raid, Patric and Liotta’s character present the paradox to the audience; Officer Nick Tellis (Patric) slips on a bullet proof vest, and protection and carefully slithers his way into the building, while Officer Henry Oak (Liotta) charges into the building like an adrenaline filled bull with a shotgun and walks in shooting without a moments hesitation.
Better Luck Tomorrow (2002)
“Better Luck Tomorrow” has the sentiment and heavy character depth of John Hughes combined with the violence, realism, and excellent dialogue of Quentin Tarantino, it reminds that though there is democracy in America, we haven’t progressed socially, we’re not willing to give Asian actors the lead role in a drama, or horror, only for action films. There is no stereotypical Asian in this film, and that’s what I loved about it. This is not by any means a negative portrait of the Asian culture, this is more of a human portrait of the Asian culture because despite the race, we’re human either way.
The Medallion (2003)
Taking its cue from “Golden Child” and just about every other fantasy film, a young child, a “chosen one” is chosen to guard the medallion, cue candles, a temple, and guards who are supposed to protect a lethal weapon but are knocked out with a tap on the head, also, cue spooky British villain Snakehead who plans to steal the medallion for immortality, but first he reads from a book at the very start of the film introducing the concept of the medallion in a low spooky British voice: “Every so and so, a child from so and so, is chosen to do so and so, to protect the medallion!” The term “immortality” is hard to define in this film; if you take one half of the medallion you can’t be killed.