The Disappearance of Alice Creed (2009)

At a glance:
A straightforward and brutal kidnapping gets much more complicated and deadly as hidden relationships are revealed

Our review (with spoilers):
Two seemingly cold-blooded hoods carefully plan and execute a hostage for ransom plan. They are brutal but business-like. These are not sadists, in it for the thrills. They are merely there for the monetary reward, but that doesn’t diminish the stomach-churning effect of watching their machinations. But this is much more than a straightforward story of hostage-taking; there are hidden relationships here that, before long, will complicate matters greatly.

Danny and Vic certainly seem to have coldly imprisoned a stranger named Alice, chosen only because her rich father is deemed to be ransom worthy. But when Alice grabs Danny’s gun during a bathroom break, Danny reveals to her that behind the mask is her boyfriend. Yes, he did brutally kidnap her, but that was only so that her video plea to her dad to pay the ransom would be completely sincere. Danny’s plan is to double-cross Vic, take all the money, and run off with Alice. But Alice’s reaction is anger at being brutalized and kept in the dark about the plan. When the opportunity arises, she turns the tables on Danny, hand-cuffing him to the bed. The tables turn a few more times, and more about Danny and Vic’s relationship is revealed, so that you start to wonder just who Danny owes his allegiance to.

Director J. Blakeson tells the story with dead seriousness. This isn’t some stylized Tarantino clone. There’s not a shred of humor to lighten the upsetting events. Yet it isn’t torture porn either. It’s a reality reveal of how a crime is conducted and how humans are inevitable and deeply flawed.

Some of you who know me and my reviews will remember that I have a low tolerance for violence in general and torture in particular. Nonetheless, I thought that this film had such strong emotional lynchpins that the torture, though difficult to watch, was worth it, because what happened to Alice was part of a more important story.

Rating: 3 of 4

Other reviewers said:
"Plenty of movies have covered the same terrain as this British kidnapping thriller, but few in recent memory with as streamlined a sense of tension-soaked purpose and commitment to character-driven minimalism."
- Brent Simon (Shared Darkness)

Lake Mungo (2008)

Movie quotes:
"Alice kept secrets. She kept the fact that she kept secrets a secret."
 - Alice’s friend Kim

At a glance:
This unusual and original supernatural thriller is both an intriguing mystery and a showcase of acting and directing talent

Our review (with spoilers):
Alice Palmer, an Australian teen, drowns accidentally; her parents and brother explore their grief in different ways. That’s the very short summary of Lake Mungo, an original combination of supernatural thriller and mystery. If you haven’t seen Mungo yet, please stop reading now, as this film is so much better when you can follow the path and have no idea where it’s going.

After Alice’s death, noises in the house indicate that she has returned in spirit form. Her brother (who was there when she drowned and could even be considered a possible suspect) mounts video and still cameras throughout the house and garden; the results show a shadowy, Alice-shaped figure. But this is debunked when the brother admits that he doctored the footage as a way of getting Alice’s supposed body exhumed to ensure that DNA testing could confirm it was indeed her.

But the DNA confirmation is not the end of the story. Director Joel Anderson makes home video, mobile phone footage, and videotaped interviews with a psychic play an important role in this unraveling mystery. Anderson also displays a knack for getting sincere, achingly subtle performances from his actors, whose grief and/or detachment is as real as the real thing.

Rating: 3 of 4

Other reviewers said:
"It's not so much scary as spooky (except for one really creepy moment) but this ghost story is less about supernatural hauntings than human secrets and lies."
- Sean Axmaker (Seanax.com)

The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call: New Orleans (2009)

Movie quotes:
"Right now, I’m working on about an hour and a half sleep over the past three days, and I’m still trying to remain courteous, but I’m beginning to think that that’s getting in the way of my being effective."
- McDonagh

Chavez: Are you all right?
McDonagh: Sometimes I have bad days.

At a glance:
Werner Herzog is the perfect man to direct Nicolas Cage’s gratuitous bad cop wallow in depravity and excess

Our review (with spoilers):
Nicolas Cage is about as bad a lieutenant as humanly possible. We see him briefly in the opening scene – he talks tough, but at least he is willing to dive into snake-infested water to rescue a drowning convict. But that dive causes a life-long back problem that spirals him into a world of prescription and non-prescription drugs. He has no qualms about using the power of his badge and gun to steal drugs from anyone who is in possession, and have sex with their girlfriend, too. Absolute powe corrupts absolutely, and perhaps he could have gone on with this depraved lifestyle forever, but he makes two mistakes. First, he threatens and harasses an old woman whose son is a senator. And second, he steals drugs from a guy who is close with the mafia. Soon, he is being blackmailed for 50 large, while at the same time, his gun is taken away and he is under investigation. Perhaps worse than that, his girlfriend Frankie (Eva Mendez) has been talking to his father, a reforming alcoholic, and now she has started going to AA meetings with him. Yet despite all his side trips into self-gratification, he’s still a good detective dedicated to solving the murder of a Senegalese immigrant family – even if it means he’s doing drug deals with the guys who did it.

Cage, who has recently been looking increasing haggard as various action heroes with much younger girlfriends, finally gets to play a part that both suits his current look, and allows him to chew scenery, something he does so well. He’s still got a young girlfriend, except this time it makes sense, as they are both addicts and he’s more of her pimp/protector, anyway. And who better to direct Cage in this role than a man who loves to document and live extremes, Werner Herzog?

Rating: 3.5 of 4

Other reviewers said:
"Becomes bizarrely comical as it gets increasingly depraved. But Herzog's deliberately bonkers approach, matched by Cage's hammy performance, is strangely entertaining."
- Rich Cline (Shadows on the Wall)

Strangers on a Train (1951)

Movie quotes:
"How do you do, sir? I'd like to talk with you sometime, sir, and tell you about my idea for harnessing the life force. It'll make atomic power look like the horse and buggy. I'm already developing my faculty for seeing _millions_ of miles. And Senator: can you imagine being able to smell a flower - on the planet Mars? I'd like to have lunch with you someday soon, sir. Tell you more about it."
- Bruno Anthony

At a glance:
This Hitchcock classic features tension and occasional bursts of humor in Robert Walker’s creepily accurate portrayal of a deranged killer who wants to trade murders with a naïve stranger

Our review (with spoilers):
A serially pesky neighbor got me and a friend of mine thinking about some fantasy solutions, and I’m not ashamed to admit that this film came to mind. Could we trade murders and stay above suspicion? Of course, it wouldn’t work in our case, we realized, as we are not strangers, and we weren’t on a train. But it motivated me to watch this classic again. It had been a while, so for the most part, my bad memory meant that the details seemed almost new to me again.

The story: on a train ride, young tennis player Guy Haines (Farley Granger) meets the eccentric Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker). Anthony knows an awful lot about Guy’s private life, including his dying marriage and his affair with Ann (Ruth Roman). Bruno has a lot of crazy ideas, but the craziest is to trade murders – he’ll get rid of Guy’s cheating wife, and Guy will get rid of Bruno’s disapproving father. Trying to back away from this madman and be polite, Guy may have said, vaguely, that this was a good idea. Bruno takes this as a pact and soon dispenses with Guy’s wife Miriam by strangling her in an amusement park. In typical Hitchcock style, we view part of the strangulation reflected on the lens of Miriam’s discarded glasses. Guy now has two big problems: the police suspect him, especially after his alibi falls through; and Bruno expects him to fulfill his part of the bargain. Even though Guy is under surveillance, Bruno still invades his life, pestering him. When Guy continues to refuse, Bruno plays his trump card: he will place Guy’s lighter at the scene and further implicate him.

For such a genteel film by 2010’s standards, Walker still delivers one of the most accurate depictions of sick mind. The murder scene is particularly creepy and intense: for no reason, he flirts with the woman before killing her, as a cat might play with a mouse, or as a way of enforcing her poor character. Despite looking almost like he has a stick figure body hidden inside his loose suit, he is able to bang the gong when showing off for her on the carnival test your strength mallet game.

As in most Hitchcock films, there are highs of tension and great diversions of humor. During a tense final fight on an out of control, racing merry-go-round, there is a quick shot of a distraught mother, being restrained by police, screaming, "My son! My son!" We cut to the boy, unharmed and laughing joyously as his horse careens around the merry go round.

Hitchcock’s fascination with the idea of lookalikes surfaces here, too – Anne’s sister Barbara bears a striking resemblance to the murdered woman, and this coincidence helps to implicate the murderer.

The one slight weak point in the film is Granger’s overly naïve turn as Guy, although some or most of the blame for this goes to the script – and he does get better as the film progresses. But oh, if only Jimmy Stewart had been cast in that role!

Rating: 3.5 of 4

Other reviewers said:
"Walker's creepy performance ranks among the best found in any Hitchcock film."
- Matt Brunson (Creative Loafing)