Movie Monday - Mystery films with a grip of suspense Part I

Winter is coming (in some countries winter is still coming) and what a better way to spend your nights, watching movies especially when the weather is windy and cold.

This Friday night was magnificent - raining all day long , freeze cold to stay out side, no one wanted to leave the house - we decided that a thriller marathon would be the best theme of the night.

One picked the films , other prepared hot chocolate (with marshmallows please) took some warm blankets and snuggle at the couch with some extra pillows. You get the picture :P

This night worked as an inspiration - and market research- for my Movie Monday. Mystery films with a grip of suspense. Here are my Top Ten Mystery Thriller Movies.

The Usual Suspects (1995)

A sole survivor tells of the twisty events leading up to a horrific gun battle on a boat, which begin when five criminals (Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio del Toro, Chazz Palminteri, Kevin Pollak, Pete Postlethwaite and award winner Kevin Spacey.) meet at a seemingly random police lineup. The film, shot on a $6 million budget, began as a title taken from a column in Spy magazine called "The Usual Suspects", after one of Claude Rains' most memorable lines in the classic film Casablanca. Singer thought it would make a good title for a film, the poster for which he and McQuarrie had developed as the first visual idea. The film was shown out of competition at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival and then initially released in a few theatres. It received favourable reviews, and was eventually given a wider release. McQuarrie won an Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay) and Spacey won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance.

The Game (1997)

Wealthy San Francisco financier Nicholas Van Orton gets a strange birthday present from wayward brother Conrad: a live-action game that consumes his life. The Game was well received by critics like Roger Ebert and major periodicals like The New York Times, but had middling box-office returns compared to the success of Fincher's previous film, Seven. The scene in which protagonist Van Orton finds a life-size clown doll in his driveway was ranked #44 on Bravo's list of The 100 Scariest Movie Moments. According to Time Magazine "Fincher's style is so handsomely oppressive, and Douglas' befuddlement is so cagey, that for a while the film recalls smarter excursions into heroic paranoia. 

The Sixth Sense (1999)

It’s one of the most well know films with a twist ending and of course with the catch phrase “ I see dead people” makes this film a MUST SEE. The film was the second highest grossing film of 1999 (behind Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace), grossing about $293 million domestically and about $379 million internationally. Its worldwide total is $672,806,292. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture. According to the book DisneyWar, Disney's David Vogel read Shyamalan's speculative script and instantly loved it. Without obtaining approval from his boss, Vogel bought the rights to the script, despite the high price of US$2 million and the stipulation that Shyamalan could direct the film. Disney later dismissed Vogel as President of Walt Disney Pictures, and Vogel left the company.

The Bone Collector (1999)

A quadriplegic ex-homicide detective and his female partner try to track down a serial killer who is terrorizing New York City. The movie was based on the crime novel of the same name written by Jeffery Deaver, concerning the quadriplegic detective Lincoln Rhyme. The name was inspired by a New York Serial Killer from the early 1900s called James Schneider, his surname being 'Tailor' in German. However when Stanon realized that Lincoln was suicidal, he had to give him a reason to live. Using inspiration of James Schneider, he took on Schneider's alias of the 'Bone Collector' and began copying his crimes. Its a suspense film that Angelinas Jolie talent raised out with a good plot, investigation clues and great ending. 

Memento (2000)

A man creates a strange system to help him remember things; so he can hunt for the murderer of his wife without his short-term memory loss being an obstacle. Memento premiered on September 5, 2000, at the Venice International Film Festival to critical acclaim and received a similar response when it was released in European theaters starting in October 2000. Critics especially praised its unique, nonlinear narrative structure and motifs of memory, perception, grief, self-deception, and revenge. The film was successful at the box office and received numerous accolades, including Academy Award nominations for Original Screenplay and Film Editing. The film subsequently was named as one of the best films of the 2000s decade by several media, and has since appeared in several critics' best lists.

The Others (2001)

Grace Stewart a single mother who lives in a darkened old house with her two photosensitive children becomes convinced that her family home is haunted. It won eight Goya Awards, including awards for Best Film and Best Director. This was the first English-language film ever to receive the Best Film Award at the Goyas (Spain's national film awards), without a single word of Spanish spoken in it. The Others was nominated for six Saturn Awards including Best Director and Best Writing for Amenábar and Best Performance by a Younger Actor for Alakina Mann, and won three: Best Horror Film, Best Actress for Kidman and Best Supporting Actress for Fionnula Flanagan. Kidman was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in Drama and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, with Amenábar being nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay, a rare occurrence for a horror film.

21 Grams (2003)

One of the most amazing Naomi Watts - and of course my fav- Sean Penn performances. A freak accident brings together a critically ill mathematician, a grieving mother, and a born-again ex-con. 21 Grams is presented in a nonlinear arrangement where the lives of the characters are depicted before and after the accident. The three main characters each have 'past', 'present', and 'future' story threads, which are shown as non-linear fragments that punctuate elements of the overall story, all imminently coming toward each other and coalescing as the story progresses. The film received nominations at the 2003 Academy Awards for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role (Benicio del Toro) and Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (Naomi Watts).

Mystic River (2003)

With a childhood tragedy that overshadowed their lives, three men are reunited by circumstance when one loses a daughter. The film opened to widespread critical acclaim. It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Supporting Actor. Sean Penn won Best Actor and Tim Robbins won Best Supporting Actor, making Mystic River the first film to win both awards since Ben-Hur in 1959. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote "Clint Eastwood pours everything he knows about directing into Mystic River. His film sneaks up, messes with your head, and then floors you. You can't shake it. It's that haunting, that hypnotic." The Sun wrote that the film was "a haunting masterpiece and probably (Eastwood's) best film to date". The film earned $156,822,020 worldwide with $90,135,191 in the U.S. and $66,686,829 in the international box office, which is significantly higher than the film's $30,000,000 budget. 

The Machinist (2004)

An industrial worker who hasn't slept in a year begins to doubt his own sanity. The Machinist opened on 22 October 2004 in 3 theaters in North America and grossed $64,661, with an average of $21,553 per theater ranking 45th at the box office. The film's widest release was 72 theaters and it grossed $1,082,715 in North America and $7,120,520 in other countries for a total of $8,203,235. Christian Bale dramatically dieted for over four months prior to filming, as his character needed to look drastically thin. According to a biography of Bale written by his former assistant, his daily diet at this time consisted of "water, an apple and one cup of coffee per day, with the occasional whiskey" (approximately 55-260 calories). According to the DVD commentary, he lost 62 pounds (28 kg), reducing his body mass to 120 pounds (54 kg). Bale wanted to go down to 99 pounds (45 kg), but the filmmakers would not let him due to health concerns.

The Butterfly Effect (2004)

An intelligent movie with a very unusual concept that is interesting and unexpected and with different endings .Despite the critical failure, the film was a commercial success, earning $17,065,227 and claiming the #1 spot in its opening weekend. Against a $13 million budget, The Butterfly Effect grossed around $57,938,693 at the U.S. box office and $96,060,858 worldwide. The film won the Pegasus Audience award and was nominated as Best Science Fiction Fil at Brussels International Festival and nominated for Teen Choice Award as for best thriller movie. What is distinguished about this movie is the fact that it has four different endings. So you might want to check before you download or see on-line.  

Enjoy

XxX