'Faces in the Crowd' (2011)

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Anna Marchant teaches at an exclusive elementary school.  Her proudest moments are when she can easily identify each of her students.  Living with her boyfriend, Bryce, Anna finds time to meet with her two best friends for 'girls night'; Francine and Nina.  After one such evening, Anna opts to walk home rather than take a cab.  As she is crossing a bridge, she witnesses a gruesome crime and suffers a fall that causes her to remain in a coma for a week.  Waking, Anna realizes that something is wrong when she can no longer identify the faces of those she once held closest to her.  With a diagnosis of Prosopagnosia, a disorder involving facial perception, Anna realizes that the serial killer she witnessed on the bridge that night could be the man beside her in bed or even her best friend.

Our review:  Although this wasn't a "big-budget" movie, we like to stray outside the boundaries into straight-to-dvd movies at times.  This film was worth the risk.  Milla Jovovich plays a very convincing victim of crime.  The filmmakers use visual effects that mess with your own perceptions, mirroring the horror the main character must feel in not knowing who is being viewed at any given moment.  While Jovovich remains 'herself' throughout the film, you will be presented with different faces that can, at times, be confusing as you're trying to figure out the plot of the film.  Not too overdone, but steadily mysterious and suspenseful.  We never thought we'd see Jovovich as the victim...did you?

(Our rating)

Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense

Rated R for disturbing violent content and some sexuality

Starring:  Milla Jovovich, Julian McMahon and David Atrakchi

Family Guide:  This movie is appropriately rated 'R' by the MPAA for: Passionate kissing, sexual scenes, references to rape.  Murder, serial killer, blood and violence, violence to women, men fighting, nightmares, use of pepper spray.  Weapons (including guns and knives).  Stalking, brief moments of profanity, alcohol usage, cigarette smoking, intense chase scenes, suspense.

Director: Julien Magnat
Writers: Julien Magnat (screenplay), Kelly Smith (script consultant)

 Production Companies

• Forecast Pictures
• Frantic Films Live Action Productions
• Minds Eye Entertainment
• Radar Films

Distributed by: Millennium Entertainment (2011) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)

'Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol" (2011)

The fourth installment of the 'Mission Impossible' series; Ethan Hunt and his new team find themselves locked in a multinational race against time to hunt down a dangerous terrorist determined to cause nuclear war in order to create a new world.  Gathering intel and working together, the disavowed IMF team is implicated in the bombing of the Kremlin in an attempt to thwart the terrorist who seeks not only Russian nuclear launch codes, but the means to access a tracking satellite and use it to attack the United States and pit the country against Russia for world dominance.

Our review:  It's a spy movie with a twist.  Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) helped produce the film, and is, of course, the main character.  His team performs some incredible feats, but many of them are almost ridiculous to the point of being predictable and at times, hilarious.  Spoiler alert:  When Hunt just happens to have goggles in his breast pocket after scaling the tallest building in the world and goes hunting for one of the members of the terrorist's inner-circle, it's amazing how handy they are in the middle of a giant sandstorm.  How does his GPS get a near-constant signal when our own cell phones drop our calls all the time, even in perfect weather?  Not the best in the 'Mission Impossible' series, but the movie has a feel-good side to it that makes it worth watching.  We suggest renting or streaming online instead of buying.  The many fight scenes are worth the watch.

(Our rating)

Genre:  Action, Adventure, Spy, Thriller
Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action and violence
  
Starring: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg

Family Guide:  This movie is appropriately rated by the MPAA. Suggestive clothing and actions, kissing, brief scene of woman in underclothing, intense action violence, guns, gunshots, some blood, two car accidents shown (from inside vehicles), intense hand-to-hand combat, two people fall to their deaths, threats of violence, building demolished, brief and fairly mild language, brief scene of smoking, alcohol consumption, suspense, bombing, threats of nuclear explosions and war.

'Dreamhouse' (2011)

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There is a saying that a man's home is his castle.  Others say that every house has its own memories.  In this psychological thriller, the castle has memories that aren't of the type anyone would ask for.  In fact, this home is the place where one man would be willing to to kill to forget.

Review: Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz are great actors with good chemistry (and are married in real life), but the switch-up scenes and cutaways leave you wondering what is real and what is not.  This could be part of the appeal, but at times we found it oddly confusing.  It seemed to take away from the thrills that could have been verifiably disturbing in many cases.  Is it a haunted house or ghost story?  Is it a look into a troubled life; past or present?  You'll have to decide.  You won't have to worry about watching this movie with the lights out, however.  And you won't choke on your popcorn.

 (Our rating)


Genre:  Thriller, Drama, Mystery
Rated PG-13 for violence, terror, some sexuality and brief strong language.


Starring: Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, Naomi Watts