view_and_review

I really liked "Longlegs." It was eerie, it was creepy, and it was a bit horrifying.

It starred Maika Monroe as Agent Lee Harker, a new FBI agent trying to track down a killer ala Clarice Darling in "Silence of the Lambs," except this killer seems to be supernatural. Nicolas Cage and Blair Underwood threw their weight behind this film as well. Their glory days are past them, but they clearly still have what it takes. Cage was particularly good as Longlegs.

These are the scary movies I like. It's not a slasher and the death count isn't extremely high. It's more of a plodding movie that relies on atmosphere and mood.

"Unhinged" is "Falling Down" but less idealistic and more psychotic. It's a bit of a throwback even, when a singular nut case relentlessly pursues a target and the only way it can end is with the psycho being killed.

In this case the psycho was a nameless guy played by Russell Crowe. This isn't "Gladiator" Russell Crowe or "Virtuosity" Russell Crowe. This is the Russell Crowe who ate the other two Russell Crowes. Yeah, he's that big. He looks like he's about three bills.

The movie began with him going into a home with a hammer, clubbing the occupants to death, then burning the house down. The next time we see him he's in an altercation with the lead character, Rachel (Caren Pistorius). She had the temerity to honk at him for not moving at a green light. For that sin he marked her for all of his pinned up rage and aggression.

It was an OK movie that wasted little time. It got into the action rather quickly and stayed there until the end. Movies about unhinged individuals can be good ala "Misery," "Falling Down," "Psycho" and others, but it takes a bit of tact. This movie was entertaining but lacked the necessary touches to make it truly good.

Netflix.

I watched "Presumed Innocent" because I was trying to get my money's worth out of my AppleTV subscription. I hoped I'd like it and I LOVED it.

What's funny is that I was having deja vu vibes when watching it. It didn't take long for me to realize that I had seen it in movie form many years prior. The title didn't ring a bell so I forgot that I'd seen the Harrison Ford movie of the same title.

Jake Gyllenhaal plays the lead character, Rusty Sabich, a prosecutor who has been accused of killing his colleague and mistress, Carolyn Polhemus (Renate Reinsve). All signs point towards him though he emphatically proclaims his innocence. It is a whirlwind of a plot as the truth remains cloudy and hidden until the very end.

I'm very impressed how they were able to stretch a two-hour movie into a seven episode mini-series. "Presumed Innocent" was very well written and equally well acted.