Three Days of the Condor
Boy, what is it with you people? You think not getting caught in a lie is the same thing as telling the truth?
Three Days of the Condor
Directed by Sidney Pollack and also starring Faye Dunnaway as the love interest this is a nicely paced, complex, spy thriller.
In fact perhaps a bit top complex as I had trouble keeping up in a couple of places (that could have been the wine though), everybody seemed to be working both sides and it was tricky to remember who you could trust or who was a bad guy. This was obviously intentional on the director and screenwriters part.
The “basic” plot is Joe Turner (Robert Redford) is a low level CIA operative, a reader, who basically trawls through magazines and books from around the world to see if there are any hidden messages or plots similar to actual spy missions (this is before the Internet, these days he could probably have just set up a google alert and put his feet up).
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Inglourious Basterds (2009)
You probably heard we ain’t in the prisoner-takin’ business; we in the killin’ Nazi business.
Inglourious Basterds
There are admittedly a couple of funny lines and some black comedic drama but more action drama than Abbot & Costello I think.
This movie is an alternative version of the “end” (I assume) of the second world war as seen through the imagination of Quentin Tarantino.
Starring a mutachioed Brad Pitt as Lt. Aldo Raine, Christoph Waltz as Colonel Hans Landa (for which he won a well deserved Ocar), and Eli Roth as Sgt Donny Donowitz amongst others. It involves a group of Jewish soldiers, nicknamed The Basterds by the Germans, sent to France to basically kill Nazis.
There’s also a second plot parallel to this involving a Jewish girl, Shosanna Dreyfuss played by Melanie Laurent with a traumatic background linked to the evil Nazi Hans Landa.
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Chinatown
Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.
This is the classic Roman Polanski directed Jack Nicholson movie from 1974.
Set in Los Angeles in 1937 the (fairly complicated) plot involves infidelity, murder, possibly corrupt police and city officials all revolving around the citys water supply.
Jack Nicholson plays JJ ‘Jake’ Gittes a seemingly succesful private detective (he has two people on his payroll aswell as a secretary) who is hired by Evelyn Mulwray to follow her husband Hollis who she believes is having an affair.
After photographing Hollis Mulwray (who, importantly, is chief engineer of the LA water supply) in the arms of a young woman, Jake thinks his job is done.
However the photos appear the next day in the newspapers, a big scandal ensues, shortly after which Mr Mulwray is found dead and the “real” Mrs Mulwray (the ever gorgeous Faye Dunaway) appears in Jake’s office demanding some sort of explanation.
Gittes soon finds himself in a complex web of political, social and moral corruption.
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Blog Ranking – Show Some Love
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