Elementary my dear Edgar. The Raven is directed by James McTeigue and written by Ben Livingston and Hannah Shakespeare. It stars John Cusack, Luke Evans, Alice Eve and Brendan Gleeson. Music is by Lucas Vidal and cinematography by Danny Ruhlmann. "On October 7, 1849, Edgar Allan Poe was found, near death, on a park bench in Baltimore, Maryland. The last days of his life remain a mystery" It's a real smart idea that the makers have here, putting their own theory forward on what happened in the lead up to Poe's death. Essentially a period whodunit procedural as Poe (Cusack) and Inspector Emmett Fields (Evans) race against time to find the person who is killing in the style of Poe's literary works. Poe's love interest, Emily Hamilton (Eve), is in grave danger, so as to add extra peril and suspense into the clock ticking drama. It's a safe piece of entertainment, one that acquaints the uninitiated with Poe's work and his life struggles away from the writing bureau. The detective angle is fun and the murders grizzly and appropriately Gothic in execution. Unfortunately it rarely convinces as a period piece. The dialogue is often out of sync with the era, Eve is miscast, the score is inappropriate and it always feels like actors playing at period rompery. It's a shame that it is bogged down by such irritants because Teague's direction is stylish, while the art design deserves a round of applause. Cusack is fun to watch, but more at ease playing Sherlock in the second half of the piece than a tortured soul in the first, and Evans is confident in the straight backed gentleman detective stakes. There's a good time to be had here on a surface whodunit follow the clues experience, and Poe fans will delight at catching the many references to his life and spiky works, but it unfortunately misses the mark in too many key areas. 6/10
I just happened to find this movie in the program listings yesterday. Movies based on Edgar Allan Poe can be a bit hit or miss but I like quite a few of his works so I decided to give this one a try. I have to say that it is surprisingly good. The Victorian era setting together with the rather dark plot and atmosphere makes for a very enjoyable old times thriller. The movie is based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe but not in the usual way that one would think when one says based on. Instead the story in this movie is a new story spun around Edgar Allan Poe as a person where his work is used by the evil mastermind in that the various stories are re-enacted in real life…with deadly results. I, for obvious reasons, have no idea how Edgar Allan Poe was as a person and I did not really have any pre-conceived opinions before watching this movie either. I can imagine that he, as a poet and writer of rather grisly stories, might have been a wee bit excentric though so to me John Cusack’s performance as the rather excentric, somewhat alcoholic and sometimes almost insane but still brilliant Edgar Allan Poe was a very good one. Not that the rest of the actors are below par by any means. The story, if you take it apart and remove the parts taken from Poe’s original works, is not really something to jump up and down over. However, put it together with the bits and pieces from Poe, add the characterization of Poe by Cusack, the dark Victorian ambiance and generally well implemented cinematics and you have a movie that is, as I wrote above, surprisingly good.
Bounced from her job, Erin Grant needs money if she's to have any chance of winning back custody of her child. But, eventually, she must confront the naked truth: to take on the system, she'll have to take it all off. Erin strips to conquer, but she faces unintended circumstances when a hound dog of a Congressman zeroes in on her and sharpens the shady tools at his fingertips, including blackmail and murder.
Movie Star Rating : 5.5 Read More
Five high school cheerleaders, their coach and a couple of adolescent sex-crazed guys travel to a cabin in the woods for a weekend getaway only to be killed off one by one by an unseen maniac.
Movie Star Rating : 4.4 Read More
In Victorian England, a master criminal makes elaborate plans to steal a shipment of gold from a moving train.
Movie Star Rating : 6.7 Read More
Beverly is the perfect happy homemaker, along with her doting husband and two children, but this nuclear family just might explode when her fascination with serial killers collides with her ever-so-proper code of ethics.
Movie Star Rating : 6.7 Read More
Terrence McDonagh is a New Orleans Police sergeant, who recieves a medal and a promotion to lieutenant for heroism during Hurricane Katrina. Due to his heroic act, McDonagh injures his back and becomes addicted to prescription pain medication. He then finds himself involved with a drug dealer who is suspected of murdering a family of African immigrants.
Movie Star Rating : 6.2 Read More
A genre-defying mixture of horror, sci-fi, myth, mystery and thrills told as four interlocking tales in one intelligent anthology. Ghosts, spirits, creatures, demons and more from the paranormal world collide with rational curiosity.
Movie Star Rating : 5.2 Read More
Thomas Krömer follows the traces of a brutal murder in werewolf-manner out of personal interest. After investigating for some time, the traces all point to one person: himself. Now, he has to find out whether he surprisingly turns into a blood-seeking werewolf at full moon without knowing it or if there is an other solution to the murders. Police are getting pretty suspicious after Thomas' own grandmother has been brutally slaughtered in her little fairy-tale-fashioned house in the woods, and it will soon be time for a full moon...
Movie Star Rating : 5.2 Read More
Forensic psychologist Alex Cross travels to North Carolina and teams with escaped kidnap victim Kate McTiernan to hunt down "Casanova," a serial killer who abducts strong-willed women and forces them to submit to his demands. The trail leads to Los Angeles, where the duo discovers that the psychopath may not be working alone.
Movie Star Rating : 6.5 Read More
Rookie cop, Amelia Donaghy reluctantly teams with Lincoln Rhyme – formerly the department's top homicide detective but now paralyzed as a result of a spinal injury – to catch a grisly serial killer dubbed 'The Bone Collector'. The murderer's special signature is to leave tantalizing clues based on the grim remains of his crimes.
Movie Star Rating : 6.8 Read More
Asphalt City 2023 - Movies (Jun 2nd)
Scarygirl 2023 - Movies (Jun 2nd)
Furiosa A Mad Max Saga 2024 - Movies (Jun 2nd)
Sasquatch Sunset 2024 - Movies (Jun 1st)
Paradox Effect 2023 - Movies (Jun 1st)
Cinderellas Revenge 2024 - Movies (Jun 1st)
Wicked Little Letters 2023 - Movies (May 31st)
The Zone of Interest 2023 - Movies (May 31st)
Alien Invasion 2023 - Movies (Jun 1st)
Darkness of Man 2024 - Movies (Jun 1st)
Ezra 2023 - Movies (Jun 1st)
Bag of Lies 2024 - Movies (Jun 1st)
What You Wish For 2023 - Movies (Jun 1st)
8 Found Dead 2023 - Movies (Jun 1st)
Maybe Its You 2023 - Movies (Jun 1st)
Binary Samurai 2023 - Movies (May 31st)
Revenge of the Empire of the Apes 2023 - Movies (May 31st)
Zombie Chronicles Infection Zone 2023 - Movies (May 31st)
A Knife in the Dark 2024 - Movies (May 31st)
Poolman 2023 - Movies (May 31st)
No Way Up 2024 - Movies (May 31st)
The 1970s- Those Were the Days - (Jun 2nd)
Inside Windsor Castle - (Jun 2nd)
The Only Way Is Essex - (Jun 2nd)
Katie Pipers Breakfast Show - (Jun 2nd)
Later... with Jools Holland - (Jun 2nd)
The Barnes Bunch - (Jun 2nd)
My Adventures with Superman - (Jun 2nd)
Accident, Suicide or Murder - (Jun 2nd)
Property Virgins - (Jun 2nd)
48 Hours To Buy - (Jun 2nd)
Design Down Under - (Jun 2nd)
All Elite Wrestling- Collision - (Jun 2nd)
Interview with the Vampire - (Jun 2nd)
On Patrol- Live - (Jun 2nd)
Billy the Kid - (Jun 2nd)
Dating Unlocked - (Jun 2nd)
Dr. Jackie - (Jun 2nd)
Drag Heals - (Jun 2nd)
Sew Fierce - (Jun 2nd)
Mayor of Kingstown - (Jun 2nd)