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Before he was crossing box office milestones with his blockbuster "Dune" duology, Denis Villeneuve was trying to make a name for himself with smaller-scale psychological thrillers. His 2013 English-language debut, "Prisoners," went a long way to establishing the French-Canadian filmmaker as a directorial force outside of his homeland — a status which was cemented after one of Villeneuve's best films, "Sicario," arrived in 2015. But while "Sicario" is often cited as the film that put the director on the map, there are many, this writer included, who consider "Prisoners" to be just as good a film, and perhaps an even more immersive and haunting experience.

The film's appeal endures even now, with "Prisoners" topping the Netflix charts in 2023 and reintroducing itself to a generation that may have missed some of Villeneuve's pre-blockbuster films. There's good reason for that. Villeneuve's 2013 effort works on multiple levels, as both a taut thriller with plenty of...

On the surface, "Prisoners" -- director Denis Villeneuve's 2013 English-language debut -- is a revenge tale gone wrong, about a devout survivalist, Kelly Dover (Hugh Jackman), who finds out that his daughter Anna (Erin Gerasimovich), has been kidnapped. However, much like the film's central metaphor, "Prisoners" is a labyrinth, wherein the characters are trapped in their own mental prisons made of internal tussles and moral quandaries.

A central character responsible for solving the labyrinthine mystery in "Prisoners" is Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal), who is first introduced in a noir-ish shot of him sitting inside a diner, as heavy rain lashes against the windows. In a brilliant demonstration of "show, don't tell," Villeneuve and cinematographer Roger Deakins reveal aspects of Loki's character and motivations with the aid of visual metaphors and evocative shots. This technique is used throughout the film to allude to certain events. For instance, a close-up shot of...

Wendy Williams is asking Odd Mom Out, “How you doin’?” — and People’s got the exclusive first look at her appearance!

The 53-year-old talk show host will appear in the season 3 finale for the hit half-hour scripted Bravo series, which follows stay-at-home mother to three children Jill Weber (creator and author Jill Kargman) as she tries to navigate the wealthy mommy clique that resides in New York’s prestigious Upper East Side neighborhood.

Williams will play herself in the episode, interviewing a mysterious guest ready to spill off the tea on Brooke Von-Weber, Jill’s sister-in-law and Momzilla rival (played...

Although the film loses some momentum towards the ending, Prisoners is a gripping thriller that shows how far a normal man will go when pushed to the extreme. The movie is hard to watch, but the performances of its incredible ensemble cast make the journey impossible to turn off. Directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Aaron Guzikowski (Contraband), Prisoners features Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard, Melissa Leo, and Paul Dano. Set at Thanksgiving, the film opens with Keller Dover (Jackman), his wife Grace (Bello), their teenage son (Dylan Minnette) and small daughter (Erin Gerasimovich) going to a neighbor’s house for Thanksgiving. Keller owns a carpentry business and the lunch is with his long-time...

Film: "Prisoners"; Cast: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard, Melissa Leo, Paul Dano, Dylan Minnette, Zoe Soul, Erin Gerasimovich and Kyla-Drew Simmons; Director: Denis Villeneuve; Rating: ****

"Prisoners" is an intense mystery thriller that blurs the line of morality. It is about good and evil, doing what is right and necessary and is layered over a tale of the prey, the predator and the survival of the fittest.

It is a story of abducted kids, their parents' angst and perseverance in order to find them.

The film begins with Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) reciting the Catholic payer "Our father..." while his teenage son Ralph (Dylan Minnette), shoots down his first hunt, a deer.

This.

‘Prisoners’ movie weekend box office: Best ‘serious’ (non-musical) Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal opening in years (photo: Hugh Jackman in ‘Prisoners’) The nearly two-and-a-half-hour thriller Prisoners, directed by Denis Villeneuve, and starring Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal, will easily top the North American box office this weekend, September 20-22, 2013. Currently playing at 3,260 locations, Prisoners took in $7.01 million on Friday, according to studio estimates found at Box Office Mojo. Budgeted at a reported $46 million — not including marketing and distribution expenses — the Warner Bros. release is expected to collect around $21 million by Sunday evening, as per Deadline.com. How does that compare to previous Hugh Jackman weekend debuts? Setting aside Tom Hooper’s "event musical" Les Misérables and action movies such as The Wolverine, the R-rated Prisoners may turn out to be Jackman’s strongest opening in an "adult (non-musical) film." For comparison’s sake, Baz Luhrmann’s Australia, co-starring Nicole Kidman,...

Title: Prisoners Directed By: Denis Villeneuve Starring: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Maria Bello, Terrance Howard, Viola Davis, Melissa Leo, Paul Dano, Dylan Minnette, Zoe Borde, Erin Gerasimovich, Kyla Drew Simmons “Prisoners” is missing some pivotal story details, but has more than enough hauntingly superb assets to deliver a highly successful nightmarish experience. It’s Thanksgiving and the Dovers are celebrating with their good friends and neighbors, the Birch family. After dinner, their young daughters, Ana and Joy, beg to head outside. Under the impression that they’d ask their older siblings to escort them, Keller and Grace Dover (Hugh Jackman and Maria Bello) and Nancy and Franklin Birch (Viola Davis and Terrence [ Read More ]

The post Prisoners Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Chicago – What would you do if your child was in jeopardy? We all love to answer quickly and instinctually that we would do absolutely anything but the fact is that we’re incredibly lucky to never be put in that situation. Would you torture someone else? What if you weren’t sure they were responsible?

“Prisoners” is a film about a man who believes the only way back to safety and light is through pain and darkness. It’s a harrowing, excellent piece of work, narratively inconsistent in the final act but a film for which all flaws are easily overlooked by incredible technical accomplishments and an ensemble of performers doing close to the best work of their careers.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

Remarkably so given its 150-minute-plus running time, “Prisoners” wastes absolutely no time on set-up. There’s one piece of overture to this dark symphony, a scene of Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman...

Sean is spending the next week in the Great White North at this year's Toronto International Film Festival, where a ton of the fall's biggest movies are premiering. Follow along with his coverage Here You haven.t experienced a true pit in the bottom of your stomach until you have lost your child. And I.m not even talking in extremes. When our oldest son was five, I lost sight of him in a crowded department store. Maybe 30 seconds passed before he resurfaced. It felt like months. Horrible thoughts flooded my brain in that split second. I felt true fear, perhaps for the first time in my life. Director Denis Villeneuve (Incendies) masterfully stretches that disquieting dread over the duration of his latest film, Prisoners, an intense and relentless missing-child thriller set in a rain-soaked, small-town Pennsylvania suburb. On Thanksgiving, neighbors Anna Dover (Erin Gerasimovich) and Joy Birch (Kyla Drew...

Looking for the next gritty drama to put on your Oscar watchlist? Well my fellow cinephile, the new pictures released of Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal for the kidnap thriller Prisoners are nothing less than intense. The Denis Villeneuve-directed movie became a surprise hit at the Telluride Film Festival over the Labor Day weekend and is now heading to Tiff.

Prisoners focuses on Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman), a father, avid hunter and survivalist. When his 6-year-old daughter Anna (Erin Gerasimovich) goes missing – and the police led by Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) are forced to release the prime suspect in the kidnapping – Dover becomes a desperate man by taking matters into his own hands and embarking down a dark path that he may never return from.

Prisoners examines how far a parent will go to save their child and features an all-star cast. Aside from the aforementioned actors, the film also stars Terrence Howard,...

Check out these first images from Arno Malarone's suspense thriller The Awakened, starring Julianne Michelle, John Savage, Steven Bauer and Edward Furlong. The psychological, suspense thriller is currently shooting in the The Hamptons, NY through the end of September. The Awakened is a Supernova Media production, an emerging independent film production company which is based in New York and Los Angeles. The cast also includes Stelio Savante, Sally Kirkland, Bryan Dechartm Erin Gerasimovich and Camila Ochoa. In the Joycelyn Engle and Christopher M. Capwell-scripted film, a young woman Samantha Winston (Michelle) returns home after 14 years to unravel the mystery and discover the truth about her mother's death. She suspects her father (Savage) and seeks guidance and answers from her mother's close friend Lucas Drake (Bauer), Harriet Bendi (Kirkland), her newly discovered uncle Thomas (Furlong)...