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Nuit blanche (2011)
A familiar plot with an unfamiliar setting
The action in "Sleepless Night" is intense, sure. However, it is not a fight filled, guns blazing extravaganza. The US trailer and comments gave this movie credit with being a mix of Die Hard, 24, and Taken. However, it is much better than Taken, more intelligent than Die Hard, and more unnerving than 24.
Tomer Sisley plays Vincent, a cop who moves cocaine for a drug kingpin. However, things take a turn for the worse and Vincent's son is kidnapped by Marciano, the kingpin. Vincent must enter Marciano's nightclub and outsmart the thugs and crooked cops who are both trying to track down Vincent. Sisley's performance is physical and real, his face is often twisted in pain or sadness, or violent rage. His acting impressed me more than all other aspects of the movie.
The setting takes place almost entirely in a nightclub, where Vincent is searching for his son while trying to search for the hidden drugs which he must give to Marciano in exchange for his boy. Never have crowds of ordinary people played such an important part in a film. The crowds on the dance floor, stairs, and bathrooms all play significant parts in the film. I felt claustrophobic just watching Vincent try to swim through a mess of bodies numerous times. The lighting and music creates a seemingly frantic pace, of which the movie already has plenty. Another highlight is the fight between Vincent and fellow cop Manuel. It is a very realistic and brutal one. It turns into a desperate, devastating fight where both men are exhausted physically and mentally after wards. They utilize numerous kitchen items and the landscape to try and better one another. There is no fancy fight moves or wall climbing, only ferocity and violence in this fight.
I was impressed with the acting and location. The plot is average, but the cast helps elevate it, and you are genuinely concerned for Vincent an his son's well being. It is in French with English subtitles, and I'm glad there was no awful dubbing as is what usually happens. It is a good action movie that impresses with its cinematography and acting. Well worth a viewing or more, especially if you enjoy films like Die Hard or Taken. It more than deserves a spot next to them on the shelf.
The Prestige (2006)
Another Nolan masterpiece
Christopher Nolan has made many fantastic films. Not including the Dark Knight trilogy, he has created a reputation to keep you guessing until the very end of the movie, and often after you have left the theater. "The Prestige" follows the vein of Nolan's earlier works such as "Shallow Grave" and "Memento", in which the twists come fast and furious during the last third of the film. To summarize, Hugh Jackman (Robert Angier) and Christian Bale (Alfred Borden) play magicians who were once friends and now are out to ruin one another's career and life. Nolan creates narratives that intertwine from each magician's point of view, as both Bale and Jackman have each other's journals and are reading what they are believing to be each other's secrets. The time period is fantastic to see(late 1800's) with costumes and architecture breathing life into the film. Jackman plays an intense and determined role of Angier, while Bale often comes across as calculating and manipulative. The direction by Nolan was excellent in that he creates a story in which you genuinely like one character and loathe the other in the first half of the movie, and then your mind is changed the second half. That impressed me and kept me very interested to see the conclusion and how each character's obsession deteriorates their lives. It is a film you watch several times, as you get much more out of it after a second viewing, knowing the twists and seeing the subtle clues that Nolan cleverly waves in front of you. And of course, you don't know what hit you until the credits start rolling.