Hostage Situations

Misery

Based on the chilling bestseller by Stephen King, Misery was brought to the screen by director Rob Reiner as one of the most effective thrillers of the 1990s. From a brilliant adaptation by screenwriter William Goldman, Reiner turned King's cautionary tale of fame and idolatry into a mainstream masterpiece of escalating suspense, translating King's own experience with obsessive fans into a frightening tale of entrapment and psychotic behavior. Kathy Bates deservedly won an Academy Award for her performance as Annie Wilkes, an unbalanced devotee of romance novels written by Paul Sheldon (James Caan), whose books provide Annie with a much-needed escape from her pathetic life and her secret, violent past. After Annie rescues the injured Sheldon from a car accident, she seizes the opportunity to nurse her favorite writer back to health, but her tender loving care soon turns to terrorism as she demands that Sheldon write his latest novel according to her wish-fulfillment fantasies. From this point forward, Misery percolates to a boil as equal parts mystery, thriller, and cleverly dark comedy, with the helpless author pitched in deadly warfare against his number one fan. While Bates carefully modulates her role from doting kindness to sympathetic loneliness and finally to horrifying ferocity, Caan is equally superb as the celebrated author who must literally write for his life. It's essentially a two-actor film, but Richard Farnsworth and Lauren Bacall are excellent in supporting roles as they investigate the writer's mysterious disappearance. Frightening, funny, and totally irresistible, Misery was such a hit that some of Bates's dialogue entered the popular lexicon (particularly her nagging reference to Caan as "Mister Man"), and its nail-biting thrills remain timelessly intense. --Jeff Shannon

A "heart-stopping psychological thriller" (Joel Siegel) this Academy AwardÂ(r)-winning* film is "one of the best horror movies" (Time) ever. Adapted from a Stephen King story by OscarÂ(r)-winning** screenwriter William Goldman (All the President's Men) and directed by Rob Reiner (A Few Good Men), this chiller starring Kathy Bates (Titanic) and James Caan (The Godfather), is "a Hitchcockian kind of cat-and-mouse" (The New York Times) gameplayed between two cunning mindsone as sharp as a tack and the other as blunt as a sledgehammer. Novelist Paul Sheldon (Caan) doesn't remember the blinding blizzard that sent his car spinning off the road. Nor does he remember being nursed back from unconsciousness. All he remembers iswaking up in the home of Annie Wilkes (Bates)a maniacal fan who is bent on keeping her favorite writer as her personal prisoner for the rest of his "cock-a-doodie" life! *1990: Actress (Bates) **1969: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid; 1976: All the President's Men

Hostage

You get two hostage crises for the price of one in Hostage, an overwrought but otherwise involving thriller grounded by Bruce Willis's solid lead performance. Making a dramatic pit-stop on his way to Die Hard 4, Willis plays a traumatized former Los Angeles hostage negotiator, now working as a nearly-divorced police chief in sleepy Ventura County, California. Willis suddenly finds himself amidst two potentially deadly stand-offs when a trio of hapless teenagers seize hostages in the fortress-like home of an accountant (Kevin Pollack) whose connections to organized crime result in Willis struggling to rescue his estranged wife and daughter, who are being held hostage by faceless thugs at an undisclosed location. Having directed two of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell video games, director Florent Siri brings plenty of slick, competent filmmaking to Willis's desperate dilemma, and the film boasts a gritty, graphic style that draws attention away from implausible plot twists. The bothersome, over-the-top performances by the teenaged villains also slightly compromise this gloomy but emotionally gripping adaptation of Robert Crais's novel, named as one of Amazon.com's best books of 2001. --Jeff Shannon

A former Los Angeles hostage negotiator working in a small town must deal with two hostage situations, one involving his family being held hostage.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: R
Release Date: 7-FEB-2006
Media Type: DVD

The Negotiator

Although it eventually runs out of smart ideas and resorts to a typically explosive finale, this above-average thriller rises above its formulaic limitations on the strength of powerful performances by Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey. Both play Chicago police negotiators with hotshot reputations, but when Jackson's character finds himself falsely accused of embezzling funds from a police pension fund, he's so thoroughly framed that he must take extreme measures to prove his innocence. He takes hostages in police headquarters to buy time and plan his strategy, demanding that Spacey be brought in to mediate with him as an army of cops threatens to attack, and a media circus ensues. Both negotiators know how to get into the other man's thoughts, and this intellectual showdown allows both Spacey and Jackson to ignite the screen with a burst of volatile intensity. Director F. Gary Gray is disadvantaged by an otherwise predictable screenplay, but he has a knack for building suspense and is generous to a fine supporting cast, including Paul Giamatti as one of Jackson's high-strung hostages, and the late J.T. Walsh in what would sadly be his final big-screen role. The movie should have trusted its compelling characters a little more, probing their psyches more intensely to give the suspense a deeper dramatic foundation, but it's good enough to give two great actors a chance to strut their stuff. --Jeff Shannon

This film centers on a former FBI hostage negotiator who after being framed for murder tries to clear his name by taking several people hostage in order to uncover the guilty party.Running Time: 143 min.System Requirements:Interactive Menus Production Notes Additional Footage Documentaries Video Format: Widescreen (no AR specified) Subtitles: French English Track Info: English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround French: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 085391675020

Taking of Pelham One Two Three

Dog Day Afternoon. Annie Hall. Taxi Driver. In the pantheon of classic New York films, these three take pride of place. But there are, of course, others, some of which have fallen through the cracks over the years, criminally overlooked and unjustly relegated to commercial-riddled Saturday-afternoon TV broadcasts. Joseph Sargent's The Taking of Pelham One Two Three is just such a picture. This taut 1974 thriller about four armed men who highjack a New York City subway train and hold it and its passengers for ransom may be hopelessly dated (it's loaded with ethnic stereotypes, impossibly wide neckties, and bad hairdos--and there are no explosions!), but that's part of the fun. A gruffly sardonic Walter Matthau heads a fine cast that includes Jerry Stiller, Hector Elizondo, Martin Balsam, and a perfectly villainous pre-Jaws Robert Shaw. Think you'll find a better film that depicts a nearly broke city led by an inept mayor forced to deal with armed terrorists? Fuhgeddaboutit! --Steve Landau

An all-star cast including Oscar® winners* Walter Matthau and Martin Balsam teams up with Robert Shaw (Jaws) to deliver sure-fire entertainment [that s] gripping and exciting from beginning to end (The Hollywood Reporter). Based on the sizzling best seller by John Godey this pulse-pounding picture is guaranteed to give you the ride of your life! Somewhere underground in New York s subway system just outside the Pelham Station a gang of armed men hijack a train threatening to kill one hostage per minute unless their demands are met. Forced to stall these unknown assailants until a ransom is delivered or a rescue is made transit chief Lt. Garber (Matthau) must ad-lib bully con and shrewdly outmaneuver one of the craftiest and cruelest villains (Shaw) in a battle of wits that will either end heroically or tragically. From the minute you board this train until its exhilarating climax you will be taken by plenty of surprises and lots of nail-biting action (Blockbuster Movie Guide)!Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE Rating: NR UPC: 027616837523 Manufacturer No: 908375

Nick of Time

No Description Available.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 8-AUG-2006
Media Type: DVD

The Desperate Hours

Humphrey Bogart is at his villainous best in William Wyler's taut home-invasion thriller, The Desperate Hours. Sharply adapted by John Hayes from his own fact-based novel and Broadway play, this marked a slight departure for Wyler, whose celebrated versatility is on ready display as Bogart--leading a panicky trio of escaped convicts--seizes control of a suburban family in the (dis)comfort of their own home. The domestic terror (similarly dramatized in the 1954 potboiler Suddenly) escalates as cautious patriarch Frederic March waits for an opportunity to retaliate, while the police (led by Arthur Kennedy) close in for an ambush. Viewers may recognize the home's exterior from TV's Leave It to Beaver, while its interior gives Wyler a sealed chamber for nail-biting advances and setbacks--and Bogey was rarely better at portraying ruthless, unpredictable menace. Poorly remade in 1990, The Desperate Hours remains a potent precursor to the many similar films (like Panic Room) that followed its enduring example. --Jeff Shannon

Escaped criminals hold a family hostage.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: NR
Release Date: 12-DEC-2003
Media Type: DVD

Kiss of the Dragon

Let's face it: No one is usually checking a Jet Li movie for the verbal sparring. In Kiss of the Dragon, Chinese undercover agent Li chops his way through Paris after he's framed in some sketchily defined drug sting operation. The fight sequences are tough and quite brutal, and the over-the-top finale is arguably worth the price of admission, wherein an implacable Li takes on the entire Paris Police Bureau, working his way up toward police chief Tchéky Karyo's office through cops, a pair of peroxide-blond twin henchmen, and a whole class of kung fu cadets. Co-screenwriter Luc Besson (La Femme Nikita) should know by now what makes for a nifty genre piece, but the woeful dialogue is a shame, and there aren't nearly enough action sequences to get your blood boiling. Poor Bridget Fonda gives it the old school try in a thankless role as an ex-junkie prostitute from the Midwest whose young daughter is being held captive by duplicitous police chief/drug lord/pimp Karyo (who fairly inhales the scenery). Director Chris Nolan might have pushed further the strangers-in-a-strange-land camaraderie between Li and Fonda, but the script still would've sunk him. --Steve Wiecking

Chinese secret agent on vacation in Paris gets caught up in government espionage.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: R
Release Date: 2-SEP-2003
Media Type: DVD

Red Eye (Widescreen Edition)

Veteran horror director Wes Craven lends his proven talent to the non-horror thriller Red-Eye, turning it into an above-average potboiler that makes the most of its 85 tension-packed minutes. That's a perfect running time for a movie like this, in which a resourceful heroine Lisa (Rachel McAdams, the breakout star of 2005) is trapped on a red-eye flight with creepy villain Jackson Rippner (Cillian Murphy, even more menacing than he was as the Scarecrow in Batman Begins) who's playing middle-man in the plot to assassinate a Homeland Security official. He's got her father pinned down by a would-be killer, using that advantage to coerce Lisa into phoning the luxury resort where she works and arranging to move the target into a pre-set position. It's a situation from which there is seemingly no escape, but of course Craven and screenwriter Carl Ellsworth find a way to milk the suspenseful dilemma for all it's worth, even managing to wedge in a few intriguing character details to enhance the fast-moving plot. It's still a B-movie, but it's tightly constructed and well-executed by Craven, whose previous films made him a perfect choice to maximize all that Red-Eye has to offer. --Jeff Shannon

Phone Booth

By some lucky quirk of fate, Phone Booth landed on Hollywood's A-list, but this thriller should've been a straight-to-video potboiler directed by its screenwriter, veteran schlockmeister Larry Cohen, who's riffing on his own 1976 thriller God Told Me To. Instead it's a pointless reunion for fast-rising star Colin Farrell and his Tigerland director, Joel Schumacher, who employs a multiple-image technique similar to TV's 24 to energize Cohen's pulpy plot about an unseen sniper (maliciously voiced by 24's Kiefer Sutherland) who pins his chosen victim (a philandering celebrity publicist played by Farrell) in a Manhattan phone booth, threatening murder if Farrell doesn't confess his sins (including a potential mistress played by Katie Holmes in a thankless role). In a role originally slated for Jim Carrey, Farrell brings vulnerable intensity to his predicament, but Cohen's irresistible premise is too thin for even 81 brisk minutes, which is how long Schumacher takes to reach his morally repugnant conclusion. --Jeff Shannon

A single phone call can change a man's life…or possibly end it. Colin Farrell delivers a captivating, off-the-hook performance as Stu Shepard, a self-centered New York City publicist who suddenly finds himself on the deadly end of a high-powered rifle scope. Now it's a real-time race against the clock as Stu must outwit a psychotic sniper in a frantic scramble from phone booth to freedom. Directed by Joel Schumacher, this groundbreaking "tightly-made thriller" (Sidekick Magazine) co-stars Forest Whitaker, Katie Holmes, and Kiefer Sutherland as the crazed gunman calling the shots, literally.

Red Eye (Full Screen Edition)

Veteran horror director Wes Craven lends his proven talent to the non-horror thriller Red-Eye, turning it into an above-average potboiler that makes the most of its 85 tension-packed minutes. That's a perfect running time for a movie like this, in which a resourceful heroine Lisa (Rachel McAdams, the breakout star of 2005) is trapped on a red-eye flight with creepy villain Jackson Rippner (Cillian Murphy, even more menacing than he was as the Scarecrow in Batman Begins) who's playing middle-man in the plot to assassinate a Homeland Security official. He's got her father pinned down by a would-be killer, using that advantage to coerce Lisa into phoning the luxury resort where she works and arranging to move the target into a pre-set position. It's a situation from which there is seemingly no escape, but of course Craven and screenwriter Carl Ellsworth find a way to milk the suspenseful dilemma for all it's worth, even managing to wedge in a few intriguing character details to enhance the fast-moving plot. It's still a B-movie, but it's tightly constructed and well-executed by Craven, whose previous films made him a perfect choice to maximize all that Red-Eye has to offer. --Jeff Shannon