Film Review 2 - Phone Booth

The movie that I have watched is Phone Booth. It is a mystery, suspense and a thriller movie. The film is about Stu Shepard, and what at first seems to be a normal day in his life. When the movie starts, he calls his girlfriend from a payphone, and a deliveryman tries to give Stu free pizza, which he declines. After hanging up, while Stu is still in the phone booth, he receives a call from a man. The man doesn’t tell Stu his name, only that he likes to watch him. Stu, thinks the same that I was, this is a prank call and hangs up. Moments later, Stu receives another call from the same man, and tells him not to hang up. He insists that Stu tells his two girlfriends tat he is cheating. Stu now knows that this caller knows about him, and is frightened.

The situation escalates when the man on the phone reveals that he has a sniper rifle, and he shoots a man that was harassing Stu, on Stu’s command. The police are on the scene, and Stu is the suspect for the shooting. The police demand that Stu gets off the phone, but the man tells him he cannot hang up. The police later go up to get the caller, when the caller tells Stu that he will kill him and his girlfriend Kelly now. Stu runs out the booth, with his gun when the cops shoot him, with rubber bullets. The police find the sniper rifle and a body. The body is the pizza deliverer. A man approaches Stu going into the ambulance, and tells him he is the sniper. I did not expect that the sniper will reveal himself. He tells Stu to be honest or he will hear from him again. The movie ends with another call, with a man answering saying “Hello?”

The film to me was packed with a lot of events happening at once. I did enjoy the movie, and it had a unique storyline. I did not think that the sniper would make it to the end of the movie, without being either arrested or killed by police. This movie made me think about payphones, and how I will never answer one that rings near me. I didn’t know you could call payphones until I’ve seen this movie. Also, throughout the whole movie until the end, you didn’t clearly see the caller, which really keeps the audience in suspense, because seeing a person’s face can change your opinion of them. The way that the film set the setting as mostly inside a small phone booth is difficult, using a small space for blocking until the end where the action takes place.

The Da Vinci Code

Over the weekend I watched The Da Vinci Code. This movie is based off of the famous best seller by James Brown, and is part of a trilogy (The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, and The Lost Symbol). Although this movie was out before the movie Angels and Demons, the book Angels and Demons came before The Da Vinci Code. Because of the connection, many parallels can be drawn between the two plotlines. Some of the parallels that I saw were how a woman was the sidekick in movies, secret society or brotherhood, clues with sculptures, and etc. This movie was almost exactly the same as Angels and Demons, only it has nothing to do with the Church.

The movie begins with the Harvard professor, Robert Langdon, receiving a request to help solve the mystery behind the recent death of the art curator of the Louvre. Upon accepting this request, he learns of the involvement of the Priory of Sion and their secret. The Priory of Sion is an ancient brotherhood created for the purpose of protecting the Holy Grail. With this secret hidden within the works of the renowned Leonardo Da Vinci Langdon goes all over Paris finding hints in art, history, and religion.

Some of the mystery tropes that I saw in this movie were the friend did it, hidden in plain sight, confesses in confidence, and saying too much. There’s always that evil character that think they are so smart, that their plan will work out and no one will ever find out but the good guys always win because when the good guys are capture, the evil character will expose all that they have done.

This movie was okay, I liked it better because there weren’t as many deaths compared to Angels and Demons but then again all those deaths was what kept me at the edge of my couch waiting for the next big thing to happen.

Angels and Demons

I watched Angels and Demons and although it wasn’t in the top 100 mystery movies like Inception, it was a really cool movie. I haven’t read the book before this movie so I’m not exactly sure how it compares with the movie but people have said that they left out some important parts that told about the past. This movie started out with a lot of priests breaking the pope’s personalized ring and stamp, because the pope just passed away. They can’t allow those items to get in the hands of other people who might do something in the name of the pope.

The movie takes place in Vatican City, Italy so when the pope passed away; it was a major event that almost everyone grieved about. The next four cardinals in line for the pope position were very important and the mystery begins when a mysterious person sends an Illuminati symbol and the police have to ask help from Harvard professor, Robert Langdon. The Illuminati was a secret society of scientists that opposed the religious society a lot because they started killing scientists for what they thought was going against religion. So the four cardinals are captured and killed every hour before the final light that will wipe out Vatican City. Langdon follows all these signs for the four elements and he’s able to save the last cardinal while almost able to have saved two more. The murderer planned to kill the four cardinals with the four elements (water, fire, air, earth) and he would brand them with the Illuminati element symbol too. The light that he said would wipe out Vatican City was an vial of antimatter that he stole from the laboratory right as scientists have just successfully proved it. There’s a mix of science inventions with religious stories which goes with the whole Illuminati versus Church thing.

There were a lot of the mystery tropes in this movie such as the obvious murderer and mastermind behind all this (I wouldn’t say, just if you want to watch it to find out), evidence scavenger hunt, hidden in plain sight, serial killing specific targets, and more. I liked this movie a lot although there were some times that I was scared because of how they portrayed the deaths.

I am CAPTIVATED by Red Corner !

The mystery movie I chose to watch was the 1997's Red Corner featuring Richard Gere. The genre of this movie was unclear at the beginning of the movie. It started with the main character, Jack Moore, being seduced by a Chinese woman and having a one-night stand with her. From the first scene you would assume it was a romance movie, but when Jack was awoken in the morning, covered in blood, by the Chinese police the entire movie changed. Jack is being accused of killing the asian woman but he keeps repeating he is a U.S Citizen thinking that would help. When he request to get an attorney and talk to the American Embassy, the strict Chinese Police points to a quote on the wall. It read: "Leniency for those who confess, Severity to those that resist.", and when Jack screams he is not resisting he is slapped with force.

This movie shows how harsh the government in other countries can be. He is not allowed to have an out of country lawyer representing him in court. Throughout the movie, it is repeated that there must be respect given to Chinese legal system. They honor honesty and confessing to committing a crime instead of resisting their charges. The movie presents how bias and unfair the law can be towards an outsider. Jack is constantly being ridiculed and abused because he is sought as killer to the Chinese Officials. This mistreatment towards him makes the viewer question the loyalty or truthfulness of the people who surround Jack.

The mystery behind this movie is the question of what really happened that night. The huge gap in the movie leaves the viewer questioning everything including Jack's insanity. It is hard to choose sides in this movie (China's legal system or Jack Moore) because of the missing scene. The evidence points to Jack killing the woman but he could have been framed. The movie makes the viewer believe that. The Chinese legal system side has very good points. They see him as an outsider from the United States which is filled with more crime than China.

Overall this movie keeps the viewer interested and intrigued. The many obstacles and mysteries that Jack Moore goes through to prove his innocence keeps the viewer captivated. It also keeps you at the edge of your seat awaiting the next twist or turn in the movie.

The Pink Panther Movie Review

The film that I have watched is The Pink Panther. This film was a remake of the earlier Pink Panther Films, released in 2006. The movie is not just a mystery, but also a comedy. It begins with a narration about the case of the story, the disappearance of the Pink Panther diamond. The beginning setting is at a soccer game, where the French are facing the Chinese. After the French come out victorious, the celebrating begins. The coach that was wearing the Pink Panther is shot with a dart into his neck, and dies. The diamond is also missing.

This film, like all of its predecessors was focused on the dimwitted French inspector Jacques Clouseau (played by Steve Martin) solving the mystery of the Pink Panther diamond. As stated before the film is also a comedy, mixed in with the mystery. Almost everything inspector Clouseau does or says is comical. His clumsy actions and strong accent make you wonder if he is up to the task to solve a murder, or if he’s even an inspector. In one scene, he is at an airport and has his bag switched, now containing guns. He is questioned, saying and mispronouncing the word “hamburger”, which makes him seem more suspicious, but is hilarious.

However, because of all of Clouseau’s antics, it’s easy to forget he is trying to solve a murder and robbery case. While he is at a party, it all becomes unfolded. He solves the murder of the soccer coach, and it turns out to be Yuri “the trainer who trains”. Xania (portrayed by Beyonce Knowles), whom was the coach’s girlfriend, had the Pink Panther diamond in her purse. Clouseau is a hero for solving the huge crime, and is awarded the Légion d'honneur. Of course, the film ends with humor, when Clouseau closes his car door on Chief Inspector Dreyfus’ leg and drives away, not noticing he is there.

This was a great film, combining both mystery and comedy. Although I haven’t seen the other earlier film versions of The Pink Panther, critics do say it is on the bad end compared to the other Pink Panther films. Don't forget to click the 'hamburger' scene!

rebecca-very typical mystery

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MysteryTropes
When I looked at the tropes for mystery, I found Rebecca having a lot of these tropes. For example, the first trope for mystery was asshole victim. This was a definite fit for Rebecca because she married Maxim but had affairs with different men such as her cousin and the workers at the Manderley.

The butler did it, although this wasn't true for the book, I had assumed that Mrs. Danvers or someone else had killed Rebecca instead of Maxim himself.

Rebecca (the end)

The last post I was talking about how Maxim tells the protagonist everything that happened. So right after, the cops call and tell Maxim that he might have identified the wrong person as Rebecca a year ago. A lot of investigating happens, there were a couple of times that could have proved that Maxim was the killer but they were all brushed off by the detective. There was a time where Jack Favell showed the detective the note that Rebecca wrote to him telling her to meet him, so that’s why she was murdered and by Maxim too. (Favell is Rebecca’s cousin and lover while she was married to Maxim- a no-love-and just for the name- marriage) Favell was drunk when he told the detective, so he obviously wouldn’t believe him. Favell mentions Ben as a witness but when they all went to ask him, he said that he didn’t see anything when he most likely could have. Favell also mentions Mrs. Danvers to prove that he was lovers with Rebecca and Mrs. Danvers proves it but she says it was a love game for Rebecca. Mrs. Danvers provides the detective with Rebecca’s planner showing that she went to see a doctor before her death. They all go to the doctor and the doctor tells them that Rebecca had only a few months to live because she had cancer, a malformed uterus so no chance of having children. After all this, Rebecca’s death is seen as a suicidal case and Maxim’s off the hook.

The victim was an asshole victim because Rebecca seduced and had affair with other men. She married Maxim because she promised she would take care of the Manderley (Maxim’s family estate) and make it famous (which was true). A lot of mystery cases have the victim being the bad person of the story. There was this mystery case where the murderer read lots of mystery books which were written by a doctor that cuts up and examines dead bodies. The murderer had a huge crush for the doctor and idolized him, so when he said he disliked a few certain people because they should have been in jail but they were off the hook, she killed them. She killed them according to the stories that the doctor had written it in.

The book ended out of no where so I had to reread the beginning of the book (the present). Now that I have finished Rebecca I would say that I recommend it to readers that are in for a more romance mystery because this book was almost all about romance, and at the end they show some mystery. The book is good but it basically goes on about how the main character compares herself to this previous mistress and how at the end the previous mistress wasn’t all that perfect.

Rebecca

Along with all my other group members that are reading this book, I dislike Mrs. Danvers character. I predicted when Mrs. Danvers told the protagonist to wear the costume that’s in a painting that she was up to no good and it had to have something to do with Rebecca. Mrs. Danvers has been mean to the protagonist from the very beginning of when she moved into the Manderley, so why would she be so nice as to help her with the costume? The main character thought this too but she still went with the thought that Mrs. Danvers was trying to change and help her. My prediction was right; the costume was the same exact costume that Rebecca wore at her last ball. Mrs. Danvers also tries to persuade the main character to jump off the window and die because no one needs her here and she’s not loved by Maxim. The stupid thing is, the main character was actually about to jump off and end it all, but she heard a loud boat crashing noise at the beach and she left.

The part in the book about how the main character wore the same exact outfit as Rebecca is so common. Lots of movies and books show the main character wearing something that will remind murderer(s) of the victim. This is also the same with sad stories because the main character reminds everyone of a past deceased. For mysteries and horror, this usually triggers something in the killer and then makes them want to kill the main character too. There was this episode that I saw in a Chinese police series, where the killer was really affected by women who wore things that were rose-related such as perfume, tattoos, or held a rose in their hands. The killer would track down these girls and then rape them in a really deserted place. He would kill them after videotaping the whole rape process and lay them on a big layer of rose petals.

Although there’s many times in the book that makes me think that Maxim will kill the protagonist, I have to change this thinking because I know that this book is told from the present and back to a flashback. The book seems to be getting better because this is where the mystery is, Maxim tells the protagonist that he was the one who killed Rebecca. He tells her why and everything that lead up to his killing.

FOUND: The Sole Survivor Movie!

In the year 2000, the book The Sole Survivor by Dean Koontz was made into a movie format. I am so happy because I liked to see a book preformed visually after I read it. It opens up my eyes to new aspects of the story that I did not notice from the reading. This movie can be compared to several movies. Any movie that has a family or family member that suffers a great lost of relative(s) is similar to Sole Survivor. One of my favorite movies that reminds me this book is "The Things we lost in the fire". It was about a family who had lost their father in a incident where he was shoot trying to be a hero. The pain and depression are similar in both works. The mood and feelings of the characters made them more real and easy to connect to them. I have yet to finish the book, but I will need to track down the movie soon. Hopefully it is modern and upbeat as I envisioned. But I will keep you guys posted especially with a Movie Review!

Enclosed in the mysterious and lonely world of Joe Carpenter....

The second book my group chose to read is The Sole Survivor by Dean Koontz. I enjoy this book more than the previous one we read. Compared to Agatha Christie's The ABC Murders, I am more interested in this book because the plot is faster paced . The events in Dean Koontz story are more realistic than the ones in ABC Murders. The Sole Survivor is about a guy, Joe, who lost his whole family in a plane crash. Ever since the crash he has been in solitude waiting to die. It was on the one year anniversary of the crash, that he found a purpose to live. A survivor from the crash found him but was immediately chased by people wanting to kill her. The mysteriousness of this women filled Joe with questions and sends him on an adventure to find her and answers. Joe is not only confused by how the woman is still alive from this catastrophic crash but how him or the public did not know of her before. From the first page of this story the reader is instantly connected to the protagonist Joe Carpenter. When he feels depressed the reader feels depressed, and when he hurts they hurt too. It starts to feel like the reader and Joe Carpenter is one emotionally and mentally. One reason this book is a page turner because it is filled with constant cliff hangers and surprising twist and turns. From the start to the end of the story the reader will find themselves wanting to read this book 24/7. So you will find me on the C or F train enclosed in the mysterious and lonely world of Joe Carpenter and the sole survivor.

More about Rebecca

One of the characters in the book that bothers me the most is Ms. Danvers. Why is she always trying to scare the heroine? Why does she care so much about the marriage? Is she jealous? I don't think the heroine should even be scared of Ms. Danvers. Afterall, she is only a housekeeper and the heroine is Mrs. de Winter who has way more power.

Every year, traditionally, in Manderly, they always host a ball. Ms. Danvers who obviously had a very loyal relationship with Rebecca decided to dress the heroine in Rebecca's clothes. She told the heroine to wear the same costume that Rebecca wore last year to the ball. Maxim is horrified and tells her to go back upstairs and change. The next day, the heroine tries to find her husband but she doesn't. She is convinced that Maxim doesn't love her and that he is still very devoted to Rebecca. She tells Ms. Danvers and Ms. Danvers tells her to kill herself. That it was not Rebecca who was suppose to die but the heroine. As soon as she was going to jump, they hear a boom in the cove. She rushes down to the water and sees Maxim who has taken an injured sailor.

Later in the novel, Maxim reveals to her the truth of Rebecca and what really happened to her. He tells her that Rebecca was a wicked woman who lived a secret life and multiple affairs including one with her own cousin. Maxim wanted to divorce her but she refused and he took a gun and killed her. I am surprised that the heroine still chose to stay with Maxim instead o leaving him even though she knows he's the murderer.

Rebecca

My group chose to read Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. This book is very different from our first book And then there were none by Agatha Christie because the story begins with a flashback. Unlike Agatha Christie who displayed out who is who, Daphne Du Maurier makes it more "mysterious" by not even telling the names of the character until further in the story.

The book starts out with a flashback of the protagonist being a young girl and how she met Maxim de Winter meets. In her flashback, basically, they meet through the unnamed heroine's employer and within a few weeks, Maxim proposes to her and she accepts. However, when her employer, Mrs. Van Hopper finds out, she isn't very happy and tells the unnamed heroine that she will regret this. Once Maxim takes the heroine into his house and all the servants and Mrs. Danvers welcomes her, she feels intimidated and she is nervous. She believes that everyone is laughing behind her back for marrying Maxim and thinks he still loves his old wife, Rebecca. She also has trouble accepting that she is the new mistress of Manderly not Rebecca.

The heroine also meets Ben, who acts very nervous around her and asks if she will put him in an asylum. The heroine finds out that Rebecca threathened him and scared Ben. Throughout the beginning of the novel, it is mostly finding out about Rebecca. The heroine assumes that she was very beautiful and talented. I don't think Rebecca was talented or beautiful. She was probably a woman who was "boss" around the house and treated everyone poorly. Mrs. Danvers starts asking the heroine and tells her that she thinks that Rebecca has come back to haunt the house. I mean Rebecca probably is haunting the house because she probably has competition. She probably thinks that the heroine will soon make Maxim forget about her so I think throughout the novel, Rebecca might start scaring everyone especially the heroine.

The End of Rebecca

In the last few chapters, there is a surprise twist and ending. It started out as a romance novel but from the middle to the end, it was a mystery. This book is very similar to Frankenstein where the author started from the end of the story and then explained how the characters got there. I really like this twist because it was very unpredictable. The murdered did not get in trouble; he was not caught. In addition, throughout the book, even though Rebecca was not an alive character, her presence was still there and people described her as perfect women that any person would be lucky to have. However, Rebecca was not that simple. Under all those friendly and lovable act was a evil woman. She was the real antagonist.

Although I really like the surprise twist I still have some unanswered questions like why did Rebecca tell Maxim that she was pregnant with another man's baby? According to the doctor, she had cancer and was not able to be pregnant. In addition, it seems like Maxim never loved Rebecca, so why did he marry her?
Another mysterious character was Mrs. Danvers, the housekeeper. She was crazily loyal to Rebecca even though she knew that Rebecca had affairs. She even tries to convince the protagonist to kill herself. She wanted the new Mrs. De Winter to leave because she could never replace Rebecca. At the end, she left Manderley. But why?
I think that it was surprising how the protagonist did not leave Maxim after knowing he was a murdered. My prediction about what will happen to the protagonist was wrong. Even though throughout the book she was walking in the steps of Rebecca, she was not murdered. Instead, because of her love and loyalty to Maxim, their relationship was pulled closer.

Street Heat

"One of the bloodiest I've ever seen." he said

"The Lower East Side has seen worse days." Replied the cop

"Not a witness in sight, yet everyone's outside now."

A crowd formed around the caution tape and mangled body. They needed to move quickly, the heat would destroy evidence.

A.B.C Murders Trope

Perfect trope for The A.B.C Murders

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SerialKillingsSpecificTarget

A.B.C Murder Trope

Link to the most important Mystery trope.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HiddenInPlainSight

A.B.C Murders

At the end of the book after Alexander Bonaparte Cust is released, Agatha Christie creates the ending to be shocking and unbelievable. The murderer was right under everyone’s nose the entire time. It turns out that the A.B.C murderer was the third victims own brother. Sir Carmichael Clarke had a brother named Franklin Clarke who wanted his brothers’ money and estate. In order to receive it after his death without causing suspicion he decided to make his brother’s murder one amongst many of a suspected psychotic serial killer. This way, the murderer would create the allusion that there may have been a connection between all of the victims and a hidden clue on the A.B.C railway guide when it fact was irrelevant.

Poor Alexander Bonaparte Cust comes in with no connection to the murders by through Franklin Clarke’s clever planning. The two had met but with no intention of the murders happening but then Clarke saw his opening and used Cust as an alias. Clarke helps Cust to get a job as a stocking salesman that way he will be in the vicinity of the murders and not remember details due to his epilepsy. There was also more evidence pointed toward Cust that was explained by Clarke. The typewriter that Cust had which produced all of letters was sent to him from Clarke after all of the letters were written, along with a package of A.B.C railway guides. On the third murder, the letter had been addressed to the wrong residence on purpose, giving Franklin Clarke time to commit the murder. To take the suspicion away from Franklin Clarke’s brothers’ murder, the letters were written to Poirot so that an investigation could begin immediately, and Sir Carmichael Clarke’s murder would blow by while the chase to find the murderer continued.

A.B.C Murders

Hercule Poirot and Hastings are still trying to find out who the murderer is. The investigation of Sir Carmichael Clarke's murder is lasting a while but it seems that they are getting nowhere in the investigation. Poirot is trying to pick out little things from each person hoping that the smaller details will lead to more clues forming a bigger picture and widening the investigation. The victims’ families are trying to come together to help in the investigation because they are set on finding the murderer especially before he hits his next victim. For some reason the time span between this murder and the next is lengthy.

Later on, Poirot receives the next letter that another murder will occur in Doncaster. In a twist, when they arrive at the murder scene the wrong person is killed. This starts to bring about great question since the murder is making it even more confusing. A while after this murder, a man named Alexander Bonaparte Cust comes forward to the police and says he is the murderer. It would be a perfect ending but Alexander has no recognition of himself committing the murders due to epilepsy but all of the evidence leads towards him. According to what he says, he is a stocking salesman and was around the areas at all times of the murders. Though it is apparent that the murderer is caught, Poirot knows better and does not believe that it was Cust who committed all of these murders, especially without an ounce of memory to back it up. Later, Poirot helps to clears Cust’s name and he is let free leaving the A.B.C murderer still at large.

Rebecca movie trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0skBJTZm8Q

This trailer seems creepy but at the same time calm and innocent (the piano background). So far, the narrator of the video makes this seem like Disney's The Haunted Mansion cause in that movie, the butler was "the key to unlocking the mystery" and in this, the lady Mrs. Danvers is said to be the key also.

Rebecca

My group's second book is called Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. This book was recommended by a friend and she said that this book was very interesting in a twisted way, so we gave it a try. The first line of this book is apparently the most popular line because when I typed in Rebecca in the Google toolbar, they had a lot of sites that quoted the first line. It's said that once the line "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again" is said, the people automatically know that that the speaker is talking about Rebecca. The book starts off with the main character describing the Manderley in her dream. The thing I thought was weird about this part was, the main character knew she was in a dream because she referred to how in dreams, people can just pass through objects. The book goes on with the main character waking up and then having random moments when she will think back on the Manderley. Du Maurier then brings the reader back in time to when the main character first met her husband. Another female character called Rebecca, the first wife of the main character’s husband, is also introduced in the story but Du Maurier introduces her through little things that used to be Rebecca’s.

This book compared to our first book (And Then There Were None) is written differently from the first page of the book. In And Then There Were None, Agatha Christie went straight to introducing the characters that will end up dying, while in Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier describes this garden called Manderley. In Rebecca, there are no names mentioned until later in the book, and the funny thing was the first name mentioned was Jasper, a dog.

So far the book is slowly starting to get better. Rebecca started out pretty boring for me because the main character was going on and on about the Manderley’s beauty and nature.

-This post is suppose to be for week 2