Flatliners: A group of young med. students stop their hearts and revive themselves a short time later to get a taste of what the afterlife has in store for them.
I enjoyed this movie, but answer me this question: why doesn't one of the main characters die in this movie? It would have made their actions have that much more gravity to them, especially if they had decided to continue their experiments after someone had died. As a bonus, they could have made William Baldwin's loathsome character the one who kicks the bucket.
Suspension of Disbelief Factor (1 being a Ken Burns documentary and 10 being The Santa Clause 2: The Escape Clause): 7
Away We Go: An expecting, very-much-in-love couple struggle to find their place in the world.
Maya Rudolph and John Krasinski are surprisingly convincing as the directionless couple, and this movie ends up being very witty at times. I laughed out loud several times (which sadly, surprises me when it happens). Krasinski is basically playing Jim from The Office with a little more spine and a little more edge to his humor. I ended up liking this movie, but I had a little problem with its conclusion: A loving couple basically will have no friends and ultimately no place in this hateful world. Or I guess the place for them is a secluded, Walden Pond-esque locale where there will be no meaningful contact with the outside world.
Suspension of Disbelief Factor: 3
The International: An Interpol agent struggles to expose the evil acts and schemes perpetrated across the world by an ubiquitous, international bank.
This movie was quite intriguing and suspenseful from the beginning, only to become more and more hopeless as it went on. This tangle of intrigue and hopelessness ultimately leads to a bleak ending in which Clive Owen's character has to employ evil to defeat an evil that really isn't defeated.
Suspension of Disbelief Factor: 5
The Manchurian Candidate: A brainwashed soldier tries to reclaim his mind and uses his memories to expose a Machiavellian political scheme.
I thoroughly enjoyed this movie--it is engaging from beginning to end, and it reminded me of what a great actor Denzel Washington is. I think he has made bad decisions as to what movies to be in, but this movie isn't one of those bad decisions. If you are looking for a good suspenseful movie, check this one out. I believe this movie is based on a book, and there is also a movie from the sixties based on the same novel that stars Frank Sinatra (which I have not seen).
Suspension of Disbelief Factor: 8
