This damn pandemic has sent us inside more than ever. Which means Foxtel, Netflix, Itunes or any other platform you can get a hold of is getting a heck of a workout. There have been so many great movies over the years, most of which you’ve probably seen, especially if you’re a movie buff. Here are five that may have snuck in under the radar. ‘Contagion’ will not be on the list.
Den of Thieves
This is a ‘Heat’ rip off but it’s done so well you forgive it, and then some. It’s thrilling from the very first scene, as a bunch of ex-military guys have gone commando in robbing an armored truck. ‘Merrimen’ played by Pablo Schrieber is the ringleader, but he is up against a crazy Sherriff (Gerard Butler) whose life is in a tailspin. Hang on to your seats in this one.
Unstoppable
Directed by the late Tony Scott the train is the villain here. Based on a true story a huge locomotive is out of control threatening to incinerate a town with its toxic cargo. Denzel Washington is Frank, an aging train driver the company is looking to put out to pasture, his sidekick is Will (Chris Pine), it’s up to them to save the day. It’s 98 minutes of high-octane tension, in other words its classic Tony Scott; nobody shoots action better than him.
The Conversation
Between the first two Godfather movies Francis Ford Coppola made this thriller in 1974. Gene Hackman stars at ‘Harry’, a paranoid surveillance expert obsessed by his job who is hired by an ‘agency’, presumably the FBI to tape a conversation. This sends him into a world of deceit and murder. Look for a very young Harrison Ford.
Miami Vice
Upon its release in 2006 Michael Mann’s movie version of his TV Series, was crucified by the critics. I couldn’t quite work out the plot at the time but after a re watch it’s a damn good action thriller. Colin Farrell as Crockett and Jamie Foxx as Tubbs, its fast boats, undercover agents and drug cartels. All shot in Mann’s pixel smeared stylish settings; the speedboat scene to Cuba is worth it alone.
The Lives of Others
An East German ‘Stasi’ officer working surveillance for the ‘motherland’ becomes intertwined in the lives of the citizens he has sworn to betray. He feels great empathy for a writer and actress whose lives he could easily wreck. The year is 1984 and the fall of the Berlin wall is still five years away. The officer has a choice to make, his career or prison for those he is eavesdropping on.
