A private eye investigates the apparent suicide of a fading porn star in 1970s Los Angeles and uncovers a conspiracy.
Showing posts with label Mystery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mystery. Show all posts
Gone Girl (2014)
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With his wife's disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it's suspected that he may not be innocent.
A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014)
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In 1991 Manhattan, Mathew Scudder, an off-duty New York Police Department (NYPD) officer, is unexpectedly caught up in an armed robbery at a bar where officers drink for free. Scudder guns down the would-be thieves, however one of his bullets inadvertently strikes a seven year old girl, killing her instantly. Shaken from the experience, Scudder quits the force, and spends the next eight years in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) while moonlighting as a an unlicensed private eye.
One night, after an AA meeting, Scudder is approached by the brother of a man named Kenny seeking to employ the PI to locate his wife's killer. Kenny explains that his wife was abducted for a ransom, the kidnappers killed his wife after he paid the $400,000 ransom, cutting her up in small pieces before returning her in the dismembered state to Kenny. Reluctantly, Scudder accepts the job.
At a local library, Scudder meets an adolescent named TJ, who helps Scudder by locating information on the net concerning similar cases to Kenny's. Scudder eventually traces the kidnappers' MO, and meets a cemetery groundsman who discovered one of the victim's remains while fishing trash bags out of a pond. After trailing the groundsman back to his house Scudder learns that he was an accomplice for one of the murders, and has had trouble getting over his role in the homicide. The groundsman explains that he met the two men that Scudder is after in a movie store; both men apparently shared a fetish-like interest in death. Scudder learns one of the two men goes by the name Ray, but before he can glean any further information, the groundsman abruptly kills himself by stepping off the roof of his apartment building. Upon further investigation, Scudder determines that the two men he is after were at one point somehow affiliated with the DEA, and have been targeting drug dealers from whom to extort money.
In a residential neighborhood, Ray and his accomplice prepare to abduct another woman, however Ray waves the kidnapping at the last minute. As the two prepare to leave Ray observes the target's daughter leave a house, and retools their kidnapping attempt to take the girl. When Scudder learns of the kidnapping he has TJ bring a box or his old police equipment to the victim's house, and instructs the victim to refuse payment unless they can prove the girl is still alive, correctly guessing that the kidnappers will kill the girl regardless of whether the ransom is paid. Scudder lures Ray and his accomplice out by forcing them to pick up the ransom in person. After the ransom is paid, a shoot-out occurs, injuring Ray. Ray and his partner flee the drop site, unaware that in the ensuing shoot out TJ managed to sneak into their van.
At their safe house, Ray attempts to get medical treatment for his gunshot wounds, however Ray's partner elects to kill him instead. After TJ calls Scudder with the safe house's location, Scudder and his ad hoc team arrive, precipitating a brief struggle. Scudder's people successfully restrain the second man, at which point Scudder instructs TJ to return to his place. After offering Kenny the chance to turn him in or obtain his revenge, Kenny opts for the latter, but the restrained second man escapes and kills Kenny before he can fulfill his wish. Another struggle ensues between Scudder and the second murderer, which ends when Scudder shoots the man in the head at close range. As the police arrive to secure and the scene and wrap up the case Scudder then returns to his apartment.
The Maze Runner (2014)
Sixteen-year old Thomas (Dylan O'Brien) wakes up inside a rusty elevator called The Box. When he arrives at the top, he is greeted by other boys in a grassy clearing called the Glade, which is surrounded by tall, gray walls. Thomas is unable to remember anything about himself, but Alby (Aml Ameen), the leader of the Glade, tells him that it's happened to everyone and that his name will come to him soon. He shows him the Glade and how it is entirely run by the Gladers, as they call themselves. Thomas wonders what is beyond the opening in the wall adjacent to the Glade, but he is warned not to go through there, as it is a maze. Thomas meets Chuck (Blake Cooper), and the two become friends.
There is a party that night to welcome Thomas, the newest arrival. Every month The Box sends up a new person, along with supplies. Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), second in command and gardener, explains that the most able Gladers become Runners, who are the only ones allowed into the Maze. They search for an escape route during the day, but return before nightfall, as the Maze entrance closes at dusk, and no one has ever survived a night in the Maze. Thomas ends up in a fight with a boy named Gally (Will Poulter), during which he suddenly remembers his name.
While Thomas is gathering supplies in the woods, he is viciously attacked by Ben (Chris Sheffield), a Runner, who has been stung by a Griever - deadly monsters that lurk the maze. The Gladers force Ben into the Maze to die. Minho (Ki Hong Lee), a runner, and Alby attempt to retrace Ben's steps in the maze, but Alby is stung and rendered unconscious. Minho appears at dusk, dragging Alby, but is unable to reach the entrance in time. Seeing this, Thomas runs into the maze. Minho and Thomas survive the night, with Thomas successfully killing a Griever, and they return the next day with Alby to the astonishment of the other Gladers.
Gally, upset that the fragile peace between the Gladers and the Grievers may be in jeopardy, proposes punishing Thomas for entering the maze, though Newt overrules him and makes Thomas a Runner. Thomas accompanies Minho and a few others into the maze. They find the Griever's corpse and remove a beeping mechanical part, discovering that it is numbered to correspond to a certain section in the maze. The Box sends up the first ever girl, who apparently recognizes Thomas. A note in her hand says she'll be "the last one ever". The girl, named Teresa (Kaya Scodelario), carries two syringes filled with a blue-colourish mysterious substance. The Gladers use one on Alby, and he gradually recovers from his sting, as well as his memories.
Minho and Thomas venture into the section of the maze on the Griever's part, discovering an escape route. They barely make it back after being forced to escape, and inform the others. That night, a wave of Grievers pour in from the walls and attack the Gladers, killing a cured Alby, among many others. Thomas stabs himself in the leg with a severed sting and remembers that he and Teresa were part of the organization that created the maze, and that all of this was a test. Gally blames Thomas and Teresa for everything and attempts to execute them. The Gladers stop him, and most of them follow Thomas through the maze's escape route. They end up in a lab with the dead bodies of scientists strewn everywhere. A video recording of a woman plays, explaining that the planet has been destroyed by increased solar activity, followed by an epidemic. The youths in the Glade were all part of an experiment researching their apparent resistance to the epidemic. At the end of the recording, she shoots herself in the head as the lab is attacked. Gally then appears, delirious from being stung. He fires a gun at Thomas, but Minho stabs and kills him. Chuck is killed by Gally's shot. Masked men rush in to take the group away to safety, and the maze is revealed to be in a vast desert. The dead scientists appear alive, stating that the experiment has been a success, and the survivors are now entering Phase Two.
