Last week’s Sympatico/MSN movie column — which went up while I was in London, and struggling for ‘net access — is a rough guide to the great paranoid thrillers and crusader pictures in whose footsteps “Michael Clayton” would very much like to follow.
“Paranoid thrillers” and “crusader pictures” doesn’t really cover it, though; there’s a much greater range of emotion and social commentary in these films, and if any one thing unites them, it’s the scowling judgment they render on the institutions that conspire to run the world while letting ordinary people believe they still have a choice in the mechanics of their lives.
I suggested “cynnabons”, but everyone just stared at me blankly.
Anyway, read the piece, and tell me what you think.
As I’m reading the piece, I’m thinking to myself that this list would be even better if “They Live” was on it…and there it was!
Wilner, you have officially given me a bro-ner.
What? You put the remake of Manchurian Candidate on the list and left off Wag the Dog? It’s a great “public manipulation” movie, and while Dustin Hoffman’s character is a willing participant rather than a crusader, he does figure out, too late, that exposing the hoax, even though his motivation is to take credit for it, will not be allowed.
paranoid thrillers are my favourite genre after trashy teen comedies, but why aren’t there more of them? I added two more to my list thanks to your article.
This ‘Peter Pan’ fellow is sure chatty.