Well this is one of those pictures you would call a hitchcockian type thriller, and yes that is named after Alfred Hitchcock. But one difference is that this is NOT directed by Hitchcock, it is the director debut of Mr. David Mamet.
In the opening scenes the acting is kind of stiff and everything is kind of dull and I was thinking of watching something else. But as soon as the story kicks in you see that that is to illustrate that this lady psychologist who is the main character, her life has grown banal and she is in need of adventure. Her everyday job scenes are almost draining they are so dull while the rest of the movie is full of suspense. One of her patients tells her what does she know, she hasn’t experienced anything. And through his gambling problem she goes and decides to thrust herself into some real experiences. She goes to a small bar called “house of games” (get it, that is also the title of the movie, house of games) where she meets a gambler named Joe Montegna. I mean that is the actor’s name anyway.
Well hell I’m not gonna tell you what the picture is about because it would ruin it. But it’s about con men and how this lady goes along and watches different cons in action. But they call it “confidence games” instead of cons because that is how con men are, number one they are liars and number two they are show offs. And just because they make a living outsmarting everybody they are convinced that they are smarter than everyone else. But despite my personal disdain for some of these pricks I gotta say that it is a pleasure and an honor to watch them at work. It is always fun to watch the tricks as they unfold and try to piece them together and watch some dumb motherfucker besides you get taken. And you gotta question what you are seeing and are you really in on it or are they fooling you too? So a good con man movie is always a good movie to watch, and this is a good one. (more…)
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BREAKDOWN is a highway suspense thriller starring Kurt Russell. He’s got his wife asleep in their fancy new truck, going on a trip, he takes his eyes off the road onto his coffee thermos for a second, almost nails some gentlemen of the rednecked community who back out into the road in front of him. When he stops at a gas station those guys show up and start puffing their chests out, commenting on his truck. So it’s got that class tension, that tourist guilt that I always dig in a horror or suspense type picture.
