Crime Thriller Movie Log: Frozen, Eden, Easy
Before we go any further, congratulations to Denise Mina, who has won the Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year Award for the second year in a row. That’s an extraordinary achievement, and this year’s shortlist was very strong.
Gods And Beasts is the third in her Alex Morrow series. The second book, The End Of The Wasp Season, won the award in 2012.
Now, down to business.
There are a couple of movies out today that may tickle your fancy. Nicholas Cage and John Cusack appear together for the first time since Con Air – oh, happy days! – in serial killer film The Frozen Ground.
It’s based on the true story of the hunt for Robert Hansen, who murdered between 17 and 21 women in the Alaskan wilderness during the 80s. Cage stars as Jack Halcombe – based on a detective called Gleen Flothe – who teams up with a young woman who escaped from Hansen.
We like Cage. Despite the pain he’s put us through with some of his movies, we still like the cut of his shouty jib. We certainly like Cusack. And with temperatures soaring, even just staring at some cold weather may be just the ticket this weekend.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZSo12hMuKE
If serial killing isn’t intense enough for you, Eden is an uncompromising depiction of sex trafficking. It’s the true story of a young Korean-American girl abducted near her home in New Mexico and forced into prostitution in Las Vegas. In order to survive, she gradually learns to carve out influence within the trafficking organization. Beau Bridge is in it - but not as the girl. It’s always nice to see Jeff get some love, but the world needs to see both Bridges in the movies.
A perusal of the film site suggests that Eden has won lots of awards for direction and actessing. It’s released in key cities. Which I imagine is a more-vague way of saying big cities.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTDkuwS5axU
Easy Money isn’t based on a true story, but a novel by Jens Lapidus. That may give you a clue that it’s Swedish and there may be some additional reading required on the screen. JW is a young man living a double-life, who pays for his extravagant lifestyle by selling cocaine. This, of course, brings him into contact with some unsavoury persons.
Easy Money, or Snabba Cash, was so successful in Sweden that Lapidus produced two sequels, and both of those have been made into movies. There’s an American remake in the works, starring Zac Efron. *smirks*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7r5-4FP_eAA
