The fine art of the psychological thriller

First off, a hearty congratulations to "Mad Men" in snagging the Emmy for Best Dramatic Series, but how in the world Jon Hamm didn't win for Best Actor in a Dramatic Series is simply a mystery and more than a small crime. Here today, however, it's all about my favorite flicks in easily one of my favorite subgenres.

Although I found a few charms in Samuel L. Jackson and Neil LaBute's "Lakeview Terrace," it was over all so generic and predictable that I just have to beg out of reviewing it (and since it obliterated everything else out there at the box office, they hardly need my help.)

Instead, here are 10 psychological thrillers that are a lot more subtle than that crowd-pleaser, starting with my all-time favorite and then proceeding in perfectly random order. So, here goes, and as always, please feel free to add any you truly love that I may have omitted (because, after all, I only have time to list 10.)

Death and the Maiden
I think I first watched this Roman Polanski flick based on an Ariel Dorfman play as part of a class at Catholic University, but as I said it has stuck with me as just about the perfect psychological thriller. Though the play is clearly about Augusto Pinochet's reign of terror, Polanski sets the movie in an unnamed third world country where Sigourney Weaver plays a housewife who is convinced that her houseguest, Ben Kingsley, is the man who tortured and raped her in the past. As the triangle between Weaver, Kingsley and Stuart Wilson, who plays Weaver's husband and a prominent attorney, unfolds it will just keep you engrossed until the very end, so see it if you haven't already.

A Simple Plan
Though "Spider-Man 2" is easily the best movie ever made by Sam Raimi, I'd put this little flick starring Billy Bob Thornton, Bill Paxton and Bridget Fonda in second (yes, ahead of "Evil Dead.") I've heard tell that the novel by Scott Smith is even better, but never having read it I can't attest to that, but I can tell you this little flick about the power of money is just a winner.

With a Friend Like Harry
The next two flicks on this list will be French because, well, they do psychological thrillers as good as anybody since Alfred Hitchcock, to whom this flick in particular owes a huge debt. In it, Laurent Lucas and Mathilde Seigner play a middle class couple who have a chance encounter with one of Lucas' old school mates Harry, played with chilling precision by Sergi Lopez. It's fun to watch as Harry slowly brings out all of Lucas' worst impulses, and it must be said for folks who take note of such things that Sophie Guillemin, who plays Harry's girlfriend Plum, is just an insanely beautiful woman.

Man on the Train
If I'm not mistaken, it was Ashok who kindly recommended this Patrice Leconte flick starring the French singer Johnny Hallyday and the great actor Jean Rochefort, and I'm certainly glad he did. In it, Hallyday plays a man who comes to a small town with the intention of robbing the main bank and Rochefort is a retired schoolteacher who takes him in as a boarder. It becomes a bit ponderous as they each start to examine the life choices they have made, and the end is just completely crazy (in all the best ways), but I can also recommend this one to anyone who hasn't seen it yet.

Apt Pupil
It's more than a little bitterly funny that the late Brad Renfro, who only managed to make it to the age of 25, almost made this list twice with both this mindbender and "Bully," a thoroughly terrifying flick from Larry Clark which just missed the cut. In this Bryan Singer flick based on the Stephen King short story, a very young Renfro plays a boy who finds out the old man down the street (the great Sir Ian McKellen) may just happen to be a rather notorious Nazi war criminal.

Hard Candy
What in the world ever happened to Ellen Page? I skipped the only movie I know she was in this year, "Smart People," but it certainly would be nice to see her on the big screen more often since "Juno." It was this truly chilling flick that first brought her to many people's attention, and in it she plays a teen who lures an Internet perv (Patrick Wilson, who also stars in "Lakeview Terrace") into a trap and just tortures him without mercy. It's almost as uncomfortable to watch as it is simply entertaining as hell, and Page is just fantastic in it.

Rosemary's Baby
Since this one doubles as my favorite horror flick, and is a second entry from Roman Polanski, it was a natural fit for this list. Michael Bay and his fellow felons actually have their eyes on remaking this one (along with "The Birds" and who knows how many other horror classics), but there's no way they'll even come to close to what Polanski created from Ira Levin's pulpy tale of an aspiring actor (John Cassavetes) who offers his wife's (Mia Farrow) first child to the couple next door, who just happen to worship Satan. Ruth Gordon and Sidney Blackmer are just hilarious as the leaders of the little Satanic cult down the hall.

Memento
All the tricks that Christopher Nolan had perfected by the time he made "The Dark Knight" were honed in this little trip starring Guy Pearce as a guy with short-term memory loss who tries to piece together the details of his wife's death using notes and tattoos. "Insomnia," which Nolan made just after this one, is almost as good, but Pearce's singular performance just elevates it a notch above.

Manchurian Candidate
If Jonathan Demme's 2004 version of this hadn't been a remake of John Frankenheimer's classic, the latter one would have been a perfectly pleasant little political thriller. When compared with the original, however, it just can't stand up to what Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey and Angela Lansbury delivered in this slightly flawed but still great flick about those pesky Communists and their predilection for mind control.


Shallow Grave
Whew, last one, but if this were in any order of preference I'd probably have this Danny Boyle flick right below "Death and the Maiden." Even more so than "Trainspotting," this tale of money and greed starring Ewan McGregor, Kerry Fox (man would it be great to see her again!) and Christopher Eccleston established Boyle as easily one of my favorite directors, and I can't wait to see what he's cooked up this year with "Slumdog Millionaire."

And there you have it. As I said, please feel free to add any of your favorites, and have a perfectly passable Monday. Peace out.

What to watch: I'll glady be menaced by Sam the Man and annoyed with Ricky Gervais

Even with two movies opening wide this week that I really want to see, it still just seems like an appetizer for the feast that will hopefully be coming next week.

If wide really does mean wide (which way too often simply isn't true), we get Sept. 26 three movies that I've just been waiting a long time to see: Fernando Meirelles' "Blindness", Spike Lee's "Miracle at St. Anna" and Clark Gregg's "Choke," starring Sam Rockwell and Kelly MacDonald and based on the novel by "Fight Club" scribe Chuck Palahniuk. All three have been heavily advertised on TV all week, so I have my hopes very high they'll all reach my little corner of the world in week one.

But before that, we get a fairly remarkable five movies opening in wide-release land this week, two of which I'll actually be going to see. Here, in descending order of appeal, are this week's offerings:

"Ghost Town"
In designing a flick that should finally show that "Office" mastermind Ricky Gervais can indeed topline a flick that appeals to American audiences, the makers of this one have apparently just made a movie in which he will essentially play himself, which is just fine with me. In it, he plays a dentist who's pretty much annoyed with everything and everyone around him until he has a near-death experience and ends up seeing dead people who annoy him just as much as the living variety. That premise has me laughing already, and even better I can't wait to see what Gervais can do in 2009 with his big writing/directing movie effort, the rather seriously star-laden "This Side of the Truth."

"Lakeview Terrace"'
Ever wonder what happened to writer/director Neil Labute? I had forgotten all about him until I noticed his name attached to this fairly standard looking thriller that still might be a cut above the rest of the pack. In fact, a quick look at the IMDB revealed I haven't seen any of his flicks since 2000's "Nurse Betty," which was fairly entertaining. Here he's got Samuel L. Jackson as a rather pissed-off L.A.P.D. officer who gets more annoyed than usual (sense a pattern here?) when he finds out an interracial couple played by Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington has moved in next door. I'm hoping there's more than enough gray in this black-and-white flick to make it interesting, and I'm still just a sucker for seeing Mr. Jackson be a serious badass.

"Igor"
An animated flick released after the kids are back in school? Never a good sign. In this one, John Cusack provides the voice of the titular mad scientist's assistant Igor, who just wants to be the master of his own lab. Sounds like a fairly promising premise, but early word is the story isn't enough to lure me in, even with John Cleese and Steve Buscemi in supporting voice roles.

"Beer for My Horses"
I'm not sure if this one really is playing everywhere in the U.S. or is just one of those little redneck flicks that they trot out only here in the South. Either way, I'm at least glad it's not an hour-and-a-half-or-so of Toby Keith threatening to kick everyone's ass. Instead, written by Keith and Rodney Carrington (an annual fixture on Macon's comedy club scene), it's the story of two buddies who team up to take on a corrupt sheriff and rescue one of their damsels from the distress of being kidnapped by drug lords. Somehow I'm sure I have the strength to just say no.

"My Best Friend's Girl"
Isn't the actual name of the rather cool Cars song that this flick steals its title and theme song from "My Best Friend's Girlfriend"? It's bad enough when you can't even get that right, but when you throw in three truly annoying (there it is again!) people - Dane Cook, Kate Hudson and Jason Biggs - in what looks like a "romantic comedy" that won't be remotely funny or romantic, you've just got a recipe for disaster. For some reason I thought Mr. Cook was in "The 40-year-old Virgin," but I'm mistaken, and it turns out I've never seen any of the "comedian's" movies. I'm 100 percent certain that streak will still be intact after this weekend.

Reel Fanatic poll results
It may not be as scientific as a Gallup poll, but I was happy to see 33 people cast 62 votes in my question about which Fall movies they're most looking forward to. And it turned out that every flick except "Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys" got at least one vote (I almost voted for that one myself just because I like Mr. Perry so much and hate to see him slighted). The top vote-getter is no surprise, but I didn't expect to see such strong support for "The Road" and a few other flicks. Anyways, here's the results, after which I'll just sign off and wish everyone a perfectly passable Thursday.

Top winner: 7 votes
"Quantum of Solace"

Second place: 6 votes
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"The Road"


Third place: 5 votes
"Burn After Reading"
"Slumdog Millionaire" (huzzah!)
"Zack and Miri Make a Porno"

4 votes:
"Miracle at St. Anna"
"Blindness"

3 votes:
"Synecdoche, N.Y."
"Milk"
"Choke"

2 votes:
"W."
"Australia"
"Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist"

1 vote:
"Towelhead"
"Rocknrolla"
"Frost/Nixon"
"City of Ember"