After the Movie #1 - The Ghost Writer, Repo Men

Here is the first of my new "After the Movie" posts where I will expand further on my reviews. This is going to have spoilers in it, so don't read unless you have seen the movie. To make it easier, I'll use the page break to keep everything after the jump. I can't decide whether to do one post for each movie, or lump them together and use the "Spoiler Tag" method (highlight the text to read). Please let me know what you think in the comments section (Thank you!).

The Ghost Writer

• I really enjoyed the fact that Ewan McGregor's character was simply called "The Ghost." I can't really place why, but it seemed to add to the suspense not knowing anything about his character.
• Along the same lines, the idea that he was being led to the truth by the former, dead writer (also a ghost) was an interesting parallel.
• I'm not really a Tony Blair supporter or anything, but it was blatantly obvious that Pierce's Adam Lang character was supposed to be him. This took away from the movie to me (especially the photo with the Not Condoleeza Rice).
• The movie built up so much suspense, but the Ghost acts pretty stupid when the big reveal is that the wife was pulling the strings all along and the surprise wasn't that big of one (at least to me). I had pegged the wife as someone suspicious from the start.
• The main reason I gave the movie 3 stars was that I enjoyed the direction, scenery and overall feel of the movie. I wasn't a fan of the big reveal, as it seemed too simplistic. I did like the way the final scene was shot (involving the Ghost leaving and getting hit by the car). It was very well done. Overall, more of a technical rating.

Repo Men

• The concept that in the future artificial organs are available on credit seems interesting, especially since people seem to put everything they can on credit (it's free money, right?).
• Alice Braga's character, the romantic interest, seemed out of place and unnecessary (apart from a sidekick, I guess).
• The idea that they basically gut people and leave them to bleed out without any sort of emotional response is both intriguing and a little on the hard to believe side. Did society get so bad that murdering people with bad credit is ok? Are the repo men effectively the police now?
• I actually really enjoyed the ending where Jude Law is effectively knocked brain dead near the end and what we have been watching was in his head. I realized the movie was hinting at it all along, but I apparently ignored the signs just enough to be surprised, which I like.

There are several movies that I have reviewed that I plan to revisit, such as Inception and Toy Story 3, once I watch them again (later this month).