This is, in many ways, the kind of movie that makes me just watch in awe. Even watching in on DVD, hardly the most immersive format, I felt like I was right there with these people. Really, this feels like a full-on historical re-enactment out in the Oregon desert. It feels like something from Werner Herzog or John Sayles, only without Herzog's signature balls-out nuttiness...[more]...

Coming off of the success of "Trainspotting," Danny Boyle's third outing, and American debut, is a bizarre mix of fantasy, romance and crime, that somehow fails to really decide what it wants to be...[more]...

This is the first feature film from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And what a movie it is. I will first say that it is not what you might expect from a country trying to tell its story. Writer-director Djo Munga took his inspiration from the post-war European directors who came to Hollywood and made some of the most beloved of what came to be called film noir. So his movie is also a noir story about a generally good man who tries to make his dream come true by pissing off the wrong crowd...[more]...

Nicolas Winding Refn has been on my radar since I first saw his Pusher Trilogy about five or six years ago. I haven't seen "Bleeder" or "Fear X," his two movies made between "Pusher" and "Pusher: With Blood on My Hands," but his work on "Bronson" and "Valhalla Rising" have distinguished him as more than just the Danish Scorsese, and when the cast was announced on this project it immediately became my #1 anticipated film of the year. And I'm happy to say, it did not disappoint...[more]...

This is a hilariously irreverent spin on the old buddy/cop formula. Brendan Gleason is terrific here as Sgt. Gerry Boyle, a small-town cop in Connemara, Ireland. He enjoys occasional recreational drugs, usually found on the job, he invites some prostitutes from Dublin on his day off, and he spends most of his work time in a pub shooting perps in an arcade game. But most of all, he's the kind of small-town cop who doesn't care much for outsiders, or authority. In an early scene he's saddled with an idealistic young cop from Dublin, and makes it plainly obvious he isn't crazy about working with this partner, not to mention the kid has a bit of a problem with his thick brogue...[more]...

I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. It is a surprisingly powerful study of a particular niche group of black women during Jim Crow that are often overlooked in the history books. This movie brings to light in true Hollywood fashion their stories, along with those of their masters...[more]...

This is one of those movies that is so utterly bizarre it very nearly defies description. Suffice to say, it's a love-it-or-hate-it affair. Writer-producer-director Quentin Dupieux has crafted a surreal trip that bends its reality in ways rarely attempted...[more]...

This is one of the best popcorn movies of all time, directed by the man who invented the blockbuster. This has everything we've come to expect from a good Steven Spielberg movie. A strong script, a memorable score by John Williams, Michael Kahn's crisp editing, relatable characters played by talented actors who know better than to get in the way of the story they're telling...[more]...

This was one of my most anticipated movies of the year thanks the the pedigree assembled here, which promised to at least be interesting. Fortunately, it's much more than that...[more]...

Ugh. This is one grisley movie, the likes of which I haven't seen in a very long time. Reminds me of the first time I watched "Se7en", when I was about 11-years-old and probably too young. Only this movie is much more hard-core than that modern classic. For fans of the serial-killer genre, this is one for the books...[more]...

So, this was one of the more infamously underwhelming movies of 2010. And I understand why. The pedigree is pretty good, with Academy Award-winner Florian Henckel von Donnersmark helming, and A-listers Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie starring...[more]...

Denzel Washington should be banned from starring in remakes. Except for "Man on Fire," which was a remake of a not-very-good-movie-to-begin-with. It's no because he's a bad actor, but he is so earnest, and frankly, just too big. As a fan of the original film with Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw, I couldn't think of a man more ill-suited for the role of Garber than Washington. Also, one of the best New York-based popcorn thrillers to come along since Joseph Sargent's "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three" back in the '70s was Spike Lee's "Inside Man," starring none other than Mr. Washington. In all seriousness, "Inside Man" succeeded in capturing that same manic fun and cynical tone that is patently New York City, while at the same time ratcheting up the suspense. Here the movie feels like it's going through the motions of so many thrillers before it. And just because you may have seen the old movie, doesn't mean you know what's going to happen. Unfortunately, if you've seen enough movies about cops and crooks, you know EXACTLY where this is going. Tony Scott keeps his stylized filmmaking relatively under control, but still uses enough flourishes to create some distractions and cue the suspense. I like his uniqueness alright, but it doesn't mesh well with New York City. John Travolta is a far cry from Robert Shaw, but he actually...[more]...

This movie seemed to have a lot going for it. The political climate being what it was in 2004, with the campaigns of Bush and Kerry under way. Any admirer of John Frankenheimer's original or Richard Condon's source material could see great potential to milk the current political scene for another biting satire. Unfortunately, but not with out reason, Jonathan Demme steered as clear of real-world political implications as possible. While we were at war, and the movie has us at war, it is a fictitious war. The corporate bad guys are supposed to be stand-ins for Haliburton, and that part works, but whereas the Frank Sinatra movie is pretty damn funny, this one plays everything seriously. Denzel Washington gives one of his better performances here as a man slowly becoming overtaken by paranoia. And Meryl Streep chews scenery as Raymond Shaw's senator mother. But the screenplay is all over the place and meanwhile misses the greater point. The focus of the book and movie was always Raymond Shaw, his relationship with Major Marco, and with his evil mother. Here Raymond Shaw, played well by Liev Schreiber, is given too little to do. Most neglected is his very complicated relationship with his mother, due largely to the fact the filmmakers decided to give Streep so much screen-time, that we miss largely his perception of her, because they're too busy showing her off to the audience. Angela Lansbury's great performance was largely implicit....[more]...

I didn't grow up watching Stallone and Schwarzenegger like most guys my age. Out of that triumvirate, Willis is just more everyman. But I do enjoy my action movies. I think it was just that I was never a big athletic type, so regular guys like Ford, Gibson, and Willis always appealed to me more (and I'm always game for some old-school Eastwood bad-assery...[more]...