Having both read the book, and seen the movie "Friends of Eddie Coyle," I knew beforehand to expect an unglamorous mob story about crooks who look at their lot in life with a bit more cynicism than in most mob movies. To these lowlifes what they do isn't opportunism, it's just work. And that's part of what I liked about this movie. Dare I say, this gangster movie feels down-right European. Like something Jean-Pierre Melville or Jules Dassin would have made back in their time...[more]...

It may sound ridiculous, but I'm just going to say it. This was the best Steven Soderbergh movie I've seen in years. Granted, he's enough of a workaholic director that I haven't seen all his most recent work, but as much as I admire the man, he has a tendency at times to get in his own way. The movie that led to this one, where he and Channing Tatum met, "Haywire," promised to be a badass, female-led action thriller, which would have been great if Soderbergh hadn't left certain basic questions unanswered until the very end (like why is such a valuable asset suddenly a target by her employer...[more]...

Craig Brewer, hot off of his Sundance sleeper "Hustle and Flo," decided to tackle another musical genre with this modern fable, this time moving the action from urban Memphis to rural Tennessee, and switching the music from hip-hop to blues...[more]...

This is possibly the most depressing piece of cinema I have ever seen. That's not to say it is a bad movie at all. But it is painfully realistic in its portrayal of end-of-life care. The only other Michael Haneke movie I've seen was his original, German-language "Funny Games," an equally uncompromising film, if a bit more schlocky...[more]...

Dredd 3D has made quite a reputation for itself as one of the more underrated gems of 2012. Now, I can go on a tangent about reasons this movie didn't do big business, but really, all that is beside toe point. What is the point? That Dredd is a damn fun movie...[more]...

If you are a fan of Quentin Tarantino, spaghetti westerns, and stories of revenge, and don't mind graphic violence, torture, and liberal use of the N-word (in the context of slavery), you ought to check this out. If any of the above bothers you, steer clear...[more]...

The presence of Billy Bob Thornton will bring to mind for many "Bad Santa." That movie shares some of the same dark humor that this movie has, with one rather big difference--while "Bad Santa" is, at its heart, a Christmas movie, this really is just a movie set during Christmas time...[more]...

I had been anticipating this one for a while if for no better reason than to see Steven Soderbergh do a straight-up action movie. While the fights are the best I have seen in a very long time, I should've known better than to expect him to do a balls-out action adventure without going in for some intellectual thrills...[more]...

This is one splendid tale of honor and revenge that gets better with every viewing. The setting is the highlands of Scotland during a time when the old clans suffer and the English nobility are a bunch of schemers and social climbers. Robert MacGregor (Liam Neeson) is a man of uncommon honor, who stands as a role model to the rest of his clan...[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]...