Based on Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness (The boat name 'Erebus" means in Greek "son of the god of utter darkness" hence inspired by the book title), Apocalypse Now Redux is a 3hr 22 minute masterpiece who's filming trivia is almost as messed up and fascinating as the movie itself. Riveting performances by Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest, Dennis Hopper, Sam Bottoms (who was actually on speed, LSD, and marijuana during filming), and of course Brando, who ad libbed most of his lines and probably helped contribute to Coppola's meltdown. Laurence Fishburne lied about his age in 1976 and was only FOURTEEN during filming. Also the role of Captain Willard was first offered to Steve McQueen - how fucking cool would that have also been-

I love heist movies. The Score is not side plot heavy (Angela Bassett and Marlon Brando are about as supporting as supporting gets), because all the screen time is devoted to the terrific dynamic that is DeNiro and Norton, who easlily elevate material that could be just pedestrian in the hands of others. And Canada...IS ACTUALLY CANADA. Excellent score by Howard Shore (what else is new) and featuring the music of jazz singer Cassandra Wilson. Tightly directed by Frank Oz. One of my crime favorites- SIDE NOTE : As Marlon Brando's last screen appearance (RIP) apparently he was a nightmare for Frank Oz, referring to him on set as Miss Piggy and basically refusing to do most of what he was told. What a badass-

As far as i'm concerned this movie (along with Man On Fire) are Tony Scotts best work (RIP). Typically terrific soundtrack scored by Hans Zimmer that's accompanied by a knock out cast in which many (especially Patricia Arquette and Gary Oldman) put in their best perfomances ever. Written by Quentin Tarantino. AND VAL KILMER IS ELVIS-

Masterpiece. Absolute masterpiece-

This is easily one of Johnny Depp's most nuanced and emotional performances of his career. Stellar supporting work by Paul Reubens, Franka Potente, Penelope Cruz, and the always excellent Ray Liotta, plus a nice role by Emma Roberts as George's daughter Christina. Wonderful soundtrack. The final courtyard scene makes me well up every time. Using Sticky Fingers era Stones to open a movie never hurts either. Fun fact : Cliff Curtis who portrays Pablo Escobar also played Smiley in Training Day. Under rated movie in extremis-

Directed by Bill Duke (Mac from Predator).Great performances by Fishburne, Jeff Goldblum, Charles Martin Smith, Gregory Sierra, Victoria Dillard, and Clarence Williams III (Linc from the Mod Squad yo). This movie has one of the best hip hop and remix soundtracks ever - big props to Michael Colombier on a terrific score. "Gather round, as I run it down, and unravel my pedigree". This movie is as hard as fuck-

Sharp political satire directed by Barry Levinson and anchored by heavyweights De Niro and Hoffman (who in my opinion, has never been funnier than he is here as big shot producer Stanley Motss). Also starring Anne Heche, Denis Leary, Willie Nelson, William H Macy, John Michael Higgins (seriously this man never ages), Kirsten Dunst as the Albanian girl with the bag of Tostitos, and a brilliantly weird cameo performance by Woody Harrelson as Sergeant Schumann. COURAGE MOM-

Directed by Phil Joanou. Brilliant soundtrack by Ennio Morricone. Stellar performances by Sean Penn, Ed Harris, the always great John Tuturro, Robin Wright Penn, and Gary Oldman as Jackie Flannery, one of my favorite character portrayals of all time. Top of the mornin to ya-

Javier Bardem pulls out all the stops as Uxbal, a man who realizes
he doesn't have long to live but has so much left to do. Once again a wonderful film from Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu that reminds us that time is precious, and on a base level we are all connected. Yeah, it wrecked me-

Edward Norton is Eisenheim, an 18th century magician in Vienna who comes to a head with the Crown Prince of Vienna over his childhood love Sophie (Jessica Biel). All the while he's under the watchful eye of a sharp Chief Inspector ( Paul Giamatti ). Fun fact - young Eisenheim is played by Aaron Johnson. Terrific all around performances, wonderful soundtrack and cinematography. Written off by many as " that other magician movie ". It shouldn't be-

This film is a hornet's nest of A list talent, that much is pretty obvious. But with all of the excellent work put in by Farrell, Walken, Harrelson, Waits, it's Sam Rockwell who contiunes to astound and amaze me - I don't think any character has made me laugh out loud as much in recent memory as Billy Bickle (where the hell is the best supporting actor nomination ). Also the scene with Abbie Cornish in a wet t-shirt could have been 15 minutes longer. A great follow up to In Bruges, one of my all time favorite films-

Directed by Joe Carnahan, Narc proves that substance and powerful acting trump a bloated movie budget any day of the week (filmed for just over 6 million dollars with significant pull coming from Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner). This movie is as hard as the cold snow strewn Detroit streets it is filmed on. Terrific soundtrack by Cliff Martinez (Drive) and Busta Rhymes (who also has a part). Both Liotta (deserved a best supporting actor-of course never happened) and Patric are exceptional. One of my favorite crime films of all time-

1984 has a baby with The Matrix. Christian Bale is John Preston, a Grammaton Cleric who kills anything with feelings, unlike his rank name which always makes me think he's running around checking people's spelling. Taye Diggs is a suspicious co-worker.Also there's puppies ! Prozium ! and Sean Bean ! -

Nobody has the movie vibe of LA cops down like David Ayer does. Well obviously besides Michael Mann. Oh and William Friedkin. This film is a docu-crime actioner with a basic script elevated by all around excellent performances, especially Michael Pena. Anna Kendrick was typically gorgeous in her role as Brian's new girlfriend. A few house/call response scenes are pretty hard core and very realistic. Although a few of the gun point of view shots made me think for a minute I was playing Doom again. My kind of movie-

Absolute masterpiece. The soundtrack by Howard Shore is just brilliant and heartbreaking. One of the best movies ever-

A hilarious ensemble cast of bizarre dog owners which includes Guest, Eugene Levy and Catherine O Hara, Michael McKean, jayne Lynch, Parker Posey (so funny), Ed Begley, and I swear Fred Willard is actually on drugs in his role as dog show commentator. One of the show judges is actually Scully's dad from the X-Files. Also the Taft hotel is an actual hotel right beside the hospital where my wife works. Ed Begley isn't there though I checked- NOW GO GET BUSY BEE-

James Brown - Cab Calloway - Ray Charles- John Lee Hooker -Aretha Franklin = music perfection-

An incredibly faithful adaptation of the novel by Patrick O'Brien and directed by Peter Weir. Winner of best sound mixing and cinematography from the Academy (2004) and up for numerous others, this is easily one of my favorite "boat" films of all time (I hear from Derek Jaws 2 is pretty good as well). Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany play of each other perfectly as Captain and ships Doctor respectively. It also really makes me want to visit the Galapagos islands, the cinematography is just breathtaking. Nice to see Dominic Monaghan steering the boat, considering all the stuff he messed up in Middle Earth. It's a shame with a whole series of novel material they could never finance a follow up film, but we can easily have 90 Saw and Paranormal Activity movies (I know they cost less but whatever). Solid seaworthy action. HOLD FAST-

Once upon a time, all we knew of were 2 Olsen twins, both rich, and both annoying us in syndication will Full House. But oh no, it turns out there is another sibling, Elizabeth, and she is fearlessly excellent in this film as Martha , a smart but naive young girl who gets herself into a situation she's not quite sure she can get out of. Or not sure that she even wants to. Juxtapositioned as her opposite is the brilliant John Hawkes (give him some major award already in fact just give him 5). His presence, much like in Winter's Bone, is both low key and yet overwhelming. And he plays a mean guitar-

Classic 80's action directed by Andrew Davis, who would go on to direct the awesomeness that is The Fugitive. Crazy 80's bad guy ? cue Henry Silva. Wisecracking partner ? Dennis Farina. Tons of Chicago location shots (fun to pick out since I've been there before), kick punching, second hand cigarette smoke, and moustaches. Also feathered mullets-