[10] Michael Douglas gives a career highlight performance as a fifty-year-old college professor worried about following up a sensational debut novel in this warm, character-driven comedy from Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential, 8 Mile) and author Michael Chabon. I was quickly hooked on each of the movie’s ensemble of anxious, quirky characters, all grappling with their own life-changing dilemmas. Tobey Maguire is excellent as the sullen …
[9] A man slowly discovers that reality is not what it seems and that we are all actually slaves to more advanced technological organisms in this uber-cool, groundbreaking sci-fi flick with an incredible screenplay and visionary aesthetics. There is a place in cinema for Keanu Reeves, and it is The Matrix. (Who knew?) Carrie-Anne Moss and Laurence Fishburne steal the show, both playing walking talking …
[9] Ian McKellen gives his most moving film performance to date as James Whale, director of the original Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, and many other Golden Age titles. Bill Condon directs and adapts from a novel by Christopher Bram that focuses on the end of Whale’s life, as he’s haunted by the memory of a friend who died in the trenches and …
[9] By anchoring his screenplay in one of the most inherently compelling tragedies of the twentieth century and placing the the weight of the story on Kate Winslet’s able shoulders, James Cameron concocts a recipe for the biggest money-making movie of all time (still true as of this writing, though his own Avatar threatens to dethrone the ill-fated vessel). The movie is split in two, …
[9] A terrific script and loveable characters send Toy Story soaring. At the heart of the simple storyline are two toys with character arcs as compelling as any of their live-action counterparts. Woody (Tom Hanks) is a pull-string cowboy who’s afraid of being replaced as his owner’s favorite, and Buzz (Tim Allen) is the new, gadget-enhanced astronaut who doesn’t accept the fact that he’s a …
[10] I doubt Tim Burton will ever make a finer film. Armed with a powerhouse screenplay by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (The People vs Larry Flynt), Burton turns the biography of Hollywood’s most infamously bad director into a poignant and hilarious film about never giving up… no matter how much you might suck. The film is admittedly white-washed, concentrating and embellishing upon Ed Wood’s …
[10] A breath of cinematic fresh air that magically dignifies exploitation and elevates dialgoue to an art form. Writer/director Quentin Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill) assembles a stellar cast highlighted by the return of John Travolta, previously languishing in talking baby movie exile. In the chaptered non-linear screenplay, he’s paired with Samuel L. Jackson playing two hit men who wax philosophic between jobs. Bruce Willis …
[10] Two drag queens and a grouchy transsexual brave the Australian outback to perform at a hotel in the middle of nowhere. Hugo Weaving (The Matrix, Lord of the Rings) plays the drag queen with a secret, Guy Pierce (Memento, LA Confidential) plays the flaming provocateur, and in a brilliant bit of casting, Terence Stamp (General Zod from Superman) plays the grieving post-op woman whose …
[9] If you think of this movie as Jaws on land, as director Steven Spielberg has suggested, it can’t quite compare to that masterpiece. The characters aren’t strong enough. But it’s still a hell of a summer event movie, delivering groundbreaking effects and well-choreographed thrills. The Michael Crichton story focuses on an island theme park where a wealthy entrepreneur (Richard Attenborough) has resurrected dinosaurs from …
[10] Holly Hunter picked up an Academy Award for her performance as Ada, a rebellious mute who finds solace and a means of expression only with her beloved piano in Jane Campion’s gorgeously crafted and erotically charged The Piano. Ada is married off to Stewart (Sam Neill), a sexually repressed land developer in Victorian New Zealand. When she and her young daughter (Anna Paquin) first …
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