[7] The same year she won an Oscar for My Cousin Vinny, Marisa Tomei also made an immeasurable contribution to this romantic drama about a Minneapolis waitress who falls in love with a shy, quiet bus boy (Christian Slater) who rescues her from an assault. The two are an odd couple, but seem to make sense together. Unfortunately, the specter of tragedy hangs over them, …
[5] After being part of an ensemble in The Suicide Squad, Margot Robbie returns in the role of Harley Quinn — a character that really isn’t built to carry her own movie. She’s a former psychiatrist who fell in love with the Joker and turned to the dark side. In other words, she’s nuts and dangerous. She can only function as a funny, charismatic villain, …
[7] Drew Barrymore stars as a teen in the ’60s whose dreams of going to college and getting published are squashed by unexpected motherhood. Riding in Cars with Boys is a comedy/drama based on a true story that spans a few decades, seeing Barrymore’s character through a reluctant marriage, cold and everlasting disappointment from her father, and struggles with her drug-addicted husband. The big question is …
[8] Pineapple Express is Quentin Tarantino meets Cheech and Chong, a hyperviolent action flick crashed into a buddy comedy. The mish-mash may be an acquired taste, but it’s a winning combination for me. Seth Rogen and James Franco carry this movie to victory as a process server and pot dealer on the run from a hitman (Gary Cole) and a crooked cop (Rosie Perez). Rogen …
[8] Spike Lee explores racism from multiple angles in Do the Right Thing, a provocative but entertaining ‘day in the life’ flick set in a Brooklyn community on the hottest day of the summer. Films that deal with racism tend to be either maudlin or one-sided, so I was glad to see Lee present the issue as the complicated one that it is. Scenes between …
[9] Jeff Bridges plays a plane crash survivor who helps fellow passengers carry on with their lives, ignoring his own needs until it’s nearly too late. Fearless is from my favorite director, Peter Weir (Mosquito Coast, Picnic at Hanging Rock), and it’s emblematic of everything I love about his work — it’s deeply emotional, it uses music as a key element rather than an afterthought, …
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