The Way Back (2010)
[6] There's no director I admire more than Peter Weir (Fearless, Mosquito Coast), even if his latest film left me a tad underwhelmed. The Way Back is about a group of men who escape a Russian labor camp during WWII…
30 Minutes or Less (2011)
[5] Working from a stale script that comes too late in the Tarantino wake, this dark, violent 'who's conning who' comedy is made tolerable by its flavor-of-the-week casting. If you like Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride, and Aziz Ansari (like I…
Mara Maru (1952)
[6] Errol Flynn stars as a deep sea diver hunting for a rumored sunken treasure while fending off a trio of baddies that are trying to swipe it out from under him. Flynn is a little past his prime here,…
Rocky V (1990)
[5] If you can get past the fact that the Rocky series never should have lived to see a fifth entry, Rocky V may actually surprise you a little. I'm glad it doesn't retread the old narrative of every installment…
The Drowning Pool (1975)
[5] Paul Newman returns as private eye Lew Harper, hired by an ex-flame to solve a blackmail case involving adultery and oil-rich land. As with the previous Harper film, the stakes are never high enough and no one's quite worth…
The MacKintosh Man (1973)
[4] Paul Newman stars as a British agent posing as a jewel thief who gets embroiled with Russian spies, goes to prison, gets broken out of prison, and lands in the hands of a secretive organization that drugs and kidnaps…
Cursed (2004)
[5] There's a good concept at the core of this Wes Craven/Kevin Williamson (Scream) collaboration -- a brother and sister coming to terms with the fact that they may be werewolves. But serious werewolf fans will bemoan the cheesy Hollywood…
Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)
[6] Marlon Brando plays Fletcher Christian and Trevor Howard takes on the mantle of the sadistic Captain Bligh in this remake from director Lewis Milestone (All Quiet on the Western Front). The bloated run time (three hours) doesn't help the…
The Bounty (1984)
[6] This Dino DeLaurentiis production of the infamous tale of mutiny welcomes more shades of gray into the characters of Captain Bligh and Fletcher Christian than the 1935 original film, though I wouldn't say it's a better film overall. Bligh…
Admission (2013)
[5] A Princeton admissions clerk takes a chance on an 'alternative school' kid when she discovers he may be the child she gave up for adoption many years ago. Despite the intrinsic charm of both Tina Fey and Paul Rudd,…