Starship Troopers (1997)

Starship Troopers (1997)

[8]

Director Paul Verhoeven (RoboCop, Basic Instinct) continues his knack for combining violence, gore, dark humor and social commentary in this loose adaptation of Robert A. Heinlein’s serialized novel about humankind’s future war against a race of insect-like aliens. I can almost enjoy the movie for the action alone. It escalates beautifully, with plenty of exciting sequences and spectacular visual effects. But it’s the satirical edge that helps distinguish Starship Troopers. The whole movie is designed as a recruitment film for a fascist society. When our ‘heroes’ win in the end, the movie has its tongue firmly in cheek, dressing them as full-blown Nazis while Leni Riefenstahl-like propaganda leads us into the closing credits.

Rocky Balboa (2006)

Rocky Balboa (2006)

[6]

The sixth entry in the Rocky franchise is far better than it has any right to be. Sylvester Stallone is back in the writing and directing chairs, presenting a melancholy portrait of a hero fighting against decline. At the film’s start, we see the Italian Stallion still reeling from the death of his beloved Adrian two years prior, while trying to maintain a relationship with his estranged son (Milo Ventimiglia). While Rocky tries to break his lonely spell by making friends with a single mother (Geraldine Hughes) and her son (James Francis Kelly III), a TV sports show tries to create a fantasy boxing match between the current heavyweight champion, Mason Dixon (Antonio Tarver) and a past legend, our man Rocky. The idea catches fire, pulling Balboa back into the ring after years of retirement.

Jocks (1986)

Jocks (1986)

[3] A team of L.A. college tennis players try to pull their shit together to win a championship before the dean pulls the plug on their program. I'm all for a good teen sex comedy, but Jocks is neither funny…
Permanent Midnight (1998)

Permanent Midnight (1998)

[6] Ben Stiller gives a career-best performance in Permanent Midnight, based on Jerry Stahl's autobiographical book of the same name. As Jerry, Stiller plays a Hollywood writer whose heroin habit almost destroys him. Elizabeth Hurley and Maria Bello play romantic…
Killing Them Softly (2012)

Killing Them Softly (2012)

[6]

Brad Pitt reunites with writer/director Andrew Dominik (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford), playing a hit man called in by the local crime lords after two young kids take down a big card game that collapses the underground economy. The parallels to the US economy are blatant, complete with recurring clips of Barack Obama and George W. Bush talking about the financial collapse of 2008. But if you ignore the pointed comparison, Killing Them Softly offers a compelling portrait of characters who do anything to get by. They aren’t quite the tough guys of so many other mob and gangster movies — Dominik’s character’s don’t enjoy hurting people, they just want to get paid — and they fear the consequences of their actions. It’s a refreshing spin on familiar ‘tough guy’ tropes, but don’t expect a Scorsese or Tarantino movie here. This one favors conversation and performance well over action. There are a couple of visceral moments in the film (both involving the brutal misfortunes of Ray Liotta’s character), but the real reason to see Killing Them Softly is for the performances.

Tea with Mussolini (1999)

Tea with Mussolini (1999)

[8]

In pre-World War II Florence, a group of elitist British dames and a garish American art collector take in a small boy and raise him. When Britain and America enter the war several years later, the young man returns the favor by looking after the women when they’re interned by the Italian police — and helping to smuggle one of them out of the country when her nefarious husband plans to hand her over to the Gestapo. Tea with Mussolini is a semi-autobiographical tale from director Franco Zeffirelli (Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew). The script could have gained a stronger perspective by sticking more to the young man’s point of view, but the sentiment comes across beautifully and I find it impossible to resist the cast of characters.

Grease 2 (1982)

Grease 2 (1982)

[3] Ill-conceived both corporately and creatively, Grease 2 lacks any reason to keep you watching. The plot is basically a gender-reversal of the first film's storyline, but without any interesting characters to latch onto. The songs are horrendous. Repeat: the…
W. (2008)

W. (2008)

[6]

Oliver Stone presents his third presidential biopic, this time putting George W. Bush under the microscope. The script by Stanley Weiser (Wall Street) is an ambitious one that sometimes struggles to find its focus, but noticeable emphasis is given to W’s estranged relationship to “Poppy” Bush (George H.W.), his struggle with alcoholism, and his born again faith. As played by Josh Brolin, W. is painted in a goofy but sympathetic light. The goofy parts are mostly on record, though Stone might have toned down the part where W. meets future wife Laura (Elizabeth Banks) while chugging beer and ripping into a mammoth hamburger. The sympathetic parts come from W.’s fears of never living up to the family name, as well as in the final moments, where he seemingly begins to doubt his presidential legacy.

Cocktail (1988)

Cocktail (1988)

[3] Cocktail is everything awful about calculated '80s studio film making. It's as if Touchstone Pictures said, 'Hey, we have Tom Cruise and a killer soundtrack -- quick! Someone write a script!" And that script (based on a book by…
This Is 40 (2012)

This Is 40 (2012)

[6]

Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd star as two 40-year-olds struggling to balance the demands of their marriage, children, parents, and jobs. This Is 40 is billed as a ‘sort of’ sequel to Knocked Up, where Mann and Rudd originated the roles. Both films were directed by Judd Apatow, and both take a more pastiche approach to their narratives. On one hand, I like the fly-on-the-wall approach. It favors character over formulaic story structure. On the other hand, without that trusted structure, Apatow’s movies just seem to go on forever and ever and ever. This one is two hours and fifteen minutes, and I stand by my rule that no comedy should exceed an hour forty five.