[3] Michael Mann, the great director of movies like Heat and Last of the Mohicans, here gives us his take on the legendary ’30s gangster John Dillinger, played by Johnny Depp. Depp can be brilliant in the right role, but this is not that role. He’s uncharacteristically devoid of charisma in Public Enemies, sleep-walking through most of his performance. Making matters worse, the film spends …
[6] Michael Douglas plays a secret service agent framed as a mole trying to assassinate the president. While the secret service, led by Kiefer Sutherland, chase him down, Douglas tries to prove his innocence by identifying the real mole before the president is assassinated. The Sentinel plays like a mash-up of The Fugitive and The Manchurian Candidate, but it moves briskly and confidently toward a …
[8] Katie Holmes and Patricia Clarkson lead an ensemble cast in this quaint but compelling drama/comedy about a ‘black sheep’ daughter (Holmes) who tries like Hell to host Thanksgiving dinner for her visiting family. Neither Holmes nor her estranged family really want to share the holiday together, except that the mother (Clarkson) is terminally ill — and this could very well be their last holiday …
[8] Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg star as brothers working on different sides of the law in this crime drama from writer/director James Gray (Ad Astra, The Lost City of Z). Wahlberg’s character follows in the footsteps of their father (Robert Duvall), recently being promoted to captain within the New York police. Phoenix is a nightclub manager who is reluctant to help his dad and …
[7] Kathryn Bigelow (Strange Days, Near Dark) directs this Cold War-era true story starring Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson as Soviet officers aboard Russia’s first nuclear-powered submarine. Moscow orders the ship to launch a nuclear missile to let America know they are within striking distance. After the successful launch, however, the vessel suffers a nuclear meltdown that threatens to kill all those aboard and potentially …
[7] Thirteen-year-old aspiring writer Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan) accuses her older sister’s lover of a crime he didn’t commit, effectively condemning him to years of prison and compulsory military service. The lovers (Keira Knightley and James McAvoy) stay connected through letter-writing, but the unfolding tragedies of World War II keep them ever apart. Years later, Briony wants to atone for the sin that tore her …
[8] Adrien Brody (The Pianist, The Thin Red Line) plays a ’50s Hollywood detective investigating the mysterious death of actor George Reeves, played by Ben Affleck (Gone Girl, The Town). Hollywoodland is based on the true story of Reeves, who struggled to claim fame on the big screen but ended up finding it as the star of television’s The Adventures of Superman. Brody and Affleck …
[6] A mother and daughter hole up in an impenetrable ‘panic room’ after three strange men invade their Manhattan home looking for a hidden fortune. Jodie Foster stars in this claustrophobic thriller from director David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club), with a pre-Twilight Kristen Stewart playing the role of her teen daughter. The bad guys are played by Jared Leto, Forest Whitaker, and Dwight Yoakam — …
[8] Writer/director Alexander Payne (Election, About Schmidt) takes us on a trip through California wine country with two middle-aged college buddies in Sideways, based on a novel by Rex Pickett. Paul Giamatti plays a divorced junior high school teacher suffering from depression and anxiety whose dream of becoming a published author is about the only thing keeping him going. Thomas Haden Church is a somewhat …
[5] Chris Pine, Lou Taylor Pucci (Thumbsucker), Piper Perabo (Coyote Ugly), and Emily VanCamp (Everwood) roam the empty western United States after a plague has killed most of the population. They do their best to avoid desperate stragglers, but have a harder time not turning on each other when the disease finally catches up with them. Carriers is well acted and captures a compelling post-apocalyptic …
Copyright © 2024 | Theme by MH Themes