[8] This 2002 classic, period-piece rendition of Charles Dickens’ Nicholas Nickleby is sweet, sentimental, and beautifully executed. I personally found it irresistible. Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy, Pacific Rim) is perfectly cast as Nicholas, a young man who discovers his own strength of character when called upon to defend his family and friends from villainy. The main villain is his own uncle, played deliciously by …
[6] This was the last film from the late Nora Ephron, the rom-com heavy-hitter who directed Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail, and wrote the script for When Harry Met Sally. It’s based on two different books (both true stories) and takes a two-pronged approach to storytelling that is cute for a while, but somewhat unsatisfying when it comes to a close. Half the …
[3] With two-time Oscar-winning director Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain, Life of Pi) at the helm, and a cast that includes Eric Bana, Jennifer Connelly, Nick Nolte, and Sam Elliott, you should reasonably expect a much better movie than Hulk turns out to be. I mean, wow. It’s so not good. The script begins with an abundance of exposition that never seems to stop. Bana as …
[7] Stockard Channing and Julia Stiles decide to exact revenge on an accused rapist in this intimate character showcase written and directed by Patrick Stettner. Channing’s character is a cool, collected business woman who has just been made CEO of her company. Stiles is a shady underling who waxes philosophic on gender studies. The two get to know each other while laid over at a …
[6] Julianne Moore stars as a woman convinced that she once had a son who died in a tragic plane crash, but everyone around her — including her own husband — insists the boy never existed. The movie is full of revelations, the first of which is that Moore’s character isn’t nuts. A greater conspiracy is at play in the movie, and the less you …
[8] Half-way through The Loved Ones, I was hating it all over. The fact that it won me back impresses the shit out of me. It’s an Australian horror flick about a hapless teenager struggling with survivor’s guilt (Xavier Samuel) who gets kidnapped by a spoiled, sadistic classmate (Robin McLeavy) and her whipped father (John Brumpton). Once tied to a chair beneath a spinning disco …
[6] Nicole Kidman stars as a recently widowed woman who meets a young boy claiming to be her husband reincarnated. Jonathan Glazer (Sexy Beast) directs from a script he co-wrote, keeping the true nature of the piece shrouded in mystery until just the right time. Is the boy really Kidman’s husband, or is it all a strange hoax? Kidman is terrific in a role that …
[7] I don’t like the vast majority of comedies. So why I fancy this one is beyond me, but there you have it. Granted, I do often find Ashton Kutcher and Sean William Scott adorable. Here they play pot-smokers who wake one morning to discover their car is missing. The car quest is just a plot McGuffin, of course, because this is really a story …
[7] Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead) takes the reigns and casts Tobey Maguire as the famous web-slinging superhero. The script is ripe with pointed dialogue, but I’ll be darned if the cast don’t pull it off more often than not. Raimi’s approach is decidedly ‘comic booky’, full of color and frenetically paced, with all the grace notes and emotional high points bent toward operatic. As …
[7] An aimless playboy and a dorky middle-schooler become friends through serendipity in About a Boy, based on the book by Nick Hornby and directed by Chris and Paul Weitz of American Pie fame. Hugh Grant plays the playboy, coasting on royalties from a famous song his father wrote. Nicholas Hoult, who would later grow up to later star in X-Men: First Class and Warm …
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