[4] The Coen Brothers run hot and cold with me. Sometimes I get them, sometimes I don’t. This is one of the times that I don’t, and I can only figure it’s because the comedy is too subdued and the point is too on the nose. Michael Stuhlbarg stars as a man whose claustrophobic suburban life is unraveling. His wife has decided to divorce him …
[6] Ridley Scott directs from a script by Steven Zaillian this true story about a New York detective (Russell Crowe) and a drug lord (Denzel Washington) whose paths cross in the 1970s to expose deep-rooted corruption in the police force. The film balances the screen time between Washington and Crowe’s characters, so we get both the plight of the humble man and the rise & fall …
[6] John Wayne leads an ensemble cast in this William Wellman film about the passengers and crew of a trans-Pacific flight who experience engine failure and a loss of fuel. When they realize they won’t reach the California shore, everyone prepares for the worst. The High and the Mighty plays more like a straight drama than the disaster flicks that would come after it in the 1970s. …
[8] Tom Hanks stars as celebrated pilot Chesley Sullenberger, who safely landed his U.S. Airways passenger plane on the Hudson River after the unprecedented scenario of losing both engines to bird-strike shortly after take-off. Director Clint Eastwood lets this true story unfold with the greatest of ease. Nothing is sensationalized — all the emotions Sully evokes are earnest and sincere. I found it a very uplifting …
[7] In 1880’s Nevada, news spreads of the murder of a local cattle farmer, inciting a few dozen townspeople to form a posse hellbent on lynching those responsible for the crime. Based on the book by Walter Van Tilburg Clark and directed by the always-thoughtful William Wellman (Wings, Battleground), The Ox-Bow Incident is a relatively simple, straight-forward meditation on mob mentality and vigilante justice. When …
[3] Remember the Robert Altman movie The Player? At the end of that movie, they mock the typical Hollywood movie by showing the end of a cheesy movie in which Julia Roberts is sentenced to death in the gas chamber, only to be rescued by Bruce Willis at the very last possible second. Bruce shoots his way into the gas chamber and carries Julia out in his …
[7] Deep Impact feels like an old-fashioned Irwin Allen disaster flick — and I dig that. Basically, the world learns that an asteroid is headed toward earth and we have one year before we can attempt to destroy it with a NASA space mission. So the mid-point of the film focuses on that mission, and — spoilers ahead! — it doesn’t go well. So Deep Impact …
[5] Director David Mackenzie (Hell or High Water) adapts Alexander Trocchi’s novel about a Scottish drifter (Ewan McGregor) who falls in with a family living and working on a river barge, all while hiding what he knows about an alleged murder being publicized in the local papers. Mackenzie captures a suitably dreary tone for the movie, but it’s a challenging story to get into. McGregor’s …
[7] Craig Sheffer (Nightbreed) seeks the help of a controversial sex therapist (Terence Stamp) to help him bring his wife (Twin Peaks‘ Sheryl Lee) to orgasm. Bliss is like The Karate Kid for a little while, with Stamp playing the Mr. Miyagi role, teaching Sheffer about the ways of sex, bliss, and ecstasy. But once orgasm is achieved, we learn that the cause of Lee’s …
[6] Writer/director Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter, Mud) serves up a supernatural drama about a father (Michael Shannon) trying to smuggle his son cross-country while avoiding both the government and the religious cult from which they escaped. Turns out the boy is gifted with strange powers that continue revealing themselves throughout the film. Is he an alien? Is it a government conspiracy? Nichols is hoping you’ll …
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