[9] I don’t generally like heist/swindle movies, but this Quentin Tarantino flick (his third, because he’s counting) based on a novel by Elmore Leonard got under my skin with its rich characters and dialogue. Pam Grier plays a flight attendant who smuggles gun money from Mexico to the States for a bad motherfucker played by, who else? Samuel L. Jackson. But when ATF agents (Michael …
[9] By anchoring his screenplay in one of the most inherently compelling tragedies of the twentieth century and placing the the weight of the story on Kate Winslet’s able shoulders, James Cameron concocts a recipe for the biggest money-making movie of all time (still true as of this writing, though his own Avatar threatens to dethrone the ill-fated vessel). The movie is split in two, …
[9] Admittedly, I’m a bird fan, but don’t let the marketing fool you. This is not just a kid’s movie — it’s an incredibly moving, gorgeously made film based on an inspirational true story, and I blubber every time I see it. After losing her mother, young Amy (Oscar winner Anna Paquin, The Piano, True Blood) goes to live with her eccentric inventor father (Jeff …
[10] Al Pacino is Vincent Hanna of the LAPD robbery/homicide division. Robert DeNiro is Neil McCauley, the leader of a successful bank robbing team that includes his protege Chris Shiherlis, played by Val Kilmer. After a fouled-up heist puts Hanna on McCauley’s trail, Heat becomes an elaborate cat and mouse chase between a driven police lieutenant and a seasoned criminal. Even though it’s grounded in …
[9] It may look like just another silly high school comedy, but Angus is more than that. It’s about a fat kid named Angus (Charlie Talbert) who refuses to let the “normal” kids write him off. After the school’s most popular jock (James Van Der Beek) rigs the voting, Angus finds himself crowned king of the winter dance. He knows it’s a joke, but damn …
[9] The story covers a lot of ground and time, but its the characters that I find most intriguing in Neil Jordan’s adaptation of Anne Rice’s novel. Lestat, Luis, and young Claudia are vampires, but take away their fangs and coffins, and you have a surrogate family steeped in homoerotic and incestuous desire. The movie is best when the family is together, a little less …
[10] A breath of cinematic fresh air that magically dignifies exploitation and elevates dialgoue to an art form. Writer/director Quentin Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill) assembles a stellar cast highlighted by the return of John Travolta, previously languishing in talking baby movie exile. In the chaptered non-linear screenplay, he’s paired with Samuel L. Jackson playing two hit men who wax philosophic between jobs. Bruce Willis …
[9] According to IMDb, this is the most well-liked movie of all time. And true enough, I’ve never met a person who did not like it. A film about two convicts passing the time behind prison walls could have been an insufferable downer, but there’s a mystery behind Tim Robbins’ main character, Andy, that keeps you deeply engrossed in Stephen King’s story. Andy selflessly inspires …
[9] One girl. Two guys. Three possibilities… Josh Charles (Dead Poets Society), Lara Flynn Boyle (Twin Peaks), and Stephen Baldwin star in this college romp about three co-eds who wander into a sexual threesome of sorts and survive to tell the tale. Threesome is partly auto-biographical, based on writer/director Andrew Fleming’s (The Craft, Dick, Hamlet 2) own college experiences. Fleming does a great job finding …
[10] Holly Hunter picked up an Academy Award for her performance as Ada, a rebellious mute who finds solace and a means of expression only with her beloved piano in Jane Campion’s gorgeously crafted and erotically charged The Piano. Ada is married off to Stewart (Sam Neill), a sexually repressed land developer in Victorian New Zealand. When she and her young daughter (Anna Paquin) first …
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