Black Swan (2010)
[8] SPOILER REVIEW: Natalie Portman is incredible in Black Swan, the story of a ballerina who must tap into her 'dark side' to play the Swan Queen in a New York City performance of Swan Lake. Portman's performance is a…
District 9 (2009)
[9]
Neill Blomkamp’s stellar directorial debut is an unpredictable blend of intelligence, emotion, and cinematic whoop-ass that defies convention and leaves you breathless. It begins like a documentary, outlining how a race of stranded aliens (the space kind) came to be ghettoized in South Africa. We follow a character named Wikus, a bumbling government agent who is tasked with herding the aliens to a new camp (the concentration kind) further away from Johannesburg. The aliens aren’t pretty, but you’ll be surprised how emotionally invested you’ll get in a couple of them — a father named Christopher, and his tiny young son, who are desperately trying to find a way back to their home world. When Wikus subjects himself to a dangerous alien chemical, he begins a Kafka-esque transformation into one of the aliens, or “prawns” as they are called derogatorily.
The Midnight Meat Train (2008)
[9]
Hellraiser fans rejoice. This is the best Clive Barker movie in twenty years. Director Ryuhei Kitamura hits the nail on the head (or the meathook through the ankles) in his handling of the story, which centers around an urban photographer (The Hangover‘s Bradley Cooper) in search of brutal subject matter. He finds what he’s looking for after stalking a stern-looking butcher onto a subway car late one night. As Cooper’s character and his girlfriend (Leslie Bibb) begin to connect the mysterious butcher to a series of missing persons reports, they fall head-first into some supernatural shit that will change their lives forever.
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
[9] Guillermo del Toro's fantasy masterpiece is a volatile blend of whimsy and horror that dares to explore the depths of human evil through the eyes of an innocent child. The film is brutal, heartbreaking, and gorgeous. Del Toro's unique…
War of the Worlds (2005)
[9] Steven Spielberg remakes H.G. Wells' sci-fi classic, and as far as I'm concerned, it's easily his best movie in many, many years. Through the eyes of a single father (Tom Cruise) and his two children (Dakota Fanning and Justin…
Ravenous (1999)
[9] It'd be easy to write off Ravenous as a bungled misfire, but if it is one, it sure is an interesting one. The end result is a pitch-black comedy about cannibalism set in 1847 at a remote outpost in…
Scream (1996)
[9] Wes Craven's self-referential teen slasher murder mystery soars on the strengths of Kevin Williamson's clever screenplay and its charismatic cast. Anyone who loves slasher movies will revel in the in-jokes and homages, but the film isn't all satire --…
Se7en (1995)
[9]
Director David Fincher rebounded from Alien 3 with this seemingly innocuous serial killer flick penned by Andrew Kevin Walker. We’d seen buddy cop flicks and killers with gitchy modus operandis before, but characterization and style put Se7en over the edge. It’s a deeply creepy and unsettling movie centering around a seasoned detective (Morgan Freeman) and a rookie (Brad Pitt) who are paired in pursuit of a mysterious killer who’s patterning his murders after the seven deadly sins. Talk about your horror set-pieces. The scene where the detectives discover ‘Sloth’ contains one of the most memorable shocks I’ve ever experienced at the movies, and the way in which ‘Lust’ is played out also haunts my memories. Freeman and Pitt’s performances keep the story well grounded and relatable, while composer Howard Shore washes the movie in a brooding orchestral score that reinforces the film’s constantly claustrophobic atmosphere.
Interview with the Vampire (1994)
[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…
Jurassic Park (1993)
[9] If you think of this movie as Jaws on land, as director Steven Spielberg has suggested, it can't quite compare to that masterpiece. The characters aren't strong enough. But it's still a hell of a summer event movie, delivering…