Dark Blue (2003)
[7] Dark Blue uses the Rodney King beating as a backdrop in a tale of police corruption. You could almost think of it as a modern version of L.A. Confidential. It's interesting to see the main protagonist (Kurt Russell) as…
The Other (1972)
[7]
In The Other, To Kill a Mockingbird director Robert Mulligan does a great job engendering sympathy for a schizophrenic child who is channeling the spirit of his deceased twin. Chris and Martin Udvarnoky do a commendable job playing the boy and his ‘other,’ and famed acting teacher Uta Hagen is good as the Russian aunt who begins to put two and two together after a series of tragic ‘accidents’ happen on the family farm.
The Towering Inferno (1974)
[7] Steve McQueen and Paul Newman help rescue people trapped in a flaming highrise in Irwin Allen's disaster opus, The Towering Inferno. It is what it is -- we all at one time or another want to watch disaster unfold…
World War Z (2013)
[7]
Brad Pitt admirably carries this big-budget zombie apocalypse flick that has more in common with Outbreak or Contagion than it does your standard zombie fare — don’t expect blood and gore, horror fans. Director Marc Forster (Monster’s Ball, Stranger Than Fiction) succeeds in ratcheting up the tension with a script (based very loosely on Max Brooks’ book) that is essentially one dramatic escape sequence after another.
Killer Joe (2012)
[9] William Friedkin (The Exorcist, The French Connection) directs this darkly comic trailer trash ensemble piece about a family that conspires to hire a killer to whack their matriarch and collect her life insurance. Matthew McConaughey delivers a tense, frightening,…
The Impossible (2012)
[9] Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor star in this harrowing true story about a vacationing family torn violently apart by the 2004 tsunami that ravaged Thailand. The natural disaster is recreated in the opening act, seen through the eyes of…
Inception (2010)
[8] Dreams are a notoriously difficult thing on which to base a movie. In dreams there are no rules, no parameters -- and in movies about dreams, writers and filmmakers are often all too eager to take advantage of our…
The Departed (2006)
[9] Martin Scorsese helms this dramatic thriller about an undercover cop (Leonardo DiCaprio) and a gang mole in the Boston police (Matt Damon) who race to uncover each other's identities while a powerful mobster (Jack Nicholson) manipulates them both to…
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…
The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
[10] Anthony Minghella (The English Patient) adapts the Patricia Highsmith novel for the big screen, casts it perfectly, and delivers a superb character study and psychological thriller. Matt Damon anchors the film in the best performance of his career, playing the…