[6] Cillian Murphy (28 Days Later, Sunshine) stars as a troubled teen sent to a group therapy clinic after intentionally driving his car off a cliff. If I’d never seen Girl, Interrupted, this movie might resonate more with me. But as it is, it’s too much of a clone of the Winona Ryder film to really distinguish itself. But Cillian’s face is beautiful to look …
[8] Twenty men who work menial jobs participate in an 11-day sociological experiment in which they are divided into two groups: prisoners and guards. The prisoners are told they will not have civil rights during the experiment and the guards are told they must maintain order without inflicting violence. The experiment spirals wildly out of control in just two days, ending not just in violence, …
[6] Kevin Spacey stars in this Lasse Hallström film based on the Annie Proulx novel about a widower who moves with his young daughter to his ancestral home in Newfoundland to start a new life. Judi Dench plays Spacey’s aunt who encourages the move and Julianne Moore plays Spacey’s nascent love interest. I’ve only ever bought Spacey in angry, authoritative roles. Whenever he’s playing downtrodden or …
[7] Drew Barrymore stars as a teen in the ’60s whose dreams of going to college and getting published are squashed by unexpected motherhood. Riding in Cars with Boys is a comedy/drama based on a true story that spans a few decades, seeing Barrymore’s character through a reluctant marriage, cold and everlasting disappointment from her father, and struggles with her drug-addicted husband. The big question is …
[2] John Carpenter has given us a handful of gems over the years, but Ghosts of Mars is not one of them. The movie’s too exotic for its own good. It starts with some quick but tedious exposition, then plops us off in a confusing, alienating environment with little to latch onto. The story has something to do with ghosts and a bunch of leftover …
[7] Hannibal Lecter is still on the lam (no pun intended) after the events in The Silence of the Lambs, but now there’s another killer who wants to bring him to justice. Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner) directs this time, taking the subject matter into far more operatic territory. Where The Silence of the Lambs showed restraint with violence and gore, Hannibal does not. The …
[8] A lonely writer falls in love with a singing, dancing courtesan in this bawdy musical that soars on the charms of co-stars Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor. The song numbers cannibalize lyrics from love songs over the past century, an approach you’re either going to love or hate. I think the musical sequences are the best part of Moulin Rouge!, whether it’s the Tex …
[6] Judi Dench and Jim Broadbent star in this true but tragic love story about lovers of 40 years who are torn apart by Alzheimer’s Disease. Dench is portraying novelist Iris Murdoch, a lover of language who begins losing her ability to communicate, becoming more and more lost in her own inner world. Broadbent plays her devoted husband, desperately trying to understand her and keep …
[7] Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly are at the top of their game in A Beautiful Mind, Ron Howard’s Oscar-winning biopic about John Nash, the brilliant but haunted mathematician who overcame schizophrenia and received the Nobel Prize. These are the best performances I’ve seen from Crowe and Connelly — their relationship is the glue that holds the film together. The first two-thirds of the movie …
[7] A frantic man (Ezra Godden) stumbles into a Spanish coastal village where the inhabitants are metamorphosing into sea creatures. As far as Lovecraft adaptations from Stuart Gordon (From Beyond, Re-Animator) go, I like this one best. The script is tight and Gordon demonstrates remarkable directing chops in sustaining tension and suspense for what is, for the most part, one big chase. Godden is engaging …
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