[1] Roland Emmerich must be stopped. Since 1996’s Independence Day, the director has been obsessed with apocalyptic disaster movies like Godzilla, 10,000 BC, The Day After Tomorrow, and 2012 — each one exponentially dumber than the preceding. When I heard he was directing a movie about the moon falling to Earth, I though, ‘Well, of course he is.’ I knew to expect mass destruction and …
[4] Bruce Willis stars as a private eye trying to protect a stripper who thinks she’s in danger. When she ends up killed, her boyfriend, a disgraced football player (Damon Wayans), ingratiates himself to Willis to help discover who’s responsible for her murder. The story ends up involving corruption at the highest levels of government and professional football. The Last Boy Scout is a cookie-cutter …
[8] Warren Beatty co-wrote, directed, and stars in this dark comedy about a suicidal politician who puts a hit out on his own life before ending his political campaign with a blunt truth-telling tour that enrages his donors but thrills the general public. When he changes his mind about dying, he spends the weekend evading his anonymous assassin by hiding out in dangerous neighborhoods, all …
[8] Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro give terrific, Oscar-caliber performances in this film about a widowed mother who invites her late husband’s friend, a recovering drug addict, to stay with her. I was moved by the struggle of two deeply wounded people trying to help each other. Berry’s character tries to help Del Toro’s come clean, and he tries to help her bring her family …
[8] X-Men: Days of Future Past brings back most of the cast from the Bryan Singer films (X-Men and X2) and merges them with the cast of Matthew Vaughn’s First Class for a storyline involving time-travel and the mutants’ desperate attempt to correct an error in 1973 that would, fifty years later, lead to annihilation for both mutants and humans alike. Simon Kinberg’s screenplay puts …
[6] This is certainly the most action-packed of the X-Men movies, but it’s also the most disrespectful and emotionally hollow. There are some great set pieces, including the free-for-all at Jean Grey’s childhood home, the Golden Gate bridge raising, and the visually stunning climax at Alcatraz, where Dark Phoenix (Famke Janssen) unleashes an effects-filled can of whoop-ass upon the world. There’s potential in that sequence …
[7] It’s amazing how good a superhero movie can be when you treat it with the seriousness it deserves. Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects) was the perfect choice to direct this movie, and he chose a brilliant ensemble cast. Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Anna Paquin, and Rebecca Romijn shine in their roles. Unfortunately, Halle Berry and James Marsden have the thankless tasks of …
[8] X2: X-Men United maintains the first film’s emphasis on drama and character, but adds the sizzle a bigger budget can provide. This is, quite simply, a summer movie that delivers the goods. I love the raid on Xavier’s school, Magneto’s escape from his plastic prison, Nightcrawler’s attack at the White House, Pyro’s assault on the police, and the entire third act at the dam. …
[9] A racist, alcoholic prison guard finds himself falling in love with an African-American woman who just happens to be the widow of a man he helped to execute in this film from Marc Forster (Stranger than Fiction, Finding Neverland). Halle Berry is stunning in her Oscar-winning performance, but so is the rest of the cast, including Billy Bob Thornton as the prison guard, Heath …
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