Breach
Billy Ray’s directorial follow up to the excellent Shattered Glass is a solid political thriller that is diminished by the fact that we know the outcome from the opening frame.The story tells the events leading up to the arrest of Robert Hanssen, a FBI operative who was the biggest double agent spies in the history […]
The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
The most entertaining documentary I have ever seen is this little seen gem about Donkey Kong and the fight to own the world record on the classic arcade game.Billy Mitchell is the arcade video game player of the 80’s and the owner of the world record of Donkey Kong at 874,300. Billy in the present […]
Hot Fuzz
Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost have re-teamed for a send of buddy action films and they do a marvelous job for the most part, but still fall short of their previous effort Shaun of the Dead.Nicholas Angel (Pegg) is the premier officer in London, capturing numerous medals and awards for his valor. Angel […]
In the Valley of Elah
Paul Haggis’ new film is a crime procedural with an anti-war message laced through out and while it is very effective emotionally at times there is not real mystery to the proceedings and the movie doesn’t excel above being just good.Based on a true story, Tommy Lee Jones stars in this now Oscar nominated performance […]
Stardust
Matthew Vaughn’s follow up to the excellent Layer Cake is a solid fantasy adventure that has gotten better on subsequent viewings.Tristan (Charlie Cox) live in the village of Wall that sits on the edge of the fantastical world of Stormhold which he has to cross into to find a shooting star to buy the love […]
Away From Her
Sarah Polley makes her debut as a screenwriter and director in this sad film about the loss of a loved one to Alzheimer’s.We quickly find out that Fiona (Julie Christie) is dealing with the effects of Alzheimer’s. Conscious of her affliction, she is still in a “good” place and we see her slowly dwindle as […]
27 Dresses
The first romantic comedy of the year sets the bar high for all the future films in the genre that follow this year.Katherine Heigl tries to continue on the success of last summer’s Knocked Up with this better than average romcom. The story stays fairly traditional and predictable but it does everything very well and […]
Cloverfield
The hype began with the excellent teaser on Transformers and the film delivers on pretty much every level. An excellent monster/disaster flick, the film is fast, fun, and fairly unpredictable.We start off with the morning after a romantic encounter between Rob and Beth, being filmed by Rob on his camcorder, as they begin to set […]
The Savages
This wonderful little film from Tamara Jenkins is a look at the guilt that surroundings putting a loved one in a nursing home surrounding a couple of characters that are right out of a Wes Anderson/Noah Baumbach film. While the sister/brother combo in this film isn’t as eccentric as some of the characters in those […]
Zodiac: Directors Cut
David Fincher’s latest is a crime masterpiece and leads us on a history lesson through the obsessive lives these crimes forced these men into.Zodiac was sold as a creepy serial killer film filled with horror murders to the public, and while it does contain all of those aspects, there isn’t a murder after the first […]