Walk All Over Me is a different side of Leelee Sobieski than most of her fans have seen. A scrappy Canadian crime comedy with a loose plot, genuine laughs, and great chemistry between its two leads. Better than its reputation suggests. Continue reading Walk All Over Me Review (2007)
I’ve seen plenty of movies which required its audience to turn off their brain. ‘Backfire’ (2017) is one of a select few that also requires them to turn off their souls. Note: their brains should still be turned off as well. I had moderate hopes for a mid-level shoot em’ up based on a promising premise that hooked me in the Netflix description and made … Continue reading Backfire (2017) Review
Two beach bums, one with a military past, and both in an open three way relationship with a hot blonde named Ophelia, start a homegrown marijuana business that becomes very successful. Said business attracts the wrong kind of attention from a very powerful Mexican drug cartel. So, together with the aid of a dirty DEA agent played by John Travolta, the trio will go to … Continue reading Savages Review
‘Security’ is a movie that aims low and stays on target. Antonio Banderas, far removed from his days as the guitar case gunslinger in Desperado, plays a two dimensional archetype—a former soldier, struggling to find work to see his family who are forced to live two states away. The soldier finds work as an overnight security guard in a mall, where he joins a crew … Continue reading Security Review
What an unnerving film—and just in time for Halloween too. ‘Black Mass’ is an interesting exercise in genre bending/blending. There are really two films playing simultaneously. The first is the historical account of real life gangster James “Whitey” Bulger—a sociopathic killer who used his political connections to reign over South Boston (Southie) for several decades. This offers nothing new to the well-trodden ‘gangster’ genre and … Continue reading Black Mass Review
Kill Bill Volume 2 is kind of the yin to Kill Bill Volume 1’s yang (or vice versa). Unlike the first film which was pretty much one action sequence after another with brief moments to set up the next ones, this movie stops occasionally to let the characters—even the villains have their moments of reverence to make their just desserts that much more meaningful/conflicted when … Continue reading Kill Bill Volume 2 Review
Here is a movie that lives or dies on style alone. The story is as simple as it gets, and makes no pretense about existing as anything other than a device to bring us gobs and gobs of sword play and one liners. Uma Thurman is one pissed off Bride on a mission to skewer all the dirty SOBs who murdered her groom and left … Continue reading Kill Bill Volume 1 Review
Gangs of New York represents the kind of old school cinematic excess such as Ben Hur and the Ten Commandments, with massive sets and thousands of extras, but with a modern arsenal of special effects to give it a little extra oomph. Daniel Day Lewis plays Bill the Butcher, the old school gangster kingpin of New York in the 1860s. Lewis plays Bill as a … Continue reading Gangs of New York Review
Cop Land is a film that could have easily been a long mini-series with all its got going on in the plot. Garrison, New Jersey in this movie is a town populated entirely by NY city cops. It’s a nice quiet little community, as you would expect, and mortgages are quite reasonable; plus it sure as hell beats living in the same dump they all … Continue reading Cop Land Review
I was a little younger when I first saw this movie, and I did not fully appreciate it to the extent I do now. I was watching it expecting a satisfying formulaic action movie, and of course, if you watch No Country For Old Men expecting that, you are going to walk out pissed. In a way though I am glad I had the original … Continue reading No Country For Old Men Review
I literally cannot fathom how it took me so long to finally getting around to seeing this. Clint Eastwood has been on my Mt. Rushmore of actors since I was a fetus, and Jeff Bridges is also on that list. This movie sees them in different points of their career, Bridges is a young cocky little hippy named Lightfoot who opens the movie by stealing … Continue reading Thunderbolt and Lightfoot Review
The Untouchables is a near perfect mix of cinematic ingredients. Even though it was filmed in the late 80s this is not a modern gangster movie like Goodfellas, or even the Godfather. This is basically a “Hayes Code” era film that somehow escaped in a time machine and wound up where it did. That said it is beautiful movie, wonderfully shot by Brian De Palma, … Continue reading The Untouchables Review
Jason Statham is just getting out of prison and is bound for vengeance against Ray Liotta, who plays the big bad mob guy who screwed him over back in the day. While in prison Statham’s character befriends two geniuses who teach him how to win at virtually any kind of confidence game in existence. While in pursuit of said vengeance though, Statham’s character winds up … Continue reading Revolver Review
Johnny Depp will star as Boston mobster James “Whitey” Bulger in the upcoming movie “Black Mass” this month. I am quite anxious to see it. So with that in mind I went back and watched Johnny Depp’s other famous gangster movie in which he played real life undercover agent “Donnie Brasco” who infiltrated a crew in one of the five families during the 1970s. This … Continue reading Donnie Brasco Review
This movie is to Goodfellas kind of what El Dorado was to Rio Bravo or Rio Lobo (Rio Lobo would be more the Departed in this comparison though I guess). An indirect remake with many of the same actors in a different setting. When the premise is as good as Goodfellas, who’s gonna complain? Joe Pesci gets to play perhaps his most memorable and most … Continue reading Casino Review
On the list of adjectives one might use to describe Tom Hanks, “badass” is probably way down on the list. However, Hanks manages to portray one quite convincingly here in mob enforcer Tom Sullivan. This was Sam Mendes’ first movie after his critical darling American Beauty. It is a visually captivating film, both in the set stylings as well as the way Mendes captures movement. … Continue reading Road to Perdition Review
Foxcatcher is a meticulously crafted, well researched, and fantastically acted film. That said, I found it to be kind of a dull and ponderous movie, although this is the kind of thing you don’t watch for entertainment as much as for the experience. Steve Carrel plays John DuPont, a spoiled billionaire by birth opens up the wrestling program that gives this movie its’ name. When … Continue reading Foxcatcher Review
