When the subject of exceptional gangster movies is brought up, a few films immediately pop into the mind: "Godfather I" and II, "Goodfellas," "Scarface" and now "Knockaround Guys." All right, so I'm lying.
"Road to Perdition" garners respect and admiration, but falls short in arousing emotions. The acting is excellent, the directing is great, the cinematography is breathtaking, but ultimately something is missing.
Ladies and gentlemen of the class of 2006 - bring a blanket! Sage advice to visiting first years, from the 28 current students who are hard at work this summer as Orientation Leaders.
"Minority Report" is a rare and welcome summer blockbuster that actually provides a story of some substance.
"High Crimes" is a thoroughly boring and uninspiring film. Despite the strong performances of Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman this film still feels lifeless.
"Iris" is the hauntingly moving portrait of author Iris Murdoch's grave struggle with the ravages of Alzheimer's disease.
If you're a big fan of subtlety, intricate story lines and wonderfully developed characters, then you'll be a big fan of "Collateral Damage." One would expect a Schwarzenegger movie to be full of corny one liners, a loose plot and a lot of meaningless explosions and death.
"Black Hawk Down" is a raw war movie in the truest sense. Not much plot, dialogue that constantly is drowned out by a cacophony of exploding grenades and bullets ripping through cement walls and human flesh, and ferocious battles that result in plenty of bloodshed and mangled corpses. The re-creation of the battle is based on extensive eyewitness reports from survivors and information from the Department of Defense.
"Spy Game" is the new espionage thriller directed by Tony Scott ("Top Gun," "Enemy of the State") and starring Robert Redford and Brad Pitt.
David Mamet, the writer and director of "Heist," is a genius. He made a crappy movie with a minimum amount of thought and effort and used this shameless vehicle to heist seven dollars out of my pocket and two hours from my life. I was not a big fan of Mamet's last film, "State and Main," a film in which every character annoyed me,but he did write one of the coolest movies of all time - "The Untouchables" - so I was willing to give "Heist" a chance.
