The Piano
RATING: (4 STARS) If you subscribe to the notion that the greatest movies transport you to a place you’ve never been and introduce you to people you’ve never known, The Piano is one of the greatest movies. Not your m.o.? Fine, but anyone who loves rousing melodramas, who appreciates impeccable acting, or who swoons over […]
An Angel at My Table
RATING: (2.5 STARS) There’s nothing inherently cinematic about the story of Janet Frame’s life. She experiences indescribable tragedy, undergoes infuriatingly inappropriate mental health treatment, and ultimately turns these hardships into inspiration for a literary career that would make her known throughout the world. It is a life fully lived, but even putting it as simply […]
Enemy of the State Review
RATING: (2.5 STARS) Going into this Tony Scott marathon I’ve been on, I had a strong appreciation for both the front end and the back end of the filmography and a lot of question marks in the middle. It was fun, then, to see the transition he made between his two best films, True Romance […]
The Fan Review
RATING: (2.5 STARS) A few films back in my Tony Scott marathon, I wrote about the opening scene of The Last Boy Scout, which saw a star football player get told that he must score a touchdown and win the game or else. As the opposing defenders swarm on him, he pulls out a gun […]
Crimson Tide Review
RATING: (4 STARS) Tony Scott’s 1995 submarine film has one of the most clever titles in movie history. It most obviously references the name of the ship where most of the film’s action takes place – the U.S.S. Alabama. Crimson is a color that also evokes imagery from the Soviet Union, and while Crimson Tide […]
True Romance Review
RATING: (4 STARS) True Romance is a fever dream. Who knew that combining the sensibilities of Quentin Tarantino the writer with those of Tony Scott the director would result in something that most closely resembles a 70s Terrence Malick movie? And what if that movie had one of the strongest, deepest casts of any movie […]
The Last Boy Scout Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) It’s easy enough to look at The Last Boy Scout and assume it’s a close relative of 48 Hrs. or Lethal Weapon. They’re all action comedies to one extent or another. They feature an interracial pair with contrasting and clashing styles investigating a crime or larger criminal conspiracy. And in the case […]
Days of Thunder Review
RATING: (3 STARS) The rap against Days of Thunder (or case for it, depending on your speed) over the last 30 years has been that it’s nothing more than a remake of Top Gun with race cars. In Roger Ebert’s review of the film, he outlined all the ways this film fits squarely into then […]
Revenge Review
RATING: (1.5 STARS) For a film as pulpy and hard-edged as Revenge, it’s hard to believe how lifeless the final product feels. This is the first Tony Scott movie that doesn’t feel like a Tony Scott movie on paper, which I was quite excited about, but it could have used an infusion of the energy […]
Beverly Hills Cop III Review
RATING: (1 STARS) Beverly Hills Cop III fucking sucks. After seven years away from Axel Foley, Eddie Murphy put the Detroit Lions jacket back on in an extremely half-baked sequel to the great Beverly Hills Cop II, but it’s pretty clear early on that he didn’t really want to. Apparently a third Beverly Hills Cop […]
American Dream Review
About a decade and a half after producing and directing one of the most powerful and influential documentaries of all time, Barbara Kopple returned to the world of workers’ rights for American Dream. It’s an interesting title that immediately tells the viewer that this film won’t be as tied down to a specific place as its […]
Rushmore Review
RATING: (4 STARS) With Rushmore, writer/director Wes Anderson beelines it out of Wes Andersonville toward a place that resembles the world you and I inhabit. In Wes Andersonville, individuals are quirky beyond recognition—sometimes overwritten into oblivion. Rushmore‘s lead character, Max Fischer, is a proud citizen of Wes Andersonville, but unlike the director’s other films, this […]
The Lovers on the Bridge Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) With a production history as troubled as just about any movie this side of Apocalypse Now, Leos Carax’s The Lovers on the Bridge is a startling depiction of love at its most foolish. Juliette Binoche’s Michele and Denis Lavant’s Alex are far from a perfect match—he’s an addict, she’s going blind, and […]
The Paper Review
RATING: (2 STARS) It’s almost stunning how quickly Ron Howard’s The Paper collapses in on itself. Here’s a film that’s mostly fine, if a little familiar, for 80% of its running time. But my God, when it fails, it fails spectacularly. Almost any good will Howard and his all-star cast build is gone by the […]
Bringing Out the Dead Review
RATING: (2.5 STARS) Arguably one of Martin Scorsese‘s most forgotten (and forgettable) titles, 1999’s Bringing Out the Dead is a slippery eel of a film that eludes classification as defiantly as it does a traditional narrative trajectory. We never see our protagonist, Nicolas Cage‘s Frank Pierce, in a good place, so as far as the […]
Casino Review
RATING: (3 STARS) The 1990s were a fascinating period in the career of Martin Scorsese. It might not have been his most creatively fruitful decade, but he really started to experiment and step away from what’d become known for—The Age of Innocence, Kundun, etc. Casino, then, is an anomaly because it’s so (for lack of […]
