Category: crime
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Black Mass [2015] ★★★½
Maybe you’ve heard the internet buzz about “Black Mass” being Johnny Depp’s comeback movie. Maybe you’ll think so too if you’ve seen “Mortdecai” and/or last year’s horrible “Transcendence“. Despite the gangster theme (Depp has been there before in “Donnie Brasco” and “Public Enemies), “Black Mass” is one terrific movie. The opening scene sets the mood:…
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Irrational Man [2015] ★★★
It’s difficult to dislike Woody Allen’s latest movie. It isn’t one of his best, and I’ll admit it doesn’t feel as fresh or original as “Crimes and Misdemeanors” or even “Match Point”, but it has all the right ingredients to make you fall for it. The great Joaquin Phoenix is well cast as Abe Lucas, an…
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White Heat [1949] ★★★★
I’ve fallen in love with gangster films made in the 1930’s. Actors like James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart were in almost every gangster picture made in that era. And yet it took director Raoul Walsh years before making one of the best gangster films of all time. Cagney was an ageing star but his…
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Double Indemnity [1944] ★★★★
The quintessential film noir. No other film of the genre can match the brilliance of Billy Wilder’s haunting tale of greed, murder and betrayal. Driven by its masterful techniques and perfect narrative, “Double Indemnity” tells the story of an insurance salesman (Fred MacMurray) who falls for a beautiful but deadly oil tycoon’s wife (Barbara Stanwyck) and…
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Kind Hearts And Coronets [1949] ★★★★
I can’t begin to describe how funny this movie is. I haven’t recommended a classic movie in quite a while, but “Kind Hearts and Coronets” seemed like a good way to start again. Alec Guiness is brilliant playing not 1, not 2, but 8 characters (!) in this hugely entertaining black comedy about a poor, distant…
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La French [2015] ★★★
Don’t you just hate it when they remake classic movies like “The French Connection”? I don’t, especially when it’s a remake starring Jean Dujardin (Oscar winner for “The Artist“) as police magistrate Pierre Michel in 1970’s France and his relentless dedication to stop the most notorious drug smuggling operation in history: the French Connection. Directors Cedric Jimenez…
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Focus [2015] ★★
Everyone is different. I don’t like con artists, “magic tricks” or most of Will Smith movies (except maybe “The Pursuit of Happyness”). His exhausting new film suffers from a severe case of misdirection. That word describes the very nature of “Focus”, which purports to tell a clever story when all it’s doing is whirling in an endless…
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Kingsman: The Secret Service [2015] ★★★
Guns, gadgets, spies, over-the-top action scenes. That’s the juice of classic Bond movies. It’s also the juice in “Kingsman”, an incredibly entertaining piece of comic book movie that dares you to dive into its own madness. Allow it. Chances are, you won’t be seeing a spy movie as fresh and clever for quite some time (“Spectre”…
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A Most Violent Year [2014] ★★★
Who doesn’t love a good crime drama? “A Most Violent Year”, a potent, propulsive film written and directed by J.C. Chandor (the underrated “Margin Call“, “All Is Lost”) is exactly that and more. Oscar Isaac is dynamite as Abel Morales, an immigrant out to live the American dream in 1981 New York. He is the…
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The Gambler [2014] ★★
James Caan played the title role in the 1974 movie. While less than perfect, the film was highly entertaining. Now Mark Wahlberg steps into his shoes to bring back the role of a compulsive gambler back to life in this new version directed by Rupert Wyatt. I’m sad to report that result is far from satisfying.…
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Escobar: Paradise Lost [2014] ★★★
Confession: Despite my admiration for Benicio Del Toro, I wasn’t expecting much from “Escobar: Paradise Lost”. I was wrong. First of all, no one who cares about organic film acting (the opposite of showing off) will want to miss del Toro’s magnificent performance as Escobar, the Colombian kingpin who was often labeled “The King Of Cocaine”…
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Horns [2014] ★★
If you’re looking for a fun Halloween night at the movies, “Horns” will most likely disappoint you. Daniel Radcliffe plays Ig Perrish, a local boy suspected of murdering his girlfriend, Merrin (Juno Temple). We think he’s innocent, but it doesn’t help that he grows horns and starts looking like the devil. Don’t ask. The movie, directed by Alexander…
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Gone Girl [2014] ★★★½
Not only did David Fincher have to sweat out making his directing return following “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” by adapting Gillian Flynn’s 2012 best seller, he also cast Ben Affleck in the leading role. Ballsy. So here’s the deal: His film sneaks up, messes with your head and then floors you. You can’t shake it. It’s…
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Life Of Crime [2014] ★★
Unlike The Coen’s brothers’ masterpiece “Fargo”, I wasn’t swept away by “Life of Crime”, a movie with similar plot. I certainly appreciate the 1970s period flavor, the funny dialogue in writer/director Daniel Schechter’s screenplay, and the showcase it provides for a group of talented actors. However, about halfway through the movie I came to the realization…
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Cold In July [2014] ★★½
With multiplexes crammed with Box office monsters, this little-hyped thriller emerges as a dark-horse winner by reminding us of how pleasurably exciting a popcorn movie can be when it’s populated by actors who are in it for more than a ridiculous fee. I’m talking about Michael C. Hall (from the hit series “Dexter”), Don Johnson and…
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The Bag Man [2014]
Horrible thriller finds John Cusack hired by a legendary crime boss (Robert De Niro) to complete a simple task. Then, inexplicably, the boss sends someone to keep an eye on him! Sorry excuse for a script jumps from one boring, stupid, illogical sequence to another, when it fact it has no reason to exist. Another…
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Out Of The Furnace [2013] ★★½
Christian Bale has been on a roll for a few years now, with movies like “The Fighter”, “American Hustle” and “The Dark Knight” trilogy under his belt. He’s a movie star with real acting chops, and he makes any movie worth watching. Case in point: “Out Of The Furnace”, an uneven but effective drama about…
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American Hustle [2013] ★★★
It’s damn hard to dislike any movie directed by David O. Russell (“The Fighter”) and starring Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Jeremy Renner. O. Russell, who did such a fine job with last year’s “Silver Linings Playbook”, follows it up with the highly entertaining “American Hustle”. It has so many good…
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The Wolf Of Wall Street [2013] ★★★½
You don’t need to know shit about Wall Street to sink your teeth into this beast of a movie. Martin Scorsese is the man, the most exciting director of his generation, with such classics as “Raging Bull”, “The King of Comedy”, “GoodFellas” and “Casino” to prove it. Here’s the downside: any hint of dissatisfaction from…
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The Counselor [2013] ★½
Ridley Scott does a fine job with”Prometheus” and decides to follow it up with what? This horrible mess. Yikes! Michael Fassbender (“Shame”, “Hunger”) plays the title role, a successful lawyer who finds himself in hot water when he makes a deal with Javier Bardem (clueless) that involves drugs and plenty of money. Usually it isn’t a…
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