Ocean’s Twelve

With big budget, star-studded casts like the one in Ocean’s Twelve (2004), there is always the danger of having them look too smug and self-indulgent instead of having fun along with the audience. Ocean’s Eleven (2001) managed to straddle this line... 

The Sword of Doom

Japan, 1860. It is the era just before the samurai order was dissolved. Ryunosuke (Nakadai), a wandering samurai warrior kills a young woman’s grandfather without provocation. He enters a town and proceeds to shake things up after killing one of the... 

Vanity Fair

You’ve got to hand it to Reese Witherspoon. She began as a teenager in gritty indie movies earning acclaim from her performances in dark works, Freeway and Best Laid Plans before moving into bigger mainstream films like Pleasantville and then selling... 

Apollo 13: Anniversary Edition

With Apollo 13 (1995) Ron Howard firmly entrenched himself as an A-list Hollywood director. Not only was he making the kind of heartfelt, moving picture that attracts a large, mainstream audience, but he had the powerhouse cast to back it up. Previously,... 

Blue Chips

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. In the ‘70s, director William Friedkin was at the peak of his powers. The one-two punch of The French Connection (1971) and The Exorcist (1973) made him a force to be reckoned with. And then, he made Sorcerer (1977),... 

Exorcist: The Beginning

The road to Exorcist: The Beginning (2004) seeing the light of day has been a rocky one to say the least. Director Paul Schrader was originally hired to helm the project but when the head of the studio didn’t like the filmmaker had done he was fired... 

Alfie

Alfie (2004) is a contemporary remake of the classic Michael Caine movie and the ultimate metrosexual movie. Its protagonist is a good looking straight man obsessed with fashion and how he looks as a way to bed as many beautiful women as possible. His... 

Laura

The 1940s marked the golden age of film noir and one of the genre’s key directors was Otto Preminger and one its signature films was Laura (1944). The year it came out was a pivotal one as four other noir classics were also released: Double Indemnity,... 

Star Wars: Clone Wars, Volume 1

The animated incarnation of Star Wars has come a long way since Droids and Ewoks back in the ‘80s. Clone Wars (2003-2004), which originally aired on the Cartoon Network, manages to reproduce the grand scale of the Star Wars films but trims them of unnecessary... 

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

With the commercial and critical success of Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001) a sequel was inevitable. Helen Fielding, creator of the character, even wrote one but the problem becomes, how do you replicate the magic of the first film and yet make it different... 

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