Hustle and Flow
February 27, 2006
Hustle and Flow (2005) was the toast of last year’s Sundance Film Festival and helped launch Terrence Howard’s career into the mainstream (along with his appearances in Crash and Four Brothers). This small, independent film got so much buzz that MTV/Paramount...
Good Morning Vietnam: Special Edition
February 27, 2006
Good Morning Vietnam (1987) is one of Robin Williams’ earliest forays into drama. While The World According to Garp (1982) is arguably his first attempt to be taken seriously and blend his comedic sensibilities with drama, Good Morning maintains a much...
Broken Flowers
February 27, 2006
Ever since Night on Earth (1991), filmmaker Jim Jarmusch has worked with recognizable movie stars in what could be interpreted as a bid for mainstream acceptance or, more probably, a way to get his films financed and distributed in a progressively difficult...
Fox in a Box: Featuring Pam Grier
February 27, 2006
Fox in a Box essentially repackages three vintage Pam Grier Blaxploitation films that had been previous released separately but now with a bonus disc that pays tribute to this enduring cinematic icon. Watching these movies reinforces what an incredible...
Four Brothers
February 25, 2006
The set-up for Four Brothers (2005) is classic B-movie fodder: four buddies reunite after many years to avenge the death of a loved one. As young foster kids they were considered to be lost causes and a kind woman (Flanagan) raised them on her own. Present...
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
February 25, 2006
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005) is the fascinating story of a company worth billions that went bankrupt in 24 days. Its top executives were consumed by greed and, not surprisingly, the results were the total collapse of a company (including...
The Tales of Hoffmann
February 25, 2006
Leading British conductor Sir Thomas Beecham conducted the ballet sequence in Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s The Red Shoes (1948). He proposed filming one of his favourite operas (which he first conducted in 1910), Jacques Offenbach’s Les...
Must Love Dogs
February 24, 2006
Diane Lane is an adept actress who has dabbled in many genres: action (Streets of Fire), art house (Rumble Fish) and thriller (Unfaithful) to name a few. With Must Love Dogs (2005) she takes another crack at the romantic comedy that she last pulled off...
The Constant Gardener
February 24, 2006
2005 was an outstanding year for politically charged movies: Crash, Goodnight, and Good Luck, Syriana and The Constant Gardener. The last film is a tightly plotted suspense thriller based on the John Le Carre novel of the same name. When a British diplomat’s...
Kiss of Death
February 24, 2006
Kiss of Death (1947) belongs in a sub-genre of film noir that blends a documentary style with a noir look and sensibility. Nick Bianco (Mature) is a jewel thief caught and sent to prison. While waiting to be sentenced he meets Tommy Udo (Widmark), a sadistic...
