War movies have a tendency to either glorify violence in the name of a certain cause or to over-emotionalize about a certain cause. Finding a perfect balance between the two is a definite challenge for a filmmaker. With Three Kings, writer/director David O. Russell (along with co-writer John Ridley, whoContinue Reading
The time has finally arrived. The first all-new Star Wars movie in sixteen years has hit theaters with a media and merchandising blitz the likes of which has never been seen before. Is it possible for ANY movie, much less an entry in the highly-acclaimed Star Wars series, to liveContinue Reading
Jackie Chan has secured a cult following for himself in the United States. Since the US opening of Rumble in the Bronx in 1996, Chan’s films have pulled half-decent, if not spectacular, box-office numbers and spawned a number of his earlier Hong Kong films to be re-released in US theatersContinue Reading
In The Professional, Jean Reno plays Leon, a professional hitman, or “cleaner,” who takes in his 12-year-old next door neighbor and teaches her his trade. Mathilda (Natalie Portman) has narrowly escaped getting murdered — unlike the rest of her family — by corrupt DEA agent Stansfield, played with violent gleeContinue Reading
Comic book adaptations are one of my love/hate relationships when it comes to movie genres. Last year brought the rather good Spawn and the rather bad Batman & Robin. I had said in my review of Spawn that it was a good comic book movie because it gave more screenContinue Reading
Jackie Chan is a full-on action hero of a different kind. By doing his own stunts and not making overly violent films, Chan made pseudo-action stars like Steven Seagal and Sylvester Stallone seem obsolete. I think the U.S. success of his 1996 Rumble in the Bronx signaled an end to the wise-cracking,Continue Reading
Harrison Ford makes for an unusual action hero. He’s getting a little long in the tooth to be playing action heroes, but in Air Force One, he pulls it off, probably for the last time. Well, that’s probably a little unfair, seeing that Sean Connery was playing James Bond evenContinue Reading