Jackie Brown

1997 • Director: Quentin Tarantino
Drama  • Rated R • 154 minutes
Color • Language: English
Starring Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson

The film is nicely paced, and the story breathes naturally despite the length. Pam Grier is brilliant as a money smuggling stewardess who's been put in a tight squeeze by the Feds. There's trademark Tarantino violence, but it's barely noticed because we're too busy hoping Grier's character gets her big break. Rating: A–

Blow

2001 • Director: Ted Demme
Drama • 123 minutes • Rated R
New Line Cinema
Starring Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz

Think Scorcese, specifically Goodfellas, in terms of direction and tone. But without the vision. Or the artistry. Or the acting. Or the epic grandeur. Maybe Blow was planned as homage, but even so it falls flat with a familiar story and a familiar ending.  
Rating: C

Veronika Voss

1982 • Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Foreign • 104 minutes • Rated R
Laura-Film/Tango Film Production
Starring Rosel Zech, Hilmar Thate

Another of Fassbinder's excursions into post-war Germany, Veronika Voss digs deeply into the obscenity of the Third Reich and German attempts to cut connections to their past. While it's film noir in expressive black and white, complete with breathtaking contrasts, it borders on gothic horror in trappings and spirit. 
Rating: A–

The Land of Plenty

2004 • Director: Wim Wenders
Drama • 124 minutes • Unrated
IFC Films and Reverse Angle
Starring John Diehl, Michelle Williams

Teetering on melodrama for the duration of the film without quite crossing over, The Land of Plenty presents two opposing views of the world in the aftermath of 9/11. Speaking the best lines of the film, Williams pulls her character inside out, offering poignancy and highlighting the complications of the truth. Rating: B+

The Girl on the Train

2009 • Director: André Téchiné
Foreign • Unrated • 101 minutes
UGC / Strand Releasing
Color • Language: French (with subtitles)
Starring Émile Dequenne, Catherine Deneuve

A Parisienne claims to have been assaulted by a group of minorities. The film progresses slowly, but that's not its fatal flaw. Rather, it overreaches in wanting to discuss the media, prejudice, lies and anti-Semitism, but only hints at the issues without fully exploring any of them.  Rating: B

The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum

1975 • Directors: Schlöndorff and von Trotta 

Foreign • 106 minutes • Rated R 

Bioskop Film 

Starring Angela Winkler and Mario Adorf 

Few films capture the potential tyranny of the press in this manner. A young woman's life is destroyed by Die Zeitung ("The Paper") in its quest to sensationalize her connection to a wanted man. It's moody and drama-filled, and Winkler is expressive as Blum. Based on the Heinrich Böll novel. Rating: B+

Wings of Desire

1987 • Director: Wim Wenders
Foreign • 130 minutes • Rated PG-13
Road Movies Filmproduktion, Argos Films
Starring Bruno Ganz, Solveig Dommartin 
More Than Fifty

Wings of Desire is a beautiful but airy film. If you're interested in something plot driven, this one will drive you to madness. Two angels in Cold War Berlin watch mortals fuss and struggle. It's pretty and vivid, filled with the oblique observations and dreams of the disturbed. Rating: A–

The Station Agent

2003 • Director: Thomas McCarthy
Comedy-Drama • 88 minutes • Rated R
Miramax Films
Starring Peter Dinklage, Patricia Clarkson

This is a smart lo-budget film about a dwarf who inherits a train station in rural New Jersey. There's little weepy-eyed sentimentality. Instead it's a tightly woven story about how his sudden appearance sparks changes for several people with whom he comes in contact. Michelle Williams is excellent as small-town librarian. Rating: B+

Pan's Labyrinth

2006 • Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Foreign • 119 minutes • Rated R
New Line Cinema
Starring Ivana Baquero, Sergi López

I don't care for CGI or fairy tales, especially those pitched to adults. However, buried in the glop, there's a human interest story set in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War that recalls the labyrinthian tales of Borges and the magical reality of Garcia Márquez. Rating: B

Winter Light

1963 • Director: Ingmar Bergman
Foreign • 80 minutes • unrated
Janus Films
Starring Ingrid Thulin, Gunnar Björnstrand

A country pastor finds that each time he demands answers from God he is met with unrelenting silence. Illusions, lies and dreams are obstacles to the pastor's conclusion that there is no God. This as he evaluates his relationship with a woman who loves him with a desperate fervor. Rating: A–

The Man Who Wasn't There

2001 • Directors: Joel and Ethan Coen
Drama • 118 minutes • Rated R
Working Title Films
Billy Bob Thornton, Frances McDormand

It's an insidiously captivating film that stays a step ahead of even the most astute viewers. It involves a violent chain-reaction set off by a poorly planned blackmail in the late Forties in Smalltown, USA. It's not one of the most beloved Coen Brothers films, but a good one nonetheless. Rating: B+

Daredevil

2003 • Director: Mark Stephen Johnson
Action • 103 minutes • Rated PG-13
20th Century Fox
Starring Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner

As a teenager I read Frank Miller's gritty interpretation of Daredevil and watched other superheros follow that success. This film attempts to be faithful to that vision, and mostly succeeds, despite the banality of Affleck and despite the presence of one of the leading lesser lights of Hollywood, Jennifer Garner. Rating: B

Heaven's Gate

1980 • Director: Michael Cimino
Drama • 219 minutes • Rated R
United Artists
Starring Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken

Synonymous with excess and failure, Heaven's Gate is an epic western that cost United Artists near $120 million in today's dollars, without recouping a fraction. However, lost in the mythology is the fact that it's neither the worst film of all time nor an unjustly maligned masterpiece: it's simply quite good.
Rating: B+

La Vie Promise

2002 • Director: Olivier Dahan

Foreign • 93 minutes • Unrated
Empire Pictures
Starring Isabelle Huppert, Pascal Greggory

Is it an art film? The visuals and seductive music make it a lively sensory experience. However, the subject matter is dark and discomfiting: an aging prostitute is on the run with her estranged daughter where they meet a man with his own secrets. Verdict: road movie with a weak script.
Rating: B

Dakota Skye

2008 • Director: John Humber
Indie • 89 minutes • Rated R
Desert Skye Entertainment
Starring Eileen April Boylan, Ian Nelson

Dakota has the uncanny ability to detect any lie. The film crawls along as she tries to determine whether a boy she's met is always truthful or if she is simply unable to detect his fibs. Nonetheless, the pace matches the languid days of adolescence adding a layer of believability. Rating: B

The Browning Version

1994 • Director: Mike Figgis
Paramount Pictures
Starring Albert Finney, Greta Scacchi

I thought that this remake lacking the chilly postwar austerity of the original film would be a snooze. I was surprised, however, by the fantastic performances of Finney and Scacchi as the married couple Andrew and Laura Crocker-Harris. Their portrayal of a mutually venomous relationship is captivating and taut.
Rating: A–

The Browning Version

1951 • Director: Anthony Asquith
Javelin Films
Starring Michael Redgrave, Jean Kent

Michael Redgrave is masterful as a retiring classics professor bound up in his fears and the wreckage of his own distant and severe behavior toward his students. He's tortured by the promiscuities and hatred of his younger wife played with an intelligent coldness by Jean Kent. Psychologically powerful. Rating: A–

Eyes Wide Shut

1999 • Director: Stanley Kubrick

Warner Brothers
Starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman

Is this psycho-sexual drama a stronger film because the lead roles are occupied by a married couple, or is it weaker because it's hampered by the limitations of Cruise and Kidman? Ultimately, both propositions are true. But Eyes Wide Shut transcends expectations, provoking thought and disturbing the emotions.
Rating: A

All the Pretty Horses

2000 • Director: Billy Bob Thornton

Columbia Pictures

Starring Matt Damon and Penelope Cruz

A masterpiece such as the McCarthy novel on which this film is based was always going to be difficult to adapt. When the promised director's cut is released, I will re-review. Skip this leaden distillation; instead, while waiting, read one of the best novels of the last twenty years.
Rating: B–

Layer Cake

2004 • Director: Matthew Vaughan
Sony New Line Pictures
Starring: Daniel Craig, Colm Meaney

A mid-level coke distributor, Mr. XXXX, decides he's going to go legit. His supplier has different ideas, though, and the viewer is swept along as one duplicity after another is revealed. It works well as a crime thriller, but watch and listen closely or you'll lose the thread. Rating: B+

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay

2008 • Directors: Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg
New Line Cinema
Starring: John Cho, Kal Penn

While viewing, sleepiness sets in. The culprits? Purposely offensive humor and forced gags. And then Neil Patrick Harris appears in a demented role, shocking and hilarious with strident vulgarity. The squeaky-clean doc shines as an über-hetero, psychedelic mushroom munching maniac. I doubt any of this made it to his journal. Rating: B–

I Heart Huckabees

2004 • Director: David O. Russell
Fox Searchlight Pictures
With Jason Schwartzman, Mark Wahlberg

I am sure the doctoral candidate in philosophy who wrote this laughed uncontrollably to himself while penning the script. I didn't laugh. Nor was I prompted to ponder the theories of Sartre or Heidegger––I instead wondered how so many famous people agreed to participate in this overdrawn mess.  
Rating: C

Black Book

2005 • Director: Paul Verhoeven
Drama • Rated R • 145 minutes
Fu Works / Sony Pictures Classics
Color • Language: Dutch / German (English subtitles)
Starring: Carice Van Houten, Sebastian Koch

An epic about the Resistance, it's been called one of the best modern Dutch films by some critics. My opinion, however, is one of muted enthusiasm. There's intrigue, romance, mystery, deception, and the unraveling of an insider's plot. But ultimately it's merely a good (although overly ambitious) thriller. Rating: B

The Marriage of Maria Braun

1979 • Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Albatros Filmproduktion
Starring Hannah Schuygulla, Karl Löwitsch
 
Maria assumes her husband is lost during World War 2 and does whatever is needed to survive in the aftermath. Artfully shot, Fassbinder's story isn't just Maria's story: it's also a clever metaphor for the German "Economic Miracle" of the Fifties and Germany's regained place as a powerful nation. Rating: A–

Enter the Dragon

1973 • Director: Robert Clouse
Warner Brothers
Starring Bruce Lee, John Saxon

When Bruce Lee says, "You have offended my family and you have offended the Shoalin temple," some serious ass-kicking is about to take place, you just know it. It's campy in parts; gripping in others. Fun and serious at the same time, it's also a classic representative of the genre. Rating: B+

Through a Glass Darkly

1961 • Director: Ingmar Bergman
Janus Films
Starring Harriet Andersson, Max von Sydow

Karin (Andersson) and her husband, father and brother vacation on a forlorn Swedish island. Schizophrenia threatens her sanity and she insists God will emerge from the wallpaper in the attic. The desolate location and landscape add to the viewer's anxiety as Karin's episodes get progressively worse. A beautifully shot classic. Rating: A–

Merci Pour le Chocolat

2000 • Director: Claude Chabrol
Drama • Unrated • 99 minutes
CAB Productions / Empire Pictures
Color • Language: French (with English subtitles)
Starring Isabelle Huppert, Jacques Dutronc

The owner of a chocolate company (Huppert) marries a famous pianist. Step mom and stepson have an inappropriate emotional relationship, while dad gets too close to a beautiful young student. Malevolence and toxicity creep into the relationships of the four, and the tension finally crests with a shocking revelation. Rating: B+

The Thing

1982 • Director: John Carpenter
Horror • Rated R • 109 Minutes
MCA / Universal Pictures
Color • Language: English
Starring Kurt Russell, Keith David

It's reminiscent of Alien and the Shining, and it had the misfortune of being released concurrently with E.T. Despite a derivative premise, Carpenter unfolds a compact story and builds a credible amount of suspicion between the trapped researchers who battle the adaptable alien life form. Rating: B+

Bug

2007 • Director: William Friedkin

Drama • Rated R • 102 minutes
Lions Gate Films / Lions Gate
Color • Language: English

Starring Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon

Weird boy meets emotionally damaged girl. Her ex comes around and beats on her, but her problems multiply when she gets dragged into her new flame's world of paranoia. As a play where the imaginary could tease audiences it was probably riveting—as a film it's a tough sell. Rating: C+

The Trojan Women

1971 • Director: Michael Kakoyannis
Drama • Unrated • 109 minutes
Joe Shaftel Productions Inc. / Kino Video
Color • Language: English
Starring Katherine Hepburn, Vanessa Redgrave

Kakoyannis is as faithful to Euripides' play as modern interpreter can be. Hepburn is compelling as the fallen Queen Hecuba who has lost her sons to war and daughters to slavery. Redgrave is stellar portraying Andromache, who helplessly watches her young son taken away to be executed. Rating: A–

A History of Violence

2005 • Director: David Cronenberg


Drama • Rated R • 96 minutes

New Line Productions / New Line Cinema

Color • Language: English

Starring Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello

The owner of Stall's Diner has a secret. This secret is revealed, and Tom has an identity crisis. Suddenly his family becomes unsure of who they are, too. Unfortunately the remainder of the film doesn't explore that theme. It instead becomes an low-grade action film for the last fifteen minutes. Rating: B–

Home

2008 • Director: Ursula Meier
Drama / Foreign • Unrated • 98 minutes
Box Productions / Lorber Films
Color • Language: French (English subtitles)
Starring Isabelle Huppert, Olivier Gourmet

The highway that cuts right through the family's front yard finally opens. As the volume of vehicles increases, the noise literally and symbolically drowns out the voice of each family member. It's a smartly dressed allegorical meditation on outside pressures that threaten to destroy every family.
Rating: B+

Ma Mére

2004 • Director: Christophe Honoré 

Drama / Foreign • Rated NC-17 • 110 minutes
Gemini Films
Color • Language: French (English subtitles)

Starring Isabelle Huppert, Louis Garrel 

I hoped for something better than an Oedipal journey filled with orgies, necrophilia, and incest. Disturbing without being illuminating, perverse without being erotic, I struggled to find something useful within despite Huppert's always emotional performances and a sympathetic reading of Hansi's chararacter, played by Emma de Caunes. Rating: C