Based on the Lee Child novel One Shot, Jack Reacher hits the ground running. A man drives to a parking deck overlooking the Allegheny River in downtown Pittsburgh, loads a sniper rifle with handmade bullets, and kills five people walking…
Made at the pinnacle of the French New Wave, Band of Outsiders (1964) is director Jean-Luc Godard’s take on the crime film. More to the point, Band of Outsiders is Godard’s reinvention of the crime film. In an interview included…
In the years following World War II, there was a spate of films dealing with soldiers and their efforts to reintegrate themselves into normal, everyday life. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) dealt with three World War II veterans…
Considered by many to be one of the best boxing films ever made, Champion (1949) is the film that launched Kirk Douglas’s career. Douglas had supporting roles in several films, including The Strange Love of Martha Ivers and Out of…
Driving down a desolate road in the middle of the night, a young man comes upon a beautiful young woman (Brigitte Lahaie), wearing just a nightgown. Crying, she is clearly disoriented, but identifies herself as Elizabeth (or Elysabeth, according to…
The directorial debut of The Sopranos creator David Chase, Not Fade Away, is, at its core, a bittersweet story masked by comedy and music. Chase attempts to tackle the whole of the 1960’s, from the assassination of JFK to the…
Known for his stylish vampire and erotic films, French director Jean Rollin also took the horror genre in a new direction by introducing zombies and overt gore into the mix. Not all of Rollins’ forays into the world of zombies…
A true loner, writer/director Alex Cox has zealously avoided participating in mainstream Hollywood films throughout his career. One look at Cox’s best known film, 1984’s Repo Man, makes it clear that he is not a filmmaker concerned with being conventional….
With season three of Star Trek: The Next Generation available on Blu-ray at the end of April, and season four scheduled to be available soon, it may seem ridiculous to release the two-part cliffhanger Best of Both Worlds episodes as…
I’ll say this right up front: The Guilt Trip is not a typical Seth Rogen comedy. For those expecting a stoner comedy, forget it. This film is all about Barbra Streisand; as such it might be the perfect opportunity to…