Leif

The episodic nature of the plot may cause the pacing to lose some velocity but the fearless and raw performance of Macy as a milquetoast white man on the verge of madness leaves a definite impression. Of all the supporting players Bokeem Woodbine leaves the biggest mark as the least likely person to give Macy's character a sense of clarity and stability. Not for the sensitive by any means but if you allow yourself to get into it's angry vision of urban life it's a strangely rewarding film.

Interesting meta-film with a commanding and raw performance by Van Damme. It's conceit works out surprisingly well and the central performance is quite a thing to behold.

Good turns by Stallone and Rourke are wasted by Tony Kaye's over-stylized direction and poor pacing. Bad films are not near as bothersome as the ones with good source material and a good cast that frankly should have been more than merely watchable.

A ragged low-budget dark comedy involving 2 ill-fitting styles of TV satire and sexual violence. Brian O'Halloran takes on the tricky role with fearlessness and impressive range. He holds the films tonal shifts in rhythm and amusing turns by writer-director Bryan Johnson and a talkative Kevin Smith as a TV exec keep the lighter material moving along. Jerry Lewkowitz as the man who assaults and then tries to blackmail O'Hallorn is indeed a scary and effective villain. I don't know if I plan to watch this again even though I own but anybody willing to take the ride it's an involving and oddly effective film.

When Madsen get s a role he can actually do something with, regardless of how derivative it is he can do some solid work. The film itself is a suitably doom-laden and noir styled burnt out cop movie but Madsen, who dedicated the film to his late friend Chris Penn invests Walker with a palatable bitterness and anger now that he is alone and cast adrift in a world of his own doing. The film, to be sure is often checking off the boxes of cop movies before it but it has a surprising consistency in terms of the quality in its acting and writing that elevate the worn out genre material. Keep your expectations realistic and you may be pleasantly surprised.

A bizarre ugly film with bizarre ugly characters. The ridiculousness of the story and the fact we have never seen anything like this weird mash-up of alien finance, blackmail, and uninspired Planet of The Apes derivative keeps it oddly entertaining. Travolta overacts to an obscene amount and stumbles around in a strange but intriguing moon boots and dreadlocks combo and makes the film watchable for his odd performance that certainly doesn't lack in conviction, he wants to do this movie and that adds to it even though it is messy schlock poorly directed by Roger Christian who never met a color filter he didn't like.

A brilliant cast and an sharp, literate script make this one of the more overlooked films of the 90's. Stallone's morose and overweight small-town sheriff is a clever and well executed casting choice and he serves the film well by doing much with his body language and letting the other actors do the more fiery displays of cop-on-the-edge theatrics. Ray Liotta gets a part worthy of his brand of intensity and the mash up of High Noon meets Goodfellas is very effective. Too many story arcs spoil the cleanliness of the narrative for many but repeated viewings (of the directors cut preferably which has a valuable 12 extra minutes) show that most of it works itself out. The finale is exceptional in how it allows Stallone to be heroic but in a tired, bloody and almost defeated fashion. Being the hero probably isn't that fun sometimes and he realizes that.

Dark, jazzy, with a saturated visual style and engaging narrative that examines a drug pusher and his need to return home to the New York and make amends to a small time drug lord he pilfered a stash of heroin from a decade earlier. Much of films failure commercially is due to the poor advertising and marketing which tried to sell it as a "Gangsta thriller" when in fact it's an introspective and literate urban noir that shows the domino effect one mans life can have on those around him. David Arquette's aspiring novelist in the ghetto is a smart fit when you examine that he is meant to be out of place in this milieu. DMX makes a brutal and charismatic screen presence who makes his character David more interesting then you would think and the supporting roles are well cast and deeper than what you would expect. Credit to Michael Ealy as a somber and reflective runner for the local drug lord and director Ernest **** creates a layered and intelligent film from Donald Goines 1970's novel. The last 20 minutes, when the film's arc really comes full circle is impressive and rewarding.

Equally barren and majestic with an affective anti-western motif running through it's doom-laden story. Pitt; equal parts sociopath and charming snake plays the character for what he realistically probably was is matched in some ways exceeded by Affleck's callow and servile Ford. A study of perverse hero worship gone awry. Where the movie really delivers is not so much the killing of James, but the aftermath and consequences of murdering a pseudo Robin Hood is the most compelling material, and worthy of its prolonged running time which gives us the time to see how these characters develop their sad trajectories.

Admittedly the political commentary is heavy handed but watching Pitt, looking every bit his almost 50 years stare down Gandolfini while running through mountains of great George V. Higgins dialogue in bars and seedy locations across a less-than beautiful New Orleans can allow near excessive violence and somewhat indulgent use of quaint old-fashioned music as a parallel to brutality function quite well as a whole.

You can forgive it's misses because the things it gets right, notably a perfectly cast Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach and a confident and rich visual style cover up the movies' understandable need to cram as much of the book possible into a 2 1/2 hour movie making it a stuffy but occasionally exhilarating experience.

You realize how much as an audience we have missed the volatile intensity of Gibson and his ability to elevate over-plotted genre material into something genuinely engaging. Assisted by a privately amused Ray Winstone who works as a detached counterpart to Gibson's grief stricken Boston cop.