The first chapter of Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds is a film by itself. It is staggeringly well written, creating flesh out characters and a full story from a single scene. It has the necessary three acts as German officer Hans Landa (Christopher Waltz) slowly interrogates potential Jewish sympathizer Pierre (Denis Menochet) in his home. Much [...]

Take Fight Club at its core, a film about a man who hits himself in a bar parking lot. It is ridiculous, played for laughs and some extreme violence, if not much else. Without knowledge of its twist ending, Fight Club is even less involving. Watching it again for its 10th anniversary, knowing who Tyler [...]

Part of the joy experienced while watching Ocean’s Thirteen is that it’s not Ocean’s Twelve. That is a huge relief, and possibly even part of why the film works so well. Had Ocean’s Twelve never existed, much of the absurd plot and heist aspects in Thirteen would have been harder to ignore. Yet, seeing the [...]

Ocean’s Eleven had a cast of criminals that swept through the three c’s: calm, cool, and collected. In Ocean’s Twelve, those aspects seem lost. In fact, the characters don’t seem the same, not to mention a script that haphazardly re-introduces everyone before tossing key members in jail. The original let the ensemble cast play off [...]

Ocean’s Eleven works due a stunning ensemble cast, all playing complete, believable characters trying to rob three Las Vegas casinos. More importantly, the cast is able to work together brilliantly, using small eye movements and head motions to convey their thoughts about the people they’re working with. Also critical is that you root for this [...]

Despite aging backwards, Benjamin Button is not an unusual character. He leads a surprisingly ordinary life, meeting ordinary people, and doing ordinary things. What makes him special is how he is able to cope with constant loss, rejection, and some mild discrimination. He lives a full life, one filled with all of the mysteries and [...]

Why is it that every New York cop ready to retire in Hollywood happens to end up in the biggest case of his life? Such is the case with the dull thriller The Devil’s Own. Despite a great cast headlined by Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt, the movie never gains momentum to become anything other [...]