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Director: George Roy Hill

Starring: Robert Redford, Paul Newman, Robert Shaw, Charles Durning, Harold Gould, Jack Kehoe

If ever there was a film where the key elements of great writing, innovative direction and charismatic performances came together in a flawless and enjoyable cinematic experience, then that film is The Sting. A seasoned cast of excellent performers is lead by Paul Newman and Robert Redford as they re-created the on-screen magic that they had first demonstrated in Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid in 1969. The clever story is smart and cool as it features fun period dialog, and is smoothly laid out by director George Roy Hill, and is brought together and made even more memorable by Marvin Hamlisch’s well known score.

Robert Redford is Hooker, a charismatic, depression era street grifter whose partner, Luther, is murdered under the orders of a ruthless Chicago mob boss, Doyle Lonnegan, played by Robert Shaw in a masterful performance. Hooker wants the kind of revenge only a conman can get and goes to an old buddy of Luther’s, Henry Gondorff (Paul Newman). Together they set out to hurt the gangster with a big con, while not ending up murdered along the way to a great ending.

The Sting is a 70’s classic and is required viewing for all scam loving movie goers., as well those who enjoy finely crafted, but still light and entertaining period pieces. The end result is not comedy, but is pretty campy and manages to invoke a mood all its own. Worth seeing and worth seeing again, and again, and again….You get the idea.

Director: Steven Spielberg

Starring:

Inspired by the rousing cliffhanging serials that he loved as a kid, Steven Spielberg set out to make a film that captured the formula of a two-fisted hero in simple fast paced excitement set in exotic locales. In few instances in cinematic history, has a director so completely succeeded in creating his vision. Harrison Ford plays the physical title role like he was born to it, and the supporting cast is uniformly solid. The story is a simple, clear and exciting mix of action and humor, while Spielberg’s direction stands out as some of the most brilliant work ever put on screen.

Harrison Ford is Indiana Jones, a 1930’s archeologist in a world where grand artifacts seem not to be buried, but instead are protected by ancient, but lethal security systems. Indy is approached by government officials to set out to find the lost Ark of the Covenant which is being sought by Hitler and is rumored to have terrible power. Soon Indy is globe hopping with a former flame, Marion (Karen Allen), in search of the Ark, while dodging Nazis, who are being helped by his ruthless nemesis, Belloq (Paul Freeman). The result is a well-paced blend of humor and excitement.

Raiders of the Lost Ark is a modern cinema classic that surely must be one of the most well-made motion pictures of all time. Its elements seamlessly combine to create a special movie experience that, thanks to its period piece setting, has stood up well over the passing decades since its release. If you haven’t seen it, you should and if you have seen it, you should see it again. Each viewing seems to give just a little more appreciation of its quality.

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Dillon Freasier, Paul Dano, Kevin J. O’Connor, Ciaran Hinds,

There Will Be Blood, by Boogie Nights director Paul Thomas Anderson, is a character focused feature, driven by a powerhouse Oscar winning performance by Daniel Day-Lewis, as the meanest man on film since De Niro’s Jake La Motta in Raging Bull. Anderson’s direction is visually impressive, but his score choices didn’t always seem to fit. The dialog is strong, but sparse (there is actually none for the first ten minutes of the film). The meandering story, written by Anderson, (based Upton Sinclair’s novel, Oil!)is interesting, but always seems to leave the viewer waiting for more to happen. It’s almost like a watched pot that never does boil.

Daniel Day-Lewis is Daniel Plainview, a turn of the century oil man, who arrives in little Boston, California on a tip. Once there with his young son, H.W. (Dillon Freasier), Plainview covertly explores the area, before using sweet promises to convince a ranch owner, Abel Sunday, and his forceful, but naive evangelical son, Eli, to lease him their land. Plainview then goes on to use the same tactics to gain control of the whole region, but he doesn’t prove quite as willing to share as he lead his new neighbors to believe.

Striking images, and a memorable performance from the always powerful Daniel Day-Lewis, make this film worth catching and will got it more than its fair share of attention on 2007 awards shows. Many will disagree with my view(what else is new?), but I see the story here as lacking focus and this hurts the impact of its ending. Still, a fine effort and worth catching either at the theater, or, later, on video.

Director: Jason Reitman

Starring: Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Allison Janney, J.K. Simmons, Olivia Thirlby

This charming comedy/drama from Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking), won me over right from its animated opening credits. The dialog is cool and contemporary, though a trifle overdone. It tries sooo hard to be cool that it may have over 21 watchers wishing for sub titles, but it’s still damn funny. Young, but already a veteran actress, Ellen Page is magnificent as a confident, quick-witted teen girl, who still reveals subtle flashes of vulnerablibility. This outstanding character, along with Page’s masterful performance form the backbone of the film. She has some laudable back up from J.K. Simmons (Oz & the Spider-mans), and from Michael Cera (Superbad, Arrested Development), but her main support comes from an impressive script by Diablo Cody. Jason Bateman is bland (isn’t he always?), but ok in his role, while Jennifer Garner had little challenge as a simple, one dimensional “I want to be a mommy’ character, but both still do their jobs and help to create a very special motion picture.

Ellen Page is Juno MacGuff, a wise-cracking, mostly level-headed sixteen year old, who finds herself pregnant by her sorta-boyfriend, Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera), who spends virtually all the film in some God-awful gold shorts, and an assortment of hoodies (which apparently are all from his own closet – hope those shorts aren’t). After some soul-searching, and an unsuccessful visit to an abortion clinic, Juno arrives at the unselfish, but difficult, decision to bear the baby for adoption to a caring home. She chooses the yuppie couple of Vanessa and Mark Loring (Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman), to receive her burgeoning bundle of joy, but once the decision is made, she still faces the challenges of a teenager going through a pregnancy, while the Lorings get to know her, and prepare for parenthood. But things don’t go quite as planned.

This refreshing and original motion picture is helped by a cool soundtrack, some really funny lines and a great main character, who reminds me of Darlene from Roseanne, even though she once says she was “out dealing with issues way beyond my maturity level”. Let’s face it, no teenage girl, for as long as there have been teenage girls, has EVER admitted that anything is beyond her maturity level. Has never happened. Not once. Not ever. If ever does happen, I hope CNN covers it, because I want to know. This is a minor issue, however, that I am just using to make my own little joke. Juno is funny, but not silly and really is less of a comedy than it was marketed as, but regardless of whether you consider it to be a drama or a comedy, it is an excellent film that will be remembered longer than any film of 2007

Director: Steven Spielberg

Starring: Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw, Lorraine Gray, Murray Hamilton

Jaws was the 70s phenomenon that turned little known director, Steven Spielberg into a star. It became a well-deserved box office smash on the strength of great characters and dialog, and Spielberg’s masterful creation of tension and suspense, broken from time to time by some congenial humor. The acting is uniformly strong, but the young Richard Dreyfuss and the grizzled veteran, Robert Shaw were particularly remarkable. The screenplay, written by Peter Benchley, who also wrote the best-selling novel, is very strong, though the ending gets a little far-fetched in the true Hollywood fashion

Roy Scheider is Martin Brody, the water-fearing small-town sheriff of the vacation community of Amity. Life as a lawman is pretty quiet, until a mangled body is found washed up on the beach. Soon, Amity seems to be offering a different kind of seafood buffet, and Brody struggles to handle the problem, while dealing with the Mayor (Murray Hamilton) and business people, who are clamoring to keep the issue quiet and considering an offer from a harsh local fisherman named Quint (Robert Shaw) to take care of their problem. With some help from a visiting oceanographer, Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), Brody comes to a decision.

Jaws has held up well as an excellent motion picture over the 30 years that have passed since its release. Younger viewers who haven’t seen it, will enjoy it today and those who have seen it before, will be reminded of how good it is, upon pulling it off the forgotten shelf once again.

Director: Ethan and Joel Coen

Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson, Kelly MacDonald

Hollywood’s strongest writer/director sibling team, Ethan and Joel Coen, is back with more masterful dialog, and well-crafted characters used to tell a simple, quiet story set this time, in 1980 west Texas. The Coen brothers shun any soundtrack music which gives this film a more haunting, serious feel than most of their previous projects. The acting is flawless from even the shortest roles. I say shortest rather than smallest, because the Coen brothers don’t write any small roles. Even a character with one scene is fleshed out and feels real to the viewer. This is one of the secrets to their impact. It’s only weakness is an unsatisfying ending that seems incomplete (unless they are setting the stage for a sequel called “No Rock for Old Men, either).

Josh Brolin is Llewelyn Moss, a hard, man of few words, who stumbles across the bloody result of a drug deal gone awry. When the dust has settled he has laid his hands on 2 million dollars. Now all he has to do is figure out how to keep it. Tommy Lee Jones is an aging small-town sheriff, Ed Bell, who is finding crime to be more and more shocking as time goes on, when this pile of dead bodies, and a mysterious killer, show up in his little tiny corner of the world. The killer is played by Spanish actor Javier Bardem and appears, to my simple little brain at least, to represent death itself as he moves throughout the film killing without emotion while relentlessly pursuing his goal. Woody Harrelson gives a short, but impressive performance, as do many lesser-known actors.

This is classic Coen brothers, and is most reminiscent of their first feature, Blood Simple with its quiet dark mood and Texas setting. There should be enough tension and gunplay to keep the action crowd happy and the dialog and performances should please the art house crowd, as will the fact that the most savage scenes are implied rather than depicted. As with other Coen brothers efforts, this one is a must-see.

Director: Tony Gilroy

Starring: George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, Sydney Pollack

Prolific screenwriter, Tony Gilroy, best known for writing all three of the Bourne scripts, makes his directorial debut with a powerhouse cast in this dark, dramatic thriller. His direction has style, but there is too much going on at the beginning of the film and when it suddenly turned into a flashback, I missed it. Was it me? Was there something shown to tell us we were going back? At any rate, the film moves slowly and awkwardly at times, but its not overly predictable and features good acting by Pollack (who is normally a director/producer) and Clooney (who is always good) and a powerhouse, show-stopping performance by Tom Wilkinson in a supporting role.

George Clooney is the title character, who is a go-to ‘fixer’ (Kind of a lawyer/PI cross, I gather), for a big powerful law firm. He has alot of fixing to do. Both in his own life where he has desperate money problems and at work, where Arthur, a manic/depressive, and one of the firm’s top sharks, played by Tom Wilkinson in his best role (even better than his Oscar-nominated performance from In The Bedroom), has gone off his meds and is threatening to destroy the firm’s defence of an evil chemical company, U-North, from a giant lawsuit. While Michael tries to find Arthur and bring him back under control, Karen Crowder, the head in-house counsel for U-North, played by Tilda Swinton, has her own ideas on how to handle this.

Michael Clayton is a Firm-like feature that has guys in suits (or out of their suit in Wilkinson’s case) doing their best to handle a tough situation. This is not a bad movie, but I found it awkward in some spots and too slow in others. I wonder if being a lawyer is really this interesting?

Director: Taylor Hackford

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington, Regina King, Clifton Powell, Harry J. Lennix, Bokeem Woodbine, Sharon Warren, C.J. Sanders, Curtis Armstrong, Richard Schiff.

The musical bio-pic is a popular Hollywood staple and this one further immortalizes the great Ray Charles. Jamie Foxx is stunning in the Oscar winning title role of this Taylor Hackford (who also did a fine job directing) and James White, screenplay. The character of Ray Charles is refreshing open, with some nasty character flaws, that are often left out of works like this. The film offers a wide emotional range, that goes from lonely and sad to frustrating, to energetic, but never boring. The theatrical version is long enough at two and half hours, and the extended version is choppy and distracting, so I recommend sticking with the original.

This story spans several decades, as it tells Ray’s story from the time he was a healthy, young boy losing his younger brother, through the experience of losing his eyesight, and trying to find his place in the music world and follows him through his life as a major star, dealing with a disability and other treacherous character issues.

This is a strong film that holds up well to repeated viewings, particularly if the viewer is a fan of Charles’ music. It was robbed of Best Picture at the 2005 Oscars, by Million Dollar Baby, but, it is the better film. If, however, bio pics are not the kind of film that usually enjoy, or you don’t like Ray Charles’ jazzy rock sound, then this may not be the one for you.

Starring: Helen Mirren, Michael Sheen, James Cromwell, Sylvia Syms, Alex Jennings, Helen McCrory.

Director: Stephen Frears

For a historical drama, this is a surprisingly gripping, and quick moving, film, featuring spectacular performances, particularly by Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth, who won an Oscar and by Michael Sheen, as PM Tony Blair, who was not even nominated. Frears does a wonderful job in blending newsreel footage, simulated newsreel footage and live action seamlessly. Added to Peter Morgan’s expert script, this is an impressive piece of work.

The story opens with the election of Tony Blair and the Queen’s first audience with him. From there we are given a front seat to the elaborate protocol of having a Royal audience. No sooner than this is completed, we’re thrust into the terrible maelstrom of Princess Diana’s death. It is the world’s, and the Royal family’s, reaction, and actions, in the wake of this trying time that is the main thrust of the story. We are given wonderful windows into the writer and filmmaker’s view of the personalities and motivations of several of the Royal family, but of course, particularly of the Queen herself. My own view is that the Royal family comes off looking quite badly, though many disagree.

This was one of the best movies of 2006 and everyone, from their cast, to their director and his crew seem to have performed their jobs at the highest level. Drama fans and admirers of the Royal Family will love it and it will surprise many people who would not have considered this to be their choice of movie.

Director: Steven Spielberg

Starring: Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns, Barry Pepper, Adam Goldberg, Giovanni Ribisi, Matt Damon, Jeremy Davies, Vin Diesel, Ted Danson, Paul Giamatti, Dennis Farina.

This film starts out with the most powerful twenty minutes of footage that Hollywood has ever produced as Spielberg re-creates D-day with such skill that we all feel it. This alone would make this an impressive effort, but it soon launches into a simple, but strong, action/war drama that is loaded with strong, individual characters with such depth that will make you feel angry, sad, laugh and generally feel like these were people that you knew. The acting is uniformly strong, and is aided by talented veteran performers in small roles, throughout. Spielberg uses a jerky, and, sometimes, grainy camera style that adds to the realism. This is a tricky style to employ. It is effective when done well, but distracting and unpleasant when overdone (Check out the Bourne Supremacy for how NOT to do it). Even the sound (and lack of it) adds to the power of this film. The action scenes are shocking, quick, random and brutal. When the action stops, the story is full of natural dialogue and tension and even has some humor.

Saving Private Ryan seizes you from the early scenes on Omaha Beach and holds you as Capt. Miller (Tom Hanks) is assigned to assemble a squad to go find Private James Ryan (Matt Damon) and ship him home because his four brothers, also serving, have all been killed. As an act of mercy, the Army wants to send him home. The men set out on this “public relations mission” across the dangerous French countryside, reluctantly. The story includes action and internal conflict and camaraderie and the viewer is never sure what will happen next, right up to the final scenes.

This is the best war movie ever made and is one of the best movies of all time on top of that. It is one of the Maniac’s all-time favorites and a must for any movie collection. The screenplay should be required study for writers who want to create a large cast movie and not rely on stock, one-dimensional characters and the film should be required viewing for students looking to gain some measure of understanding of the sacrifices of those who served in World War II. When Spielberg puts his heart into a project, there can be no better director and in this case, there is no better movie.