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Director: Cameron Crowe

Starring: Patrick Fugit, Billy Crudup, Kate Hudson, Frances McDormand, Jason Lee, Philip Seymour Hoffman

Almost Famous is writer/director, Cameron Crowe’s affectionate reminiscence of his days as the youngest contributing editor to Rolling Stone magazine, and is a warm and captivating motion picture. The performances here are strong by the entire cast, but Billy Crudup and Frances McDormand (what else is new?) really stand out. The characters are strong and well developed. The story is wonderful, but a little slow and could have used a little more punch perhaps, but this is still a very good film.

Almost Famous is a semi-autobiographical story, set in 1973, about an innocent, music-loving teen named William Miller, who finds himself hired by Rolling Stone Magazine despite the concerns of his strong, over-protective mother. Unaware of his age, they send him on the road with an up and coming band named Stillwater, led by its charismatic guitar player, Russell Hammond. William’s innocence and soft-spoken presence wins over both the band, and the small, tagalong group of young, female ‘band aides’ (“We’re not groupies”), led by the charismatic Penny Lane, played by Kate Hudson in her break out role. The fictional band here, is apparently a composite of Crowe’s own teenage experiences with the Allman Brothers and Led Zeppelin. The band’s ego-clashing, bickering, excessive behavior and their general on-the-road lifestyle, power the story to a somewhat sugary finish.

Almost Famous is a must see for fans of music films and strong dramas. Some viewers will find it a bit slow, but almost everyone will likely enjoy it. The well-drawn characters and the gentle well written story, combine with impressive acting to make this an excellent, coming-of-age film.

Starring: Emile Hirsch, Justin Timberlake, Ben Foster, Anton Yelchin, Shawn Hatosy, Bruce Willis, Sharon Stone.

Director: Nick Cassavetes

This is an edgy crime drama that plays a little like a Snatch for teenagers, though it is certainly not up to those exalted heights. Cassavetes uses a fresh style and keeps the story going, while the young, largely inexperienced cast manages not to drop the ball. Some veteran actors are thrown into the mix, in smaller supporting roles. The result is a decent effort.

Emile Hirsch is Johnny Truelove, a suburban punk playing gangsta who soon finds himself in hard with Jake Mazursky, a crazed suburban addict/dealer with mad fighting skills. Truelove’s solution is to snatch Mazursky’s fifteen-year-old brother, Zach, played by Anton Yelchin. This plan is not thought through, though and, although the kid turns out to be a willing captive who doesn’t really want to go home, his crazy brother and the seriousness of the crime lead to some tough choices for everyone. Timberlake plays a member of Truelove’s crew and does a pretty good job. The story is engaging and original; though character motivations are not always clear, beyond being young and dumb. Oh well, since when does crime make any damn sense, anyway? This is apparently based on a true story, as well, which could help explain idiotic actions by the characters.

There is a fair evening’s entertainment here, but nothing spectacular. If the preview reeled you in, or if this review has peaked your interest, or if you are intensely following the career of Justin Timberlake, you will probably enjoy it.

Director: Tim Hill

Starring: Jason Lee, David Cross, Cameron Richardson, Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler, Jesse McCartney

Ross Bagdasarian’s famous chipmunks date back all the way to 1958 and keep popping back up every decade or two. This time around, director Tim Hill (Garfield: Tale of Two Kitties) tackles the singing rodents on his way to making a mediocre kid’s comedy. The acting lets down in a few spots, but not nearly as often as the jokes, which rely on toilet humor and sit com wit.

The simple story here has three talking chipmunks, who are intermittently ignorant and familiar with human culture, finding themselves in LA, where they befriend a struggling songwriter named Dave (Jason Lee). Dave takes care of them, as he uses a record industry contact, Ian (David Cross) to carefully start them on a show business career, but soon Ian wants to take over and exploit the child-like chipmunks.

Alvin and the Chipmunks is the perfect film to rent for the kids and leave the room, but isn’t really recommendable for any other reason. The only thing special about Alvin and The Chipmunks is its big box office totals which assures a sequel in a year of two that will probably be even weaker. Nice to have something to look forward to.

Starring: Ioan Gruffudd, Stephen Campbell Moore, Benedict Cumberbatch,
Michael Gambon, Albert Finney, Romoloa Garai.

Director: Michael Apted


This is a true story period piece about William Wilburforce, an 18th to 19th century member of British Parliament who fought relentlessly to have slavery revoked. This is an important story and may start showing in classrooms. Apted does a good job to keep the movie going at a steady pace, knowing that his subject matter is pretty dry. I enjoyed this movie, but as a history buff, its hard for me to judge whether others, without my unexplainable interest in all things boring, will share this opinion

The story starts with a dejected Wilburforce leaving London after another unsuccessful attempt to get Parliament to abolish slavery over the objections of the wealthy, pro-slavery lobby. He suffers from colitis and developed an opium addiction (not uncommon at the time) to help him to deal with the horrible disease. He meets a woman who has admired him for years and from her, he manages to gather the strength to try one more time. History helps art here, because Wilburforce and his followers did find a particularly clever way to attack the institution of slavery, leading to a very effective ending.

I enjoyed this, but it is not be for all tastes. Look for great performances throughout, particularly by veterans Gambon and Finney. Still, action fans will be bored. Comedy fans will find little to giggle at. Horror fans will only be horrified to hear how slaves were shipped and treated, though this is not illustrated as it could have been (and should have been in my opinion). This is a drama and a good one.

Director: Ridley Scott

Starring: Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Chiwetel Eljiofor, Josh Brolin, Lymari Nadal, Cuba Gooding Jr., Armand Assante

Renowned director Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Thelma & Louise, Alien) tries his hand at the gangster epic in this true story of Harlem drug lord, Frank Lucas, who rose to prominence in the late 60s. The movie is long and has a lot of characters so development beyond the two principals is sparse. The story is good, though I admit that like a little more bloodshed in my gangster flicks. When action does come, however, the scenes are fast, loud and effective, and the acting is strong, but with dialog that is fine, but uninspired. Still, this is a strong movie carried forward by a good, traditional story and a cast packed with stars.

Denzel Washington is Frank Lucas, a family-oriented gangster who has to build and defend a NYC drug empire against rivals and corrupt police. One cop who is after him, however, is Richie Roberts, played by Russell Crowe, and he cannot be bought. The story glosses over most of Lucas’ takeover of the Harlem drug trade in the vacuum left by the death of his boss. Soon enough, though, Lucas is running it all and selling to the mafia besides, represented here in the form of Dominic Cattano, played by the cool Armand Assante, whom we haven‘t seen for awhile. Frank Lucas is flying so high that you just know that he has to come down hard, or does he? This one is worth seeing to find out.

Another impressive project by Denzel and it will please fans of the gangster genre. This one plays like a mix of Blow, New Jack City, Scarface and The Untouchables. That’s a big range, but they did take almost three hours to try to reach it.

Director: Tony Kaye

Starring: Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Beverly D’Angelo, Avery Brooks, Stacy Keach, Ethan Suplee, Fairuza Balk, Guy Torry, Elliott Gould

This is an awesome movie with strong direction, that features flawless acting by the whole cast, but most noticeably by leads Norton and Furlong who are both nothing short of amazing. The story is excellent and is enhanced by strong dialog and capped with a powerful ending. All in all, this is fine movie-making and shouldn’t be missed. Be warned though, there is some shocking violence, as well as some shockingly offensive views and language.

Edward Norton is unbelievably buffed up to become Derek Vinyard, a charismatic, but angry, young racist who is being released from prison to rejoin his family, which includes a seventeen-year-old brother, Danny (Edward Furlong), who is progressing down the same path. It soon becomes clear, however, that the newly freed Derek is not the same as the one that was locked up several years before and is primarily concerned with re-building his family. Stacy Keach plays a behind-the-scenes white supremacist leader and Avery Brooks is Dr. Bob Sweeny, a teacher and outreach worker trying to help both brothers. The story takes place over only 24 hours, but seems longer due to flashbacks, filmed in black and white, that gradually reveal the film’s backstory.

This is a fantastic film and a personal favourite of mine. It cemented my opinion of Edward Norton as one of contemporary film’s greatest actors and makes it clear that Edward Furlong is a very skilled performer who deserves more quality roles than he receives. If you are not put off by a high level of cinematic violence and scathing racist rhetoric, then it will be difficult to watch at times. It should be.

Director: Peter Yates

Starring: Tom Selleck, F. Murray Abraham, Laila Robins, David Rasche, Richard Young, Badja Djola, M.C. Gainey, Bruce Young

I’m going to need some help with this. Let’s make a list of all the good movies that Tom Selleck has made. There is Magnum P.I. oops, wait, that’s TV. There was the Indiana Jones rip-off, High Road To China. Oops, wait, that one sucked. There was Three Men and a Baby. It was ok. Then he made a prison movie – a genre that has more bad movies than a university film festival. Against all odds, though, this is a decent movie. The story is formulaic and the characters are stereotypes, but the prison scenes are well-written and engaging. Selleck’s performance breaks down in a couple spots, but is off set by an excellent role for Oscar winner, F. Murray Abraham.

Tom Selleck is Jimmie Rainwood, an airplane maintenance manager living an idyllic life when an address foul up leads to a couple of corrupt vice cops kicking in his door, then framing him to cover up their embarrassing mistake. Jimmie indignantly refuses to plea bargain his way out and soon finds himself out of his depth as an inmate in a maximum security prison and has to learn how to survive there. Luckily, a canny inmate, Virgil (Abraham) decides to give him the game plan, for his own reasons, while Jimmie‘s wife, Kate (Laila Robins) fights for his innocent husband‘s release, with the crooked cops watching her progress.

It’s no classic, but it is a good movie for those who get a kick out of self-righteous prison movies. If The Shawshank Redemption has been shanghaied by witless Hollywood executives, the end result would have looked kind of like this.

Director: Norman Jewison

Starring: Al Pacino, Jack Warden, John Forsythe, Lee Strasberg, Jeffrey Tambor, Christine Lahti, Sam Levene, Craig T. Nelson

This has become a courtroom movie classic. Today, the cheesy soundtrack music, the old-fashioned effects, the characters’ casual sexuality and the rage-against-the-man mindset seem dated, but the strong acting, which included one of Al Pacino’s many Oscar nominations, combined with a screenplay that is alternately touching, funny and adversarial is still compelling.

Al Pacino is Arthur Kirkland, a sharp defence lawyer with a heart, who is dealing with a witch-hunting ethics tribunal, crazy and arrogant judges, an ill grandfather, a law partner (Tambor) on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and a new relationship. He definitely did not need the crazy new case that lands on his lap in the form of his least favourite judge, Henry T. Fleming. Soon, Arthur is faced with some decisions that will challenge his beliefs and affect his future.

This classic is dated but still well worth seeing for Pacino fans and those who enjoy the Hollywood legal system. The performances and story are excellent and the ending is remembered as vividly today as when people first saw in 1979.

Director: Alan Parker

Starring: Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro, Lisa Bonet, Dann Florek,

Writer/director Alan Parker took William Hjortsberg’s novel and turned it into a very good Film Noire mystery/suspense screenplay. Mickey Rourke was at the top of his game when this film came out and did a superb job. Robert De Niro didn’t seem as comfortable with his role, but was still very good, of course (he is Robert De Niro!). The story plays out like a darker version of Chinatown, and has plenty of gritty (and often gory) action and very strong visual appeal.

The story is set in 1955 and Mickey Rourke is a grimy, but streetwise, NYC P.I., named Harry Angel, who is approached by a wealthy and mysterious client (as they always are in Film Noire) named Louis Cyphre (Robert De Niro). Mr Cyphre is looking for a charming crooner named Johnny Favorite, who has been missing for over ten years and is rumored to be dead. Harry is a skilled P.I., however and has soon tracked Mr. Favorite’s stone cold trial to the mean streets of New Orleans, where he finds himself running into a strange Voodoo cult and a smokingly-sexy, and mysterious, Epiphany Proudfoot (Lisa Bonet, looking like she never did on the Cosby show!). Everything is shrouded in mystery, and it doesn’t help that everyone Angel talks to seems to end up dead.

This got attention upon release for its controversial depiction of the Voodoo religion and for its strong scenes that some found objectionable. For fans of movies like Chinatown, Body Heat, Basic Instinct and a million others, this is a must-see and a should-own.

Director: Mel Gibson

Starring: Rudy Youngblood, Dalia Hernandez, Jonathan Brewer, Morris Birdyellowhead

This fantastic action/adventure movie confirms once again that whatever his personal issues, Mel Gibson sure can make movies. There are subtitles here, but I doubt you will mind five minutes into the feature. The acting is natural and convincing, the story is simple but taut, and realistic, while the direction and action sequences are first rate.

A small tribe of Central American natives, lead by Flint Sky (Morris Birdyellowhead) and his son, Jaguar’s Paw (Rudy Youngblood) are suddenly set upon by a Mayan hunting party seeking slaves. Most are captured. The balance of the movie deals with events after the capture and destruction of their village, as Jaguar’s Paw and others fight for survival. The brutality of the Mayans is striking, as is their desperation to survive, at this, the sunset of their empire.

A great action movie that kinda combines Last of the Mohicans with the Emerald Forest (anyone remember that one?) except there are no white people around in this one. The box cover may not convince you, subtitles, aboriginals, weird title, but trust me, this one is worth it.