Collateral (2004)

Action/Adventure Rated R

First and foremost a continuation of director Michael Mann’s love affair with nocturnal urban landscapes, Collateral centers around a night-shift cabbie (Jamie Foxx) kidnapped by a professional killer (Tom Cruise, callous and funny) and forced to drive him from hit to hit. Fluorescent lighting courses through the movie, set as it is in Los Angeles,

Miami Vice (2006)

Action/Adventure Rated R

Most of Michael Mann’s movies have been broad-chested exercises in machismo – Heat, Collateral – but few have dealt in the sort of self-parodic chest-beating that undoes Miami Vice. This was supposed to be the serious version of the 1980s television series Mann created, but it’s worth remembering that the series took itself pretty seriously,

Comedian (2002)

Documentary Rated R

Far from a vanity project, this revealing documentary follows Jerry Seinfeld as he tries to create an entirely new stand-up act. The star generously allows screen time for bits by aspiring comedian Orny Adams and candid conversations with the likes of Garry Shandling, Chris Rock and others – heck, even Jay Leno has something interesting

In My Country (2004)

Drama Rated R

An earnest but awkward drama set against the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings, which aimed to heal emotional wounds in post-apartheid South Africa, In My Country can’t overcome the disjointed pairing of its leads: supple French actress Juliette Binoche and strident American star Samuel L. Jackson. She’s a soft natural presence, while he specializes in

Erin Brockovich (2000)

Drama Rated R

Erin Brockovich uses all of Julia Roberts’ attributes – her casual glamour, genial humor and, yes, acting talent – to make this fact-based story about a single mom who leads a legal battle against a polluting corporation into a compassionate and riveting consideration of America’s class system. It’s a surprising delight that gives star vehicles

Core, The (2003)

Action/Adventure Rated PG-13

This could have been a good bad disaster movie, but despite its laughable dialogue, third-rate special effects and ludicrous premise, The Core fails to work as an apocalyptic hoot. Aaron Eckhart plays a geophysicist who leads a team of “terranauts” to the center of the planet in order to jump-start the earth’s stalled core. Once

Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)

Drama Rated R

A culture mash of hip-hop rhythms, ancient Japanese traditions and modern gangland ethics, this latest treasure from revered indie director Jim Jarmusch follows a rap-loving assassin (Forest Whitaker) who has pledged his services to the low-level mafia thug who saved his life a few years back. Beneath the violence is a thoughtful consideration of what

Gospel of John, The (2003)

Drama Rated PG-13

This is exactly the kind of stultifyingly studious Bible movie that The Passion of the Christ is a shock-art response to. Often a word-by-word adaptation, The Gospel of John features a narrator who actually tells us “And then Jesus said…” before each line of dialogue. All of it makes for a punishingly redundant translation of

History of Violence, A (2005)

Drama Rated R

You can feel it in the movie’s insinuating score and the oppressively happy opening section, which follows small-town diner owner Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) as he enjoys a blissful slice of Americana with his wife (Maria Bello) and two kids. Such contentment can’t last, especially with squirm-inducing director David Cronenberg (Dead Ringers) at the helm.

Blood Diamond (2006)

Action/Adventure Rated R

Edward Zwick (Glory) has long been one of Hollywood’s more thoughtful studio filmmakers, but his thoughtfulness gets the best of him here This story of how “conflict diamonds” fueled the civil war in 1990s Sierra Leone should be about those whose lives were upended because of the illicit diamond trade. It does feature one such