If you were to hear the central premise of Little Miss Sunshine without having ever seen a preview, you’d probably dismiss it as just another knock-off of National Lampoon’s Vacation series, and choose to ignore it. Don’t. While...
Lucy Emerson (Wiest) is a divorced mother of two teenage sons, Michael (Patric) and Sam (Haim), who relocates to the strange oceanside California town of Santa Carla, which is filled with a mix of punk...
by Vincent Leo · Published August 11, 2006 · Last modified November 29, 2019
First-time writer-director Rian Johnson’s script for Brick was written shortly after film school in the mid-1990s, during a period when he had read just about any Dashiell Hammett book he could get his hands on. ...
1990s / Action / Science Fiction
by Vincent Leo · Published August 8, 2006 · Last modified February 20, 2019
No, the title doesn’t refer to the guy that takes the chicken wings out of the fryer at KFC, although if they can call a Subway employee a “Sandwich Artist” or a Starbucks employee...
Three couples and a baby go out for a weekend cruise on a luxurious yacht but make the mistake of all getting into the ocean without lowering the ladder that allows them the get...
by Vincent Leo · Published August 3, 2006 · Last modified November 25, 2019
21 Eyes is a high-concept thriller told almost entirely from the perspective of twenty-one security video cameras capturing the events revolving around a botched robbery attempt of a priceless diamond at the home of a...
by Vincent Leo · Published July 30, 2006 · Last modified January 16, 2019
You can lead Michael Caine (Dressed to Kill, The Italian Job) to water, but you can’t make him act. At least, if the films he’s done anywhere near it is any indication. You think he...
Although M. Night Shyamalan is a very talented writer and director, his films are becoming progressively more ambitious, and unfortunately, progressively tricky to suspend disbelief in. Lady in the Water is his most ambitious film yet,...
by Vincent Leo · Published July 18, 2006 · Last modified December 16, 2019
They superimposed Marlon Wayans’ head on the body of a young dwarf to create the effect of making him look small, but one part of him did appear to shrink down to tiny size during...
by Vincent Leo · Published July 15, 2006 · Last modified January 28, 2019
Kiss the Girls is a film based on the James Patterson bestseller, slickly directed by Gary Fleder (Impostor, Runaway Jury), and relatively engaging until about the final third of the film. Like so many mystery-thrillers, there...
Reviews from film writer Vince Leo, covering all eras and genres of films from classics to the latest releases.
Film reviews from Vince Leo, from classics to new releases, since 1996.
