Dead Man Walking (1995)
A magnificent effort all around by Tim Robbins (Bob Roberts, Cradle Will Rock), both as writer and director, very loosely adapting this book of the same name from real-life nun (and later an advocate...
Tagged: prison
Fred Claus (2007)
The proverbial lumps of coal (boy, isn’t this phrase becoming a trite cliché for movie critics?) called the family Christmas movie get trotted out toward the end of almost every year. For every good...
Alien 3 (1992)
First-time director David Fincher’s debut proves to be a daunting, if not impossible task, not only because it would be highly impractical to match or best two of the most acclaimed and popular science fiction...
The Longest Yard (1974)
Showing once and for all that Burt Reynolds can act if he shaves off his mustache, The Longest Yard is a mixture of two genres, the sophomoric sports film, and the sadistic prison flick, both...
Runaway Train (1985)
Runaway Train was originally an Akira Kurosawa project called back in the mid-1960s, which would have been an American production for the famous Japanese filmmaker. The screenplay was written, but unfortunately, the project never...
District B13 (2004) | District 13 | Banlieue 13
With a premise not dissimilar to that of Escape from New York (with a heavy nod to John Carpenter’s other crime thriller, Assault on Precinct 13), a thriller style not far from that of The Rock, and action...
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
An unlikely story to turn into a movie, and an unlikely movie that would turn into a contemporary masterpiece, The Shawshank Redemption not only deserved its Best Picture nomination, but it also deserved to win out...
25th Hour (2002)
After watching Spike Lee’s latest joint, 25th Hour, one might begin to suspect Spike has a lot of ideas and an inability to stick with any one of them for very long. Every scene is just...
The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)
In 19th Century France, some seamen stop on the island of Elba, where the former emperor Napoleon is exiled, in order to aid their ailing captain. In exchange for the use of his physician,...
The Last Castle (2001)
One could have reasonable high expectations for Rod Lurie’s follow-up to his solid political flick, The Contender, but you might be hard-pressed to say they were met after watching The Last Castle for the duration. While Lurie does...