16 Blocks

A good, straightforward action movie, which would be quickly
forgotten except it's Bruce Willis' best role since The Sixth Sense.

Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

A good crime/hostage movie, with GREAT vintage NYC infrastructure
that, 30 years later, really steels the show. Not quite as creepy as
"The Incident" which is still the best subway movie around.

Barry Lyndon

When I was younger, I rooted for Barry to triumph. Now I cringe at
his rise, and am less appalled at his fate and those who deliver it.
What really fascinates, though, is the detailed portrait of the
times. Kubrick re-creates the late 1700s in a manner that gets at
the details of everyday life and the physical reality of the world
his characters in habit. Usually, such attention to a "foreign"
world is the sole province of science fiction, where the camera
spends time showing off the spectacular other worlds the filmmaker
has created. It is rare and arresting to see the same kind of wonder
showered on a historical setting -- and ultimately, it is the
recreation of a whole society at a particular point in history that
makes this film fascinating, rather than any particular fondness or
identification we might have for the protagonist, who serves mostly
as our vehicle through the world Kubrick has recreated.

Art School Confidential

I was a big fan of Zwigoff's first two commercial releases (Crumb and
Ghost World). Ghost World was marred by one small element -- the
blantant wish fulfillment -- but that was fun. And the cryptic bus
to nowhere was an agreeable eccentricity. But Art School
Confidential only hits its stride in the final act, where the satire
takes full force. Unfortunately, it's not quite worth the time it
takes to get there.

Lately

Da Vinci Code

Remarkably mediocre. A great story (even if it gets history wrong in almost every way possible) and it should have been a great thiller. But it's almost tedious. Hanks and Tautou sleepwalk through the piece; Zimmer's score just makes matters worse. Where's the tension? Where's the surprise?

Downfall

If you are even faintly curious about what Hitler and his circle were like, this film takes you inside their final days, which also lend insight into who they were, all along.

Playtime

Sure, it's not an ordinary movie (Is there a plot?) but it's a joyous, slow meditation on the quirks of modern life we take for granted but that, when you step back, truly are STRANGE and unnatural.

In This World

Absolutely fabulous view into a world that is sadly more common than our own.

Nacho Libre

Forget about it. Jack Black is the only good thing here, and he cannot carry it. Watch Napolean Dynamite, again, instead.

The Smartest Guys in the Room

What's fun, as you are watching this, is to remember: This isn't left wing, anti-capital agitprop. This film is the product of conservative writers from Fortune magazine digging into what went wrong.

Candy

Good, not great. Won't displace Trainspotting or Requiem for a Dream, for example, as the uber drug movies, but has perhaps the best detox scenes put on film in a long time. (Not fun.) Reminds me of my needle-sharing ex, so it possesses enough versimilitude.