Saturday, December 9, 2017
Lakeview Terrace (2008)
A LAPD officer will stop at nothing to force out the interracial couple who just moved in next door.
Basically a bad neighbor thriller, there's a subtext of racial tension that irritates; Samuel Jackson L. Jackson as the villain easily steals the show.
Maltin**1/2: "Provocative and well-acted, but film's constantly shifting sympathies make it difficult to know what the point is supposed to be."
Friday, December 8, 2017
Thursday, December 7, 2017
The Ice Harvest (2005)
A shady lawyer attempts a Christmas Eve crime, hoping to swindle the local mob out of some money, but his partner, a strip club owner, might have different plans for the cash.
Somnambulant - and humorless - heist thriller takes its time till it reveals that it actually does have a plot; good cast is hardly faced with any challenge.
Maltin**: "Mostly unfunny black comedy must have worked better on the pages of Scott Phillip's novel..."
Wednesday, December 6, 2017
Nightcrawler (2014)
When a con man desperate for work, muscles into the world of L.A. crime journalism, he blurs the line between observer and participant to become the star of his own story.
The story has been told before (Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole comes to mind), but Jake Gyllenhaal's portrayal of a soulless reporter adds a whole dimension of frightening demonical possession.
Tuesday, December 5, 2017
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