Enemy at the Gates (2001)
DIRECTOR: Jean-Jacques Annaud
CAST:
Jude Law, Joseph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Ed Harris, Bob Hoskins, Ron Perlman, Eva Mattes, Gabriel Thomson, Matthias Habich
REVIEW:
The Russian front in WWII hasn’t gotten much attention in a big-budget war film, so French director Jean-Jacques Annaud deserves some credit for giving us a rarely-shown viewpoint. However, the result is a mixed bag. Continue reading
The Rock (1996)
DIRECTOR: Michael Bay
CAST: Nicolas Cage, Sean Connery, Ed Harris, Michael Biehn, William Forsythe, David Morse, John Spencer, Stuart Wilson, Philip Baker Hall, Vanessa Marcil, Claire Forlani, John C. McGinley, Tony Todd, Bokeem Woodbine, Danny Nucci
REVIEW:
Among the dime a dozen action flicks on the filmographies of director Michael Bay and producer Jerry Bruckheimer, The Rock is one of the stronger (comparatively speaking) entries. It’s still firmly in the “check your brain at the door” category, but a buddy movie element and the charisma of stars Nicolas Cage and Sean Connery helps give a needed bump to the proceedings.
Continue readingEye for an Eye (1996)
DIRECTOR: John Schlesinger
CAST: Sally Field, Ed Harris, Kiefer Sutherland, Joe Mantegna, Beverly D’Angelo, Charlyane Woodard, Philip Baker Hall, Keith David
REVIEW:
Eye for an Eye is a particularly nasty piece of audience emotional manipulation that plays on primal fears, served up courtesy of luridly disturbing scenes of sexual violence, to guide us into accepting the filmmakers’ case for vigilante justice. In truth, I’m less offended by the filmmakers’ views than I am by the cheap and exploitative route they take to try to get us in their corner.
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