Master Hong Kong choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping directs yet another story of the legendary Wong Fei-Hung. This time Fei-Hung is a child and his father runs afoul of a corrupt government in a town seemingly made of balsa wood. If you can look past the rampant wire-work and the typical overacting, there’s some good kung-fu going on.
Well-made but ultimately disappointing sci-fi tale based all too loosely on Issac Asimov’s pioneering ‘Robot’ novels finds Will Smith as the one cop technophobic enough to notice oddly blatant evidence of mischief among our mechanical creations.
The subtle, moving examination of the effect on two New England parents of the tragic murder of their 21-year-old son features some of the finest performances of the year by Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson.
This old fashioned political thriller is marred by a needlessly twisty plot and a miscast Nicole Kidman, but director Sydney Pollack still has the chops to pull it off.
Not even scenery-chewing performances from Cuba Gooding Jr and Anthony Hopkins can save this rehashed, predictable “Silence of the Lambs in the Mist” story.
‘Memento’ director Christopher Nolan again trains his lens on a sensory disorder – this time sleep deprivation. A palpable sense of atmosphere and a welcome low-key turn from Al Pacino as the beleaguered main character carry the film to its otherwise silly conclusion.
Style-master Michael Mann’s fact-based little-man-vs.-Tobacco story – featuring Al Pacino in full scenery-chewing mode, Russell Crowe in a perfectly restrained performance and Christopher Plummer in a spot-on riff of Mike Wallace – is a little long but worth the investment.
Writer-director Paul Weitz crafts a bittersweet tale of a young upstart who finds corporate America not all it’s cracked up to be. A minor comedy with minor revelations featuring major performances by Topher Grace and Dennis Quaid (whose career is shaping up into everything Harrison Ford’s should have been).
Taut, cat-and-mouse police thriller – which follows two moles from each side of the law – is everything Michael Mann’s “Heat” set out to be.
‘Iron Giant’ creator Brad Bird somehow manages to raise the bar at Pixar yet again with his story of a retired superhero brought back into action with his equally super family in tow. Stunning production design, pitch-perfect writing and the by-now-requisite jaw-dropping animation make this one of the best animated films of all time.
