Drama

Cadillac Records is a kind of ensemble biopic that focuses on the story of Leonard Chess, founder of Chess Records, and the iconic musicians that entered into recording contracts with him.  Chess Records was one of the first labels to give black musicians an opportunity to have careers, and became one of the premier blues labels […]

How exactly a film of this caliber slips off the radar and goes completely unnoticed is beyond me.  I had heard absolutely nothing about this movie, and aside from a few glowing reviews I found online, it might as well not exist, which is a shame.
Where “Schindler’s List” tells an epic Holocaust story, this film […]

I thought this was an exceptionally well done film.  I’d say it’s one of the more thought provoking movies I’ve seen all year.  It’s not one that would inspire me to say “I just loved that movie”.  Star Wars is a movie you love.  Towelhead tackles some pretty dark themes, and isn’t easy to watch […]

It would be easy to argue that “Blindness” is a horrible movie.  It can be pretty grim at times, and carries the message that the human race has few redeeming traits.  You could argue that the source material, a novel by Jose Saramago, is too difficult to adapt for the screen.  A quick glance at […]

Director Ridley Scott usually delivers well crafted movies that mix great acting with powerful action scenes.  Whatever his intentions for “Body of Lies”, the film is bogged down by a mediocre story and a sketchy performance by Russell Crowe.  At times, Crowe seems like he’s performing an SNL sketch parody of sitcom fathers, rather than […]

Based on a true story about the disappearance of nearly 20 young boys in California during the late 1920’s, Clint Eastwood’s “The Changeling” is a wonderful piece of filmmaking.  It’s a movie that feels somehow epic and intimate at the same time.  Eastwood manages this by channeling restrained performances from both Angelina Jolie and John […]

Flash of Genius is the true story of Dr. Robert Kearns, a professor of Electronic Engineering from Detroit.  In the 1960’s, Kearns invented a working design for the intermittent windshield wiper.  When he and his partner took his idea to the Ford Motor Company, they were strung along just long enough for the corporation figure […]

9 / 10 (Chris)
8.5 / 10 (Lorie) 
Not at all the weepy, oversentimental movie I expected; quite the opposite in fact.  Very subtle performance by Cusack.  The film, for the most part, steers clear of the politics of the war.  Basically, the mother's death as a soldier is almost an afterthought - she could have just […]

Rating:  7.5/10
I thought this was a fairly hit and miss interpretation of certain periods of Bob Dylan's life.  Six different actors were used to portray Dylan, each during a different time.  Some of them were quite good, especially Cate Blanchett, but others weren't so believable.  The film is a bit fragmented, jumping back and forth […]

 
Rating:  8/10
The Great Debaters was a pretty interesting story about Denzel Washington as the coach of the first college debate team in the U.S.  It was about both Washington's relationship with his debaters, but also about some of the civil rights problems and racism that had started to develop at the time.
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