Kingdom shows the shaky relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. Universal marketed the movie as an action packed but it is misleading. While the movie has some impressive action set-pieces, the story is the main attraction. From the get go, we get an impressive intro of the history of Saudi Arabia’s rise to wealth and the U.S. alliance.

Story consists of a deadly attack in an American compound in Saudi Arabia. An FBI team, lead by Ronald Fleury (Jamie Foxx) is sent to investigate. Along the way, Fleury’s team, which consists of Jeniffer Garner, Chris Cooper and Jason Bateman encounter …

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Christmas is just around the corner and DVDs make perfect stocking stuffers.  I’ve taken the guess work out of buying DVDs for your friends with my list of recent releases sure to please even the most eclectic person.

For the Action Junkie:  The Bourne Ultimatium

Bourne is back in the best film of the series.  It’s like an adrenaline shot that never quits. 

For the Brooding Boys and Girls:  Angel: The Complete Series Box

Angel broods and fights evil (and the evil within) over 5 seasons in this handsome boxed set that contains the entire series.

For Fantasy Fans of …

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Dogs from the Resident Evil franchise? Check. Lame villain from 28 weeks later? Check. Reapers from Blade 2? Check. What do you get when you combine all these elements? I Am Legend, a movie that did not know whether it wanted to be serious or an action flick.

Director Francis Lawrence (Constantine) tries to combine both and fails miserably. The movie starts with Will Smith’s character Robert Neville roaming an empty New York City in his Shelby GT500. Soon enough, we find out that he’s the last man on Earth and there are deadly creatures that only come out at night. …

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The Mist is an entertaining horror/suspense romp with pretensions of social commentary and a film that wants to be a cautionary fable with a haunting ending.  It mostly succeeds.  It’s based on a Stephen King story (and features many of his trademarks) and is written and directed by the excellent Frank Darabont.  The film works best though as a wildly exciting creature feature with lots of gore and good performances from many of the actors in the film.  I think the film tries too hard at times but I enjoyed it and it certainly deserved a better fate than …

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Blade Runner is easily one of the most influential films ever made.  It’s glistening metropolis backdrop and production design have been copied (sorry, lifted) over and over again in everything from Dark City to the anime classic Akira.  The director of Ghost in the Shell (the anime film that influenced The Matrix) said in an interview that its one of his biggest influences, the list goes on and on.  In Ghost in the Shell:  Innocence androids (or replicants) wax poetic about what it means to be man or machine.   The lead character is tracking pleasure droids run amok.  Darryl Hannah …

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These are ten of the most underrated films around, according to me, and in no particular order.  I went for more recent films but there are many others that could have made my list.

1.  Hannibal Rising-  Hannibal Rising is a straight-ahead and extremely well-made revenge prequel that was ripped to shreds by overzealous critics and largely ignored in theatres.  Rising is the best Hannibal film since Silence of the Lambs and the first without Anthony Hopkins, which probably helps to explain its fresh take on the now tired character.

2.  Rules of Attraction-  Rules is a nasty, no holds barred …

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Everytime I see this preview, I want to go choke a bitch. Yes, Beowulf will be epic. Yes, it will look badass in IMAX 3D (just because it’s in 3D! Who would’ve thunk that!). But the one thing that will hinder me throughout the whole movie is pretty much unavoidable. You guessed it. It’s the fact that they’ve modeled thei 3D characters after the actors involved in it.…

 

Having just done a list on overrated films, I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to add the new Coen Brothers film, No Country for Old Men to that list.  The reviews for the film have been practically orgasmic early on and the raves kept coming.  It looks like that won’t be an issue because No Country is not overrated.  It’s the one film that lives up to the hype and easily the best film of the year so far.

The film concerns a hunter named Llewelyn Moss (played by the excellent Josh Brolin, perfectly cast) who stumbles across a bunch …

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These are ten of the most overrated films around, according to me, and in no particular order.

1.  The English Patient- Boring epic that goes on and on numbing its audience into submission or a restful slumber.  I can’t believe it won best picture.

2.  Junebug- More overrated indie claptrap featuring endless quirky characters including a 10 minute monologue from a bigot who draws penis paintings that no sane art gallery would ever sell.  Amy Adams is terrific though, she kept me from losing the last shreds of my sanity.

3.  Little Miss Sunshine- cringe-inducing and unfunny with a good performance …

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Michael Clayton may be a passionate pet political project for its star and producer George Clooney, but something got lost in translation.  Clayton goes from incoherent to un-involving, to a total bore, in near record time.  Clayton has some nice acting and is well-made, but after a while, I just didn’t care any longer.  It’s a slow-paced “message” film that at times feels lifeless and overly stagy.  The acting is good (especially from Clooney), but after a while I gave up.  It’s a thriller minus any thrills or nuance.  The only thing I learned from the overrated Michael Clayton was …

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