The Bank Job

(2008, 110 min) Fans of hard-hitting, gritty '70s films rejoice! Hell, even the title is efficient. Now, The Bank Job doesn't exactly reinvent the wheel, but it's easy to forget that some of my favorite films from my favorite decade (including, say, Prime Cut and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three) didn't do that either. They just deliver straight-up, smart thrills and snappy dialogue in a refreshingly adult package. And if Jason Statham isn't quite the new Lee Marvin, he's just about the best we have right now.

Statham plays a lovable rogue who, acting on a tip from his sultry ex (Saffron Burrows), assembles a scrappy crew for a massive heist of safety deposit boxes. It's all based on a real story, with emphasis on the word "story." Nobody really knows what went down during the heist, and details have been embellished over the years thanks to urban legendry. But the version that longtime writing team Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais invent could hardly be more entertaining.

Renting a shop two doors down from a massive bank on Baker Street, the Statham's crew conspires to dig a tunnel into the safety deposit area over a weekend and be gone by the time anyone notices. As if that wasn't enough, the contents of the boxes present a new problem... one that goes so far up the chain, that the actual facts in the case wound up sealed by the government for decades to come. It's a procedural, a conspiracy story, even a romance of sorts, all addressed without fluff and with respect for the audience's intelligence. The only false note I can detect is a brief foray into traditional Statham superhero mode near the end, though even that is exciting enough to tempt me into giving it a pass. It's surely more fun than whatever happened in real life, the details of which may be revealed sometime around 2054.

– David Gorgos

© TLA Entertainment Group

No Country for Old Men

(2007, 122 min) Despite having four other 4-star reviews on this site, this review has never before been moved to bestow that lofty designation on a Coen Brothers movie. They always seemed a little too pleased with their dialogue, a little too amused at their own cleverness, and a little too condescending toward their characters. Well, they've finally grown up, and with the help of Cormac McCarthy's indelible voice, they've created their masterpiece.

On its surface, No Country for Old Men is a relentless thriller concerning the pursuit of $2 million dollars in cold hard drug money. Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) is an old-school Texan who stumbles across the carnage of a deal gone bad; after tracking down the (former) last man standing, he stashes the dough and prepares his beloved (Kelly MacDonald) for a new life. But that kind of dough doesn't disappear quietly, as a bevy of bounty hunters is after him, most menacingly Anton Chigurh (rhymes with "sugar"). As chillingly portrayed by Oscar® shoo-in Javier Bardem, he recalls Michael Meyers crossed with Bobby Fischer, a methodically merciless and unfortunately principled killer armed with a cattle stungun.

While their chase involves some of the most exciting action sequences you'll ever see, the movie's heart (including the movie's title) belongs to sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones). Trying to solve this mess with a minimum of mayhem, he's instead always a step behind, leading to a poetic ending that is so perfect, I'm shocked that anyone found it controversial. Additional kudos to the amazing Marfa, TX, the most cinematic American location since Monument Valley.

– David Gorgos

© TLA Entertainment Group

Cloverfield

(2008, about 80 min) The highest of high-concept monster movies, Cloverfield purports to be just one video in the Department of Defense's library chronicling an unspecified disaster. The film starts out as a homemade video made by a gang of well-to-do and good looking late-twentysomethings of a friend's going away party. But, anyone who has seen the trailer knows that this video doesn't remain a birthday party for long. The ravaging of New York by an unexplained (and until late in the film unseen) monster is seen entirely through the eyes of a small group of people struggling to save themselves and each other from the sudden onset of total destruction. Credit is due to director Matt Reeves for never straying from this singular concept and, for the most part, maintaining its believability.

Certainly, there are moments when the boundaries of "suspension of disbelief" are stretched, perhaps even crossed. But Reeves overcomes these flaws from Drew Goddard's script by never relenting from the sheer terror and from his central premise. The shaky camera work and the limited information that the audience is given access to only serve to create a sense of panic not only on the screen but throughout the audience as well. Those with weak stomachs might do best to wait for the DVD, not for any excess of gore, but the combination of a nauseating camera with the emotional terror that the film serves up relentlessly would be likely to make one physically ill. Following in the footsteps of last year's The Host, Reeves has created a truly horrifying monster movie, one that cuts right to the core of contemporary political and environmental fears. It just might be the best American monster movie in many, many years.

– Daniel Reed

© TLA Entertainment Group

Inland Empire

(2006, 180 min) David Lynch reconfigures film noir again in his latest digital epic starring Laura Dern as, surprise, an actress. Cinema is noir, a shadow land of two-dimensional life flitting across a silvered screen. Feelings of deja vu abound, as the dream logic unfolds. Not only are the many landmarks of Lynch’s imagination here, the mysteriously lit fifties interiors, the industrial soundtracks, immeasurable depths of darkness punctuated by blinding light, but the feeling of dream deja vu is captured. Dern and Justin Theroux are being directed by Jeremy Irons in a film called On High in Blue Tomorrows. Lynch explores the spaces created by the actors, in the darkness and magic of Hollywood. The underworld they inhabit is unredeemable yet filled with spiritual light. Dern becomes other characters in her own passion play revealing the self and its countless reflections and reverberations. Lynch replaces his typical structures with a sort of elegant shorthand as he references everything from 2001: A Space Odyssey, Sunset Boulevard, and The Three Faces of Eve.

A further step away from the deconstructed cinema of Mulholland Drive and Lost Highway, Inland Empire is neither a collection of vignettes and thoughts nor a cohesive whole. It is more like the outline to an imagined feminist manifesto that achieves epic proportions in spite of its willful failure as entertainment. Lynch’s fascination with the anima and the energy of thanatos is discernible yet undecipherable. The film attempts to come full circle as Dern, portraying multiple parts in what seems to be many films, arrives in a vintage movie theater, watching herself play the character she was moments before. The theater becomes the launching pad for the unconscious, branching out into sets the viewer has seen previously, exploring the contents of mind and its forgotten secrets.

Baroque in set and sound design, yet minimalist in approach to content, Inland Empire will certainly appeal to long-time fans, with its many references (and new additions) to Lynch’s rich cinematic history.

– Max Brinck

© TLA Entertainment Group

Twin Peaks

(1990-1991, 1501 min) I still remember the night the pilot aired – April 8, 1990. Two days earlier I had just turned 14 and was at that age when I’d probably rather be out vandalizing the neighborhood and pretending to smoke cigarettes than spend a Sunday night with my dad watching some crappy nighttime drama. I was preparing myself for the latest version of "Falcon Crest" or something equally horrible. But Dad put his foot down, muttering something about the fact that one of the world’s greatest living directors had his own TV show.

I will forever be in his debt for making me stay in that evening… plus he let me have a pony bottle of Rolling Rock while we watched. Don’t tell the Feds!

Coming from a fiercely artistic family I was already well aware of the films of David Lynch. Dad had taken me to see Blue Velvet and I was still young enough to think that Dune didn’t suck, but it was "Twin Peaks" that changed my life forever. Hell, my brother and I even forced our family to film a HI-8 remake of the pilot while vacationing in Massachusetts… with disastrously awesome results. We also joined an organization called COOP (that’s Citizens Opposed to the Offing of Peaks) once we learned of the imminent cancellation. And yes, COOP failed.

Few remember what a sad state television was in before "Twin Peaks." I mean, this was a whole different universe compared to the world of "Major Dad" and "L.A. Law"! Not only had television never been so daring and original before, it had never been so weird! If you can show me any pre-"Twin Peaks" show featuring anything close to dancing Dwarves, backwards dialogue, a lady with a pet log, hearing impaired FBI agents (played by Lynch himself) and mind-bending hallucinations I’d be impressed.

Of course, the copycats came almost immediately. Some were bombs (Oliver Stone’s "Wild Palms") and some enjoyed more success than "Peaks" ever would ("Northern Exposure" and "The X-Files").

Getting to the show itself, the First Season (episodes 1-8) is essentially flawless. The episodes directed by Lynch himself stand up to his best theatrical work, and the rest ain’t too shabby either. You all should be familiar with the basic plot, but for you newbies out there, here goes: homecoming queen Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) is found brutally raped, murdered and wrapped in plastic. This shakes the entire town and nearly every citizen is a suspect. FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan at his best) is sent to the town to investigate. From his eccentric mannerisms (constantly speaking to his assistant Diane through his tape recorder, or using a rock-throwing exercise to weed out potential murder suspects) to his endless appetite for “damn fine” coffee and cherry pie, Cooper is quite possibly the most original television character of all time.

From one-armed men and eye-patch-wearing housewives to agoraphobic horticulturists and homicidal truck drivers the cast of townspeople encompasses what could be the greatest ensemble this side of an Altman film. The only other show in recent memory that so completely creates a believably rich town environment is "The Simpsons"... and that's a cartoon so it doesn’t count! In the world of "Twin Peaks" you feel just as satisfied watching the supporting cast as you do the stars… except for maybe that abused wife that James Hurley shacked up with in Season Two. She freakin’ sucked.

Speaking of Season Two… the first 9 or 10 episodes are just as good as Season One. Beginning by concluding the amazing season-ending cliffhanger, the two hour season opener (again directed by Lynch) is nothing short of stunning. The Kubrickian final minutes as Ronette Pulaski (Phoebe Augustine) awakes from a coma gave the 14-year-old me nightmares for weeks. Some complain that the Laura Palmer storyline took too long to resolve itself, and to those people I kindly quote Mr. Axl Rose: “All you need is just a little patience.” The slack is soon picked up by an excellent plot thread involving Agent Cooper’s insane ex-partner and the race to a gateway to what may be another world called The Black Lodge. Knowing that the show would not be renewed, Lynch was able to indulge himself at the end of the series without worrying about ratings. And man, did he indulge! If you thought Inland Empire was weird, try watching the last episode of "Twin Peaks"! Who knows where the series would have gone if it would have continued? I like to think that it would somehow involve Pete Martell (Jack Nance) fronting a gangsta rap group with The Giant (Casey Struycken) as his DJ. Hey, this is David Lynch we’re talking about here!

To this day, I still watch the entire series at least once a year, always starting in the fall. Last year we started a "Twin Peaks" drinking game taking a shot every time Sarah Palmer (Grace Zabriski) screamed or a doughnut was eaten. I even judge people based on their comprehension of random "Peaks" references peppered into my conversation. If you give me a wink after I order my coffee “black as midnight on a moonless night” chances are that we’re going to be pals. I like to think it is not a coincidence that every one of my closest friends is a huge fan. I also like to think that they would not be my friend if they weren’t. If you haven’t seen this series yet, you need to. If you’ve already seen it, watch it again. Does the quality fade towards the end? Yeah, maybe a bit. But that’s like saying “Being a millionaire used to be so great, now it’s just alright.” Be thankful for what you have, folks. It’s not going to be there forever, and when it’s gone all you’re going to have is "Northern Exposure"… and that’s just sad.

– Jesse Short

© TLA Entertainment Group

Fracture

(2007, 98 min) Anthony Hopkins plays his “I’m smarter than you, but psychopathic” role, kind of a modified Hannibal Lecter, in Fracture, costarring Ryan Gosling. Ted Crawford (Hopkins) is a fabulously wealthy engineer who catches his wife (Embeth Davidtz) in an affair with a cop (Billy Burke). After confirming his suspicions by shadowing the lovers, he sets a trap for wifey at their fabulously swanky So Cal estate. After shooting her in the face, she is sent to the hospital in a deep coma. Confessing to the crime in front of the cop-turned adulterer, Crawford is sent to jail to await trial, and to argue his own defense. Willy Beachum (Gosling), an up and coming public prosecutor is tapped for what seems to be an open and shut case. Yet Crawford, sly and smart, starts to trip him up at every turn. Firstly, the gun found at the scene, hadn’t even been fired. This gun, and the search for the fired weapon, is the lynchpin of the plot, without it there would be no dramatic development.

Gregory Hoblit (Primal Fear, Fallen, Frequency) polishes what could otherwise be a "Law and Order" episode into a high sheen of beautiful locations and smart camera angles. His ace in the hole is the ramped up acting of Hopkins and Gosling. Hopkins imbues his character with fierce defiance and intelligence, which in the hands of a lesser talent could appear flat and one-dimensional. Gosling is able to coax multiple reactions from his character, avoiding stereotyping his emotional responses. In other words, the acting saves the screenplay. David Strathairn plays the top district attorney, at once Beachum’s mentor and critic, in a role that somewhat wastes his considerable talent. Billy Burke, in his underrated role as the cop, plays it smart, all mean and increasingly despondent.

What is somewhat less satisfying is the number of plot devices upon which the whole logic of the script hangs. These devices are cloaked initially, so as not to give away clues to how Crawford did it. Near the end, the obscurations are whisked away, eliciting the much valued “aha!” experience. Entertaining throughout, but not deep, Fracture will hold the attention of all but the most ADD'd of viewers.

– Max Brinck

© TLA Entertainment Group

The Bourne Ultimatum

(2007, 114 min) Hold on to your beanies, boys and girls, this is gonna be one helluva ride. Make sure trays and seats are in the upright position and all seatbelts are fastened for there’s no guarantee by the end of the excruciatingly exciting third chapter in the Bourne films, The Bourne Ultimatum, that you’ll still be standing, in your seat, breathing or conscious by the film’s end. It’s that pulse-pounding, and it’s that good.

After winning an Oscar® for writing Good Will Hunting and starring in a series of commercially viable and then unreliable projects, Matt Damon turned the next corner in his career by starring in 2002’s gritty thriller The Bourne Identity, based on the Robert Ludlum novel. It was so successful both artistically and financially that a sequel was in order, The Bourne Supremacy in 2004, and it was an even bigger hit with critics and the public. Three years later, Damon and the director of Supremacy, Paul Greengrass, fresh off his Oscar® nom for the terrific United 93, reteam for what is the best of the trilogy. Whatever else Matt Damon does, no matter what direction his career takes, it will be a tough act to follow as to be as completely satisfying on-screen as he is in this career-defining role of Jason Bourne.

Featured in almost every scene of this edge-of-your-seat thriller that elevates chase and fight set pieces to new heights, Damon brings a maturity and immediacy that, though not lacking in either of the first two films, has been amped up for this final go-round. And it’s fitting to the quest that Jason Bourne is now on, for with his memory mostly intact, he attempts to return home to fill in the last missing pieces and have answered the questions that have been gnawing at him for years.

Bourne’s journey begins in Moscow, and the roller-coaster ride doesn’t stop until the final credits. Escaping the Russian police in a chase scene that neatly opens the film, Greengrass ups the ante with Bourne’s next destination, London, as the agent – still on the run from various local police departments and the CIA which still is out to terminate him – makes contact with a newspaper reporter who has discovered one of the pieces of Bourne’s puzzle from a well-placed source. Thus is set in motion an amazing cat-and-mouse game within the confines of Waterloo Station. The sequence must last almost ten minutes, and every single second is hold-your-breath exciting.

Back home, CIA operative Pam Landy (the always great Joan Allen) is reintroduced as she and newcomer to the series, section chief Noah Vosen (David Strathairn in a terrific turn), bicker as to what is to be done about the renegade agent. It is clear from the start that Bourne may have an ally in Landy, but Vosen, for reasons that are initially unclear, sees Bourne as a national security threat and demands his immediate execution.

Now in Spain to track down the source of the article, Bourne and the mysterious insider are both the target of CIA assassins. This operation, as was the London escapade, is under the watchful eye of Vosen as he safely gives orders from his New York office all the while watching pinpoint satellite coverage that would have George Orwell cringing. It’s a new era in espionage and from this vantage point, the agency seems ready. (So why haven’t they yet captured Bin Laden? That’s another movie.)

From here, the locales include Paris, Tangier, Morocco and, in the final set piece, New York City. Each location is particularly good, as both a backdrop for the story and as a dressing for the non-stop action. Oliver Wood’s extraordinary camerawork captures the flavor of each city while maintaining a tension that is almost unbearable. All the technical aspects of the film, under the skillful eye of director Greengrass, are exemplary, each contributing in making this an enthralling viewing experience.

But it’s that cast too that keeps you pinned to your seat. Thanks to the superior text by writers Tony Gilroy, Scott Z. Burns and George Nolfi, the ensemble recites first-rate dialogue and finds themselves in totally believable situations, not a mean feat in thrillers such as these. Damon, Allen, Julia Stiles (who makes her best impression as CIA op Nicky Parsons) all return in top form, with Strathairn, Scott Glenn and Albert Finney bringing an air of duplicity masked in patriotism to their roles. They all make great adversaries.

The Cold War has long been dead, but the post-9/11 international espionage film is alive and well and has hit its zenith with The Bourne Ultimatum. As director Doug Liman did with the first Bourne film, the bar has been raised, and Greengrass has risen to the challenge in remarkable ways, making it an almost mission impossible for the next globe-trotting secret agent to follow this job well done.

– David Bleiler

© TLA Entertainment Group

Premonition

(2007, 96 min) Sandra Bullock lures the audiences with her starring role in this mind-twisting thriller. With the tone of countless "Twilight Zone" episodes, this film tries and sometimes entertains with healthy doses of supernatural dream logic peppered with confusing time-shifting. Married to successful businessman and father, Jim (Julian McMahon, better known as Victor Von Doom from the Fantastic Four franchise), Linda (Bullock) goes about her daily routine until a sheriff’s knock on her door signals the beginning of a descent into a strangely sterile mind warp as he proclaims her husband’s death the day before. As she gathers her willpower to carry on and survive, along with her two small daughters, she finally sleeps that night. In the morning she wakes to discover her husband very much alive. The audience soon becomes witnesses to the cinematic fact that Linda is living day to day, yet the days are non-sequential. She sleeps, her husband is alive, she sleeps, he is dead again. This creaky plot device allows her to peer into the future, at times trying to prevent her husband’s demise, and at times to be neutrally resigned to her fate.

Various other “facts” appear as the film moves forward, yet in the long run they neither support nor detract from the underlying message of the script. It is extremely difficult to pull off a nonlinear narration without turning off the majority of your audience. For instance, Atom Egoyan has perfected this form in films like The Sweet Hereafter and Exotica, time lines shifting from present to past to present in order to build a rich composite of motive and character. This film employs this tact for a completely different purpose, supposedly to build suspense and ambiguity. So, at times it sometimes works and at other moments it’s simply confusing.

Bullock does manage to pull off a decent performance, in spite of mounting illogic and plot holes. When she discovers that indeed she can shift events ever so slightly in order to make her present/future more palatable, the narrative’s plausibility is enhanced. Suffice to say, there is a positive outcome achieved by the end that is not easily arrived at.

– Max Brinck

© TLA Entertainment Group

The Lookout

(2007, 99 min) Chris Pratt (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) was the king of high school: a senior, star of the hockey team, basking in strong friendships and the love of a beautiful girl, his future seemed secure. Son of a wealthy town father, he was known and liked throughout his community. Four years later, he’s living in a decrepit apartment in a seedy part of town. He needs to check a list every morning to make sure he takes care of the most basic, banal tasks (like having breakfast). His life imploded when his speeding car ran into a threshing machine. He now spends his days in rehab classes, retraining his mind after a catastrophic head injury; his nights are spent as the janitor of the town bank. He aspires to be a teller. He misses his friends.

Chris meets Gary Spargo (Matthew Goode, a long way from “Miss Marple” and Match Point), who says he briefly dated Chris’ sister. Gary zeroes in on the empty, unfulfilled spaces in Chris’ once privileged life — friendship, intimacy, pride — and acerbates his dissatisfactions to manipulate and control. Chris feels empowered by the sudden rush of apparent camaraderie and goodwill, but his roommate Lewis (Jeff Daniels) smells a rat . . . Lewis is blind, but sees what Chris can’t. Or won’t. Then Gary starts talking bank heist.

First-time feature director Scott Frank also wrote the script (as he did for The Interpreter, Out of Sight, Get Shorty and others), and delivers an immediately involving and tightly structured thriller. The ensemble deliver concise and potent performances, and the film moves with focused intent, without extraneous baggage. The Lookout is satisfying and reflective, an intelligent examination of loss and betrayal and possible redemption.

– Ann Yarabinee

© TLA Entertainment Group

Breach

(2007, 111 min) Following on the heels of The Good Shepherd, we are given another considered drama based on intelligence activity. This time, it’s a dramatized account of a true story: the single greatest failure to the FBI community to date, the counter-intelligence mayhem created by one Robert Hanssen, an agent who leaked documents and revealed the identities of at least twenty agents to the Russians for over twenty years. Billy Ray (Shattered Glass) scripts and directs this high impact story with finesse, attributable to the extra-fine acting of Chris Cooper (as Hanssen) and the better than average work of Ryan Phillippe (who plays Eric O’Neill, the agent planted to spy on the spy). Laura Linney as agent Burroughs, heads up the ultra-secret internal affairs group that orchestrates the trap that ultimately ensnares agent Hanssen. Out of necessity, the storyline stays mostly on the surface, Billy Ray wisely avoids adding his own subtext, neither political nor psychological to the linear narrative.

What is ambiguous, and probably so in reality, is the motivation behind the actions by Hannsen. Clearly stating that it wasn’t for the money, the audience is left to draw their own conclusions based on the fleshing out of Hannsen’s character. He is a devout Catholic, going to Mass every day, yet surreptiously videotapes his wife and himself during their lovemaking sessions. We come to understand that this is an extremely arrogant man, angry with the intelligence community at large and holding himself as superior in intelligence to all other agents. This is probably the motive. He did it because he could. Simple, chilling but almost assuredly true.

The key to the success of this film is obviously the command exhibited by Cooper. He brings the tonal shadings of characterization first glimpsed in American Beauty. The homophobia, extreme nationalism, and adherence to “family” values are a veneer to the underbelly of an amoral monster, barely able to contain his nihilistic rage. Breach engages the viewer from the first frame and refuses to let go until the final, memorable image of Cooper, alone with his crime.

– Max Brinck

© TLA Entertainment Group

Zodiac

(2007, 156 min) During the 1970s, the San Francisco area was gripped by fear as an unknown serial killer who dubbed himself the Zodiac terrorized the Bay area. Officially unsolved by the police, the case was high profile and impossible to ignore. Zodiac, an adaptation of Robert Graysmith’s 1986 first-hand book giving a behind-the-scenes look into the investigation and a glimpse into a frightened city, is very much the same: a first-rate “high-profile” adaptation and totally impossible to dismiss.

Director David Fincher, who has orchestrated some bloody good work on the screen (Fight Club, Se7en), would be quite at home in detailing the gruesome killings in inventive cinematic flourishes – one shocking set piece after another. However, he has wisely chosen to blend a few genres – the police procedural, a newspaper investigation drama and a psychological thriller – to create an atmospheric, tense and gripping study in suspense rather than present a simple blood-and-gore horror-fest. Featuring great writing, smart direction, terrific performances and a hypnotic story of murder and the subsequent detective work that followed, Zodiac is more All the President’s Men than Saw, more Silence of the Lambs than Hostel. And that’s pretty good company.

The film opens on July 4, 1969, re-enacting the shooting of a young couple parked at a lovers’ lane. The editor at the San Francisco Chronicle receives a bizarre, cryptic manifesto from the killer, demanding it be published or more will die. And they do – the next killing is of a young couple by a lakeside; the scene is brutally efficient and, although there is hardly any blood spilled, it is one of the most gruesome murders ever conceived for the screen. Hitchcock is smiling somewhere.

The Chronicle’s new cartoonist, Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal), happens to figure out the killer’s first puzzle, and thus begins his fascination with the case, his employment at the paper giving him access to much inside information. The lead detective on the case, Dave Toschi (Mark Ruffalo), is nicknamed Bullitt by his coworkers, and for good reason as he was not only the inspiration for the Steve McQueen movie character but Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry as well. As the murders continue, the two men begin separate investigations that eventually collide. Though there are a few leads, the strain on the men is evident as each tries to piece together the identity of the killer.

Fincher has done a marvelous job at re-creating 1970s San Francisco. The speak is genuine (too many times in movies modern colloquialisms make their way in period pieces – not here!), the look is authentic. . . you can almost smell the seafood at Fisherman’s Wharf. Though running 156 minutes, the film is lean, tight and consistently keeps you involved. The great cast helps, too, at making this a spellbinding experience.

Gyllenhaal, who was so nuanced in Brokeback Mountain and dynamic in Jarhead, is no less effective here in a shrewdly observed low-key portrayal as the mild-mannered cartoonist. He is the film’s Everyman, and is the heart of the film. Ruffalo, who has such a natural charm to him, is the film’s conscience, and when he’s outraged, we’re outraged; when he grieves, we grieve. As the Chronicle’s lead reporter on the story, Downey steals the show from the splendid ensemble. Witnessing the wear and tear on the journalist leaves little doubt as to his outcome. Obviously, the Zodiac effected more lives than just his victims and their families.

Zodiac is probably Fincher’s most accomplished film to date, a real tour de force in storytelling and technique. That the crimes were never officially solved only adds to the immediacy of it all. We are witness to the best and worse impulses in man, and it’s fascinating stuff.

– David Bleiler

© TLA Entertainment Group

The Good Shepherd

(2006, 167 min) Robert De Niro directs Matt Damon playing a top spy named Edward Wilson in The Good Shepherd, loosely based on the character of real life James Angleton, one of the founding officers of American counterintelligence that would become the CIA. Stretching to almost three hours, the film attempts to depict the shaping of the shadowy world of political intrigue and military secrets in epic proportions. It mostly succeeds, thanks to the subtly complex screenplay by Eric Roth (The Insider, Munich). This is about the consequences of covert activities, though no actual spying is revealed, except for one particular bugging operation that also contains crucial, emotional elements of the main characters. Wilson is a most introverted man, showing barely a glimmer of human warmth throughout the picture, having surrendered his life to his country. And yet, and this is to Damon’s credit, reveals the effects of actions in his environment to his inner self in the most restrained way imaginable on-screen.

We follow young Wilson in his Yale years when he forges lifelong ties to other operatives when he becomes a member of the ultra secret Skull and Bones society. One romantic involvement is studied with a young, deaf girl until Wilson is introduced to Margaret (Angelina Jolie) who he will be forced to marry. Jolie, acting in a marginally supporting role, at least is able to provide a realistic portrait of an abandoned wife, left to her own devices with her son in tow. As he rises to the inner sanctum of the intelligence community, the film flashes backward, showing his progress through the years, and forward, to the culminating Bay of Pigs event.

Other acting credits should also go to William Hurt, John Turturro, Alec Baldwin, Michael Gambon, and a brief glimpse of Joe Pesci. They all add textured performances to this disquieting and thought-provoking tale. Slightly awkward at times, when balancing broad commentary with minute details of covert life, the film is still able to strike a serious and sustained tone that stays with the viewer.

– Max Brinck

© TLA Entertainment Group

The Number 23

(2007, 95 min) Director Joel Schumacher tries his hand at the twisty psychological thriller genre to mixed results. The Number 23 pulls elements from such lackluster modern thrillers as Secret Window and Hide & Seek in order to elaborate upon a somewhat interesting gimmick involving the relevance of the number 23. From the sum of the digits in famous disasters (ex. 09-11-2001) to the number of chromosomes inherited from a parent, that pesky number seems to just pop up everywhere. It's a conspiracy theorist's playground, although the film itself admits that the lengths to which the concept is stretched are a bit much at times.

Walter Sparrow (Jim Carrey) leads an ordinary life as an animal controller until one day he is bitten by a mysterious dog who follows him throughout the film. This incident is recounted by Sparrow in a voice over that explains how it eventually led to his receiving a book entitled "The Number 23." The book concerns a detective (also Carrey, but a mean, Colin Farrell-in-Miami Vice-looking Carrey) who becomes obsessed with the number after a curse of sorts is passed on to him. Sparrow's home life begins mirroring that of the book, conspiracies are explored, and the inevitable big twist (or two) come and go without much involvement from the audience. The film's conclusion is a lengthy explanation that reveals occurrences rather than clues. Clues are required to logically lead the clever audience to the mystery's solution before the big reveal, but all this long series of flashbacks does is expose the naiveté of the scriptwriter who was obviously much too proud of his basic premise. The DVD will surely include at least a few alternate endings.

Carrey never seems truly comfortable in either of his roles, but he certainly does act his heart out. His saxophone playing tattooed detective is just plain goofy, but he carries it out to the best of his abilities with a menacing stare and a raspy voice. None of these high contrast, super saturated dime store novel scenes really work, but at least they make up the small percentage of the film that is blatant Schumacher.

It won't be remembered as one of the worst movies of the year (in fact it probably won't be remembered at all), but The Number 23 could easily have been a lot worse.

– Eric Bresler

© TLA Entertainment Group

Hannibal Rising

(2007, 117 min) Imposing and impressive Lecter Castle is nestled in the lush Lithuanian countryside near a gently rolling river. Young Hannibal and his beloved sister Mischa bask in the pampering indulgence of their doting parents. But it's 1944, and they're caught between Nazi invaders and advancing Russian troops. When the armies move on, leaving behind death and destruction, scavengers both animal and human move in. Orphaned Hannibal and Mischa find themselves at the dubious mercy of a band of marauding miscreants, their own countrymen who lent themselves out to the Germans, and will just as easily attach themselves to the upcoming Communist regime. But right now, they're trapped with the children in a small country villa. It's the dead of winter, there is no food, they're pinned down... and they're hungry.

Hannibal Rising tracks the events that created the monster: his sister is taken from him in a most atrocious act; he is forced to live in his former castle home, now an orphanage replete with images of Stalin and the requisite bullies. After eight years of silent acquiescence, he leaves to search for his uncle in France; he finds his uncle’s widow and the discipline of Asian martial arts. His entry into medical school provides the final element of his new persona, an identity forged through loss and pain and unimaginable cruelty.

This looked like it might be a credible exploration of Hannibal Lecter's character formation. The script was the first one in the film series to be written by Thomas Harris, Hannibal's creator. The story provided the raw material for either a serious exploration of evil, or a terrific exploitation of horror. The locations are arresting and evocative, the performances are credible and competent (Dominic West and, of course, Gong Li stand out), the production values outstanding. It starts out with promise and then fizzles, going all De Laurentiis on itself ("Everbody cry when Mischa die," maybe?). For all its orchestrated gore, for all its myth-making intent, the film is curiously flat and remarkably empty; not quite campy enough, not quite scary enough, not quite incisive enough. Director Webber showed his facility for impressive presentation in Girl with a Pearl Earring. It seems he needs to allow his big screen craft to maturate, and to allow the protagonists to propel the story.

– Ann Yarabinee

© TLA Entertainment Group

The Prestige

(2006, 130 min) Unique in its flashback and flash-forward style, Christopher and Jonathan Nolan's The Prestige enlists the considerable talents of Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale and Michael Caine as the principals in this confounding and delightful cinematic tale. A story-driven drama, thriller and fantasy piece all rolled into a tight and cohesive script is greatly aided by the photography of Wally Pfister, who evokes the late 1800s with golden and sepia tones. Alfred Borden (Bale), and Robert Angier (Jackman) are aspiring magicians and friends in England, who as they are given chances to perform on their own, transform into bitter and paranoid rivals. The designer and construction expert, Cutter (Caine), is the older man who is a close friend to both men. Cutter must watch as these men endure an early tragedy in the loss of Angier's wife and assistant Julia (Piper Perabo), in an illusion gone awry. Borden meets and marries Sarah (Rebecca Hall), a loving wife who witnesses her husband slip into an obsession as he tries to better Angier.

The central theme and piece of the film are an act called "The Transported Man," in which one illusionist disappears and almost instantaneously reappears in a distant location from the stage. Each man stages a version of this illusion, and here is where the film unveils a crucial plot element with the introduction of the genius scientist, Nikola Tesla (David Bowie). In a version of the Tesla coil, huge electrical discharges are displayed in a controlled environment. This device captures the imagination of Angier, (and later Borden), who contracts Tesla to construct a similar device for his "Transported Man" scenario. Is this invention simply an awe-inspiring display or does it hold the secret of "The Prestige?" The third act of this marvelous film reveals many mysteries in stunningly beautiful ways.

– Max Brinck

© TLA Entertainment Group