Romeo is Bleeding

Gary Oldman and Lena Olin star in this Baz Luhrmann film from 1993. Definitely cool.

Noir atmosphere prevails in story of a crooked cop who is ordered to kill a VERY sexy hitwoman. Over the edge performances drive this dark tale. Not to everyone's taste but interesting and different.

www.imdb.com/title/tt0107983/

Avatar

James Cameron's blockbuster hit from 2009 just didn't do it for me. Is it woth seeing? Yes, for the visuals. Cameron envisioned a great looking movie with otherworldly characters, effects, and locations and I highly reccommend the 3-D version.

But the story? That's something else entirely. Elements of "Little Big Man", Cameron's own "The Abyss", and even "Fern Gully" made this film something that I felt I have seen before. Not a great calling card for the most successful film of all time.

So see it for the visuals and let the rest slide.

www.imdb.com/title/tt0499549/

The Man Who Fell To Earth

1976 Nicolas Roeg film starring David Bowie.

Who better to play an alien passing as a human? Bowie is perfect as an extra terrestrial who comes to Earth for the water, a precious commodity on his home planet. Along the way he builds a company into a phenomenal success but doesn't count on the destructive, greedy nature of humans.

Interesting sci-fi film.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074851/

The Warriors

Walter Hill directed this 1979 film starring Michael Beck, James Remar, and Deborah Van Valkenburgh.

Violent drama depicts a street gang's journey from the Bronx to their home base as other rival gangs try to stop them.

Interesting look at the various types of gangs and gritty view of the city and its inhabitants.

Many violent segments but worth seeing Hill's vision of a very tough New York.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080120/

Earth Vs The Flying Saucers

Hugh Marlowe and Joan Taylor star in this Fred F. Sears film from 1956.

Remarkable special effects for its time created by Ray Harryhausen. Aliens invade our planet demanding our surrender, leading to war of the worlds.

Not your typical B-movie.

Fun and literate.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049169/

Raising Arizona

Ok, is this one of the funniest movies ever?

Coen Brothers film from 1987 stars Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter, Frances McDormand, Trey Wilson, John Goodman.

Loser and his police officer wife use twisted logic to justify stealing one baby out of a set of quintuplets ("They have more than they can handle..."). The police are after them, so is a bounty hunter (Tex Cobb).

Movie is twisted and wicked funny with great cast, acting, camera work. Wonderful scenes abound, from life in prison to a hunt for Huggies during a convenience store robbery.

A must see.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093822/

Cry Baby

Long before Captain Jack Sparrow Johhny Depp was Cry Baby in this 1990 offering from John Waters.

Cool, funny musical with that John Waters sense of lunacy and absurdity starring Johnny Depp, Amy Locane, Iggy Pop, Polly Bergen, Ricki lake, and Traci Lords (yes, THAT Traci Lords)

"Good" girl whose mother runs a finjishing school falls for Cry Baby, leader of the "Drapes", rock and rollin', hot roddin' greasers.

Funny, with great and surprising supporting cast (Troy Donahue?) and classic soundtrack that sounds like it was ripped off the Billboard charts in 1959.

Fun and frisky.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099329/

Thunder Road

1958 film directed by Arthur Ripley starring Robert Mitchum, Gene Barry.

Mitchum as a moonshiner outwitting both the Feds and gangsters who want to get him and his contraband off the road. A cult favorite.

Robert Mitchum also wrote the theme song.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052293/

Romeo Is Bleeding

1993 Peter Medak drama stars Gary Oldman, Lena Olin, Juliette Lewis, Roy Scheider.

Crooked cop ordered by mob boss to kill a female assassin. Sounds dark and depressing, and sometimes is, but also entertaining and quite funny at times. Oldman is great (can he do anything wrong?) but the stand out is Olin as the hit woman.

Very different, contemporary stab at film noir.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107983/

Bunny Lake is Missing

1965 film directed by Otto Preminger and starring Laurence Olivier, Carol Lynley, and Keir Dullea.

Sometimes dreary, sometimes suspenseful look at an investigation into the disappearance of a child. The question eventuall becomes was there ever a child to begin with?

At times interesting going, other times it might drag on....but interesting and worth a look.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058997/

Blow Up

Michelangelo Antonioni's1966 film stars David Hemmings and Vanessa Redgrave in multi-layed film about a photographer in '60s Mod England who thinks he has uncovered a murder.

The entire film challenges the viewer to consider what is real, what is fantasy....such as a game of tennis that is mimed by street performers...until you start hearing the ball. Amazing film filled with symbolism, meaning, and may leave you both confused and satisfied.

Look for the classic group the Yardbirds in a club scene.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060176/

Twelve Monkeys

1995 film directed by the brilliant Monty Python cartoonist-turned-director Terry Gilliam and starring Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, and Brad Pitt.

Willis is sent from the future where mankind has moved underground to our present day to find the cause of a plague that has devestated the Earth. Claiming he is a time traveler, psychiatrist Stowe at first tries to treat him but eventually believes him and the two embark on a quest to save the future of society. Brad Pitt is amazing as is Willis.

Gilliam is always smart, clever, interesting, and his movies will have you talking about them long after you've seen them. This one is no different, taking you back and forth in time and playing with your mind along the way. Great acting and thought-provoking plotline will keep you intrigued in this hallucinogenic saga.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114746/

Gone in Sixty Seconds

Some movies are great, some are cool. Some are great AND cool (Pulp Fiction).

Gone in Sixty Seconds is ok, but VERY cool. Made in 2000 it stars Nicolas Cage, Giovanni Ribisi, Angelina Jolie (in blond dreadlocks!) and Robert Duvall.

The title refers to the time it takes a master car thief to do his or her thing.

Cage plays a former car thief who is drawn back into the business. He and his cohorts must steal 50 upscale cars in one night. An almost impossible feat but it must be done to save his brother's life.

A remake of an earlier film, this one is way cool. The characters are cool and so are the cars, especially a car Cage has a history with: Eleanor, a '60s Mustang. Climax of the film is the fight between Cage and the bad guy but the real highlight is the car chase near the end featuring Eleanor. It has thrills, pretty good effects, and even some humor.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0187078/


Not a great movie, but certainly a cool one.