'Batman Begins' is a great new start

Batman Begins (2005)
Starring: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Cillian Murphy, and Gary Oldman
Director: Christopher Nolan
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

Bruce Wayne (Bale) returns to Gotham City after spending several years under the tutalage of Henri Ducat (Neeson), a member of an order of martial artists that claim to be devoted destruction of corruption and criminals using any available means. Wayne proceeds to put the skills he has learned, his family fortune, and his access to the applied sciences department of the family company to create Batman, a second identity through which he hopes to avenge the murder of his parents and bring law and justice to corrupt Gotham. Aided by the faithful family butler, Alfred (Caine) and one of the few honest cops in the city, Jim Gordon (Oldman), Batman takes on the powerful Falcone crime syndicate and a strange plot being orchestrated by Dr. Jonathan Crane of Arkham Asylum (Murphy).


I avoided seeing this movie for a long time, because it's been at least ten years since I've read an issue of the monthly "Batman" comic I liked (some of the graphic novels and spin-off miniseries have been spectacular, but the core titles have not been anywhere near to the Batman stories I enjoy) and because other Batman movies from the last 20 or so years have been beyond bad. I was also afraid that this movie might be as drab as the "Batman: Year One" story from Frank Miller.

I am glad that I finally decided to heed the rave reviews of friends and take a look at it. It's an excellent chronicle of Bruce Wayne's start as Batman that manages to incorporate some of Batman's most terrifying foes in a sensible way--R'as Al-Guhl and the Scarecrow--and weaves an excellent thread about the power of fear through the film. The use and portrayal of Jim Gordon is in line with how the character has been used in comics like "Gordon of Gotham" and even "Batman: Year One" (Gordon's portrayal was one of the better aspects of that storyline). The treatment of Alfred was also excellent, and it was great to see Lucius Fox (played by Morgan Freeman) make an big-screen appearance. And then there's the Batmobile; the one in this movie has got to be the funkiest, funnest Batmobile that will ever appear on screen!

The acting was great all around, although I think Cillian Murphy was somewhat miscast as Jonathan Crane, because he's too young for the part; his performance was otherwise excellent. (I wonder if Oldman might not have made a better Crane, despite the fact he was a fine Jim Gordon.)

Finally, Gotham City looked better than it has any of the previous Batman movies; it actually seemed like a real city instead of a movie set or a model.

"Batman Begins" is a great action flick and perhaps the best screen adaptation of Batman so far. It stays loyal to the best aspects of the comic books while telling a unique story.

Moore becomes Bond in 'Live and Let Die'

Live and Let Die (1973)
Starring: Roger Moore, Jane Seymour, Yaphet Kotto, and Geoffrey Holder
Director: Guy Hamilton
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

British secret agent James Bond (Moore) is dispatched to find and eliminate the leak that's caused the death of several of Her Majesty's secret agents in the Americas. He soon finds himself pitted against Mr. Big (Kotto), a powerful drug lord who has more than just thugs and weapons at his disposal: He is allied with a sexy Tarot-reading psychic (Seymore) and draws upon the seemingly very real voodoo powers of Baron Samdei himself (Holder)!


With "Live and Let Die", Guy Hamilton helmed yet another of my favorite James Bond movies. It's a little darker than most, the horror/ overtones are incorporated with great skill into the high-tech world super-spy world of Bond, and it's got one of the all-time classic Bond chases that has all the humor, action, suspense, and stunts that we've come to expect. It also delivers one of the most interesting Bond Girls to appear in the series, the may-or-may-not-be psychic, Solitaire. For final icing on the cake, the usual Bond-with-the-girl denouement even has a little bit of a horror twist to it.

Acting-wise, I think everyone made a fine show of themselves, even if I would have liked to see more of Seymour as Solitaire(in both senses of that). I also prefer the somewhat grimmer portrayal of Bond that Moore gives here than the increasingly good-humor-glint-in-eye Bond that we get in later films; it really seemed more in keeping with the character. In fact, that the humor was kept somewhat restrained in this film compared to the Roger Moore vehicles that were to come is one of the reasons this movies is so effective.

When Spies, Lies, and Morons Collide....

Burn After Reading (2008)
Starring: George Clooney, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton, Richard Jenkins, David Rache, and J.K. Simmons
Directors: Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

When a pair of dimwitted health club employees (McDormand and Pitt) find what they believe is a disk full of highly classified CIA secrets, their get-rich-quick efforts set in motion a series of events that shows that no one causes chaos like the very stupid.



"Burn After Reading" is a movie about hopes, dreams, lies, deception, and betrayal. It's got all the elements you find in spy movies, but they're found here in a story of cheating spouses--half the characters in the film are breaking their marriage vows spectacularly--a burned-out CIA analyst (played by John Malkovich), and the people at the CIA who are so concerned with secrecy that they can't take the simple step of asking "what the hell are you morons doing?"

The purposefully tangled mess that is the movie's plot gains its comedy from the fact that the smartest people in the world can't figure out what a pair of doofus are up to (nor the real causes for the events they set in motion) and it's a source it taps very well.

Hilarious performances by Brad Pitt as the dumbest health fanatic ever, George Clooney as the horniest government employee ever, and Tilda Swinson as a woman so bitchy no-one even dares to imply she's bitchy stand out in particular in this perfectly cast and skillfully acted and directed film. If you liked movies like "Fargo" and "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang", you'll get a kick out of this one as well. It's not quite as good as either of those two films, but it's still fun.

'Our Man Flint' kicks Austin Powers' ass

Our Man Flint (1966)
Starring: James Coburn, Lee J. Cobb, and Gila Golan
Director: Daniel Mann
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

When the world is threatened by a mysterious cabal who has the abilit to trigger natural disasters at will, only super-spy Derek Flint (Coburn) can save it. But will even his mastery of karate, fencing, bio-chemistry, world cuisne, and countless dance styles; his trick lighter with 80+ functions and weapons; his complete mastery of all his bodily functions; and his powers of seduction be enough to overcome the sinister briliance and beauty of his female counterpart (Golan)?


"Our Man Flint" is a hilarous spy comedy that derives its laughs from the fact that it's played completely straight (unlike "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" and its progressively worse sequels, which goes out of their way to be goofy). Flint is an outrageously over-the-top James Bond-type character who can do pretty much everything, and who knows everything, but who is so perfect that he will humbly say that there are many things he doesn't know. His "man-of-peace" attitude (until his friends and acquaintances are threatened), gentlemanly nature combined with his swingin' Sixties lifestyle (with his super-bachelor pad and four live-in girlfriends/personal assistants) make him an even more interesting and funny character.


The storyline is fast-paced, the jokes are funny, and the story is fun, flippant super-spy fare. I think lovers of comedy and James Bond-style spy movies will something to like about "Our Man Flint."

'Find Me Guilty' is an unusual mob movie

Find Me Guilty (2006)
Starring: Vin Diesel, Peter Dinklage, Ron Silver, and Alex Rocco
Director: Sidney Lumet
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

When life-long gangster Jackie Dinorsio (Diesel) is offered a chance to escape a 30-year prison sentence by turning state's evidence against his former Lucchesi Crime Family associates, he refuses to turn on those he considers his friends. Instead, he turns the biggest organized crime trial in American history into a vehicle to express his view of family values within the Family.


I like lawyer/court room movies. I like Vin Diesel, and I really liked him in "The Pacifier". I walked into "Find Me Guilty" really wanting to like the movie alot. Unfortunately, I found it a little lacking.

Some critics have complained that the movie turns morality upside down--the mobsters are basically the good guys here (with one exception--mob boss Nick Calabrese, played by Alex Rocco), while the federal prosecutor is a complete rat bastard--but I really didn't mind this aspect of the film, because the character of Jackie Dinorsio is the point of view from which the story is told, and he is truly convinced that all his criminal associates truly are "good fellas." The weakest point in the movie to my mind was the lead prosecutor was portrayed as so over-the-top that he brought down the rest of the movie. (Why did he have prison guards harass and beat up Dinorsio on the night before the Big Final Trial Witness was to appear in court?) Every other lawyer portrayed seemed believable, but the prosecutor did not. (Being that "Find Me Guilty" is based on the real-life 21-month RICO trial of a dozen or so New Jersey mobsters, perhaps the real-life prosecutor really was such a over-dramatic jerk... but he should have been toned down, because he was out of step with the rest of the performances in the film.)

"Find Me Guilty" is definitely Vin Diesel's show, and he manages to truly get the audience to feel sympathy for the wise-cracking Dinorsio, who, in the face of all the facts around him, continue to cling to his notion that there truly is love and respect shared between mobsters. To the very end, Dinorsio hangs onto this idea and continues to espouse it as he mounts a defense of himself and his buddies as his own attorney. In fact, the only friends that Dinorsio seems to have is the lead mob attorney (expertly played by Peter Dinklage) and the presiding judge (Ron Silver) who seems to develop some affection for Dinorsio as the trail unfolds; but Dinorsio never notices. If he does, he doesn't let it show.

There are plenty of chuckles in "Find Me Guilty", but I would have liked for more belly-laughs in the film. I recommend it if you enjoy mob movies or court-room dramas. I don't think it's a great movie, but I think my time watching it was well-spent.

Early Seagal is the Best Seagal

Hard to Kill (aka "Seven Year Storm") (1990)
Starring: Steven Seagal, Kelly Lebrock, Frederick Coffin, Charles Boswell, Branscombe Richmond, and William Sadler
Director: Bruce Malmuth
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

Police Detective Mason Storm (Seagal) and his family are gunned by a crooked cops doing the bidding of an even more crooked politician (Sadler). Emerging from a coma after seven years, Storm trains himself back to health with the help of a kindhearted nurse (Le Brock). He then picks up where he left off--going about blowing open the conspiracy that has now elevated cops and politicians to places of great power, while seeking some revenge along the way.


"Hard to Kill" to one of Steven Seagal's best movies, and it's proof that somewhere along the way his career went off the rails. It's a nicely paced, well-written, and well-acted action film that, while a bit goofy at times, is a great ride. Just don't think too hard during one or two sequences.

Seagal and Le Brock both give some of the best performances of their careers, and the supporting cast does a nice job as well. The fight scenes are mostly well done, and the one-liners uttered by Seagal during the film's climactic orgy of revenge, blood, and ass-kicking are more grim than funny... something that I appreciate now that I'm older and wiser. (I also found myself feeling sorry that the beautiful house Storm conveleses in is destroyed--I don't know if that's a sign that I'm getting old, or that accidental exposure to Tinky Winky while working at a PBS affliate turned me gay!)

If you're a fan of action movies, take a look at "Hard to Kill". It's from a time when Steven Seagal appeared in good movies.

Most straight-forward action film ever?

Shoot 'Em Up (2007)
Starring: Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti and Monica Bellucci
Director: Mike Davis
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

A mysterious drifter known as Mr. Smith (Owen) inadvertently ends up the protector of a newborn baby who is being hunted by a hoard of violent gunmen, led by a former FBI profiler named Hertz (Giamatti). It's a good thing that Our Hero is a one-man army will skills that James Bond and Jason Bourne would envy, and an imperviousness that only Bugs Bunny can match.


"Shoot 'Em Up" is perhaps one of the most honestly titled and promoted films of all time. It truly is about shooting holes in people, cars, planes... just about anything that appears on screen. It can only be summarized as Frank Miller's "Sin City" graphic novels meet John Woo's "Hardboiled" and collides with Marvel Comics' "The Punisher" as he was portrayed in the mid- to late-1990s.

It is perhaps one of the wildest action movies ever put on screen, and, with the exception of one romantic interlude and sex scene (that itself leads into one of the most outrageous action scenes I've ever seen) the action doesn't stop once it gets going some five seconds into the film. And as the movie spirals further and further into outrageousness, action movie fans will and cheer and not give one whit that the plot linking the cartoony, gory violent set-pieces makes increasingly less sense.

"Shoot 'Em Up" succeeeds due to its great cast, but even more because of its precisely choreographed gunfights that get evermore rediculous--culimating with a shootout that takes place while characters are skydiving. The film is also fun, because it acknowledge its silliness--most evidently when the carrot-chomping hero asks the villian, "What's up, Doc?"--while every actor in the film plays their role with utmost seriousness. (Owen and Giamatti are especially fun, as a pair of characters who emerge as a sort of live-action Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd.)

Another reason the film succeeds are some very odd touches and elements that appear as the film unfolds. Without spoiling too many surprises, I can mention that the first of these is the gunfight that Mr. Smith has with a gang of assassins while helping a woman give birth--as he is snuffing out lives left and right, he is bringing a new one into the world. There's also a recurring theme of gun control and gun safety that keeps cropping up. And there are also some very odd quirks on the part of both Mr. Smith and his foe Mr. Hertz that essentially end up defining them.

If you have a sense of humor, and you like your action movies light on plot and characterizations but heavy with action and heroic good guys and utterly dispicable bad guys, you absolutely must see "Shoot 'Em Up".