Rick's Flicks Picks on AWN

A lot was made of the fact that Tom Hanks (BIG) has playing a mean-as-nails assassin. Well, in reality he's the softest mean-as-nails assassin I've ever seen. Maybe because it's Hanks you just can't buy him as cold-blooded, but I've seen a lot more intimidating killers than Michael Sullivan. I'm not saying that Hanks was bad, I just don't think that he comes off as mean as the film wanted him to be.

The story is a simple revenge flick, which has Sullivan gunning for the killer of his family, who happens to be the son of the top gangster, John Rooney (Paul Newman, THE STING). Rooney is like an adopted father to Sullivan. Rooney even loves Sullivan more than his own son Connor (Daniel Craig, LARA CROFT: TOMB RAIDER). This situation creates bad blood and, following Sullivan's oldest son Michael Jr. (Tyler Hoechlin, TRAIN QUEST) witnessing a murder, leads to the slaughter of Sullivan's family.

This is one of my favorite films from the last few years. Something new impresses me about it every time I see it. Romantic comedies are rarely this good. But than romantic comedy characters are rarely written by Nick Hornby.

This unconventional rom-com follows Rob Gordon (John Cusack, SAY ANYTHING…) as he struggles to discover why his girlfriend, Laura (Iben Hjejle, in her American film debut), has broken up with him. He makes humorous asides to the camera that comment on his mental state and what he's learning about himself in the process. He's a disgruntled record storeowner, who sits around all day debating music with his two employees, Barry (Jack Black, ORANGE COUNTY) and Dick (Todd Louiso, JERRY MAGUIRE). He'd love to be a record producer, but doesn't have the confidence to take the risk.

This film isn't just a great animated film — it's a great film. If you think that LORD OF THE RINGS is the best fantasy/ adventure film you've ever seen than think again. MONONOKE has all the originally and action of RINGS, but also has an amazing intelligent message about harmony, peace and preserving nature. This is the kind of animated film that you forget is animated about a minute into it.

Prince Ashitaka (English voiced by Billy Crudup, ALMOST FAMOUS) saves his village from a demon boar god, however he's infected by the beast and is banished from his people. He and his loyal red elk, Yacul, venture out into the world to find the people who turned the boar into a demon and ask the forest god to heal him. Ashitaka arrives in Iron Town where Lady Eboshi (English voiced by Minnie Driver, GOOD WILL HUNTING) is creating guns and wagging war against the forest gods. San, or Princess Mononoke (English voiced by Claire Danes, 1996's ROMEO & JULIET) is a human who has been adopted by the wolf god, Moro (English voiced by Gillian Anderson, TV's X-FILES) and has vowed to kill Eboshi for destroying the forest. Then along comes conniving priest Jigo (English voiced by Billy Bob Thornton, SLING BLADE), who has been contracted by the emperor to cut-off the head of the forest god and bring it back to him. Ashitaka works vigorously as a peace broker between the many warring parties knowing that the survival of all depends on their cooperation.

I feel ashamed as a certifiable film nut that this is the first time that I've seen a Buster Keaton film. I've been depriving myself for way too long. In the film community the debate rages on whether Keaton or Chaplin was the true king of silent comedy and frankly I don't care. They are both masters of slapstick and timing, which very few can match. They both knew how to tug at the heartstrings and make you double over in laughter at the same time.

Directed by Edward Sedgwick and Keaton, this film has Keaton playing a wanna-be news cameraman named Buster, who tries to get a job at MGM and at the same time tries to impress the young MGM office girl named Sally (Marceline Day). Standing in his way is current cameraman Harold (Harold Goodwin), who sees Buster as a novice and wants Sally for himself. Buster's footage is often unusable, being overexposed or double exposed. When he gets a good tip of something big happening in Chinatown, he almost loses his life on several occasions. The comedic wonderment of every scene is amazing. You could list all the scenes in the film and say each one was a classic.

I guess this film would be considered a romantic comedy, but I really think it's much more than that. Harold Ramis' brilliant comedy is accessible while still having an existential quality. If you were immortal, what would you do with your time? What is the point of life… especially when déjà vu becomes a daily occurrence? Would you feel inspired or trapped?

The story follows Phil Connors (Bill Murray, GHOSTBUSTERS), a self-centered weatherman for a Pittsburgh TV station, who has to cover the Groundhog's Day celebration in Punxsutawney. After being trapped in town due to a blizzard, Phil starts living Groundhog's Day over and over again thousands of times. What's ingenious about the story is what Phil does with the chance to live a day over again. At first he's weirded-out, but soon he takes advantage of it to get women into bed, especially Rita (Andie MacDowell, FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL), his new producer.

This is the kind of film that you think back on and say to yourself "hey, that was a great scene" and by the time you're done you've said that about two-thirds of the scenes in the film. Director Rob Marshall brings the famed Maurine Dallas Watkins and Bob Fosse production to the scene with classic musical flare.

The picture follows the infamous rise to celebrity of Roxie Hart (Renee Zellweger, NURSE BETTY) after she kills her lover, who had promised to get her a starring gig on the stage. She ends up in the same prison with the infamous Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones, TRAFFIC), a successful stage star who killed her sister and her husband. Matron Mama Morton (Queen Latifah, SET IT OFF) is the warden of the prison and for a "small" fee she sets Roxie up with Billy Flynn (Richard Gere, PRETTY WOMAN), the most successful lawyer in town. After Roxie gets her nobody husband Amos (John C. Reilly, WHAT'S EATING GILBERT GRAPE?) to foot her defense bill, Roxie becomes a media darling thanks to Flynn — even overshadowing Velma.

This message flick is a harrowing drama, which chronicles the ordeals of young gang rape victim, Sarah Tobias (Jodie Foster, SILENCE OF THE LAMBS). Foster deserved the Oscar for a perfect performance. She is one of the main reasons the film works so well.

Based on a true story, the film depicts the case, which was brought against three men who cheered on the assault. Kelly McGillis (TOP GUN, WITNESS) plays the reserved DA Kathryn Murphy, who puts her career on the line by prosecuting the cheerers. After making a deal with rapists, Murphy feels guilt for not letting Tobias tell her story.

I applaud the film's writer Tom Topor (NUTS) for the perfect construction of the story. Leaving the actual detailed re-enactment of the rape until the end really solidified an often-typical courtroom ending. It also doesn't make the case easy. When Sarah was raped she was in a dive bar, drunk, dancing provocatively in skimpy clothes. It allows for the male ruled judicial system to believe that she asked for it. But for the viewer the brutality of the case just underlines how that mindset it so grossly wrong.

This film really shouldn't be that good. Most of the film is exposition, people just talking about what has happened. However, the brilliance of the film is that it's not boring for a second. Oliver Stone has truly made a masterpiece. Along with his editor and sound designer, they have crafted a visually thrilling journey through the labyrinthine plot against the president. As the plot unravels, the scenes pick up speed and the editing becomes more jagged. The sound becomes layered with a subtle ticking clock underneath.

The other driving force is the cast, which is loaded with amazing performances. Kevin Costner as DA Jim Garrison is the central reason the film works. Costner has been known to dial in a performance or two, but when he gets a role he really cares about (see DANCES WITH WOLVES and all three of his baseball films) he really drives home a powerful, convincing performance. Garrison is his best and he really grabs you with his "man in search of the truth" passion. There's a great character scene close to the end when the film slows down a bit (like reaching the eye of the storm) where Garrison can open up to his wife (Sissy Spacek, IN THE BEDROOM). That quiet scene leads right into the courthouse climax where Costner really excels. His closing monologue is one of the best ever — just listen for the quiver in his voice. Plus, Stone throws at us one of my favorite shots in movie history when Garrison finishes his speech and looks directly into the camera to include the audience in on the fight for justice.

This film is one of my all-time favorites. I've seen it dozens of times. The movie is the true-life story of Edward D. Wood Jr., the director voted as the worst ever. And trust me, I've seen his films and they are the worst. The picture follows the making of his three most infamous flicks GLEN OR GLENDA, BRIDE OF THE MONSTER and PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE, which was voted the worst movie of all-time.

The film is hilarious as it chronicles Ed's problems and manipulations to get his films made. He's a hustler of sorts roping in washed up or B-actors to appear in his films for peanuts. His big coup was getting Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau, TV's MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE), who by the time he hooked up with Wood was a broke drug addict. Wood's girlfriend Dolores Fuller (Sarah Jessica Parker, L.A. STORY) is a fledgling actress, but gets freaked out by Wood's strange friends and open cross-dressing. Later, he'll meet Kathy O'Hara (Patricia Arquette, FLIRTING WITH DISASTER), who will accept him for who he is.

How do we cope with an expected tragedy? When we have no good reason not to think there will be another day of life with the ones we love, how does the mind process the sharp 180 turn of remorseless reality when that next day doesn't come? These are the painful questions that director Francois Ozon tackles in this thoughtful French production about the unexpected loss of a spouse.

Marie (Charlotte Rampling, SPY GAME) and Jean (Bruno Cremer, French TV actor) travel to their vacation home. The day after they arrive they go to the beach. Jean says he's going into the water and Marie stays behind to sunbathe. Jean disappears. What may have happened to him is unclear at the beginning because we never see him go into the water, which is a brilliant move by Ozon (8 WOMEN) because the doubt serves as a driving narrative through-line for the film.

Until CLERKS became the highest percentage moneymaker of all time (later overtaken by BLAIR WITCH and just recently by MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING), this film was the most successful independent film of all-time. Horror genius John Carpenter leveraged the festival success of his first film ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 to drum up the $300,000 to make this film about babysitters killed by the boogieman. In her first film role, the movie made Jamie Lee Curtis a movie star and drew her a cult fan base of horror film fanatics.

From the point of view of the killer, the film begins with six-year-old Michael Myers murdering his older sister. At 23, Myers (Tony Moran, HALLOWEEN II) kills his way out of a psychiatric institution and heads back to his old neighborhood on Halloween night. When Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK) discovers Myers' escape, he fears a bloodbath, because Myers is the most evil man he has ever seen in his whole career. Laurie Strode (Curtis, TRADING PLACES) is the virginal good girl who is spending her Halloween evening babysitting the bashful and innocent Tommy Doyle (Brian Andrews, THE GREAT SANTINI). Her friends Annie Brackett (Nancy Loomis, THE FOG) and Lynda van der Klok (P.J. Soles, CARRIE) seem more interested in boys and partying then anything else. Myers dons a blank white mask and begins stalking these young women.

Outside of a 50-minute film titled FRANKENSTEIN'S PLANET OF MONSTERS! director Brad Anderson's feature resume is filled with independent romantic comedies like NEXT STOP WONDERLAND and HAPPY ACCIDENTS. Anderson found the location and was inspired to write a horror film set there. He proves very adept at building tension and creating real fear in his audience. This is one of the scariest films I've ever seen.

The story follows a group of asbestos removers as they work inside an abandoned insane asylum. Gordon (Peter Mullan, THE CLAIM) is the owner of the business and is keeping a secret about his wife from the others. Phil (David Caruso, first season of NYPD BLUE) has a tense relationship with Hank (Josh Lucas, SWEET HOME ALABAMA, DEEP END) because the later stole Phil's girlfriend. Mike (Stephan Gevedon, also co-write & BOYS ON THE SIDE) is a law school drop-out, who becomes obsessed with an old patient through listening to her old therapy sessions. (The film gains more tension as we lead up to session 9). Jeff (Brendan Sexton III, WELCOME TO DOLLHOUSE, BOYS DON'T CRY) is the rookie and afraid of the dark.