I wanted to keep the good-movie-ball rolling with another Le Carre film adaptation, The Constant Gardner. This is one that I missed in theaters and have always been meaning to circle back and watch. It’s a well-made film. Ralph Fiennes performance is excellent as usual but Rachel Weisz is the real star of this film. Her work here is really strong and saves much of the film from slowing to an unbearable pace.

But for all that good, I still didn’t love this. I found myself bored for much of the running time. The plot that revolves around evil pharmaceutical companies is so obvious, every “bad guy” is so apparent, that the only mystery is wondering why the main characters don’t figure things out sooner. It kills much of the tension that a better script could have maintained. So I’d say only watch this if you are a Ray Fiennes fan, want to see a strong female performance by Rachel Weisz, or love the poorest parts of Africa where most of this film is shot.

I still maintain that I’m not sure this is actually entertaining but it is absolutely interesting, compelling, and sometimes disturbing. Both times I saw this, I was engrossed and totally captivated by the story. I’m still in shock that this is a true story.

As great as Mark Ruffalo is here (and he received a lot of awards credit for his role that I totally agree with), I’m even more surprised by the great performances of Channing Tatum and Steve Carell. Carell in particular is transformative. He goes so deep into the role that it’s truly disturbing in a good way.

This is a slower film so if you don’t have the attention span for films like this, you may despise it but I thought it was amazingly intriguing.

My jaw dropped so many times during this film. I still can’t figure out how they did half of the camera moves in this, especially given the film technology of the 1960’s. The performances are excellent, the story is compelling, and the cinematography is astounding.

This is a cold-war spy movie written by the same author (Le Carre) as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, A Most Wanted Man and several other great spy films. For those that like complex, thought-driven plots, intense acting, and black & white photography, this is a true gem. No wonder Richard Burton was nominated for best actor for this film.

This film absolutely deserves every one of the accolades it has received over the years. This is one of the original film noirs and it comes packed with double-crosses, shady dealings, plot twists, murder, and a femme fatale.

The performances, especially Fred MacMurray as the lead are tremendous. The black and white cinematography is breathtaking and the dialogue is to die for. This was directed by the genius Billy Wilder who also made Sunset Boulevard (some of the best dialogue ever put on film). He had a knack with stories like this and really knocked this one out of the park. Highly recommended.

Many directors (including Spike Lee), consider Night of the Hunter to be one of the best movies ever made. I’d always heard about it but never saw it until now and… frankly, it’s bizarre. I don’t know how this movie ever got made at the time it did. I can see why 1955 audiences were puzzled by it and in some cases even feared it.

There is biting criticism of depression-era religiosity in the South, a creepy child-murderer main character, and a surrealism that pervades the entire picture with stylized shots meant to evoke images and emotions more than tell a reality-based story.

Those might all sound like objections but for those reasons, I really enjoyed this. I’m not sure I could recommend it to most people because it seems more of an acquired taste but it is quite amazing. Probably the biggest reason to watch it is to see Robert Mitchum’s performance as the psychopathic murderer. Not as good as his Cape Fear role but still really great and eerie. Oh, and if you love light and black & white cinematography, this is a must-see.

Of the many Miyazaki fans out there, this seems to be the collective “favorite” Studio Ghibli film and for good reason. The animation is absolutely gorgeous. The story is so compelling, bursting with creativity and ideas, and every moment seems to bring with it a new concept you’ve never seen before.

I particularly love how Miyazaki shows the spirit world as a dangerous and foreboding place. That’s one thing that’s so cool about Ghibli films, they put kids in danger and it gives the story so much more weight. It’s something sorely missing from most kid-oriented entertainment today.

This along with My Neighbor Totoro are usually considered two of Ghibli’s best and required viewing for any fan of Japanese Anime.

This movie made a few best of the year lists for 2014. It’s fine I guess. I wasn’t blown away by the writing, acting, or story. It’s certainly not bad. The story involves a brother and sister who have not seen each other in 10 years and come from a disaster of an upbringing. They meet up again and try to repair their damaged and sad lives together.

There’s a lot of suicidal scenes here that really drag you down emotionally. That’s not bad per se but I kept hoping the ending with show some kind of major triumph for the characters as they learned to deal with their circumstances and hoping overcome some of their problems. Instead, it seemed as though the characters just agreed to be “broken” together and it wasn’t very satisfying. One of the better things about this film is actually Luke Wilson’s character actually. He did a particularly great job. Everyone else was fine although I never felt they were real people, just actors acting. I’m probably sounding more down on this one than it deserves.

Whoa. This is a powerful film. Maybe one of the most powerful anime movies I’ve ever seen. Someone on IMDB may have said it best: The greatest movie you’ll never want to watch again.

It’s harrowing. The story involves two kids, a little girl and her older brother who must survive in Japan during the final days of WWII. It’s a true story and absolutely heartbreaking on every level. A true animation masterpiece. It’s depressing but thought-provoking and an amazingly powerful depiction of the true cost of war.

This is one of those movies that you watch and because it’s pretty good, you wonder how the director could have made other movies like Olympus Has Fallen? Shooter isn’t as good as Training Day but it’s definitely one of Antoine Fuqua better films.

The first half is especially well done and gripping as we see the conspiracy set up and played out. The shootouts are realistic and do a great job of showcasing sniper techniques. Mark Walberg is pretty good as the lead as well. One of my favorite things about this movie is the cameo by Levi Helm (Drummer for The Band). It kind of makes me sad to watch his little part now because he lost his battle with cancer several years ago but he’s pretty great in this small role.

Where things fall apart just a bit is in the handling of Kate Mara’s character. She starts off strong but then is relegated to being a victim of abuse (possibly sexual) in the second half. By the end, you feel her story wasn’t even told and she just kind of fizzles out with an unearned revenge scene that seems out of place. Rhona Mitra suffers a similar problem. Her character is there to relay inside info about the FBI to Bob but about 3/4 in, she is not heard from again and you start to wonder why she was even in the film in the first place.

Those nitpicks aside, Shooter is quite good overall and paints a heavy-handed yet interesting picture of government conspiracy and lies.