Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)

Everyone remembers this film for stoner slacker Spicoli (Sean Penn), although he's very much the secondary character to all the ensemble drama around him.

Amy Heckerling's first film, based on the non-fiction book by Cameron Crowe (in which he posed as a high school senior for inspiration), is never quite as perfect as my memory of it purports to be, but it certainly captures the wild zeitgeist of American culture in the '80s. It's an iconic coming-of-age comedy with mammorable performances from Jennifer Jason Leigh and Phoebe Cates.

4 fapus interruptus out of 5

Crime 101 (2026)

An ensemble crime drama about a series of diamond heists committed along the 101 highway in Los Angeles, the plot involves a jewel thief, a detective, an insurance broker and a goon for hire, pinning them against each other's moral grey areas. There's a lot going on here, and little of it engaging to the viewer, despite the enormous star power behind it. It's a slow-moving thriller that only gets interesting when all the pieces fall into place, well over an hour into the film. Despite its attempt to recreate a '90s Michael Mann feel, it's a painfully average flick full of plot holes that is about as generic as the title suggests.

2 encrypted porn links out of 5

Morgan (2016)

Luke Scott (son of producer Ridley Scott) directs his first feature, the taut sci-fi thriller Morgan. On a secluded estate a synthetic humanoid (Anya Taylor-Joy) is grown. After an unfortunate incident a risk management specialist (Kate Mara) is sent in to survey the project's progress. As soon as you see the titular Morgan you already know the shit will hit the fan hard. It's this anticipation that keeps your attention till the action-packed climax. The impressive cast is handled moderately well, though an extra 15-20 minutes could have done wonders for the supporting characters' development. Certain pivotal characters only last one scene. Even though the twist wasn't awfully difficult to decipher, I believe this was intentional. Clues are abound in this overly succinct yet satisfying film.

3½ awkward first kisses out of 5

Eyes of a Stranger (1981)

I like the styles of John Carpenter, Dario Argento, and Alfred Hitchcock; based on this film alone, I'm willing to bet that Dir. Ken Wiederhorn does, too. It has a Carpenter vibe in both form and its simplistic but thoroughly effective use of music; the violent murders are like something Argento would stage, albeit with less Italian flair; and the plotting that Hitchcock favoured is an obvious influence on what Wiederhorn chooses to show. One could therefore argue that it's not very original, but I'd counterargue that it works and I personally didn't feel it was derivative in any way; I enjoyed it very much.
It was the big screen début of both Lauren Tewes and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Tewes plays a news reporter on the trail of a rapist/serial killer. Leigh is a blind, deaf, mute sister that Tewes cares and feels responsible for.

3 shirt stains out of 5

Road to Perdition (2002)

RtP is adapted from a graphic novel of the same name by Max Allan Collins, itself inspired by Kazuo Koike's Lone Wolf and Cub manga. The importance of the father and son relationship in both books is maintained throughout.
It's set in 1931, Illinois. The father is Michael Sullivan Sr. (Hanks), a man who goes to great lengths to keep his sons from becoming aware that his boss, John Rooney (Newman), is the head of the mob and that their father is his best enforcer. But Sullivan's methods create a gulf between him and the boys.
With that established early on, the remainder of the film addresses it, but not in the way you might think. Through moments of tragedy, circumstance and sincerity, carefully distilled with shadows and light, we're drawn into their story, into the era and, if you're sympathetically equipped, into the understanding of why the swallowing of emotions that's sometimes necessary to get the job done isn't always the best course of action for either party.

4½ accounts settled out of 5

THE HATEFUL EIGHT [2015]

Writer/director Quentin Tarantino packs in some good ol' fashioned snowy film-making with his off-beat Western/thriller The Hateful Eight.
A pack of thugs, all strangers to each other, are trapped in a isolated cabin during a snowy blizzard, which inevitably leads to...well...some serious cabin fever aka obligatory Tarantino bloodshed and vulgar but engrossing monologues.
With this film, it's become clear the smug director has the rights to be smug, as he's got a confident and well-developed grasp on the art of cinematic storytelling.  It's beautifully shot, well-paced, jammed to the brim with wonderful performances from it's genre cast and never ceases to keep you guessing who's who and what's what.
It's essentially Rawhide meets Reservoir Dogs but, hot damn, if it's not a fully captivating mash-up of the two films.

4 Silent Nights out of 5

ANOMALISA [2015]

Never one to spoon-feed audiences, ambitious writer/director Charlie Kaufman (and co-director Duke Johnson) forces your jaw to the floor with the stop-motion animated masterpiece comical drama Anomalisa.
A depressed motivational speaker, who literally hears the same voice coming from everyone he meets, has a spark thrown into his life when he meets a woman who sounds completely different from the rest of the world.
The eerily realistic animated puppets are so engrossing you quite often forget it's not live-action, while you simultaneously get lost in it's tale of loneliness, depression, sex and a creepy Japanese automaton.  It's easy to admire the film from a technical standpoint, however at first it's a little difficult to enjoy the loathsome characters, until you know where it's leading you and it all becomes clear (sort of) as to why everything is the way it is.

4½ girls who wanna have fun out of 5

eXistenZ (1999)

I hope it isn't but it’s possible that the film is Cronenberg’s last full-on venture into the ‘body-horror’ genre that he excelled in. It contains within it many elements that fans of his earlier works will be familiar with, including the weird character names and sharp angled Canadian architecture, as if to say this is where the past ends, I'm moving onto genres new afterwards.
It has a lot in common with Videodrome (1983), not just thematically but in other ways, and as such I’d definitely recommend viewing Videodrome first.
If you expect to find something intriguing but sickening you’ll not be disappointed. How does a rubbery, foetus-like VR game pod with umbilical cords that plug into a bizarre anus in your lower back sound?

4 signs of the times out of 5

Flesh+Blood (1985)

In a more graphic depiction of life in the middle ages, F+B is Paul Verhoeven's answer to over-romanticized medieval films. Gruesome deaths, severed body parts, rape and plague all play their roles in the film. The atmosphere is almost palpable as a ruthless mercenary (Rutger Hauer) and his uncouth gang of ruffians plots reparation after being tricked out of the spoils of war. Despite infamous BTS drama between Verhoeven and Hauer, performances remain genuine. The constant strife of the characters' moral duality is just as fascinating as the character of Agnes (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and her conflicted allegiance. An epic score by Basil Poledouris is a highlight, but some noticeable plot holes and questionable accents knock this one down a peg.

3½ religious misinterpretations out of 5

The Hitcher (1986)

A night-time storm, a lengthy desert road and an unknown hitchhiker are a recipe for disaster for Jim Halsey, who makes the worst decision of his life when he stops to pick up John Ryder.
It works on a number of levels but some of them are easy to overlook. If you do that then it becomes just another mid-80s violent chase movie.
The vast emptiness of the desert adds to the isolation and feelings of helplessness. It wouldn't work so well in any other environment.
The Hitcher’s creepy ability to be seemingly everywhere oversteps believability, but Rutger's sinister intensity as pursuant and mirror to Jim’s better nature keep things entertaining throughout. It goes without saying that the film will make you think twice about stopping to pick up someone on your next journey to wherever the hell it is you journey to alone.

3 road-kills out of 5

SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK [2008]

Like a melding of a Proust and Kafka novel adapted into film by Fellini, writer Charlie Kaufman's  post-modern drama directorial debut Synecdoche, New York is a dizzying tale that saunters between depression, dementia, death and decay.
The late Philip Seymour Hoffman plays a dying theatre director that becomes so consumed by his work, his grasp on the difference between fiction and reality are heavily blurred.  The film explores so many themes and motifs in it's unconventional plot, it'd be a task to list them all off but with some dedication to the film, the viewer will find all sorts of thoughtful goodies on it's many puzzling street corners.  It's a difficult film to enjoy as entertainment but an enticing one from a film-making and creative writing standpoint.

3½ ends built into the beginnings out of 5

Dolores Claiborne (1995)

Dolores is practical and strong. A World War wouldn't prevent her doing her laundry. She finds herself at loggerheads with an old adversary after a tragic event puts her in the right place at the wrong time. Her past and present collide, affecting everyone around her in a small coastal town.
Kathy Bates is masterful at communicating the unsaid. She gives an even better, more nuanced performance here than she did in Misery (1990). I can’t think of anyone more suited to the role.
The film is lit in such a way that the coldness of the environment seems to permeate the film negative for the longest time, until it’s necessary for it to be removed. When the chill lifts there’s some unforgettable imagery that plays up to the era in which it’s set. It's magnificent.

4½ confessions out of 5

LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN [1989]

1952 Brooklyn is Hell in director Uli Edel's adaptation of Requiem For A Dream author Hubert Selby, Jr.'s classic novel, Last Exit To Brooklyn.
It's a difficult novel to adapt and Edel doesn't quite get a grip on it, by toning down quite a bit of the harsher material and letting the 6 narratives of the novel mesh into each other making for an uneven viewing.  Not to say that it isn't all rainbows and puppy dogs because it's still a pretty depressing and uncomfortable viewing dealing with poverty, drug addiction, violence, prostitution and transvestites.   Edel does a wonderful job at blacking out the rest of the world that surrounds the neighborhood making it feel all the more claustrophobic and hopeless.

3 trouts for a hat out of 5

The Machinist (2004)

An emaciated Christian Bale plays a man ill at ease in his daily routine. His presence also makes other people uneasy. Is his insomnia making him a little crazy, or is the world just not quite right?
There’s a sense of strain prevalent throughout. Even when it’s referencing other sources it manages to keep its own identity fully intact, due in part to the understated lighting, but mostly thanks to a focussed narrative and Bale's commitment to doing what was needed. He was like a walking skeleton.

5 post-it notes out of 5

Rag Tale (2005)

A showcase for everything that's wrong with modern camera techniques: wobble, zoom, tilt, skew, pan, zoom, skew, zoom zoom, obscured by a dirty coffee cup, zoom, zoom like a bitch, skew unnecessarily for 104 minutes.  Fuck off. It's unwatchable.

0 redeeming qualities out of 5