Nuremberg (2025)

"The only clue to what man can do is what man has done."

Following the end of World War II, Nazi war criminals are brought to justice. An American shrink (Rami Malek) is tasked with determining whether Hermann Göring (Hitler's right-hand man, played by Russell Crowe) is fit to stand trial. It's a very depressing story based on a very dark time in human history that the movies love to relitigate over and over again. Do we really need the constant reminder that we keep going back and repeating past mistakes?

3 magic tricks out of 5

Kraven the Hunter (2024)

The Sony Spider-Man Universe (SSU) revolves around villains and ancillary characters from the Spider-Man comics without actually involving the web-slinger himself (the character is currently on loan to the Disney MCU). What we get instead are some half-baked ideas and origin movies that don't really go anywhere. The most successful of these was Venom, which spawned two sequels, but Morbius and Madame Web were plagued by poor creative decisions which ended up cancelling plans for further films in the franchise.

The latest of these, Kraven the Hunter, is based on the villain whose power lies in his name. While attacked and left for dead by a shitty CGI lion, he receives a mystery serum which gives him heightened predatory abilities. We're also introduced to versions of Rhino, Chameleon, Calypso and the Foreigner. The result isn't terrible, but the problem with these origin stories is that they set up future tentpoles that will never come because each of these Sony films has underperformed. What ever happened to making complete standalone movies that don't rely on tying it to future IP? The movie isn't bad per se, there's just a lot of strands that never get paid off and probably never will, especially since these stories remain separate from the Marvel Spider-Man IP, confusingly enough. It's all just a big tease that will never come.

2 spider hallucinations out of 5 

The Exorcism (2024)

An actor shoots a part in an Exorcist-like movie, where strange things begin happening on set that mirror the screenplay. Eventually they need to bring in their own exorcist in order to exorcise the supposed demons. It gets meta pretty quickly, but apparently this is all a metaphor for something or other. I don't know, this was really bad for the most part. Russell Crowe does his best to ground it in reality, but it goes off the rails before long. I'd recommend any number of "exorcism" movies before this one. Skip it unless you're hard up for content.

1 crucifix (how original) out of 5

L.A. Confidential (1997)

Of the film's three leading men, not one of them is someone that I'd be happy to be stuck in a room with: LAPD detective Bud White (Crowe) acts as if he's above the law, allying himself with men who feel that they very much are; Ed Exley (Pearce) is a young cop who's governed by a strict moral code that's as sanctimonious as it is noble; and Jack Vincennes (Spacey) is an ego-driven prick who embodies the L.A. spirit of 'celebrity' status being everything, even though he's the least interesting of the trio.
Set against a backdrop of vice, prostitution and drugs, the film takes a while to hit its stride, but once it does it stays strong to the hard-hitting end. The tightly-woven plot occasionally gets buried under the taut layering, but a fiery clash of personalities keeps the Noir drama thundering along nicely.

3½ press labels out of 5

THE NICE GUYS [2016]

Director Shane Black makes amusingly good use of the R-rating in the pulpy screwball buddy-action flick The Nice Guys.
Set in a sleazy 1970's L.A., two bumbling P.I's investigate the murders of multiple porn stars and constantly fuck-up along the way, sometimes for the better, missing teeth or not.
Black is at his best when his main characters are constantly bantering against each other and here we have Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling having the time of their lives trading insults, punches and bullets.  Amongst it's broken noses, dislocated shoulders and piles of bloody somethings, is some misdirected heart that glues it all together with hidden delicacy.
With it's sharp-witted dialogue, hilarious brisk-pacing and wonderful casting chemistry, The Nice Guys prances around it's genre's clichés with drunken glee.

4 "dead" protesters out of 5

NOAH [2014]

Director Darren Aronofsky takes some artistic liberties to turn the biblical tale of Noah's Ark into a big-screen experience.
Noah will leave bible-thumpers offended with the changes and Aronofsky fans offended he'd tackle such material for Hollywood, making for a very small audience actually interested in the end results.  To be honest, it's not all bad, in fact there's quite a bit here that's actually very creative and visually unique, which makes sense seeing as Aronofsky had been working on the film since 2000.  Unfortunately there's too many flaws to make it the epic it aims to be, mostly in the weakness of characterization which is key when it comes to telling a tale this big.  The acting is superb, particularly Emma Watson and Jennifer Connelly but when there's not enough to work with it leaves the viewer with little to care about.  

3 fallen angels out of 5

MAN OF STEEL [2013]

With more than a little help from Chris Nolan, director Zack Snyder reimagines the Superman story in the highly anticipated Man Of Steel.
Even though it doesn't really explore anything new with the story, Snyder & co make up for it with sheer spectacle and sensory overload.  Henry Cavill falls a little flat as Supes but makes a great, moody Clark Kent, with Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner and the ever-wonderful Michael Shannon all turning in some strong performances.  It never really does find a proper balance to carry it's own weight but still manages to soar as pure eye-candy escapism.

3 Kryptonian nomads out of 5

3:10 TO YUMA [2007]

James Mangold's adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Western novel 3:10 To Yuma is a tightly paced ride that has it's up and downs.
This film genre is a rarity in this day and age, so I welcome it with open arms and doesn't disappoint someone starving for a good ol' horseback ridin' shoot 'em up.  Although, as a lover of all film, it falls very short and seems more like a missed opportunity.  Russell Crowe's Big Bad is an interesting character study but never quite explores it's greater potential, while Christian Bale's moody good guy is dull, dull and more dull.  Possibly the best parts of the film are the  wonderful supporting cast, including Peter Fonda, Ben Foster, Alan Tudyk & Kevin Durand and composer Marco Beltrami's wonderfully fleshed out score.

3 flaming stagecoaches out of 5

LES MISERABLES [2012]

The King's Speech director Tom Hooper succeeds in adapting a spectacular film version of  Claude-Michel Schönberg & Alain Boublil's musical butchering of Victor Hugo's epic novel, Les Misérables.

It's filled with beautiful set-pieces, colorful photography and strong performances, particularly Hugh Jackman and the all too brief appearances of Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter & Sacha Baron Cohen.  Sadly, the stage musical itself is a poor adaptation of Hugo's novel, being as it only covers about 1/3 of the actual story, therefore loses most of it's purpose and complete emotional punch.  Still, the film itself is quite the spectacle that's filled with passion and dedication.  

3½ empty chairs at empty tables out of 5

THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS [2012]

Wu Tang Clan mainman RZA joins filmmakers Quentin Tarantino, Eli Roth & Robert Rodriguez in the gang of directors who have seen too many bad movies, by creating The Man With The Iron Fists.

A schlocky, hilariously violent martial arts hip-hop film that fails to bring anything new to the table but serves the viewer a colorful platter of wonderfully choreographed fight scenes and deliciously over-the-top performances from Russell Crowe, Lucy Liu and Byron Mann. It's unevenly focused, sloppily edited and seems to forget it's main character needs a personality or shred of development, yet somehow it still manages to charm and entertain.  In short, it's bad, fun crap.  

2½ spicy ribs out of 5

GLADIATOR [2000]

Director Ridley Scott brings the historical epic drama back to the big screen in the hugely successful Gladiator.  

Russell Crowe does a fantastic job at portraying the larger-than-life lead role of Maximus while still scaling the character down to give him an every man feel.  With some extravagant sets & costumes, beautiful photography and hypnotizing score courtesy of Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard, Gladiator sets out to entertain and it does so with jaw-dropping flair that will leave an impression for many years to come. 

4 wheat fields out of 5