The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)

This proved to be a pleasant surprise, a well-made space opera with good performances by Thandie Newton (channeling Eartha Kitt), Judy Densch (channeling Patrick Stewart) and - absolutely - Vin Diesel (channeling Elliot Gould).

2007 Academy Awards

see here

http://welcometotheclock.blogspot.com/2007/02/it-was-honor-just-to-consider-nominees.html

The Number 23 (2007)

the Hollywood remake of Pi

Winter Kills (1979)

When Jeff Bridges, son of one of the richest men in America and much-younger brother to an assassinated President, ventures to the estate of crazy miltary-industrialist Sterling Hayden to ask a few questions, Hayden and his cronies surround Bridges' car with tanks, and fire mortars at his Pinto when he slips away.

Yes, the son of one of the richest men in America is driving a Pinto.

The whole movie's like that.

With A Friend Like Harry...(2001)

A French take on possibly my favorite thriller sub-genre: a friendly stranger insinuates their way into the protagonist's life and proceeds -through questionable means that implicate the protagonist in all that will follow - to make everything better, just prior to wreaking total havoc.

Rarely done better than here.

Pauline Kael on "The Warriors"(1979)

Walter Hill’s spectacle takes its story from Xenophon’s “Anabasis” and its style from the taste of the modern urban dispossessed—in neon signs, graffiti, and the thrill of gaudiness. The film enters into the spirit of urban-male tribalism and the feelings of kids who believe that they own the streets because they keep other kids out of them. In this vision, cops and kids are all there is, and the worst crime is to be chicken. It has—in visual terms—the kind of impact that “Rock Around the Clock” had when it was played behind the titles of “Blackboard Jungle.” It’s like visual rock, and it’s bursting with energy. The action runs from night until dawn, and most of it is in crisp, bright Day-Glo colors against the terrifying New York blackness; the figures stand out like a jukebox in a dark bar. There’s a night-blooming, psychedelic shine to the whole baroque movie. Adapted from the Sol Yurick novel. Released in 1979.

—Pauline Kael