Back in 1971, fresh off his last official James Bond film, Sean Connery was anxious to change his image. Flipping sides of the law to play a recently paroled thief, Connery nails that change in THE ANDERSON TAPES. Connery is Duke, reuniting after a 10 year prison stint with his girlfriend Ingrid, played by Dyan Cannon in all her 70's glory. Ingrid lives in a plush Central Park apartment furnished by her favorite john. As Connery sees the building, he immediately begins casing the entire building for a labor day weekend robbery of all six apartments. What he doesn't know that virtually every move he makes is being taped by the feds who are tracking the mob man, Angelo, the man financing the job. Duke surrounds himself with a great team for the heist, including Christopher Walken in his first movie as "The Kid", already showing great acting talent and charm as a 27 year old actor. Martin Balsam plays against type as an antiques dealer queen with an eye for what they should grab and comedian Alan King shows great dramatic chops as Angelo the Mobster. Director Sidney Lumet (Dog Day Afternoon, Network, Serpico) keeps things suspenseful, exciting and taut, with quite a bit of humor mixed in. Quincy Jones's music score is at times annoying with electronic twangs and noises every time they show a tape recorder, but his jazz score that accompanies the heist in the film's last third is terrific. Look for SNL veteran Garrett Morris as the lead cop during the burglary. Connery is definitely the anti-007 in this role and he's great, tough, nasty and makes The Anderson Tapes worth a replay and a B.

If you are in the mood for plenty of stupid humor, over the top laughs and inappropriate snickering, by all means soak up ANCHORMAN 2 for the holidays. Will Ferrell continues the saga of news anchor Ron Burgundy, perhaps the most un-PC, unfiltered idiot to ever man a news desk. Since the first film, Ron has married his former rival and co-anchor Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate). They rule the airwaves in San Diego and have had a son named Walter. Early in the film, Network news legend Mack Tannen (Harrison Ford...yes, Harrison Ford having fun with his own image) decides to retire and gives Veronica the news desk, while firing Ron. While she leaves to New York and her star rises, Ron becomes a lecherous, drunken announcer at Sea World. Soon, the world's first 24 hour news network launches and comes calling for Ron. As he hits the road to bring together his old team, the laughs really kick into gear. Steve Carrell nearly steals the film as Brick, the world's dumbest weatherman, who falls in love with his female match Chani, an office assistant so dumb she makes Brick look like a genius. Chani is played by Kristen Wiig in a pitch perfect, funny performance that somehow stays sweet without ever being serious. Paul Rudd returns as news reporter Brian Fantana, who has become a famous cat photographer but rejoins Ron's team, along with Sports reporter Champ Kind, played for big laughs by David Keochner. Champ has spent his off air time developing a chicken restaurant that serves only fried bats. (a very funny visit from Ron ensues) When the boys hit NYC after a wild RV ride east (nice cruise control Ron), they find themselves on the graveyard shift on air and battling to be noticed. For an intentionally silly, stupid comedy, the screenplay by Ferrell and his frequent collaborator Adam McKay has a lot to say about 24 hour news cycles, infotainment, reality TV and our obsession with celebrity. Ron falls for his African American boss Linda Jackson (Meagan Good) and the scene where she takes him home to her family and he can only utter seventies black cliches and jive is hilarious. The Anchorman legend gets a bit long winded and a slow sequence in which Ron finds himself blind and living in a lighthouse, nursing a shark back to health, goes on WAY to long, almost defying you to believe they are going to remain on this storyline detour as long as they do. When they broke into the Dobey song, it was more head scratching than humorous. But once Ron gets his sight back and heads back to Manhattan for the film's final 20 minutes, it regains it's comic footing and delivers plenty of belly laughs. Fans of the rival news teams rumble in the first film will be in heaven here for the conclusion in which every news team on cable seems to have a team in the rumble, including Jim Carrey, Sasha Baron Cohen, Will Smith, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and about 100 other stars in cameos. By the time Harrison Ford turned into a minotaur in the middle of the battle and Brick suddenly had a double barrel space weapon, I was laughing so hard I just went for the ride. Ferrell is hilarious throughout and his timing is perfect, somehow managing to keep Ron just smart enough to see some of the absurdity around him, without the self realization to know he's the worst of the bunch. Anchorman 2 manages to stay classy, San Diego. Leave your brain at the door and get ready to laugh. We'll give Burgundy and company a very funny B.

Back in 1981, Writer/Director John Landis followed up "Animal House" and "The Blues Brothers" by scaring the hell out of us with AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON. I remember going to see it in theatres thinking it was going to be a horror comedy. Joke was on me. Landis crafts a full on, graphic scary horror film sprinkled with character driven laughs. David (David Naughton, great here, why didn't he become a bigger star?) and his best friend Jack (Griffin Dunne, genuinely funny) are backpacking across Europe When they hit the foggy rural country,locals tell them to stay off the moors and stick to the road. When they fail to follow that advice, they are attacked by a massive and vicious creature. David wakes up in a London hospital to find that Jack is dead and that he's been badly bitten and carved up himself. Luckily, he's got beautiful young nurse Alex (Jenny Agutter from Walkabout, Logan's Run) to tend his wounds. While he insists they were attacked by creature, witnesses and the police insist it was a psychotic madman. When the full moon rises in London, I think we all know which way this goes. Landis is a great director and sets up the near perfect transformation scene, with "Bad Moon Rising" blaring on the soundtrack, Rick Baker's killer physical transformation effects (No CGI here kids) and Naughton's great performance, its one of the best man to wolf scenes in the history of movies and still packs a hell of a punch. As a writer, Landis sets up plenty of clever characters and plot twists, including an ever decaying Jack coming back to visit David and warn him on what's going to happen when the full moon hits. I love the scene after David's first transition when he is after a lone commuter in a London train station. You see almost the entire scene as a side shot of the man running, but at the last moment when he collapses on an escalator, the camera positions to look down from his view to the base of the moving stairs, where you get a great view of a very freaky creature walking right into frame. Visually, it packs a punch because you don't expect to see it. Likewise the carnage of the Piccadilly Square conclusion or the leisurely pace of David and Alex's romance. Look for a great performance by John Woodvine as Dr. Hirsch, the genuinely caring doctor who doesn't think the towns people's account jives with David's wounds. Frank Oz (Yoda) also delivers a funny performance as an American embassy man with a very bad bedside manner. Landis throws it all at you here, horrifying and bloody nightmares, dreams within dreams to keep you off balance, massive gore, nudity, great humor, romance and some serious tragedy, all sprinkled with classic rock and roll to accompany key moments. "Blue Moon" will never seem quite the same.... A huge hit and an all-time fave that holds up really well today. WEREWOLF has some serious bite and gets a perfect A+. David after hearing a loud howl on the moors: "Maybe it's a sheep dog, let's keep going...." Oops. Fasten your backpacks kids, this one's a wild ride.

Like some crazy hybrid of "Natural Born Killers", "The Kingsmen" and "Half Baked", AMERICAN ULTRA blazes an entertaining trail to something unique, fast and violent. The opening scenes introduce us to the constantly high, depressed and panic attack prone Mike Howell (Jesse Eisenberg) a night clerk at a tiny grocery store in the middle of a small, quiet town. He lives with his beautiful stoner girlfriend Phoebe (Kristen Stewart), trying to avoid constant misdemeanor arrests and going nowhere fast. Just as you begin to feel sorry for Mike and think this is going to be a rather depressing self discovery story, the film pops to the CIA, where high level agent Victoria Lasseter (Connie Britton) realizes her ignorant new boss Adrian (a funny powder keg of a performance by Topher Grace) is about to expose her undercover agents in the field. The agents don't know they are highly trained special operatives, with all memories of their training buried deep in their brains. Victoria quickly gets herself to that quiet market and tries to activate Mike, who is one of her deadly agents! It doesn't take and Mike thinks she's just repeating gibberish, but shortly thereafter, two CIA killers arrive to take him out and he dispatches them in seconds with a cup of noodles and a spoon. From that flash, the film is off and running, filled with great action scenes, plenty of laughs, some solid drama and a pace that feels even faster than its 96 minutes. The supporting cast is excellent, featuring Walter Goggins (Hateful Eight, Django Unchained) as a crazy killer called Laugher, Tony Hale (Veep) as Victoria's operative assistant, John Lequizamo as Mike's hilariously offensive & stereotypical drug dealer and Bill Pullman as a high level operative. Writer Max Landis (son of the legendary John Landis who brought us "Animal House", "The Blues Brothers" and "An American Werewolf in London" to name just a few) shows some real talent. Between this and his last film "Victor Frankenstein", it's two surprises in a row for me; two films I went into expecting nothing and had a great time watching. Stewart was so filled with a put-upon angst persona the entire time she starred in the "Twilight" series that I refused to see anything with her in it, but she is really growing on me as an actress and she's good here, just as she was in "Adventureland" with Eisenberg. Like most of America, I ignored AMERICAN ULTRA when it hit theatres. So glad I caught up with it now thanks to my buddy Frank's suggestion. ULTRA is bloody well baked and gets an A.

American Sniper is a riveting, heartbreaking story of patriotism, allegiance to country and family and how devotion to both is a delicate balance. It’s also one of the most suspenseful thrillers of the year. Bradley Cooper is terrific as Chris Kyle, a patriotic Texan burning with the desire to defend his country when he sees the terrorist attacks of 9/11. After officially becoming a SEAL in his early thirties and marrying his feisty bride, Taya (Sienna Miller) Kyle heads out on his first tour of duty in Iraq. His talents as a long-range shooter are legendary and he soon finds himself as the most effective sniper in US history. His loyalty to his fellow soldiers runs deep and the everyday dangers to the American forces are terrifying. In one of the film’s most riveting scenes, a mother and child approach Kyle’s squadron and he’s forced to make a decision in seconds on whether or not to shoot a child who may or may not be about to kill his fellow soldiers. Director Clint Eastwood is at the top of his impressive game once more; following his disappointing film adaption of the Broadway hit “Jersey Boys”. While that film felt stage-bound and lethargic, Eastwood gets back to brilliance with one of his best films. SNIPER never stops moving. Eastwood and his writing team maneuver back and forth from stateside to Iraq, never wasting a moment in telling Kyle’s true-life story. Cooper does an amazing job conveying a man torn by duty to country above all else, driven to defend his team to the last man while struggling to reconnect to life stateside. As Kyle signs up for additional tours to return to duty even as his family grows at home, Cooper deftly creates a hero that isn’t always easy to root for at home, but is always the definitive hero at war. Miller is strong and matches him scene for scene as a loving, devoted wife wondering if she has lost her husband to war, even when he is back in their home. If you don’t know how this true story ends, I wont reference it here, but suffice to say that only real life could provide an ending so tragic. I found the film DEEPLY moving. Eastwood closes the credits in silence, which seems to be the only right choice after the incredibly powerful and emotional final montage. This is American film-making about American heroism at its best. A+

Tom Cruise and director Doug Liman teamed up a couple of years ago to make one of the most underappreciated films of the past decade, "Edge of Tomorrow". They teamed up again in 2017 and knocked it out of the park once more with AMERICAN MADE. Cruise seems ageless and at his charming best as TWA pilot Barry Seal. A great pilot who doesn't mind smuggling a few Cuban cigars back on his flights, he's approached by a CIA operative "Schafer" well played by Domhnall Gleason (Ex Machina) to step up his game. It seems that our government could use some help moving everything from money to guns around between the ever shifting allegiances of South America. What starts as a small, secretive operation blows up into something much bigger and impressively efficient. The tale is all the more incredible since its based on Seal's true life story! Cruise is fantastic yet again as Seal, just as stunned as we are at the amount of cash that his own government is willing to pay to move many pounds of contraband around the world. Newcomer Sara Wright is terrific as Barry's pure-Texan wife, Lucy.The fact that the film doesn't keep her or the viewer in the dark on any aspect of the operation makes the consequences all the more powerful. Jesse Plemons (Fargo) is very good as a small town sheriff who's charmed by Barry's arrival in their little city that soon needs more banks to handle all the cash he's bringing in. Caleb Landry Jones (X MEN First Class, Get Out) is frustratingly perfect as Lucy's white trash brother whose dream car is a Gremlin with a six pack of dollar beer in the seat. Alejandro Edda is intimidating as drug king Jorge Ochoa and Mauricio Mejia is equally scary as Pablo Escobar. Liman and Cruise stage the action in South America and Texas with equal style and Seal's forced landing on a neighborhood street is fantastic. Seal's audacity to work both sides of every fence is equaled by our own government's shifting alliances and selective outrage over drugs and guns, depending on who has them. There's just enough historical perspective of the Iran/Contra affair, glimpses of Oliver North, Reagan, Carter and the Bushes to provide equal opportunity outrage and head shaking at the nearly non-existent backbone of our ever changing political climate. Cruise's first R-rated film in nearly a decade, it sees the star again surrounding himself with talented filmmakers and strong actors to tell a great story that's too crazy NOT to be true. AMERICAN MADE is an enjoyable but darkly realistic thriller that gets an A.

THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY is a fascinating film from 1964 that provided surprising controversy and terrific starring roles for James Garner and a young Julie Andrews. Garner is Commander Charlie Edison, who seems to have navigated himself into a perfectly comfortable and enjoyable corner of the pre-D Day war effort in Europe. Charlie has countless beautiful English girls at his side and every perk imaginable as assistant to Admiral Jessup (Melvyn Douglas). His world turns when he meets his new driver Emily (Andrews) who finds Charlie's macho sexism nearly as offensive as his cowardice. As they get to know each other, their feelings begin to soften. At the same time, Jessup seems to lose his grip on reality, plunging Charlie into a dangerous mission to film the first man to hit the beaches at Normandy. James Coburn (In Like Flint) is excellent as Commander "Bus" Cummings, who has much more of a heart for battle than his best friend. Coburn and Garner made this film immediately after the war classic "The Great Escape" and their on screen camaraderie is flawless. But this film couldn't be more different than "Escape". Our hero is an anti-hero, a coward whose anti-war speeches are ahead of their time and perfectly written by brilliant screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky (The Hospital, Network). If you think Andrews can only be Poppins or Maria, you'll be surprised by her work as Emily, moody, dark and reserved. As you learn her background, she's earned the moods. Garner said years later, this was his favorite film role of all time. He broke two ribs during that scene on Omaha Beach! AFI nominated the film as part of its final 400 finalists for the Top 100 American Movies of all time. Dramatic, funny and enjoyable from start to finish, EMILY gets an A.

One of the best films of 2013, David O. Russell's AMERICAN HUSTLE is a fast two hours of comedy, suspense, drama, great music and superb acting. Loosely recounting a story of players in the ABSCAM sting of the seventies, Christian Bale is a force of nature as genius con man Irving Rosenfeld. Bale is a long way from the abs of Batman here, almost unrecognizable sporting a beer belly and the worst film comb-over since Bill Murray in "Kingpin". Circling Irving are his beautiful partner in crime and love Sydney (Amy Adams, excellent), his wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence), the New Jersey power politician Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner) and hungry, driven FBI agent Richie DeMaso (Bradley Cooper). What a cast. These players become increasingly entangled in a complicated scheme where every double cross is only upped by the one that follows and money begins to exchange hands between faux Arab shieks and Jersey politicians. There's nothing better than a screenplay that constantly surprises you and characters that have real reactions as unpredictable as they are genuine. Toss this all in with a barrage of seventies music, clothes and hairstyles and a fast moving story and you have another great film from Russell. Last year, Russell nailed it with Silver Linings Playbook. He's upped the ante and delivered again here with an even more entertaining movie. Lawrence is a force of nature in her supporting role and I think its the best Cooper has ever been. Get ready to be entertained. American Hustle twists, turns and seduces its way to a very enjoyable A

The 2010 documentary AMERICAN GRINDHOUSE is an exhaustive look at the exploitation film from the first day of movies through today. These are the pictures most of us remember playing as double features in the drive-ins of the sixties of the seventies, right through the horror splatter films of the early 80's and beyond. Director Elijah Drenner has brought together an interesting & eclectic group of filmmarkers like John Landis, Joe Dante, Hershel Gordon Lewis to comment on the film history and brought Robert Forster in to narrate the journey through film history. This is an adult documentary, with fascinating looks at the early sex films masquerading as documentaries of the 50s (with separate shows for BOYS and GIRLS, 16 and above please) all the way through the biker films of the sixties, the emergence of mainstream pornography in the late sixties and how they are all related as uniquely American film genres. The glimpses at the theatres of the time, original trailers and films and the humorous and insightful (but mostly funny) observations of the filmmakers makes for an interesting documentary. Recommended for film buffs who aren't easily offended, its a solid B.

A box office smash in 1973, George Lucas's first hit AMERICAN GRAFFITI perfectly captures the innocence of one night in 1962. It's the last night before a large group of students head off to college, with Lucas serving up plenty of laughs and launching a galaxy of future stars as he tells their stories. Ron Howard (still Ronny back in '73) is Steve, the popular football player deciding whether to make out or break up with his long time girlfriend Laurie, played by Cindy Williams (Laverne and Shirley). Paul Le Mat is John, the recent graduate who's stuck around and still cruises in his bright yellow hot rod every weekend. Charles Martin Smith (Starman) is Toad, the nerdy friend who is about to finally score with Debbie, played by Candy Clark (The Man Who Fell To Earth). Harrison Ford is incredibly young, flashing future movie star charisma as Bob Falfa, a cowboy hat wearing dragster in town to challenge John. Suzanne Somers is a mystery blonde in a white T-bird who becomes a personal quest for Richard Dreyfuss in his first starring role as Curt. Wolfman Jack and his music wrap every moment of the flawless production design in early 60's rock and roll and he makes a terrific appearance as a local DJ giving out life advice. Fast moving, funny and incredibly nostalgic, Lucas shows a light touch that would be less evident in his later works like "Star Wars". He does manage to sneak in the licence plate THX 1138 for the sci-fi nerds in the audience. It truly captures an era, slightly before my time since I was 1 year old in 62, that feels so incredibly innocent compared to today's world. Every bit of the production design is flawless, as is the fast paced editing by Verna Fields (Jaws). Created for about $770,000, it sat on the shelf for nearly a year at Universal before they released it and it became a massive hit, making $115 million at the box office. It was followed by a sequel 6 years later in 1979, "More American Graffiti" that nobody saw, a total flop. The original remains a classic, a time capsule sure to induce smiling upon opening. It gets a B+, two malts and a sock hop from this corner.

In 1980, there was no movie with a bigger buzz than AMERICAN GIGOLO. A young Richard Gere had headlined in "Yanks" the year before to mild success, but this was his breakout role. Gere stars as Los Angeles male escort Julian, buffed and polished to be every woman's fantasy at an exorbitant hourly rate. Writer/Director Paul Schrader made this film a year after descending into a similar seedy social underbelly with George C. Scott looking for his runaway daughter in 'Hardcore". Schrader balances the endless shots of shiny Mercedes, perfect suits, shoes, sunglasses and modern beach side homes with a palpable loneliness that Julian tries to ignore in his pay for play relationships. Soon, Julian finds himself in a new kind of relationship with Michelle (Lauren Hutton) at the same time he falls under investigation for murder when one of his tricks ends up roughed up and killed a couple nights after his visit. Bill Duke (Predator) brings some menace as Leon, a pimp with little regard for Julian's standards and Hector Elizondo (Pretty Woman) brings humor and edginess to his role as the detective convinced Julian is guilty. Gere took a lot of heat when the film was released from critics who found him cold and emotionless, but I feel like they're missing the point. Watch Gere's Julian when he realizes he's framed or when he sees a spark with Hutton of something beyond what he's experienced. Gere's good, Duke and Elizondo are better. Very 80's in its frank nudity, casual drug use and Blondie music ("Call Me" stll holds up just fine) Gigolo is an interesting dive into the darker side of hustling. Giorgio Morodor delivers an interesting, driving score, hinting at the masterpiece score he'd deliver two years later for Schrader's "Cat People", to this day one of my favorite movie scores. No one's better at forcing us to explore humanity's dark side than Schrader. With the screenplays for "Taxi Driver" and "Raging Bull" and writing & directing "Hardcore", "Auto Focus" and GIGOLO, the man's a brilliant tour guide of our darkest drives. Put on your shades, slide lower in your seat and hang on. Julian's journey into the dark gets a B.

Ridley Scott's 2007 crime epic AMERICAN GANGSTER delivers great performances and plenty of tension as two talented actors take two very different, colliding paths on opposite sides of the law. Denzel Washington is excellent as Frank Lucas, a loyal driver and right hand man for a lifelong gangster. When that crime kingpin and Harlem overlord dies, Frank battles for control of the drug business. Frank surrounds himself with his extended family and grows a powerful empire by thinking differently than anyone before him. Meanwhile, detective Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe, terrific) finds himself nearly alone as the flawlessly honest man willing to turn in the bad guys or the good guys if they break the rules. When he is appointed to run the new Narcotics Task Force in New Jersey, his work all begins to lead toward Lucas and his powerful family. Director Scott (Alien, Gladiator, Blade Runner) immerses the viewer in both sides of the law, following Lucas as he decides to purchase cocaine directly from the Asian fields, traveling to the East and forging a business relationship with powerful dictators in the middle of the Vietman War. It's interesting to see how many Vietnam references Scott weaves into the film, network news coverage of the war and its politics seems to be the only thing on any television in the movie. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Josh Brolin, Rudy Dee and John Hawkes are all excellent, with Brolin oozing sleeze as the most crooked 1970's detective on screen.Watch for Ted Levine (the infamous Jame Gumb "put the lotion in the basket" from Silence of the Lambs) as Crowe's boss. While it never quite reaches the classic status it's striving for, American Gangster is a very good film, with strong writing and powerful performances by Denzel and Russell. Denzel oozes danger in every scene and his catch phrase "My man...." makes you cringe everytime you hear it. Frank Lucas is a very dangerous man and Washington nails it. If it wasn't based on a true story, I would find the last half hour almost unbelievable. To say more would require a spolier alert, but life must be stranger than fiction as some of the characters you think you know suddenly choose a dramatically different direction. Washington, Crowe and Scott are in fine form and deliver a violent, powerful crime drama that gets an A.