EXODUS GODS AND KINGS is a 2014 update of DeMille's classic "The Ten Commandments" with MUCH better special effects, none of the fun and some heavy attitude. Okay, so it's not strictly a remake, but it's great director Ridley Scott's (Gladiator, Alien to name just a few) take on the well known biblical tale. Christian Bale stars as Moses, Hebrew Born but raised as an equal to Ramses (Joel Edgerton). When Moses's roots are betrayed, he is banished to the desert, embraces his heritage and returns to the great Egyptian city to free his people. Bale is excellent as Moses, intense, questioning, committed. He's a superb actor and a great foe for Edgerton (Great Gatsby, Zero Dark Thirty) who oozes entitlement and rage as the new Pharoah doomed to watch his city and life be destroyed by God's wrath. The plagues are spectacular and the Passover is powerfully done, but Ridley holds the biggest punch for the parting of the Red Sea. Where DeMille's 1950's version was well done but cartoony animation, this modern day take on the Sea parting before the path of the 400,000 is realistic, dramatic and visually stunning. At the end of the day, it's a dead serious take on one of Christianity's most popular Bible stories that knows its audience and delivers. But I have to say I did miss an occasional flash of humor, joy or emotion beyond desperation and rage. DeMille's exodus was 30 minutes of thousands of people celebrating and overwhelmed with happiness to be freed from 400 years as slaves. In Scott's take, they parade out of the city as a solemn mass, quickly doubting Moses's directions and seemingly forgetting some of those pretty spectacular plagues delivered by Team Moses. I would think those events would stick with you a little longer. They are a tough audience for sure. In the canon of Scott's film legacy, EXODUS hits a middle ground. It's not one of his greatest, but it defines spectacle and delivers on the big moments you expect. Bale and Edgerton are powerful antagonists and the special effects team is working overtime from opening scene to last. EXODUS is a great tale told well. Stone faced, but well told. We'll give it a B.

Mind blowingly original and intelligently written, EX MACHINA is cutting edge science fiction wrapped around some very human questions. The brilliant Oscar Isaac stars as Nathan, the billionaire creator of the worlds strongest search engine. As the film opens, company programmer Caleb wins an internal lottery to spend a week with Nathan at his sprawling, futuristic compound two hours from civilization. When the young, impressionistic Caleb arrives, he finds an eccentric, friendly and casual Nathan that lets him know he is actually there to be part of a world changing experiment. Nathan has created a stunningly beautiful female AI named Ava. Her face, hands and partial torso are human-like, but her entire mid-section is clear and filled with whirling lights and machinery, thanks to superb special effects. Ava is played with machine-like grace by Alicia Vikander in a star making role. She is always believable and yet slightly off in a fascinating physical performance. Nathan's challenge to Caleb is a "Turing test" to observe Ava for a week, to speak with her, to spend time with her and see if she can pass a test as human. Writer/Director Alex Garland spins the story off in unexpected directions from there with tons of suspense and scene after scene of smart, powerful dialogue. The less you know beyond the basic plot the better. Oscar Isaac gave one of my favorite performances last year in Inside Llewyn Davis and he is excellent here. The entire world will know him when he headlines the new Star Wars film in December, but he's already a star. His Nathan is a genius that may or may not be dangerous. Domhnall Gleeson (True Grit, Harry Potter series) is also great as Caleb. The brilliance of the film is watching these three characters interact in isolation with tensions growing into a taut and exciting last twenty minutes. This is Garland's first film as a director and it's a hell of a debut. Talk about coming out of the gate strong! There isn't a wasted word of dialogue in the entire film. Production design and photography are top notch. EX MACHINA is an intelligent thriller in the spirit of Michael Crichton and Kubrick but with a spirit all its own. A strong A+ and solidly in my all-time Top 100.

A terrific slam-bang action thriller, EXECUTIVE DECISION stars Kurt Russell as analyst David Grant, who finds himself suddenly thrown into the front lines. Radical Islamic terrorists have skyjacked a full 747 on its way to Washington DC, loaded it with enough nerve gas to wipe out some serious population centers and are on their way to the East Coast. Grant advises and accompanies a commando unit, led by Colonel Travis (Steven Seagal, as deadpan serious as usual). Their only play is to attempt a midair transfer into the 747 via a new Stealth-like jet designed by Cahill (very good Oliver Platt). Luckily for us, the unit is filled with characters and solid actors, including John Leguizamo, unleashing plenty of one-liners, Joe Morton (Terminator 2: Judgement Day) and BD Wong (Jurassic Park). The terrorists are led by a very dangerous man, well played by David Suchet (Poirot). The flight crew includes Halle Berry as a flight attendant with guts and the passenger list includes a smarmy Senator, perfectly played by JT Walsh. The action scenes are first-rate, with plenty of suspense as our heroes find themselves aboard the plane but limited in resources and time in diffusing the bomb before they reach USA airspace. Russell is terrific, going from tuxedo-ed Intelligence geek to action hero in just a couple hours, come on, he's Kurt Russell! Jerry Goldsmith delivers one of his countless great action music scores and Director Stuart Baird (editor of Casino Royale and Skyfall) keeps things moving fast and furious, far above the Earth. Writers Jim and John Thomas also wrote "Predator" and they bring the same sense of momentum and fun to the flight. Look, any movie that has the good sense to kill Steven Seagal in the first reel earns a lot of admiration out of the gate! The next year, Harrison Ford would have a big hit with the similar 'Air Force One" and both films hold up just fine. Make the EXECUTIVE DECISION to check this one out again, it holds up really well twenty one years after it's release! Just keep your seat-belts fastened during the flight, it's a hell of a ride and gets a solid B.

John Boorman's 1981 classic Excalibur is an adult, exciting, violent, romantic and superb look at the King Arthur legend. About as far from the musical "Camelot" as you can imagine, EXCALIBUR tells the back story of Arthur's father, who loses nearly everything to lust under the frustrated watch of Merlin. Nicol Williamson is nothing short of fantastic as Merlin, bringing a lot of humor and power to the role as he guides generations to power. Nigel Terry is a great Arthur, born to be king and nearly destroyed by his queen Guenevere's romance with the best knight at the round table, Lancelot. A young Helen Mirren is her usual excellent self as Arthur's half sister Morgana, who lives to destroy his kingdom. The screenplay by director Boorman and Rospo Pallenburg is filled wth classic moments and brilliant dialogue, including some of my all time favorite lines as Arthur sees Guenevere again after many years. At over 2 hours, the film never lags, spinning a very different look at a legendary story. The photography, costumes, music and acting are all top notch. Look for Patrick Stewart and Liam Neeson in early, fairly large roles. This is my favorite Boorman film, with just enough of the weird and offbeat style he brought to "Zardoz" and visual storytelling he brought to "Deliverance" in the perfect repackaging of the legend. A superb film that holds up beautifully and gets an A+, landing as an enjoyable entry in my all time Top 100 films.

The 1996 film adaption of the Broadway musical EVITA is a powerful film, with some heavy issues keeping it from being truly great. The tale of Evita Duarte, a second rate actress with a hunger for upward mobility who climbs all the way to spouse of Juan Peron, the President of Argentina, its got rags to riches story telling, political drama and more than one love story. Antonio Banderas steals the entire film as our narrator, who pops up throughout the film guiding us through the story. Banderas is a very talented singer. Tamara and I had the chance to see him on Broadway in "Nine" and we both agreed he had more stage presence and command than almost any actor we've ever been lucky enough to see live. That same presence is here every time he's on screen. Jonathan Pryce is also great as Peron, falling for Evita's charms and then respectfully getting out of her way when he sees that she's a huge asset to his own aspirations. But the biggest casting liability is Madonna in the title role. She's in fine singing voice. She took months of classical voice lessons to prep for the role and it shows. Her singing and movement is fine, very good even. She's got plenty of classic songs to wrap her voice around, including "Don't Cry For Me Argentina", "Another Suitcase In Another Hall" and "Buenos Aires". It's her acting that drags the film down. She's not Neil Diamond in "The Jazz Singer" bad. She doesn't embarrass herself. She just feels flat on screen compared to Banderas and Pryce, who blow her off the screen like a hurricane every time they are in the same frame. Even Jimmy Nail as a lounge singer draws all your attention, when she's supposed to be the focus. Credit Director Alan Parker (Pink Floyd's The Wall) for creating a great looking, huge budget historical spectacle and keeping things very stylized and interesting from the overture to the curtain. Great music from Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice with full, big budget and big sound orchestrations. See it for Banderas and Pryce. Listen to Madge sing but dont watch her act and you have a great film. Alas, I kept my eyes open so EVITA gets a B-.

1982's EVIL UNDER THE SUN was the great Peter Ustinov's second film as famed detective Hercule Poirot after the very successful "Death on the Nile" in 1978. Ustinov is hilarious and clever as the particular and eccentric sleuth and surrounded by an all star cast and a terrific director, Guy Hamilton (Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever). Poirot stumbles into a murder scene while on vacation on an island resort that caters to the rich and famous. Diana Rigg is a star of stage and screen that ends up dead on the beach, with every other person on the island owning a motive for killing her. James Mason and Sylvia Miles are Broadway producers she abandoned mid-production, Nicholas Clay and Jane Birkin are a playboy and his mousy wife involved in a nasty affair, Roddy McDowell is the author pushing to publish her autobiography....the suspects are all a lot of fun and well executed. Maggie Smith steals every scene she's in as the owner of the island resort and her barbs aimed at Rigg are euro-wit at its finest, delivered by Smith with perfect timing. The real reason the whole film works so well is an excellent screenplay by famed writer Anthony Shaffer (Sleuth, Hitchcock's "Frenzy") who keeps the dialogue smart and funny, the suspects viable and the solution clever. Ustinov is the center of the movie and injects every line of dialogue, every physical movement with eccentricities, humor and wry observations. It's a great performance and very entertaining to watch. Evil Under the Sun is killer fun for whodunit fans and it's no mystery we give it a solid B.

One of Woody Allen's goofiest and most inconsistent films of the seventies, 1972's EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SEX* is goofy fun, but pretty tame some 40 years later! Seven different comic segments, chapter topics from the famous book of the same name, show Woody and a funny cast exploring a wide range of topics. The highlights (or lowlights depending on your personal sense of humor) are Gene Wilder as Doctor Ross, who falls in love with a sheep named Daisy and the final segment showing what happens inside a man's brain and body as he prepares to be amorous. Tony Randall is in charge of the brain, with Burt Reynolds, Woody Allen and a funny cast playing different parts of the body to very funny effect. Like some of Monty Python's films (The Life of Brian comes to mind) the whole affair is hit or miss, hilarious when it's on target and mildly amusing when it isn't. The vignette with the mad scientist letting a 40' tall breast loose to attack people on the countryside defies description, but has more than a couple good laughs, especially when the boob goes on the attack. Goofy, silly, very hit and miss. We'll give this Woody a C.

A great new documentary celebrating the 50th Anniversary of James Bond, EVERYTHING OR NOTHING delves deep into the creativity and legacy of author Ian Fleming and 007 film producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman. As a huge Bond fan, this documentary was a treasure trove of rare footage, unseen interviews and behind-the-scenes 007 stories. Featuring new interviews with all the Bonds except for Sean Connery, it's fascinating to hear their different takes on the role that made them famous. Connery comes off as a very bitter and selfish man and George Lazenby is incredibly likeable and self-effacing in describing how he self sabotaged the role after his only film, the excellent Oh Her Majesty's Secret Service. Roger Moore is good humored, honest and revealing, Timothy Dalton is much lighter than you'd think and Pierce Brosnan is smooth, gracious and thrilled about his decade as Bond. Daniel Craig brings the same intelligence, intensity and humor to the interviews that he does as the current 007. Filled with interviews, clips, music, news footage and loads of all things Bond, this is a great doc for all fans. Producers Broccoli and Saltzman created their company with the initials EON, signifying that they would give it Everything or Nothing in bringing James Bond to the screen. By the end of this interesting documentary, you'll be convinced they meant it, resulting in the longest running film series in history. With Skyfall now the biggest 007 film ever, passing $1.1 billion at the box office, it appears Bond (and Diamonds) ARE forever. A clever, detailed documentary we'll shoot an A.

1997's sci-fi/horror film EVENT HORIZON tells the tale of a rescue ship sent to save survivors of a massive exploration ship that was sucked into a black hole and has now suddenly reappeared. A strong cast including Lawrence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan and Joely Richardson are completely wasted on this goofy drivel. You see, (SPOILER ALERT) the crew is gone, but there are definitely some gory, scary folks aboard, since we discover the ship apparently has literally been to hell and back. Excruciatingly dumb, decent special effects, very little suspense. The predictable screenplay creates a vacuum equal to its deep space setting. The tagline is Infinite Space, Infinite Terror. Let me add Infinite Boredom to that. Hell yes, it's bad enough for a D.

I didn't have much of a desire to see ESCAPE ROOM, throwing it my imagined bin of look-alike B horror films that I might get to someday. But at least for its first half, it's FAR more than that. The film's set up is brisk and to the point. We meet six people from seemingly disconnected lives that are all mysteriously invited to the latest, greatest Escape Room experience. Taylor Russell (Lost in Space) is Zoey, a brainy introvert more interested in the latest math puzzle than human interaction. Logan Miller (Being Frank) is an alcoholic with a questionable future. Jay Ellis (Insecure) has screen presence to spare as a wealthy young stockbroker focused on his next paycheck. Tyler Labine (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) is comic relief as the oldest of the group and Deborah Ann Woll (True Blood) is a former military operative carrying wounds of a recent conflict. The six are lumped into the lobby of the Escape Room and the game starts almost immediately. The movie flies forward in real time, putting us through the same time constraints as the six as the game soon reveals itself to be FAR more than weekend fun. The set design of each progressive room is excellent and there are a ton of suspenseful, gory and very inventive casualties. But about 2/3 of the way through, its as if the filmmakers run out of good ideas. What could have been a great movie goes completely off the rails, abandoning the actors and the audience with a stupid, eye rolling conclusion. One plot hole in a shrinking room is so glaring, you're left shaking your head, especially since the movie has so little sense it makes you sit through the flaw twice. Promising start, hell of a first half. But alas, ESCAPE ROOM crawls out at the end with a C. What a waste of a fun start.

A very twisted vision of the happiest place on Earth, Escape from Tomorrow is more clever in it's concept than its execution. Independent filmmaker Randy Moore somehow snuck into Disney World and Disneyland and was able to film his actors all over the park, on many classic rides and gather enough footage to tell quite a dark tale. In the film's opening scenes, everyman Dad, Jim finds out via phone that he has lost his job, but he keeps that news to himself, hoping to salvage a great day at the parks with his family. He is soon off to Disney World with his wife Emily and kids Sara and Elliott. Very soon, things start to seem "off" at the park and these events graduate from a lot of folks coughing and growing ill to some very demonic faces on animatronic characters and park goers. Hey, who hasn't felt like a lot of those figures in It's A Small World are evil little bastards, right? But as clever as the concept is, the execution isn't able to hold up the promise of the premise. While something evil certainly is afoot, it's never really defined clearly enough and the film begins to ramble a bit, but you have to give the actors credit for being very good and believable, including the kids. You will definitely wonder how they got some of the shots in the parks. Disney has taken a very hands off approach to the film, even with the filmmakers stealing the Disney font for their poster, along with an image of Mickey Mouse's bloody glove. If you combined a perfect day at Disney World with David Lynch's "Eraserhead", you'd end up with this quirky, black & white independent film. Interesting concept, smart premise, but only fair execution earn it a C.

The best sequel and arguably the best FILM in the entire original Ape series, 1971's ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES is smart, exciting science fiction that still holds up as great storytelling four decades later. The clever approach starts with the very first image, a beach scene that could be 100 yards from the site where the Statue of Liberty was discovered by Charlton Heston in the original 1968 film classic. Suddenly, a helicopter enters the frame and we see a spacecraft floating in the California surf. We are circa 1973 and Taylor's original space craft has traveled back in time, hurtled through a worm hole by the destruction of Earth in the closing moments of "Beneath the Planet of the Apes". Ingenious plotting, clever dialogue and a terrific cast then hurdles us through the next 98 minutes, as Cornelius (Roddy McDowell, OWNING this role) and Zira (the terrific Kim Hunter) adapt to modern LA. At first embraced by the government and society, the apes bond closely with Dr Lewis Dixon (Bradford Dillman) and Dr Stephanie Branton (Natalie Trundy). Cornelius and Zira are the toast of the town, wined and dined and wowing everyone with their wit and intelligence. But soon one man, Dr. Otto Hasslein (perfectly played by Eric Braeden) begins to question the future of the Earth and the role that the apes ancestors may provide in the destruction of the planet. Cornelius and Zira go from celebrities to wanted fugitives nearly overnight. The film is so well written by Paul Dehn (Goldfinger, Murder on the Orient Express) and so well acted by our cast, it emerges as one of the best sequels ever made. McDowell and Hunter manage to convey a great deal of emotion behind the seventies makeup. William Windom is strong as the President and Ricardo Montalban brings Khan like presence to his key role as Armando (if Khan was a kind circus owner). Jerry Goldsmith provides a sparse but terrific music score for the film, leaving many key moments quiet, but punching up the main titles and closing action scenes with one of his best action scores. The ending is so damn clever that you wish the two sequels that followed could live up to the promise, but they squandered this great film's set up mightily, getting worse as they went and becoming dumber and dumber. If you haven't seen this one in awhile, check it out. The dialogue throughout is intelligent, never pandering to a young audience or over explaining its science. Kudos to Dehn's writing and Don Taylor's direction for making this one fast, enjoyable thriller that turned the Ape films on their head. ESCAPE is a great ride, a classic sequel and gets an A. Followed in 1972 by "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes".