Based on the best selling Frederick Forsyth novel, 1973's THE DAY OF THE JACKAL is one of the most suspenseful thrillers of all time. Edward Fox stars as The Jackal, a British assassin hired by French resistance to kill Charles de Gaulle. Cutting a fast, silent path on his way to the assassination, the Jackal leaves no witnesses in his wake. Michael Lonsdale (Moonraker) stars as Lebel, the detective leading a massive pursuit of the Jackal. With tight direction by Fred Zinnemann (High Noon, Oklahoma) this is an exciting film from start to finish, building throughout its nearly 2.5 hour running time to an explosive climax. Fox is perfect as the Jackal, oozing charm under disguise and cold blooded murder in the blink of an eye. The early 1960's setting is well captured. It's not easy to make the detective work behind preventing an assassination exciting, but like "In the Line of Fire", this delivers. Ignore the horrible, pale 1997 remake "The Jackal" with Bruce WIllis and Richard Gere, its a mess. Stick with this original. One of the best films of the seventies, in my all time Top 100, The Jackal is on target and gets an A+.

This interesting, if strange, thriller gets even stranger when you realize it is the third film collaboration of Director Mike Nichols and Writer Buck Henry after "The Graduate" and Catch-22". How do you follow up those two modern classics? With a thriller about talking dolphins that are beings used in an assassination plot against the President, of course. THE DAY OF THE DOLPHIN stars George C. Scott as Dr. Jake Terrell. Along with his wife Maggie (Trish Van Devere, Scott's wife in real life too) and a small crew, Terrell is running a well funded research institute stretching the abilities of two dolphins. When the dolphins start to communicate with speech, they gain the interest of the government and several mysterious factions that descend on their experiments. This is a bizarre film and it was a big budget, massive misfire at the box office. Mike Nichols made some of the best films of the 60's and 70's, "The Graduate", "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf", "Carnal Knowledge" to name a few, but he's a very strange fit for this material, taking everything very seriously. That isn't easy to do when you have talking dolphins involved. George C. Scott proves that he's a damn good actor no matter the material and Fritz Weaver and Paul Sorvino have good moments as conspiratorial suit types of varying allegiance. The music score by Georges Delerue is excellent, the photography under and above water is great and those talking dolphins will sometimes tug at your heart, but overall it's a bit of a waste of some serious talents. Buck Henry has told hilarious stories for years about the making of the film, Scott's manic intensity on set and Scott and Nichols legendary battles over the script. If only a bit of the humor from those stories had leaked into the movie. At the conclusion of filming, the two dolphins leap the fence of their pen per the script for three takes and on the last take, swam out to see never to be seen again. Based on the audience and critical reaction to the film, it turned out those mammals were very smart indeed. Dolphin sinks with a C.

Picking up ten years after the conclusion of "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES immerses us in a San Francisco dominated by apes in the forests and a small enclave of humans in the city. Caesar (Andy Serkis) is the undisputed leader of the apes, who over the past decade have all learned sign language and are starting to learn to speak. He has a loving mate and a "teenage" son Blue Eyes, who is anxious to follow in his father's footsteps. The genetically evolved apes own the forest territory and are living in relative peace. In the city, a large group of survivors live in the vine covered remnants of downtown San Francisco, led by Gary Oldman as Dreyfus, their inspirational leader. As all power sources threaten to run out in the months ahead, Dreyfus sends a team out to try and reactivate the hydroelectric dam. Unfortunately it's located in the forest and the fragile peace between the apes and humans is soon threatened. Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty, The Great Gatsby) is great as Malcolm, who sees the apes as evolved equals to be partnered with. He is unfortunately surrounded by less evolved humans, who want nothing more than to kill all the apes. Caesar and Malcolm bond, but soon that mutual respect is tested by challenges from both the ape and the human worlds. To say more would be to spoil some of the enjoyable directions that the film takes on its way to an action filled conclusion atop the skyscrapers of San Fran. Andy Serkis is brilliant as Caesar. The computer effects are so sophisticated that the apes generate as much or more emotion than the humans. We have come a very long way from the ape masks of the 1960's! DAWN serves as the "Empire Strikes Back" of the current Apes series, improving on the first and perfectly setting up the next film. The production values are first rate throughout. You film buffs of my age will have fond memories of the vine covered Washington DC of "Logan's Run" when you see the much more realistic vegetation smothered San Francisco. As a long time fan of the Planet of the Apes series, its great to see the franchise in good hands, avoiding the budget crush of the original series where each film after 'Escape from the Planet of the Apes" had smaller budgets and diminishing returns. By also avoiding all the eccentricities of Tim Burton's attempt at a reboot, the current filmmakers continue to build characters you care about. Oldman seems a bit wasted until the finale, Keri Russell and Kirk Acevedo are a bit stuck in one mode, but Serkis and Clarke carry the film so high on their shoulders, you barely notice. Apes riding horses and shooting machine guns could have been really stupid. Not here! This is a great action film with some interesting things to say about loyalty, racism and family beneath the bullets, chases and explosions. DAWN is even better than RISE and gets an exciting A. Already looking forward to what happens next.

There's rarely been a book that has captured the public's imagination the way Dan Brown's thriller THE DA VINCI CODE did in the early 2000's. Combining elements of a thriller, a drama, history and religion, the massive hit was bound to be adapted to the screen and would prove to be a difficult task in 2006. Tom Hanks is well cast as Professor Robert Langdon. An expert cryptologist, Langdon is drawn into a massive conspiracy when a friend he was schedule to meet in Paris is killed in the Louvre. Before he dies, the victim writes Langdon's name in blood on the floor, but it proves to be only the first clue in a fever pitched mystery that leads quickly into an abyss of centuries old deception and lies. The secrets weave a tangled path that are a lot of fun to solve here (not nearly as much fun as they were to discover in the book, but still well told) and Director Ron Howard (Apollo 13, Backdraft, Cocoon) keeps things moving along amazingly well, especially with all the exposition he needs to layout for the viewer. He's helped immensely by screenwriter Akiva Goldsman (The Client, I Robot, Cinderella Man) and a terrific cast, especially Audrey Tautou as Sophie, Ian Mckellen as Sir Leigh Teabing, Jean Reno as French police Captain Fache and Paul Bettany as one very twisted Monk. I loved the book and enjoyed the movie when it came out, but I just watched the Director's cut which has been expanded to nearly three hours. This will be bad news for those in the audience that thought the original version dragged, but I thought the extra time allowed the film to better lay the groundwork for some of the best secret reveals. Hanks is truly our generation's Jimmy Stewart, perfect at playing the everyman American caught up in a story much bigger than he is. Like Stewart in "Rear Window" or Cary Grant in "North By Northwest", Hanks creates a professor that rises to the occasion and does the right thing at all costs. Hanks and Howard would team up again to craft further film adaptions of Brown's Langdon novels, including "Angels and Demons" in 2009 and "Inferno" filming now for release in late 2016. THE DA VINCI CODE played even better for me today than it did ten years ago, perhaps I'm more removed from the book or the longer version was just that much better, but this rare commercial & artistic thriller would make Da Vinci proud in its intricacy and gets a B.

DAVE is the best doppelganger comedy of all time, filled with laughs, heart and a great cast led by Kevin Kline. Kline plays President Bill Mitchell, detached, unpleasant and cheating on First Lady Ellen (Sigourney Weaver) at every turn. Kline also plays Dave Kovic, kind-hearted temp agency owner and dead ringer for Mitchell. Kovic makes some extra cash appearing as the President at car dealerships and grand openings, spinning a kinder version of Mitchell. The Secret Service drafts Dave to double the President after a speech so the real Commander in Chief can meet staffer Randi (young Laura Linney) for a night of romance. When Mitchell suffers a debilitating stroke at the height of passion, Chief of Staff Bob Alexander (a perfectly despicable Frank Langella) and staffer Alan Reed (hilarious Kevin Dunn) concoct a plan to move Dave into the President's chair to further their own needs. Langella kills as the ultimate political insider, focused on manipulating Dave any way he needs to in order to sit in the Oval Office himself. But Dave surprises. There are plenty of laughs as every-man Dave finds himself enjoying the role and displaying quite a knack as the leader of the free world. Fans of "Veep" will enjoy seeing Dunn in an early role the resonates perfectly with his current role as Ben Cafferty on the HBO sitcom. Ving Rhames is terrific as Secret Service agent Stephenson, Ben Kingsley resonates as the Vice President and Charles Grodin steals every scene he's in as Dave's accountant at the temp agency making some late night visits to the White House. Director Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters, Stripes) and writer Gary Ross (Big, Seabiscuit) deliver some of their best work, filling Dave's term with hilarity and heart. Langella has a blast playing against his usual serious roles. His high speed, apoplectic walk through the Capitol when Dave calls his own press conference is hilarious. Langella's "I can kill a hundred ordinary people" line is flawless. Kline's great in both roles. No one does a double take quite like Kline. Kline and Weaver have great chemistry in their scenes as they discover that neither are exactly who they expect. And hey, that's my friend Tom Dugan in the opening and closing scenes as Jerry, Alice (Faith Prince)'s boyfriend. He's a fun part of the closing moments, which are guaranteed to make you smile. Love it, Tom! Warren Beatty and Kevin Costner both turned down the role of Mitchell/Kovic, it's one of Kline's best. It's loaded with cameos from real life politicians and news pundits, but the best cameo is from Oliver Stone, who appears on TV convinced that there is a conspiracy in motion and Mitchell is NOT really Mitchell. It's perfect. DAVE delivers a landslide of laughs and clever storytelling more than 25 years after it's release and gets an A.

Based on the New York Times article "The Lawyer Who Became Dupont's Worst Nightmare". 2019's DARK WATERS is a harrowing and enlightening tour through the deepest corridors of corporate malfeasance. Mark Ruffalo stars as said attorney, Rob Billott. After finally moving up the ladder at his law firm, Billott is approached by two farmers that know his grandmother back in West Virginia. He's soon drawn in by that connection, visiting farmer Wilbur Tennant at his decaying property adjacent to a massive Dupont plant. Tennant (Bill Camp of "Joker") has watched hundreds of his livestock turn mad or die as they drink from the stream that feeds onto his property. Director Todd Haynes (Carol, Far From Heaven) paints everything in West Virginia in dying grays and blues, making the cities seem malignant in every corner. The deeper Billott is pulled into the case, the greater the discoveries of Dupont's criminal intent and complete disregard for human life. Victor Garber (Argo) is excellent as a senior Dupont executive who can't understand why Billott has "changed sides". When he dumps hundreds of thousands of pages of docs into Billott's lap as pushback during discovery, he fails to understand that he's just given Rob everything he needs to pursue justice. Tim Robbins is very good as the senior lawyer at Billott's firm, at first hesitant but then pulled into Rob's quest for what's right. The weakest link in the cast is Anne Hathaway, horribly miscast as Rob's wife Sarah. Hathaway can't hold a candle to Ruffalo and disappears any time they're on screen together. Mare Winningham is great as one of the Dupont employees, she would have been amazing as Sarah. It's hard for me to believe this is the same Mark Ruffalo that plays the Hulk in the Marvel films. He is so rumpled and pudgy here, constantly pursing his lips or hiding behind a wall of silence that betrays his lack of confidence. Only when he's interviewing a witness or in a courtroom does he emerge with the power of his convictions. Watching this true story unfold over the course of many years is painful and exasperating. As the film concludes, you learn the fate of all involved and get glimpses of some of the real people who played small parts in the film. Powerful and loaded with suspense & discovery, DARK WATERS gets an A. Now excuse me while I go look through all my cupboards for Teflon. If the final statement written on screen before the credits start doesn't terrify every citizen of the world, it should....

Film buffs already know that Director Nikolaj Arcel can adapt a book into a great film. Anyone that's seen the original Swedish version of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" can attest to that fact. So what in the world happened to this hurried, truncated adaption of the first book in Stephen King's 8 book long "The Gunslinger" opus, THE DARK TOWER? You've got a great Roland in Idris Elba (Prometheus, Beasts of No Nation). He's terrific as the last of the old fashioned gunslingers battling to keep many worlds safe from evil. We have Matthew McConaughey in decent form as Walter, The Man in Black bent on destroying everything good in our world and every other. Screenwriter Akiva Goldsman (I Am Legend, Fringe, The DaVinci Code) adapted the book and young Tom Taylor if a terrific choice as Jake, the young man who has a strong Shining that has him torn between, and important to two worlds. Moments of the film are very strong, including the final gun battle, Roland's opening moments in Manhattan and some of the scenes between Roland and Jake as they bond in purpose. But what happened to the rest of the story? It's as if the filmmakers delivered a coherent three hour movie and the studio decided to cut 50% of the film without regard to flow, plot points or coherency. Major events happen and you're left to figure out their motive or impact. Characters appear and vanish at will. The rules of traveling between the worlds seem poorly defined and create no suspense. A little backstory on Roland and The Man in Black might have provided some context, a word that seems lost on this effort. It feels like a movie begging for another 30-45 minutes to tell a story. With so much talent and money behind launching a major new tent-pole film and TV series, this hatchet job renders a great story nearly senseless. Hugely overshadowed by the FAR superior Stephen King adaption IT in theaters the summer of 2017, this flop feels like a brand killer. What a shame and a waste of talent. It's fantastic to look at, while it lasts. Which isn't long. It's okay to leave audiences wanting more, but not to serve them half a meal and then turn off the lights. This short story in search of coherence gets a C-. Surely Arcel has a three hour version somewhere that will be released in a couple years to acclaim....OR, this whole damn thing got lost in translation.

When I first heard that Tim Burton was having a go at "Dark Shadows", I thought it was going to be a dark take on the vampire soap opera we all used to sneak home to watch after school in the late sixties/early 70's. But this is the silly Tim Burton instead of the dark one and the film is one big hot mess. Johnny Depp is great and LOTS of fun as Barnabas Collins, back after 200 years to 1972 and meeting his extended Collins family for the first time. His attempts to adapt to the 70's are some of the film's best moments and Depp doesn't disappoint. Michelle Pfieffer and Johnny Lee Miller aren't given much to do and only Helena Bonham Carter as the family psychiatrist, Chloe Grace Moretz as young Carolyn & Jackie Earle Haley as caretaker Willie really standout in the large cast. My biggest problem is the tone of the movie, it's funny, then serious, then slapstick, then funny, it's a very confused hodgepodge of styles and emotions. Eva Green (so great in Casino Royale) is completely miscast as a centuries old lover of Barnabas determined to have him at all costs. It's obvious enormous dollars have been poured on this film, so it's sad that the most memorable moments are the 70's songs & settings and Depp's over the top portrayal. What a disappointment! This Bites. And not in a good, vampire way.......C-

Well isn't this a creepy little flick. Derivative, fairly predictable but always interesting, DARK SKIES is an entertaining escape. Keri Russell and Josh Hamilton star as a couple struggling with job changes but somehow able to afford a picture perfect two story house in an upscale neighborhood (apply movie logic here). It's not long before they appear to be marked for visitations by visitors from far, far away. There are many moments you could call homages (or direct rip-offs depending on your generosity) from SIGNS, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS and the PARANORMAL ACTIVITY film series, but they are executed pretty well and add some nice scares along the way. The child actors are all good and you have to credit producer Jason Blum (Insidious, Sinister, Paranormal series) with crafting yet another low budget, high impact scary thriller. Fun scares abound. If you hate birds, you are really gonna hate this movie. A fun, suspenseful little horror thriller that scares up a B- for us.

One of Quentin Tarantino's fave action films, 1968's DARK OF THE SUN is a rip-roaring, old fashioned thriller that's hard to find on video but worth the quest. Rod Taylor stars as Curry, a tough mercenary hired to transport a mining company's people and $25 million in diamonds across the war torn Congo. Jim Brown is excellent as his partner Ruffo, who wants to do the job for his country first and money second. Brown and Taylor play off each other well and are a great action team. Yvette Mimieux stars as Claire, a woman who joins their mission halfway through after she is found in a village and Peter Carsten is perfectly evil as a former Nazi officer now an unwelcome part of the mission. As Taylor and Brown put together their brigade of soldiers and the train, complete with gun turrets galore and explosives to match, it's action movie lover heaven and nearly non-stop momentum. Director Jack Cardiff was one of the all time best directors of photography with credits like "The African Queen" "The Red Shoes" and "War and Peace" to his credit and does an excellent job in the director's chair. Tarantino used parts of the clever music score by Jacques Loussier in "Inglorious Bastards" and as a Tarantino fan, you can tell why he loves this film. It's rough, violent and kicks ass. Tough to find on video, I ordered it from Warner Archives on DVD and the print looks great. An action classic that I'm glad I finally caught up with, thanks QT! Explodes an A- for me.

Who doesn't love a good scary movie? Blumhouse has become a reliable provider of great little horror thrillers, a Hammer for today in giving us jolts that are entertaining and reliable. THE DARKNESS is definitely one of their lesser efforts in the genre. Peter Taylor (Kevin Bacon) and his family are on vacation near the Grand Canyon when his autistic son Michael is left alone and falls into a huge underground cavern. Michael finds himself in an ancient Indian burial ground (insert cliche here) and takes a set of ritualistic stones home with him as a secret souvenir. When the family gets back home, they are beset by increasing supernatural activity. There are some minor scares, but a hell of a lot more eye rolls from me than jumps scares. One daughter suffers from severe bulimia and her condition is treated more as a gross out plot point than a serious condition. We could have a whole conversation about the film treating autism as a convenient leverage for the supernatural, but no amount of voice overs and clips of articles about past native American spirits and autism helps make this anything but an awkward and insensitive script device. The plot holes are bigger than the cave Michael falls into, including just how the hell he walked out of that massive underground hole. The movie literally gives you no explanation, you just see him walking out to his family. So scriptwriter, if its that easy to walk out of, explain to me why NO ONE has walked into it for the past hundred years. Lazy and stupid aren't two attributes I look for in my horror thrillers. Bacon does what he can, Paul Reiser (what- did his "Mad About You" syndication money run out?) has a really poorly written role as a lecherous boss that suddenly turns sympathetic and accepting, while Radha Mitchell (Man On Fire) is wasted playing Bacon's unappreciated wife. Borrowing heavily from "The Brady Bunch" episode in which Bobby brought back that evil sacred tiki statue from the family's vacation in Hawaii and displaying all the dramatic flair of that TV sitcom, THE DARKNESS never quite finds the light. Speaking of going into the light, the final scene has Bacon and his son crossing over just as the Freeling family did at the end of the Indian burial ground themed "Poltergeist II". Oye. Please. No one turn the light on. Let's leave this one in THE DARKNESS where it belongs and give it a D.

Campy, violent and fun, Sam Raimi's 1990 film DARKMAN is an explosive, wild ride for nearly every one of it's fast 96 minutes. Liam Neeson is Peyton, a shy scientist in the wrong place at the wrong time when his reporter girlfriend Julie (Frances McDormand) stumbles on a document that unveils some very dirty politics. Evil Henchman Durant (Larry Drake sporting Spock hair) descends on Peyton's lab with his gang, torturing Peyton and blowing him to smithereens. Of course, Peyton isn't dead, he's simply blown about 300 yards through the air into the lake in one of many scenes that Raimi (Evil Dead, Spiderman) manages to make hilarious and horrifying at the same time. His body is horribly disfigured, but he soon applies his technology to create masks and body parts that allow him to plan some very creative havoc and revenge. Raimi builds in some clever suspense by making sure that you and Peyton both know that his disguises will only last 99 minutes before they turn into bubbling goo. That ticking timeclock adds to the fun. Neeson (Rob Roy, Taken) and McDormand (Fargo) both would grow into some of film's finest actors, but their performances here are just as cartoony as the rest of Raimi's cast. Joel and Ethan Coen also provided a lot of input on the script, which you can see in some of the most twisted laughs. This is a revenge flick with R rated blood and violence, but tongue planted firmly in cheek. The final 20 minutes is an operatic explosion of action, chases, final confrontations on top of a skyscraper, heroes hanging from helicopters and Schwarzenegger worthy one-liners. It's perfectly late 80's/early 90's in all the right ways, with goofy special effects and killer camerawork by Bill Pope (The Matrix, Spiderman 2). This is arguably Danny Elfman's best music score as well, loading nearly every minute with themes that equal his score for Michael Keaton's debut in Tim Burton's "Batman". Like Batman, its a tale of a man serving up revenge against evil-doers, but when he takes HIS mask off, Darkman looks like hell, not Bruce Wayne. DARKMAN is either the most violent comedy ever made or the funniest revenge flick of all time. Either way, its a very enjoyable A-. Followed by two direct-to-video sequels I've never bothered to watch. (Film buffs watch closely for brief appearances by Bruce Campbell, Jenny Agutter and Director John Landis.)