Right smack dab in the middle of the Seventies disaster movie craze came one of the more odd entries in the genre, 1976's THE CASSANDRA CROSSING. Terrorists break into the World Health Organization in Geneva and in the midst of a gunfight, shatter vials of a deadly virus and are exposed. One of the gunmen escapes (to much fanfare and one of Jerry Goldsmith's classic disaster flick scores) and boards a transcontinental train with 1000 people on board. Luckily, many of them are movie stars to make the journey more entertaining. We have Richard Harris as Dr. Chamberlain, a handy guy to have on hand for an outbreak, Sophia Loren as his ex-wife, Ava Gardner as an aging wealthy cougar and Martin Sheen as her young, heroin addicted boyfriend. Round that out with OJ Simpson as a priest (?) and Burt Lancaster on the ground as Mackenzie, the army man in charge of containing the deadly virus and you've got quite a cast. The train is rerouted deep into Poland and it must cross an old, abandoned, massive bridge called the Cassandra Crossing to get to quarantine. I lost count of how many times they showed the old dusty bridge and missing rivets with scary music playing loudly to herald the terror, but as long as they didn't let Anne Turkel (married to Richard Harris at the time) sing the god-awful, off key song she does at the beginning of the train ride, I was thrilled. It's silly, its kind of exciting, has enough good sequences to hold your interest and a pretty spectacular last ten minutes. But at the end of the ride, its not exactly a disaster movie classic. We'll call this train ride a C ticket.

What a quirky, goofy, unfunny mess this unofficial entry in the Bond film canon is. 1967's CASINO ROYALE was produced by Charles Feldman, who had the rights to this one Ian Fleming novel. He must have assumed that he couldn't compete with the official OO7 films, as he hired FIVE different directors to put together a big budget comedy about James Bond. David Niven is Sir James Bond, called out of retiement to go after SMERSH. There is virtually no other plot to speak of, with scenes just loudly colliding together without any true flow. Woody Allen is mildly amusing as Jimmy Bond, 007's nephew and William Holden gets some of the biggest laughs in the film playing straight while the lunacy encircles him. Bond film veterans like Ursula Andress and Vladek Sheybal pop up in minor roles while Orson Welles and Peter Sellers wonder through scenes totally wasted by a non-existent script. There is one very funny three minute scene in which all the nations of the world battle over the best way to blow it up, but its the only clever writing in the whole mess. Luckily, EON was able to secure the rights and produce a truly great version of the Fleming novel with the 2006 version in which Daniel Craig debuted as Bond. The best part of this dud is the fantastic movie score by Burt Bacharach, which was widely collected as one of the best engineered and composed movie soundtracks ever. The music score still holds up as the only bright spot. This Casino Royale truly is a massive Bond bomb with a license to bore and gets an F.

Las Vegas mob stories don't get any more captivating and powerful than Martin Scorsese's 1995 hit CASINO. Robert De Niro stars as Sam "Ace" Rothstein, the mob's top man in 1973 Las Vegas. Overseeing billions of dollars, Sam is a smooth operator and everyone involved in the business has a winning hand under his watch. When the wise buy bosses back East decide to add Sam's childhood friend Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci) into the mix, things seem to get even better. At first. It's classic good cop/bad cop with De Niro's Sam the intense and professional leader and Pesci's Nicky the volatile hot head with a fast temper and a penchant for blind loyalty. When a beautiful woman named Ginger McKenna (Sharon Stone) enters the picture, the boy's balance spins out of control and the power & money begins to shift wildly as well. The screenplay by Nicholas Pileggi and Scorsese is based on Pileggi's book detailing his real life experiences in the Vegas mob. In Scorsese's hands, the film feels real to its core and gets the early seventies Vegas setting exactly right down to the last wide lapel and shag rug. De Niro and Pesci are both terrific. Sharon Stone has the performance of her career as Ginger, who upsets the apple & the cocaine cart with equal abandon. Her Ginger is sad, sexy and dangerous. Supporting players are superb, with Don Rickles perhaps the biggest surprise as Sam's right hand man and Casino pit boss Billy Sherbert. Rickles isn't good, he's GREAT, showing strong dramatic chops. Comedian Alan King is also very good in bad guy role and James Woods is reliably oily. This was director of photography Robert Richardson's first film with Scorsese and its a brilliant match. Richardson (JFK, Inglorious Basterds, Kill Bill) moves his camera almost constantly, becoming a character unto himself as he weaves his way through the casino and the lives of our players on the floor and behind the scenes. Scorsese is a master. I defy you to not get sucked into this three hour character study that feels like less than two hours. He tips his hat on the end of the story in its brilliant opening scene and then drives you through all the backstory with momentum and speed. This was De Niro in his prime, before he started taking lesser films and comedies for paychecks. He's made many great films and this is one of them. Vegas has rarely been more seductive than it is here. When it comes to Scorsese, De Niro and CASINO, bet the house. Loaded with aces, it gets an A+ and a coveted spot in my all-time Top 100 films.

2013's CARRIE falls into the bloody heap of unnecessary horror film remakes, piled on top of Gus van Sant's Psycho and nine or ten re-imaginings of Night of the Living Dead. You can't blame the cast, especially the very talented young Chloe Grace Moretz (Kick Ass, Dark Shadows) as Carrie and Julianne Moore as the disturbed Mrs. White. They are both terrific. The production values are good, the CGI is admirable in execution but somehow routine and some of the supporting characters are made so incredibly unlikeable that they become hard to watch, even as you anticipate Carrie's inevitable revenge against them at the prom. Brian De Palma's original was certainly less expensive, less streamlined and less stupid, with all the creative edges smoothed off the original version to craft the new Carrie sleek and dumbed-down for today's uber violent slasher audience. The prom scene still packs quite a punch, but by the time Carrie was levitating cars and collapsing houses like the Freeling house at conclusion of "Poltergeist", I was rolling my eyes more than I was averting them in horror. Just compare the very last scene in the original to the last scene in the remake. The one opportunity to still pack a punch just fades quietly into darkness, which accurately describes the entire film. There's a reason this sat on the shelves at MGM for a long time before slithering into and out of theatres quickly last year. Carrie gets a shrug and a C-.

Watching 1964's THE CARPETBAGGERS now, it's hard to believe that the film was so controversial, pushing every film decency standard when it was released. Based on Harold Robbins best selling book, this big-budget Paramount film was a HUGE hit in 1964. George Peppard stars as the Howard Hughes like Jonas Cord, buying every company and seducing every beautiful woman he sees. The legendary Alan Ladd is terrific in his last screen role as Cord's sidekick, Nevada Smith. Martin Balsam, Carroll Baker, Bob Cummings and Elisabeth Ashley lead a big cast in this gaudy, trashy two and a half hour drama. Somehow, about 90 minutes in, i found myself getting really sucked in to the trash and having a good time. It's over the top and fun to watch when you think about how horribly ADULT this all was nearly 50 years ago. Then, it was the equivalent of a hard R. Now it would barely register a PG-13! The Carpetbaggers is like a big-screen version of "Dallas" with a little "The Aviator" thrown in the mix. Absolutely fun trash, a relic of its time and a B.

Time had not been kind to the 1956 film version on Rodgers and Hammerstein's CAROUSEL. Classic songs, check. Great photography in a big old widescreen Cinemascope style, check. Powerful leads in Gordon MacRae and a very young Shirley Jones, check. But oh man, this story line is a disaster, caught in a timewarp, wrapped in jaw dropping unacceptability. Billy Bigelow (MacRae) gets one day to come back to Earth to see his daughter and wife. The conclusion seems to carry the message that if a wife loves her man enough, it's okay if he hits her. I am not kidding! This is all the more shocking when you realize that the film is written by Henry Ephron, the father of Nora Ephron, screenwriter of many films with strong women characters, including "When Harry Met Sally" and "Sleepless in Seattle". Any attributes of the film are completely washed away by it's shocking position on physical abuse. When Tamara and I saw Carousel on Broadway about ten years ago, the London Theatre Company had updated the dialogue and characters to reflect modern times. Seeing this version, that was a VERY good idea........ Strikes a sour note with a D.

Capturing a very different time in both setting and society, CAROL is a powerfully acted drama that somehow still remained distant to me. Todd Haynes is an artistic director and I liked his "Far From Heaven" back in 2002 quite a bit. His eye for period detail is terrific and with CAROL, he truly takes you back to 1950's New York City. Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) stars as Therese, a young photographer working as a sales clerk at a Macy's like NYC department store. She finds herself mesmerized by a wealthy Christmas shopper who oozes style and class. Cate Blanchett is Carol, a married woman with a little girl and a very big secret. As the two find themselves meeting for a drink and then dinner and more, you feel the 1950's oppression on their affair from every angle. As their affair grows into something deeper, Carol's husband (the very good Kyle Chandler) finds himself struggling and growing more combative as his suspicions grow stronger. The back half of the film chronicles a road trip between Carol and Therese that makes you feel the oppression of the two women in powerful ways. Sarah Paulson (American Horror Story) is very good as Carol's best friend, caught between Carol and her husband as secrets unfold. The entire film is perfectly photographed, with a slow build and surprising suspense for what's basically a forbidden love story. Still, I never really connected with the movie. You can't blame Mara and Blanchett, they are reliably great and powerful as two very different women in age, confidence and viewpoint. Every frame is great to look at, but somehow emotionally disconnected for me. I'll give CAROL a B-.

With its high pedigree cast and Roman Polanski as its director, I expected more from CARNAGE. Set wholly during one afternoon's conversation in a Manhattan apartment, Carnage puts together an upscale couple (Cristoph Waltz and Kate Winslet) whose son has beat up the son of a more middle class couple (Jodie Foster & John C. Reilly). Waltz and Reilly are excellent, Winslet is good and Foster is so grating and angry she becomes unpleasant to watch. The constant cell phone interruptions and false exits seem awful forced. Carnage is a sheep in 'Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolf's" clothing......C.

Nobody plays dark & shady criminals quite like Al Pacino. In "Scarface" he was loud and brash. In "The Godfather" he was cool and smooth, but he's always dangerous. In CARLITO'S WAY, he's a blend of both, sporting an outrageous Puerto Rican accent like Tony Montana along with the everyday cool demeanor of Michael Corleone. In Brian de Palma's 1993 thriller, Pacino is Carlito, fresh out of prison and committed to taking a straight path out of crime. Unfortunately for Carlito, he's got the slimiest lawyer in the country in Kleinfeld, a coked up, no limit slimeball brilliantly played by a nearly unrecognizable Sean Penn. Sporting a kinky perm, big glasses and a hair wire attitude, Penn is excellent as Kleinfeld, dancing across the line between criminal and lawyer with drug & ego fueled madness. Carlito just wants to make enough cash to escape the country with his girlfriend and run a quiet rental car agency. And here's where the film runs into a bit of trouble. Carlito's girl Gail is seen in a dance hall studio, you hear about her performing on Broadway and you see a ballet practice, then she turns out to be a pole dancer. I guess, maybe she was both, I never quite figured it out. The even worse news is that Gail is played by one of the worst actresses of the 80's and 90's, Penelope Ann Miller. She's horrible. I walked out of the movie she made after this, the craptacular 'The Shadow" with Alec Baldwin, so I dont think she got any better. Her interactions with Pacino are uncomfortable their talent levels are so far apart. It's like having a four year old with training wheels ride next to Lance Armstrong. No matter what you do, that kid is gonna look awkward next to Lance. Thankfully, Pacino is terrific and Penn is stellar, along with supporting players John Leguizamo as Benny Blanco, Luis Guzman as Pachanga and James Rebhorn as a tireless DA. Director De Palma turns in one of his best films, with plenty of his signature camera work and tension to drive the story. The finale between Carlito and all the forces against him converging on Grand Central Station is a killer twenty minute showcase by De Palma of all his best techniques. Quick cutting, multiple screens at once and a great music score by Patrick Doyle work in perfect sync to deliver one De Palma's great action sequences. Some of the takes in the train station are amazingly long, weaving in and out of crowds and action in scenes that must have taken weeks to rehearse. David Koepp (Jurassic Park, Mission Impossible, Spiderman) wrote the interesting screenplay. Other than some corny narration and a somewhat heavy handed flashback framing structure, its sharp and on point. With a better actress as Gail, this could have been a great film, but its still classic De Palma and deserved a bigger box office audience than it found. Tune in for Pacino, Penn and De Palma and enjoy the violent, action packed and moody ride. Carlito gets a B.

Laughably bad, no make that astonishingly, laugh-out-loud bad, 1977's THE CAR is basically JAWS with four wheels and a giant grill. This is the kind of movie that many good actors would love to scratch off their IMDB history. Actors like James Brolin as a small town sheriff. His opening scenes feature one of the most awkward "lovers waking up together" scenes in film history between Brolin and Kathleen Lloyd as his girlfriend. Her acting is horrible, but to be fair, her dialogue is so bad that at one point, the screenwriters have her doing a James Cagney impression. Eyebrow raising bad. A huge, black car is chasing down people and killing them methodically in their town. The music swells, the car revs, and the car chases people around. It's hilariously bad. John Marley (The Godfather) is horrible as the oldest cop, Ronny Cox (Deliverance) is a great actor in a very bad performance as an alcoholic cop and John Rubenstein is a hitchhiker playing a french horn on the roadside that made me start rooting for the car. Brolin does his best and looks happy to be off Marcus Welby. The writers Dennis Shyrack & Michael Butler went on to much better screenplays, including "Pale Rider" and "Code of Silence", apparently dumping all their worst moments in this disaster. Universal made a lot of money in the seventies cranking out these B-movies with better budgets and great posters but they have NOT held up, to say the least. THE CAR stalls quickly and gets an F. A hilariously bad F, but garbage is garbage.

Picture a political drama loaded with social commentary and then wrap it in an interesting science fiction adventure. What emerges is 2019's CAPTIVE STATE from Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes). The film's opening credits barrage you with media reports that Earth has been taken over on a planetary scale. Every country has laid down their arms, governments have stepped aside. It's intentionally overwhelming and a strong start. We then move forward ten years and focus on Chicago. John Goodman is Detective William Mulligan, running a task force to track down an elusive group of insurgents battling to push back against a decade of alien rule. He reports to Commissioner Igoe (Kevin Dunn of "Veep") who reports directly to the alien rulers buried deep under Chicago. Mulligan is on the trail of the emerging rebel group, including Gabriel Drummond (Ashton Sanders of "Moonlight") who lives in the shadow of his legendary brother, dissident leader Rafe (Jonathan Majors). The secret rebel group plot to show the world that humans CAN push back on a huge scale during a unity rally at Soldier Field. The film turns into a suspenseful thriller in its middle as this operation is planned and executed by a fascinatingly eclectic group of six. There are many layers to the story. You can watch it as a pure sci-fi film and enjoy it, or you can dig deeper and see commentary on the re-gentrification of neighborhoods and the balance of government power. The aliens are interesting but not jaw dropping. The special effects are good, but not great, but the supporting cast is strong. Vera Farmiga (Bates Motel) is a hooker with a hell of a client list, Ben Daniels (Rogue One) is a a heroic rebel leader, Kevin J. O'Connor (There Will Be Blood) is an alien loving policeman and Alan Ruck (Ferris Bueller's Day Off) is among the conspirators. Loved the music score by Ron Simonsen (The Way Way Back). The movie bombed at the box office and most critics and audiences didn't like it, but I thought it interesting, well acted and plenty of fun. I especially liked the independent film vibe in an unexpected genre and the last ten minutes absolutely loaded with twists and surprises. Goodman and Sanders elevate the material throughout. CAPTIVE STATE was a pleasant surprise for me, and gets an enjoyable B.

Fast paced, moving and suspenseful, CAPTAIN PHILLIPS features Tom Hanks in one of his best performances as the hostage of Somali pirates. Based on the true story of Captain Richard Phillips, whose huge freighter was boarded by Somali pirates in 2009 off the coast of Africa, the film deftly sets up Phillips and his crew's everyday routine. It then deposits them in a tension filled hostage incident that fills the majority of the film. First time actor Barkhad Abdi is excellent as lead pirate Muse, a young man literally starving and forced to become a pirate by marauding criminal warlords. The depiction of Muse and his friends lives as a counterpoint to Phillips prep for the mission and his home life provides a powerful contrast between their environments. When those worlds collide onboard the ship, Director Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy, United 93) ratchets up the action and suspense with his cast. If you think you know the whole story, as I did, you will find much more to the events here than expected. The last 20 minutes feature Tom Hanks, certainly one of our finest actors, at the top of his game. It's a powerful role in a terrific film. Like "United 93", it immerses you in the event and generates amazing tension as the story unfolds. Hanks and Greengrass are at the top of their game and capture a solid A.