I'm not sure how many times French Writer/Director Luc Besson can keep making different variations of the same theme, but as long as they are as entertaining as ANNA, I'm not sure I mind. Riffing on 1990's "Le Femme Nikita" and 2014's "Lucy", Besson delivers a time hopping, intriguing thriller about Anna, a stunning fashion model/assassin with a very special set of skills. As the fluid time frame makes your brain hurt with "six weeks ago" "5 years ago", "4 weeks later" title cards, we watch Anna's most brutal missions, her recruitment and her training. The film's structure elevates the story, with us often seeing a killing several times, with each view more informed than the last on what's really happening. Newcomer Sasha Luss is stunning and lethal as Anna. With long, brutal fight scenes that reminded me of "Atomic Blonde" and "Kill Bill", the action is fast & furious and Luss delivers. Helen Mirren is senior trainer Olga, the toughest boss in Moscow. Mirren's having fun being as far from glamorous as possible. Luke Evans (Beauty and the Beast) is Anna's Soviet trainer Alex and Cillian Murphy (28 Days Later, Inception) is a CIA boss who zeroes in on Anna in every way possible. Just when you think you've had enough of the time shifts, ANNA saves its best tricks for its last 15 minutes. Savaged by critics and buried with a low profile release after Besson was accused of misconduct on set, ANNA was a bomb in theatres. It's a shame for Luss, who emerges as a formidable new female action hero. Familiar but less than predictable, ANNA gets a B.

Woody Allen's 2015 drama IRRATIONAL MAN travels a similar path to his terrific "Crimes and Misdemeanors" with less likable characters at its core. Joaquin Phoenix stars as the heavy drinking, moody, controversial college philosophy professor Abe, who finds himself in a small town and a new college. Very depressed, he shares his darkness with a romantically interested fellow professor Rita (Parker Posey) and his favorite student Jill (Emma Stone). Abe is a disillusioned man. After spouting many years of philosophical beliefs, he finds himself shocked with a realization that he (and therefore humanity) has no control over his life, his hopes and his happiness. Jill (Stone) brings him a different perspective, bringing a youthful exuberance to her world views and constantly trying to pull him out of his funk. Midway through the film, Abe and Jill overhear a conversation in the booth next to them in a diner. A woman is about to lose custody of her children due solely to a judge's friendship with her loser husband's lawyer. Abe is energized instantly with the fact that he can change and improve this woman's life... By murdering the judge. Since there is virtually no connection between him and the judge or him and the woman, it should be the perfect crime. Right? What follows is a thoughtful and suspenseful tale of what paths we all choose and the repercussions or our actions. Phoenix is very good, if in his somewhat typical vein of disconnection, as a man who has spent his entire life teaching students historical philosophy while wrestling with the fact that the foundation of his teachings is potentially just meaningless bullshit. Stone is terrific and Posey is very strong. The photography by Darious Khondji (Se7en, Alien: Insurrection) is beautiful and makes the most of every location. Abe has become impotent literally and in his ability to interact with others. His humanity is fading. Can he rediscover it by murdering a stranger? Does the good that murder would bring an innocent woman and her children outweigh taking a man's life? The answers, and Abe and Jill's path through discovery, may not be as easy as they seem. Irrational and interesting, this tale gets a B.

I had forgotten just how hilarious 1978's ANIMAL HOUSE is and it still holds up nearly 40 years later, with laugh out loud scenes from start to finish. The Delta's are the worst fraternity in modern history, racking up grade point averages of "ZERO point ZERO" and having the time of their lives. John Belushi, fresh from his debut on SNL, is Bluto, knocking off one classic comedy scene after another. Tim Matheson is Eric Stratton (damn glad to meet you!) and John Vernon is Dean Wormer, determined to shut down Delta House once and for all. There are so many classic scenes, just as funny today as the day they were filmed. The horse in the Dean's office, Neidermeyer's "Is that a PLEDGE PIN, Mister!!", the toga party, Flounder's joyride, the food fight and my personal favorite, Belushi's ladder maneuvers when peeking in the second floor sorority windows. Belushi knows how to work an eyebrow for maximum effect, hilarious! Director John Landis shows the same fondness for smashing cars and weaving music into the story that he would build on later with "The Blues Brothers" and keeps things quick & loose. Donald Sutherland & Tom Hulce's scene when Pinto gets high for the first time is priceless, Belushi's love of folk music in the stairwell and the devil & angel on Larry's shoulders are still damn funny. A priceless comedy from back in the day when we were all a LOT less sensitive, ANIMAL HOUSE is a riot from start to finish. "Food fight!!!" "That boy is a P-I-G, Pig!" "Guess what I am now......" "What? Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no! Forget it, he's rolling..... They were on a roll indeed, with one of the biggest box office comedies of all time, that gets an A+.

The second film starring Tom Hanks as Professor Robert Langdon and far superior to the first, ANGELS AND DEMONS is a fascinating and exciting thriller. After the events of "The DaVinci Code", Langdon is surprised to be asked by the Vatican police to assist in tracking down some VERY dangerous folks in possession of a lethal new power that could change the world. Just as in the superior Dan Brown novel, the film takes us on a fast and furious path of discovery as Langdon solves one code and clue after another in trail of the bad guys. With a new Pope about to be appointed and several of the candidates kidnapped by the mysterious Illuminati, Langdon must track them down or a Cardinal will be killed every hour. Hanks is excellent throughout, conveying a ton of information and serving up the best scientific-teacher/action hero blend since Indiana Jones. But this is far more serious than any of Indy's adventures. There is a nasty new discovery capable of cleansing the Earth, along with intrigue inside and outside of the church that keeps us guessing whose side anyone is on for most of the film. In addition to that, the vial they are chasing to get back contains a mystery that challenges the foundation of the church, leading to some interesting discussions on science vs faith. Hanks is ably assisted by scientist Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer), Father McKenna (Ewan McGregor) and Cardinal Strauss (Armin Mueller-Stahl). One standout is Inspector Olivetti, played by the terrific Pierfrancesco Favino (World War Z, RUSH). He holds the screen anytime he's on it and drives the story forward with style. Director Ron Howard must have heard all the criticism on "DaVinci" because this film moves much more quickly and with more clarity. At 146 minutes long, it doesn't shortchange Brown's thrilling book, which was one of the best thrillers I ever read. Howard and team spent $150 million to bring the film to the screen and it wears the budget well, with a first class production led by a first class leading actor. Hanks has rarely been more likeable. Like Cary Grant in "North by Northwest", he's propelled through the adventure against time & odds, with the viewer along for the very enjoyable ride. The sound design is excellent (fire that bass up!) and the music score by Hans Zimmer is nearly non-stop, like some operatic adventure co-pilot to the countdown. I liked this even better on second viewing now versus when I originally saw it in the theatre in 2009. ANGELS AND DEMONS gets an A. It will be followed in October 2016 by the third Langdon/Hanks/Howard film adaption, this time of Dan Brown's superior INFERNO. It's just too bad they haven't filmed the second-best book of the Langdon series, "The Lost Symbol". Fingers crossed and codex's scrambled.....

Gerard Butler's film series as Mike Butler, Secret Service Agent wraps up in crowd pleasing style with this year's ANGEL HAS FALLEN. While critics deride the series, audiences love the films and I'm there with them, eating up the increasingly rare macho bravado and jaw dropping action. In what appears to be the last film of the series, we see Mike Banning dealing with aging and the realization that he's getting a bit long in the tooth for his role. Butler is self effacing and effective, remaining true to his duty to protect President Trumbull (Morgan Freeman, reliably great & believable). When a wide reaching assassination plot takes place, nearly killing Trumbull, Mike is framed as the man behind the coup. Danny Huston (Wolverine, The Aviator) is the head of a major arms manufacturer, Tim Blake Nelson (O Brother Where Art Thou) dials up his quirky to 11 as an opportunistic Vice President and Jada Pinkett Smith is Butler's worst nightmare as the agent in charge of the investigation. The movie morphs into "The Fugitive" mashed up with "In The Line of Fire" but its fast moving, loaded with great action scenes and Butler's drive for redemption at its core. The biggest weakness (and it's NOT a minor flaw) is that the real bad guys are easier to figure out than a "Murder She Wrote" episode, but by now, we come to these films to watch Butler kick ass and put the evil-doers in their place and on that score, ANGEL HAS FALLEN delivers repeatedly. The film's secret weapon is Nick Nolte as Banning's off-the-grid father. Nolte brings mystery and hilarity is large doses. He makes Rambo's home defenses look like a chain link fence. There is no better aging, on-screen duo than Butler and Freeman waving a patriotic action flag and putting the bad guys in their place. Redemption is a lot of fun to watch when it's done well. ANGEL HAS FALLEN is an enjoyable, pure-popcorn finale to the series and gets a B.

1971's THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN is a terrific sci-fi thriller that was cutting edge in its day and still delivers some great suspense. Based on an early Michael Crichton novel, the film depicts scientists race against the clock to discover why a returning satellite that landed near a small town has left nearly every citizen of Piedmont dead, killed within seconds. They soon discover an alien organism microscopic in size with the ability to reproduce quickly and travel by air. Isolated in an underground lab, a team of scientists are assembled to battle the organism. Arthur Hill and David Wayne lead the team, with able support from the grumpy Kate Reid and the "odd man out" James Olson. The computer technology when I saw this in '71 was amazing, now it looks hopelessly dated, but the story still keeps you engaged. Universal marketed this with a tag line that NO ONE WILL BE SEATED IN THE LAST 10 MINUTES. It's a great final ten minutes indeed as the worst case scenarios all come true at once and the facility built to keep the bug inside becomes an adversary to our heroes. Director Robert Wise (The Sound of Music, The Day the Earth Stood Still) is in top form and Gil Mille's strange, electronic music score is a great co-star. Deliberately paced, well shot and well designed, THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN is a nice dose of seventies sci-fi that still plays well today. We'll give it a B.

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.