ReelViews for R movies

2013’s Olympus Has Fallen was a surprisingly entertaining Die Hard knock-off set in Washington D.C. with intrepid Secret Service Agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) out to rescue President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) from the hands of terrorists....

In Lone Star, writer/director John Sayles (City of Hope, Passion Fish) cannily blends drama, romance, mystery, and social observation into a satisfying, if slightly overlong, whole. In the hands of a lesser film maker, this material could easi...

In the mountains of Afghanistan, one man, injured and bleeding, struggles against impossible odds to stay alive. It's at this point that the focus of Peter Berg's Lone Survivor shifts from that of a war movie to that of a tale of survival. In retro...

When I see a romantic comedy, I’m not expecting Ozu or Bergman or Truffaut or Scorsese. All I want – and I think it’s a perfectly reasonable desire considering the genre – is to fall in love with the characters as they fall in love wit...

Longlegs is a well-mounted horror film where a sense of dread and discomfort infuses every frame of every scene. From a narrative perspective, however, it’s an abject failure. Style can only get a movie so far and, in this case, that’s maybe 1...

Although Looking Glass doesn’t get Nicolas Cage back to where he was in Leaving Las Vegas, it’s leaps and bounds better than some of his recent fare. (Left Behind may be the low point but, considering how many for-hire jobs he has taken in...

The Lookout is an effective little thriller that almost works from taut beginning to unspectacular end. The premise is interesting and the story is developed in such a way that the viewer is engaged throughout. The opening scene hooks us and the ...

Looper is a tremendous motion picture experience. Not merely a "very good" one, but a great one. It delivers on all possible levels and its missteps are few and minor. It's a rousing science fiction/fantasy tale with a dose of hard-hitting drama, a...

A few films from the 1980s have aged like fine wine. More, however, have turned to vinegar. The Lost Boys, despite its nostalgia-soaked reputation, falls into the latter category. A horror comedy that is neither as scary as it should be nor as fun...

Although not much happens during the course of The Lost Daughter, the film’s tone exerts a powerful spell. A character study of a woman who’s neither as composed nor as affable as she initially seems, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut ex...