ReelViews for R movies

To lump The Pianist in with all of the other Holocaust stories brought to the screen does a great disservice to this powerful, compelling motion picture. Crafted without a whiff of melodrama, this motion picture takes a steady, unflinching look at...

The Piano is about passion, the most basic and primal element of human nature. No matter how thick the veneer of civilization is, or how deeply-buried beneath layers of social repression those latent emotions are, passion ultimately cannot be deni...

The filmmakers responsible for Pieces of a Woman tout its honest, life-affirming qualities. While no one would debate the former, it’s necessary to come through the narrative’s gauntlet to achieve the latter. This is an emotionally wrenchi...

"There are eight million stories in the naked city. This [is] one of them." That iconic closing line from the TV series Naked City is one of the things I thought of at the beginning of Nicolas Pesce’s Piercing, which shows an art deco versio...

It has been said that the only way to truly enjoy a stoner comedy is to smoke a joint before watching it. Considering the quality of some of the movies wedded to this genre, I'm tempted to believe that. Thankfully, Pineapple Express is an excepti...

Seen in standard (non-IMAX) 3D. A review of Piranha 3D is superfluous - the movie is what it is and does what any good exploitation film should do. Unfortunately, that's a lot more than many entries into the crowded genre can claim. 3D aside (...

Despite arriving on North American screens mid-way through the month of November with a cast that features three previous Academy Award nominees (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson) and a similarly honored writer/director (Richa...

It's Vin Diesel week! Suddenly, this largely unknown actor, whose only significant credits were a part in Saving Private Ryan and some voice work in The Iron Giant (as the title character), is a hot commodity with significant roles in two films op...

By turns powerful and frustrating, The Place Beyond the Pines is a three act tale about the sins of the fathers being visited upon the sons. It uses coincidence to emphasize consequence and ably applies karmic lifestyle interpretation to the text. ...

Remember how Liam Neeson made it an annual tradition to release a cheesy action/thriller every January or February? Well, Neeson appears to have retired from that business leaving the door wide open for Gerard Butler to step through. Butler has th...