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Hustlers

I have occasionally wondered what Showgirls might be like if it was made by a female director. Perhaps Hustlers offers a glimpse of the tantalizing possibility. Existing close to the nexus of the oft-derided Paul Verhoeven film and Martin Scor...

Run Time: 1:49
U.S. Release Date: 2019-09-13
MPAA Rating: "R" (Sexual Content, Profanity, Nudity, Drugs)
Genre: Drama/Thriller
Director: Lorene Scafaria
Cast: Constance Wu, Jennifer Lopez, Keke Palmer, ...
Insider, The

It has been four years since the events depicted in Michael Mann's The Insider occurred. Actually, to be precise, it has been four years since some of them occurred. In the interests of drama, a certain amount of "fictionalization" has taken plac...

Run Time: 2:37
U.S. Release Date: 1999-11-05
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Profanity)
Genre: THRILLER/DRAMA
Director: Michael Mann
Cast: Al Pacino, Russell Crowe, Christopher Plummer, ...
Kodachrome

Kodachrome is proof of the concept that solid direction and superlative acting can transform even a mediocre script into something worth watching. At its heart, Kodachrome is a middling road picture – a film whose every plot point is predict...

Run Time: 1:40
U.S. Release Date: 2018-04-20
MPAA Rating: "NR" (Profanity, Sexual Content, Adult Themes)
Genre: Drama
Director: Mark Raso
Cast: Jason Sudeikis, Ed Harris, Elizabeth Olsen, ...
Old Man & the Gun, The

When Robert Redford announced his retirement from acting in August 2018, it appeared that The Old Man & the Gun would be his swansong and, at least in terms of tone and content, it’s hard to imagine a better way for the veteran actor to bow ...

Run Time: 1:32
U.S. Release Date: 2018-10-05
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Profanity)
Genre: Comedy/Thriller
Director: David Lowery
Cast: Robert Redford, Casey Affleck, Sissy Spacek, ...
Pain & Gain

With a title like Pain & Gain and Michael Bay at the helm, this review looked like a great opportunity for a vitriolic screed, but that's not going to happen. Defying expectations, Pain & Gain not only represents one of the best movies Bay has made...

Run Time: 2:10
U.S. Release Date: 2013-04-26
MPAA Rating: "R" (Violence, Profanity,Sexual Content, Nudity, Drugs)
Genre: COMEDY/THRILLER
Director: Michael Bay
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie, ...
Spare Parts

Spare Parts tries too hard to be a based-on-a-true-story, feel-good, crowd-pleasing, triumph-of-the-underdogs movie. Somewhere along the line, perhaps by never deviating a millimeter from the expected trajectory of the genre, it crosses the line fr...

Run Time: 1:53
U.S. Release Date: 2015-01-16
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Profanity)
Genre: DRAMA
Director: Sean McNamara
Cast: George Lopez, Marisa Tomei, Jamie Lee Curtis, ...
Tag

Does the fact that Tag is loosely based on a real story make it more enjoyable? Not really, although it illustrates the absurdity of some human endeavors. It’s a red herring designed to distract from an underlying truth about this movie: it ...

Run Time: 1:38
U.S. Release Date: 2018-06-15
MPAA Rating: "R" (Profanity, Sexual Content)
Genre: Comedy
Director: Jeff Tomsic
Cast: Ed Helms, Jon Hamm, Jake Johnson, ...
Top Gun

Top Gun is an ‘80s testosterone fix – a celebration of machismo and a recruiting film for the U.S. Navy. Typical of Jerry Bruckheimer/Don Simpson at their peak, the movie embraces masculine tropes to create a patchwork narrative that is almost...

Run Time: 1:50
U.S. Release Date: 1986-05-16
MPAA Rating: "PG" (Action Scenes)
Genre: Action/Drama
Director: Tony Scott
Cast: Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer, ...
Trade

Trade is a straightforward and uninspired look at the sex trade, where girls are kidnapped and forced into prostitution. To its credit, the film avoids titillation but, at the same time, it is so full of moral outrage that there's no sense of dram...

Run Time: 1:59
U.S. Release Date: 2007-09-28
MPAA Rating: "R" (Violence, Profanity, Sexual Situations, Drugs)
Genre: DRAMA
Director: Marco Kreuzpaintner
Cast: Kevin Kline, Cesar Ramos, Alicja Bachleda-Curus, ...
War Dogs

The problem with War Dogs isn’t the dark humor nor is it the cynically accurate deconstruction of military procurement and corruption. The lack of dynamism and depth in the characters is what hamstrings this production. There’s little dou...

Run Time: 1:54
U.S. Release Date: 2016-08-19
MPAA Rating: "R" (Violence, Profanity, Drugs, Sexual Content)
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Director: Todd Phillips
Cast: Miles Teller, Jonah Hill, Ana de Armas, ...