Into the Wild

Penn graduates acting and disappears into directing his Milky boyfriend. Hurt softens Hurt and Harden as Hirsch races speedily through a cast of comedians and meets vampiric new girl next door. Beautifully executed piece has perfect mix of romance and realism to make anyone almost want to be Supertramp. Almost.

James and the Giant Peach

Dreyfuss asked for a bigger boat but got a peach in this excellent adaptation of the beloved book. Burton’s striped fingers are evident in this children’s adventure and grotesque horror all Roald into one, especially during ocean encounter with Captain Jack Skellington. Moral: Don’t accept phosphorous pasta from Pete Postlethwaite.

What's Eating Gilbert Grape?

Depp and Dicaprio spend time At World’s Endora before taking their careers to the seas. Young Romeo is so powerful that he inspires Scissorhands to embarrass himself in Benny and Joon, and Lewis sets in motion a string of trailer trash performances. Quirky Dewey and Willard are overshadowed by mother.

Reds

Beatty’s Braveheart attempts to be timeless by lasting forever. Dull documentary clips used to separate bouts of brilliant banter only exacerbate pacing problem that not even Nicholson can fix. Keaton holds her own but clearly misses Woody’s wit and short run times. Forces viewer to consider communism, counter-revolutionaries, and clock.

Blue Valentine

Heart-wrenchingly real look at why love sucks. Gosling goes full Nelson with powerful performance in anti-Notebook. Williams delivers as well, and both performances invite viewer to wallow amidst a future room of despair. Far too mundane for mainstream. Think 500 Days of Winter, though Gosling’s hairline suggests more like 5000.

The Sting

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Con. Brilliant crime flick revisits amazing Newman-Redford chemistry. Twists beautifully and demands attention to detail though there’s no illusion that all will come together (or apart) as planned. Could have cut a bit better, perhaps by excluding Redford’s creepy girl. What really stings: the sequel.

Thank You For Smoking

Reitman captures Buckley’s wit beautifully with help from perfect cast. Exotic blend of clever humor with slapstick-esque hilarity, rolled into a perfect satiric cinematic joint. Eckhart makes himself a household name, and spends time in Holmes as well. X-Men Leech holds his own and doesn’t run scared from brilliant flick.

The Italian Job (2003)

Original remake that abandons subtlety of original in favor of explosive action but maintains sexy iconic mini-cooper chase. A tremendous cast of A-listers Ocean Eleven their way through a clever heist. Audiences may have trouble accepting Norton as a bad guy, or anyone other than Jude Law as Michael Caine.

Sunshine

Intelligent deep-space thriller with depth of Solaris and the excitement of Alien. Boyle goes big scale for this one and uses Fincher-esque camera moves to restart the sun. Stellar international cast explore the burden of saving humanity while struggling to learn why Boyle trashed the film in the third act.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

A smart sentimental movie that masterfully hides from genre categorization. Carrey takes a serious turn while Winslet and Ruffalo go crazy. Dunst and Wood make odd additions but everyone works in service of this carefully constructed screwball adventure. Like Inception but emotional instead of intellectual, so the opposite, an exception.