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.

Big

Young Hanks plays younger kid in alarmingly adult family film. Gimmicky plot saved by sincere sentimentality, and subversively clever themes, not to mention Hanks who is outstanding even without AIDS, autism, or an island beard. Fun flick about demonic magic, kidnapping, pedophilia, and growing up. And that iconic piano scene!

Brothers (2009)

About time Donnie Darko and Peter Parker played ‘title.’ Inferior to older Danish brother, and somehow felt cold despite deep performances. Shepard and Portman fill out family adequately but eldest daughter steals the show. “Do you know what I did with these hands?” Yeah, Tobey, we know. You shot web.

Brothers (2004)

Thomsen returns to comfort zone as traumatized dysfunctional family member. A film more powerful for what it doesn’t say than for what it does. Supporting cast perform well, most notably Nielson who somehow snuck her way in. Middle East scenes steal show and perhaps degrade from more subtle family elements.

The Crazies (2010)

Compelling and exciting horror camp wrapped around an alarmingly plausible and well-constructed premise. Mitchell and Olyphant play surprisingly intelligent protagonists in a town gone mad, and the scares are plentiful and effective. Could have focused more on Thing style sane person suspicion, and done without plot-undermining Crystal Skull refrigerator scene.

Death at a Funeral (2007)

Yoda directs cheesy but fun Brit comedy, that revels in its quirky discomfort. Tudyk steals the show, with most outlandish role to date, but Dinklage doesn’t come up short in his most serious foray. Supporting cast perform admirably if not memorably. Neither good enough nor bad enough to warrant remake.

The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)

Quasi-remake that starts well enough, and features the decades first decent Keanu casting, but then hits a standstill with introduction of Crichton prey bugs, the most dimly-lit McDonald’s ever, and a complete lack of main character motivation. Ends abruptly with simultaneous saving of planet and destruction of original film’s point.