Make It A Blockbuster Summer

Despite a semi-hiatus from movie blogging over the past 2 months, I am back with a vengeance -- and a new Top 5 list for those Dog Days of Summer...

My Top 5 "I don't remember adding this to my Blockbuster Online queue...but I guess I'll give it a shot since it's July and I don't got sh** to do" Movies

1. Chinatown (1974). Awesome, awesome movie. Director Roman Polanksi reinviogrates the film noir genre and Jack Nicholson proves he's the finest actor of his generation. In his investigation of adultery, murder, and a mysterious water shortage, private eye Jake Gittes utters some of the best one-liners in Hollywood history. Chinatown includes two iconic images you may have seen in an Oscar Night montage: (1) Nicholson slapping the crap out of Faye Dunaway, and (2) Polanski, playing a thug, slicing through Nicholson's left nostrel with a switchblade. (I mean, in how many movies does the hero wear a huge bandage on his nose?) If you liked L.A. Confidential, then you better take a trip down to Chinatown. 3 PB Jars

2. Assault on Precinct 13 (2005). I doubt this remake lives up to John Carpenter's original (haven't seen it), but it boasts an all-star cast, an intriguing plot, and some entertaining action sequences. Ethan Hawke and Laurence Fishburne form a formidable cop-gangsta duo against the corrupt police squad looking to wipe out anyone and everyone who might expose their dealings. Gabriel Byrne is underused as the brooding captain in charge of the assault; I would gladly have given him some of Ja Rule's screentime. Maria Bello (A History of Violence) doesn't get naked, nor does she do much to advance the plot, but Drea de Matteo picks up the slack. 2 PB Jars

3. Hannibal Rising (2007). I assumed that the absence of Anthony Hopkins would doom this horror/suspense pre-prequel. As it turned out, I was pleasantly surprised by French actor Gaspard Ulliel's portrayal of a traumatized, vengeful Hannibal Lecter during his formative years. Although WWII back stories have been used before (X-Men, Exorcist: The Beginning), the sequence in which Young Hannibal watches a starving band of Lithuanian mercenaries eat his younger sister proves quite unsettling. Hannibal proceeds on a quest that is more akin to Munich than Hostel; in fact, I wouldn't even classify this as a horror movie. The deliberative pacing allows the quality acting to shine through. Even if you're not a fan of Silence of the Lambs, you'll still find this to be a thoughtful and well-crafted film. 2 PB Jars

4. Dark Water (2005). Another atypical "horror/suspense" movie, at least in the sense that it prioritizes mood and atmosphere over gore and scare tactics. I live about 10 minutes from Roosevelt Island, the sliver of land between Manhattan and Queens which provides the setting for the movie, but after seeing Dark Water I have absolutely no interest in ever visiting. The dreary apartment complex that houses a divorced mom (Jennifer Connelly), her precocious daughter, and a water-logged ghost is downright scary -- if for no other reason than the fact that people really do live there. The movie loses points for its lack of an original storyline; The Ring and The Grudge did it first and did it better. 1.5 PB Jars

5. Red Corner (1997). If you're gonna go to China on a business trip, make sure not to hook up with the daughter of a high-ranking general while getting blackout drunk. You may wake up with blood on your clothes, be rushed to a prison cell, and experience a series of degrading beatings -- not to mention having the lights shut off and your glasses broken so that you can't read up on the Chinese legal code. If this wasn't the moral of Red Corner, then I'm sure it had something to do with justice or the superiority of the American way. Either way, the court room scenes make this film feel like sequel to A Few Good Men, though the Richard Gere-Ling Bai chemistry helps to set Red Corner apart slightly. As for the trappings of autocracy depicted in the film -- ominpresent surveillance cameras, incompetent officials, and unlawful imprisonment -- well, it looks today like the Chinese way of life may not be so alien after all. 1.5 PB Jars