TheRetroCritic

To say that American Beauty was a hit back in 1999 would be an understatement. Not only did it kill at the box-office but it swept all the big Oscars including Best Director, Best Actor and Best Picture thereby putting director Sam Mendes on the map. The film's plot was pretty simple: a married man goes through some kind of mid-life crisis and develops a crush on his daughter's school friend (played by Mena Suvari). But the combination of Alan Ball's sharp script, the slick cinematography, rose petal motif and Thomas Newman's stand-out score elevated the film to something more visually striking and deeper than expected. The whole thing was a satire of American middle-class values and suburban life, with the idea of beauty being contested and erratic family dynamics explored. Kevin Spacey is Lester Burnham, the loser-turned-liberated (and pervy) father and husband who one day decides to get out of the rut he's in and change his life around with the ultimate g

Before Christopher Nolan's name was synonymous with big, high-concept sci-fi blockbusters but after the director's breakout hit Memento , he made Insomnia , an Alaska-set remake of the 1997 cult Norwegian thriller. The film sees Al Pacino play an ageing detective who travels to Alaska to try and solve a murder case. After he mistakenly shoots his partner in the fog while following the killer, he attempts to cover up his blunder but he is soon blackmailed by the murderer. The lack of any sleep also starts to confuse the detective and his insomnia plays tricks with his memory. Insomnia was released the same year as One Hour Photo , a film which also starred Robin Williams in a creepy against-type role. The fact that the actor and comedian agreed to tackle two chilling characters in a row was a bold move which showed great versatility, especially since he did such a brilliant job in both movies. And Death To Smoochy , of course. Insomnia often gets forgotten as a Christop

Keanu Reeves is back with John Wick , a new thriller in which the titular badass comes back for one last revenge mission against the mob after the puppy his late wife gave him posthumously is brutally killed. Yes, I said puppy. Not his daughter, not his wife: a puppy. It's almost like the movie itself isn't taking its own genre seriously. And that's what's so refreshing about John Wick: it wants to have its cake and eat it too and... it kinda does just that. Effortlessly, no less! While the puppy thing and the fact that Wick is such a myth that everyone is terrified at the very mention of his name are obviously tongue-in-cheek pokes at the revenge thriller clichés, the film never flat out makes fun of its main character or turns into a spoof. In fact, you do get attached to that darn puppy and its relationship with Wick so when it does check out early, you do feel for the guy. It helps that Reeves gives a genuine performance and nails the more emotional moments

Released back in 1947, The Lady From Shanghai was a moody film noir directed by and starring Orson Welles about how a femme fatale (played by a blonde Rita Hayworth) lures an Irish seaman into sailing with her and her wealthy husband on a yacht. Eventually, a murder is committed and Welles' protagonist is framed for it and is even made to confess to it on paper. Based on Sherwood King's novel "If I Die Before I Wake", The Lady From Shanghai was not a huge hit upon its release and pretty much mystified its producers. Since then, it has received more critical acclaim, mostly due to Orson Welles' technical creativity in full force during the film's admittedly impressive and memorable funhouse climax. The use of mirrors, elaborate sets and projection making for a brilliant, much ripped-off stand-out sequence. This is what most remember from this movie, that and Rita Hayworth, whose one song in the middle of the movie may not have been Welles' own idea but

Based on a surprising true story, Bernie is a dark comedy starring Jack Black, directed by Richard Linklater, which kinda passed by nearly unnoticed despite the talent involved and the intriguing premise at its heart. Though he was nominated for a Golden Globe, that Jack Black was ignored for an Oscar nomination just goes to show the Academy Awards' reluctance to acknowledge comedy as a legitimate genre worthy of recompense. The actor goes completely against-type as the mild-mannered, multi-talented Bernie Tiede who one day, out of nowhere, shot an 81 year-old millionairess after a lifetime of not doing anything remotely violent or suspicious. The film makes full use of Black's versatility and he rises up to the challenge like a pro, delivering one memorable, quietly hilarious performance. Linklater tells this tale through a variety of talking heads which build up every scene and although this technique rarely works when it's not used in a documentary, here it helps g

Upon hearing that a movie adaptation of Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events starring Jim Carrey was in the works, I was excited to say the least. In case you don't already know: A Series Of Unfortunate Events is awesome. The books, I mean. The film... slightly less. Which is not to say that it's bad in any way or that I don't like it, quite the opposite. It's just that the film's overall more lighthearted approach took a lot out of what claimed to be a dark, super-downbeat tale of how unfair, cruel and miserable the world can be to innocents who deserve better. The film's admittedly clever opening, which tricks us into watching a ridiculously cute, colourful and happy cartoon before slapping us in the face with a rather gloomy Jude Law voice over and warning us about the unpleasantness of the story about to follow, is perfect and captures the spirit of the books really well. While characters in the film refer to some horrible things t

From Bryan Johnson comes a black comedy with more than just a little edge to it. Vulgar sees a pathetic, down-and-out clown, played by Clerks ' Brian O'Halloran, respond to an ad which would require him to perform a joke at a bachelor's party only to find that a psychotic father and his two sons are planning to rape him. Now that's a synopsis! Must have been a shoo-in pitch at Lionsgate Entertainment. Who would have thought that Shakes The Clown and I Spit On Your Grave would combine their plots to create a whole new movie? The depiction of Will "Flappy" Carson's (O'Halloran) unpleasant day-to-day life is handled with a sarcastic sense of humour at first with his mother being so over-the-top vile and his job not exactly working out the way he was hoping it would. Bryan Johnson himself also pops up here and there as Will's best friend to cheer him up or shoot the shit. Then the film takes such a dark detour that, right there and the

Dustin Hoffman takes on the role of iconic 60's stand-up comedian Lenny Bruce in Lenny , director Bob Fosse's first post- Cabaret film. The movie, which is presented to us in gorgeous black and white, follows Bruce's relationship with stripper Honey (Valerie Perrine) as they get married and eventually share some tumultuous times together. We also, of course, see how Bruce's career as a comedian developed over the years and get a good glimpse of the sleazy side of his character and comedy clubs. Though the film is about Lenny Bruce, one of the most important comedians to date, I wouldn't expect too many laughs with this movie as it's far darker and moodier than you'd expect. There's a fascinating contrast throughout the movie between the cornier aspects of Bruce's early style of comedy and the raw and gritty 70's style of the film itself. Fosse certainly doesn't sugar-coat anything and even includes some documentary-style Q&A's w

Liam Neeson's back and yes, once again someone's been taken. And he has a very specific set of skills. A Walk Among The Tombstones definitely, on paper, may sound like yet another Taken rip-off (*cough* Unknown *cough* Non-Stop ) but chances are you'll forget about Neeson's gimmicky yet career-redefining B-turned-A-movie quickly as you sit through this one, which is based on a series of novels. The plot sees an ex-police detective turned private detective take on a case involving a drug dealer's wife who was kidnapped for ransom money then delivered to him in little pieces. The dealer understandably wants to find those responsible in order to, at the very least, ruin their day. Neeson soon follows a trail of suspects as the killers plan their next abduction. Along the way, our troubled detective meets a young boy called T.J. (Astro) who elects himself to be his partner and although that may start giving you Cop And A Half flashbacks, this movie handles

I review the Pilot episode of new Batman-themed series Gotham . Only on Tomboy-Tarts.com For more Gotham talk, head over to iTunes or HERE for the appropriate Gothamized podcast episode.

Nicolas Cage faces off against John Cusack in The Frozen Ground , a dark Alaska-set thriller in the vein of Insomnia in which a cop tries desperately to arrest a serial killer but struggles due to the people around him being unhelpful douchebags. The main focus of the story (which is based on real events) is Vanessa Hudgens' prostitute Cindy who manages to escape Robert Hansen (a chilling John Cusack), claiming he kidnapped her, raped her and tried to kill her. Though she is being truthful, the police refuse to buy her story because of her background, which leaves Nicolas Cage's good cop in a tricky position seeing as he believes her, literally all the evidence points to the same suspect and there's a loose psychopathic killer lurking around, ready to strike again at any moment. This is one of those tense, serious movies that relies heavily on atmosphere and strong performances rather than action and artifice so if you're looking for balls-to-the-wall gun fights,

Season 3 of 24 had the misfortune of following Season 2 , which upped the ante a huge amount, giving CTU a new threat to deal with which had to somehow feel as deadly and large-scale as a nuclear bomb being detonated in Los Angeles. Good luck with that. To be fair, Season 3 did pretty well to keep the threat somewhat compelling, replacing a possible nuclear strike with a biological attack with a spreading virus. On top of that, good old Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) is given a darker character arc as he is made to deal with addiction after a mission saw him become a heroin addict in order to go undercover as a drug dealer convincingly. Meanwhile, David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) is back on President duties and, although his subplot isn't exactly quite as gripping as the one he was given one season prior, it's interesting to note how not that great of a leader he is this time around. There's definitely a will to blur the lines between hero and screw-up in this season

Alfred Hitchcock decided to torture Tippi Hedren again soon after The Birds with this little psychological thriller from 1964 also starring Sean Connery. The film sees Hedren play Marnie , a thief who changes her identity for every heist. When she is finally caught by Connery's suave publishing company owner, the film takes a weird turn as he decides to tackle her deeply rooted psychological problems himself and help her resolve them. Armed with a brilliantly erratic score by maestro Bernard Herrmann, Alfred Hitchcock puts these two characters, who could not be more different, together and lets us sit there uncomfortably as both of them reveal darker, somewhat unsettling sides to themselves. Hedren is at her best here, displaying a nervous bitterness which comes out in short, yet significant bursts. Meanwhile, Connery oozes with charisma but, throughout the film, his character reveals something of a controlling, fetishist side to him as he literally forces Marnie into marryin

Shot at the same time as Charlie And The Chocolate Factory , Corpse Bride was Tim Burton's first animated feature as director despite having tried his hand at stop-motion animation before with early short effort Vincent and, of course, The Nightmare Before Christmas , which he produced but didn't direct. Like the title suggests, this one's both very wedding themed and death themed. The plot sees nervous Victor Van Dort (Johnny Depp) be forced into an arranged marriage with Victoria Everglot (Emily Watson) except everything goes wrong, or even more wrong, I suppose, when Victor mistakenly proposes to a corpse he mistook for a tree branch. The corpse in question, bony, maggot-infested Emily (Helena Bonham Carter) accepts the offer and soon drags poor Victor down to the land of the dead to meet her pals. To further complicate things, Victor had taken a shine to Victoria and sinister fellow Lord Barkis (Richard E. Grant) is trying to step in as her husband while Victor&#

Here's a weird one. After the resounding success of The Blues Brothers , Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi reunited in Neighbors , an odd dark comedy sold as "a comic-nightmare" (and released at Christmas, of all times) which saw the actors kinda switch roles, in a way, with Aykroyd being the loud, ebullient one and Belushi being the restrained, quiet one. The film sees Earl (Belushi) and his wife move into a new house in an abandoned, kinda depressing corner of suburbia while these goofy new neighbours show up to drive Earl completely nuts. The neighbours in question, Vic (Aykroyd) and Ramona (a brilliant Cathy Moriarty) just show up uninvited, the latter coming onto Earl over and over with a Jessica Rabbit-style charm and the former constantly playing tricks on him and pushing his buttons. This is really more of a Tex Avery cartoon than it is a movie and, had they not made it as dark as it is, I'm sure more people would have had fun with it. The rather sombre mood

Directed by Ben Stiller, The Cable Guy is a dark comedy starring Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick that proved maybe too weird for audiences back in 1996. It went from being treated as a joke to gaining a cult following over time but how does it fare today? The film sees Broderick's loser Steven move into a new apartment after awkwardly separating from his girlfriend (played by Leslie Mann) and meeting his "cable guy", a strange dude calling himself Chip Douglas (Jim Carrey) who speaks with a lisp, has a rather unpleasant sense of humour and who molests Steven's wall the very first time he meets him. Chip desperately wants to be friends with Steven and basically pushes this friendship onto him but when Chip finally crosses the line and Steven wants out, he soon becomes the latter's worst enemy. I could certainly see how going from The Mask or Dumb & Dumber to this would be a bit of a jump but seeing as, by this point, Jim Carrey had already played a dem

Based on a manga by Mamoru Oshii ( Ghost In The Shell , Patlabor ), Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade is set in an alternate universe Japan where Germany has conquered the country and things look bleak to say the least: the cops are scary as hell, women and children have turned to suicide bombing... It's not looking good. The film opens on a little girl nicknamed "Little Red Riding Hood", some member of a guerilla group called The Sect, who is running through the sewers trying to escape the Panzer Cops, a bunch of armed cops with elephant-style gas masks. One of them, Kazuki, finds himself facing the little girl who reveals a bomb strapped to her chest. He is ordered to shoot her but doesn't and she sets off the bomb. He somehow survives but an enquiry is made into why he didn't carry out his orders and he is made to go back to training. After visiting the little girl's grave, he meets her sister Kei and develops a sort of friendship/relationship with her. The

Based on a manga (not an anime, I'm cheating a bit here), Oldboy was the second and, arguably, best part of Park Chan-wook's Vengeance Trilogy. It cemented Korean cinema in the West as something to really look out for and received a cult status pretty quickly, even spawning an upcoming remake by Spike Lee, starring Josh Brolin. Taking a page out of Alexandre Dumas' classic tale The Count Of Monte Cristo , Oldboy follows an average guy, played by Choi Min-sik, who is inexplicably kidnapped by an unknown enemy and kept locked away in a room for 15 years without any clue as to why he was taken or by whom. Finally, he is released and sets out to find his incarcerator and get his revenge. Along the way, he meets a young girl called Mi-do (a terrific Kang Hye-jung) who befriends him and starts helping him with his disturbing quest. What follows is a truly brutal and unpleasant journey full of teeth-pulling, live octopus eating, head hammering, tongue-cutting and horrible r

Made in 1997 and based on the novel of the same name, Perfect Blue is one of those rare anime features which could have easily been live-action but which works so well as what it is that it's hard to picture it as anything else. A psychological thriller, Perfect Blue follows a character called Mima, the leader of a popular girl band called CHAM! who decides to retire from her music career in order to focus on trying to be a respected actress. Unfortunately, she learns that her new career is a very different, much scarier path to take which demands various un-glamorous undertakings which, she fears, might end up ruining her life. Throughout all this she is not only plagued by a creepy fan who may or may not be messing with her through the internet but also by the ghost of her old self who constantly judges everything she does and might just be driving her insane. Eventually, strange murders start occurring around her and the film world, her hallucinations, her dreams and reali