One of the landmark films of the 1960s, Bonnie and Clyde changed the course of American cinema. Setting a milestone for screen violence that paved the way for Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch, this exercise in mythologized biography should not be labelled as a bloodbath; as critic Pauline Kael wrote in her rave review, "it's the absence of sadism that throws the audience off balance". The film is more of a poetic ode to the Great Depression, starring the dream team of Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway as the titular antiheroes, who barrel across the South and Midwest robbing banks with Clyde's brother Buck (Gene Hackman), Buck's frantic wife Blanche (Estelle Parsons) and their faithful accomplice C W Moss (the inimitable Michael J. Pollard). Bonnie and Clyde is an unforgettable classic that has lost none of its power since the 1967 release. --Jeff Shannon
At first, Best Laid Plans comes off like yet another all-flash-no-substance crime thriller but it's one of those rare films that end better than they start. Nick (Alessandro Nivola from Face/Off), broke and desperate to get out of his suffocating small town, agrees to take part in a drug heist. When his partners get caught, he has less than a week to come up with $15,000 or suffer the consequences. When his college buddy Brice (Josh Brolin--Flirting with Disaster) comes back to town, Nick and his girlfriend Lissa (Reese Witherspoon) hatch a plan to blackmail Brice out of a rare collectable. Of course, things go wrong--which is where things get entertaining. The plot could use a few more twists to really crackle but the surprises it does have work and the ending is both clever and affecting. Along the way, the best scene features a drug dealer who quotes economic theory from the bible of capitalism, The Wealth of Nations. In the past few years, Reese Witherspoon has turned in superb performances in such varied movies as Freeway, Pleasantville and especially Election; Best Laid Plans doesn't make much use of her talent but she's always watchable. --Bret Fetzer
On the 40th anniversary of the Internet, "We Live In Public" tells the story of the effect the web is having on our society, as seen through the eyes of "the greatest Internet pioneer you've never heard of," visionary Josh Harris.
Behind Enemy Lines (Dir. John Moore 2001): On a reconnaissance flight over eastern Europe disillusioned naval pilot Chris Burnett (Owen Wilson) and his partner Stackhouse (Gabriel Macht) photograph a scene they were not meant to see. When their plane is shot down and Stackhouse is quickly captured and executed Burnett must struggle to survive in unfamiliar hostile territory with a cold-blooded assassin and hundreds of enemy troops on his heels. Meanwhile on an American battleship in the Adriatic Sea Burnett's commanding officer Admiral Reigart (Gene Hackman) attempts to negotiate his soldier's return amidst tense political and military maneuvers. Soon Burnett discovers exactly why he's being hunted making his situation and Reigert's actions even more perilous... Behind Enemy Lines 2 (Dir. James Dodson 2006): The fate of the world hangs in the balance in this explosive action thriller. Brace yourself for nonstop action and chilling suspense because there's no turning back in this pulse-pounding sequel that takes you Behind Enemy Lines for another adrenaline-fueled adventure! When a team of U.S. Navy SEALs is assigned to destroy a North Korean missile site and avert a possible nuclear strike failure is not an option. But the mission is abruptly aborted stranding four soldiers in enemy territory. Now in order to survive they must defeat the rebel forces that threaten their lives their allies and the entire free world.
Red Letters has all the makings of a classic Hitchcock thriller: a hapless hero who thinks he's smarter than he is, an unpredictable femme fatale, snaky plot twists, and an all-around excellent cast. Professor Dennis Burke (Peter Coyote) wrote a sizzling erotic novel called Red Letters 20 years ago--but since then his wife has died from a protracted illness and he's been fired from a job because of an affair with a student. So he's grateful to be given a second chance at a small California college where he lectures on Hawthorne--only all his students are more interested in Burke's own writing than Hawthorne's. Burke starts receiving letters for the former resident of his apartment that are from a woman in prison named Lydia (Nastassja Kinski) with a 30-year sentence for murder. Burke writes back and their correspondence takes a turn for the intimate when she asks him to visit her. Burke isn't sure what he's getting into, and his life is further complicated when the daughter of the college Dean (Fairuza Balk) starts making advances. Suddenly Lydia has escaped, his best friend (Jeremy Piven) is arrested for hacking into the prison computer system, and the Dean suspects Burke of trifling with his daughter. The movie loses focus at the very end, but until then it's a smart, well-written, subtle, and unpredictable film that actually gives its characters some depth and grit. Even the more implausible moments are fun and engaging, making this well worth checking out. --Bret Fetzer
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