Stephen Dorff

There's a lovely simplicity to this quietly unnerving story about two brothers who have never had a break in life. And while it is relentlessly grim, it's also elegantly well-made, held together by another revelatory performance from Emile Hirsch as a talented guy whose path has been dictated to him by forces outside his control.

The title refers to the way two brothers have lived since their mother died: in a sleazy motel just off the strip in Reno. Frank (Hirsch) has had to be the responsible one, moving from job to job to support his chaotic, disabled older brother Jerry Lee (Stephen Dorff). And now that Jerry Lee has been involved in a fatal hit-and-run accident, Frank is trying to find a way to get out of town. He turns to his old car-dealer mentor (Kris Kristofferson) for advice and considers getting in touch with his ex Annie (Dakota Fanning), even though their relationship ended very badly. But first he hits the casinos to raise some cash with his pals (Joshua Leonard and Noah Harpster).

Sibling filmmakers Alan and Gabe Polsky give the movie a darkly introspective tone, taking us into Frank's thoughts through evocative flashbacks to the brothers' struggles as teens (played by Andrew Lee and Garrett Backstrom). And as Frank tells Jerry Lee stories to help him cope with life, these tales fill the screen in gorgeous sketch-style animation that matches Jerry Lee's artistic skills. All of this gives the film a quietly moving tone that finds spiky humour and emotional resonance when we least expect it.

Continue reading: The Motel Life Review

Much more involving than the usual hitman thriller, this film takes a deliberately personal approach to its characters that makes it unusually involving. Of course, since it's a film about mafia assassins, none of the characters are hugely likeable. But we're able to identify with them because the cast and crew help us see their souls. And of course, this kind of character brings out the best in Michael Shannon.

He plays Richie, who in the early 1960s has settled down with his new wife Deborah (Ryder) in New Jersey. She thinks his job involves dubbing Disney cartoons, but his projects are actually part of an illicit mob-run porn network. And when local boss Roy (Liotta) asks Richie to work as his henchman, Richie proves to be surprisingly adept at murder. This is mainly because he's so good at compartmentalising his life: keeping his family and work completely separate. But when things with Roy start turning sour, and Richie turns to a rival killer (Evans) for more work, Richie's two worlds begin to collide.

Based on a true story, the film is chilling in its matter-of-fact depiction of a family man who ruthlessly bumps off anyone who falls afoul of the mob. And as the clashes in Richie's life begin to escalate into something personal, the film cranks up the tension to unbearable levels. Shannon is mesmerising in the role, letting us see cracks in Richie's dispassionate surface as he's required to kill friends and colleagues (including Franco in a memorable cameo). So when his wife and daughters are threatened, he's like a tamed wild animal pushed into the corner. We know what he's capable of doing to protect them. 

Continue reading: The Iceman Review

Lively characters and resonant interaction make this film enjoyably watchable even though it's impossible to believe anything that happens. The problem is that the filmmakers are trying to explore a thorny situation using a heartwarming story, which makes every step of the way feel badly contrived. And for such a hot-potato topic, the script isn't nearly as subtle as it should be. But at least the cast is likeable.

It's set in 1982 Beirut, where war is raging with Israel. In a refugee camp, Palestinian teen Fahed (El Akal) refuses to obey the rules, skipping both school and military training to run around the bombed-out city with his friends. But the violence is getting closer to home, and when his father and best pal are killed, Fahed decides to travel back to his family home in Palestine to plant his late mother's potted olive tree. To do this, he teams up with downed Israeli pilot Yoni (Dorff), springing him from capture and heading out on a dangerous road trip south.

There are several obvious plot elements that create issues along the way. Fahed improbably refuses to go anywhere without the olive tree or his football (his friends call him Zico after the Brazilian player), while Yoni is trying to get home to his pregnant wife (cue his paternal instincts). So they bond as they face violent militias, scary checkpoints and unexpected minefields - both the literal and figurative ones. But since the script is so carefully constructed, nothing is a surprise, including their growing friendship and each danger they face along the way.

Continue reading: Zaytoun Review

The events later known as the rape of Nanking happened quickly, over just six horrific weeks at the end of 1937 and into 1938, and because the city was so cut off at the time and the war went on for eight more years, much of the story went untold for decades. It wasn't until writer Iris Chang documented the tragedy in her 1998 book The Rape of Nanking that the true scope of the horror was made apparent. It was that book that inspired Nanking, a highly effective documentary that uses interesting techniques to tell its remarkable story.

Continue reading: Nanking Review

FearDotCom is easily in the running for worst film of the year. The whole mess is a painfully dull ripoff of much better films - namely Poltergeist, Videodrome, and 8MM (okay, so that one's not much better). Full of grotesque imagery of sadistic tortures and killings and a plethora of asinine characters and pathetic attempts at acting, FearDotCom is a prime example of just how bad a bad movie can be.

Continue reading: Feardotcom Review

If John Waters' last few gentler and (slightly) more commercial movies ("Pecker," "Serial Mom," "Cry-Baby") had his fans thinking the once-warped director had lost his edge, that perhaps he was inching toward mainstream repeatability, they need not fear. It was all a ruse.

It seems Waters was only lulling the cinematic establishment into a false sense of security so he could turn around and bite them in the ass with "Cecil B. Demented," a hilarious -- and very much old-school John Waters -- anti-blockbuster romp that chews up and spits out the kind of pandering Hollywood conventions that to toothless, cookie-cutter box office hits.

Cecil B. Demented (Stephen Dorff), you see, is an independent filmmaker of the purest order. His goal: cinematic revolution by any means necessary. If that includes kidnapping one Honey Whitlock (Melanie Griffith), Hollywood's biggest spoiled bitch/aging bimbo star, and forcing her at gun point to play a lead in his guerilla movie about celluloid terrorists (much like himself), so be it.

Continue reading: Cecil B Demented Review