This French take on “Assault on Precinct 13” is well made, well paced, with a good cast and excellent action sequences.  If you can find it, see it.

FF=0

This is the original Spanish version later remade by Hollywood as “Quarantine.”  Had me creeped out and jumping in my seat.  VERY effective.

FF=0

I think Mickey Rourke got such good reviews because in a way he’s playing himself.  Look at the Rourke of “9-1/2 Weeks” and “Diner” and see what he’s done to himself.  Yikes.  Very depressing except for Marisa Tomei who keeps taking off her top.

FF=3

I heard terrible things about this but the masochist in me forced me to rent it.  And guess what? Maybe because my expectations were low, I wound up kinda liking it, maybe even thinking it was better than the original. (Sacrilege warning: The original, except for Gort, was pretty much a yawner.)  At least the remake explains why the alien is human, and Keanu is perfect as the emotionally distant visitor. (I think he was channeling Al Gore.)  And it has a much cooler Gort.

FF=1

This film about a reporter going to jail to protect her source is well acted and well written up till the last 60 seconds.  The denouement had me on my feet shouting “You’ve got to be &$%#*& kidding!” and wanting to put my foot through the screen. It turns the whole film into a waste by making everything that has happened unnecessary.

FF=0

This showed real legs in its theatrical run – which usually means good word of mouth – and had Liam Neeson plus a Luc Besson screenplay with a cool premise: bad-ass guys abduct the daughter of a badder-ass guy.  But the first 20 minutes are a waste, with none of the family complications contributing one bit to the plot.  After that, though, hang onto your seat.  Improbabilities occur (of course) but Neeson plays the most ruthless protagonist I’ve seen in a long, long time. (The FF score would have been higher had I not been scrutinizing the early scene for clues to a later twist that never came.  Save 20 minutes of your life by starting the film when the daughter hits Paris.)

FF=1

As much as I like Clive Owen and Naomi Watts, they never gelled, and neither did this thriller.  On the surface it seems like an amazingly topical film about a sinister bank, but in the end the bank could be replaced by any rich cartel working a sinister arms deal.  Meh.  We’ve all learned in real life how banks and government working together can cause much more widespread harm than any arms deal.

FF=1

When it comes to pothead/slacker action films, this is the best.  (I believe it’s also the only.) Check your brain at the door and take the ride.

FF=2

Could not get into this.  Very predictable.  Sort of a white-trash version of “When Harry Met Sally.”

FF=5

Mindless action from Luc Besson.  But I tend to like mindless action, and I enjoyed this.  The two pint-size principals in this buddy movie make for unlikely action heroes, but the parkour chases are amazing.

FF=1