L.A. Confidential

Crime movies are always the best, especially if they're set in Los Angeles. It's always a thrill to see the police solve a case, but what if the police were hiding something behind the badge?

Curtis Hanson's L.A. Confidential provides a great glimpse of police corruption. We commonly see in other movies cops acting above the law, but L.A. Confidential shows that it isn't one or two cops; it's almost the whole damn department! And Hanson makes sure that he doesn't cram that fact down our throats but rather acknowledges it periodically.

The cast is just to die for. Russell Crowe channels his inner Bogart by saying more with his expressions than with his words and actions. Guy Pearce is the straight-laced cop who tries to clean up the department (and makes more than a few enemies), but he gets tempted more than once to switch over. Kevin Spacey arrests celebrities for his own fame and to provide material for Danny DeVito, but starts to feel guilty for what he's doing. Kim Basinger brings out the shreds of humanity in Crowe. All in all, they play their parts wonderfully.

L.A. Confidential is one of the best neo-noirs out there. It captures the 1950's so perfectly, it feels like it's from the 1950's. Each twist and turn presented is always revealing and shocking. It has to be one of the best movies from the 1990's.

My Rating: *****

Wonder Boys

Two Oscar winners, two actors who would later become famous for portraying superheroes, and the future wife of a Hollywood superstar. Sounds weird, bu that's the main cast of Wonder Boys.


Grady Tripp (Michael Douglas) is at a low point in his life. His wife has left him, his mistress Sara Gaskell (Frances McDormand) is pregnant and he can't seem to finish his latest novel. And to add to his building stress, he finds himself looking after talented yet troubled student James Leer (Tobey Maguire). Grady must find a way to keep his anxious editor Terry Crabtree (Robert Downey, Jr.) at bay, keep James safe, and solve his romantic issues.


Wonder Boys is unique because the premise makes it sounds like it's a screwbal comedy but it's not. Douglas gives one of his most sincere roles while Maguire delivers a rather earnest performance. Downey steals every scene he's in. Curtis Hanson, whose work before Wonder Boys was L.A. Confidential, earns high praise from me for directing a very entertaining and fun movie.


My Rating: ****1/2