The Rainmaker | Rain Man | Random Hearts | The Recruit | Red Planet | Red Rock West | Reindeer Games | Remember the Titans | The Replacement Killers | The Replacements | Repo Man | Return to Me | Return to Paradise | The Ring | Rising Sun | The River Wild | Road Trip | Ronin | The Rookie | Rounders | Rules of Engagement | Run Lola Run | Rush Hour | Rush Hour 2

The Rainmaker (1997)
(PG-13)
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This movie was one of the least successful adaptions of a John Grisham book. The story strayed on to a few too many sub-plots, the characters never really get developed, and there just wasn't much suspense about the trial or what was going to happen. They should have focused on only two or three sub-plots and not try to cram so much into this short of a movie.

Links:
Official Studio Site
Cinema 1 's Rainmaker Page
Radio Free's Review

Rain Man (1988)
(R)
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Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) is a fast talking exotic car dealer in L.A. who is dangerously close to bankruptcy. When his estranged father suddenly dies, he expects to collect a fortune from the will. To Charlie's astonishment, his father's money is locked into a trust fund for an unnamed beneficiary. The beneficiary turns out to be Charlie's autistic brother Raymond (Dustin Hoffman), a brother Charlie didn't even know he had. When the director of Raymond's institution tells Charlie he's not entiitled to any of the money, Charlie becomes furious and kidnaps Raymond. The two begin a long, arduous highway journey back to L.A. But somewhere along the way, Charlie manages to reach an understanding with his brother. This movie is great fun to watch and is extremely moving at times. Dustin Hoffman won a well-deserved Oscar for his performance, which is completely credible and convincing. Tom Cruise is equally impressive as a man driven by greed who becomes a better person as he gets to know his brother. Rain Man is one of the great films of the late eighties.

Links:
Roger Ebert's Review

Random Hearts (1999)
(R)
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After his wife dies, a man finds out she was having an affair, so he tracks down the other man's wife and tries to convince her to help him discover what was happening between their partners. They, of course, wind up falling in love in the process, which threatens to create a scandal right when her political campaign needs her to keep a good, clean image. For all that is going on, it takes a long time for the movie to get there, keeping a fairly slow pace for the entire movie. It was hard for me to really care about the characters, who all seemed a little too simple to be real people. It still managed to have some good parts that were almost worth waiting for.

Links:
Official Studio Site

The Recruit (2003)
(PG-13)
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CIA recruiter Walter Burke (Al Pacino), a self-proclaimed "scary judge of talent", seeks out and persuades James Clayton (Colin Farrell) to apply to the agency. Clayton then joins a class of new recruits at a training facility. While he progresses in the various courses, Burke acts as his mentor (he reminds Clayton constantly that "nothing is what it seems"). Subsequently, the young agent is given a special task: root out a suspected mole from the original crop of recruits. While this movie is packed with plot twists and memorable lines (care of Mr. Pacino), it also has its share of tired, worn out cliches (e.g. the rookie with a brash attitude that catches the attention of a jaded old pro). Most of the film's plot is spoiled by the trailer. As a result, I found myself impatiently awaiting the climax, which hardly delivered the punch I was expecting. Fans of the genre will be mildly amused, but everyone else will be underwhelmed.

Links:
Roger Ebert's Review

Red Planet (2000)
(PG-13)
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A group of astronauts land on Mars to discover why the attempts at making the planet habitable for humans have backfired. Their landing ship crashes on the planet, stranding them unless they can reach an old Russian craft and use that to get to the main ship they used to get to Mars. To make it worse, their dog-like robot was set to military mode during the landing and is now afraid that if it doesn't kill the astronauts, they will kill it. The movie never became the slasher flick I thought it would, instead staying at a more leisurely and thoughtful pace through most of the film. It had enough good ideas in it to keep it mildly entertaining, and the acting and directing were good as well. Overall, a fairly entertaining suspense movie.

Links:
Official Studio Site
Film.com's Review
Roger Ebert's Review

Red Rock West (1992)
(R)
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A drifter looking for a job accepts an offer to kill a man's wife, but can't get himself to do it. When she makes a counter offer to him to kill her husband and gives him more money, he grabs the opportunity to take the money and run. Every time he tries to get away from the little city he was in, though, he somehow manages to wind up back, and eventually gets caught up in the middle of a group of people all trying to get their hands on a lot of hidden money. A very good film noir, with good acting and an enjoyable story with it's fair share of twists.

Reindeer Games (2000)
(R)
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A man just released from jail lies about his identity in order to spend the holidays with his former cellmate's penpal girlfriend. He then finds out that her brother is going to force him to help him rob a casino that his cellmate had written about and was once a security officer for. The movie is only mildly exciting, never really finding a good pace or becoming very believable. It seems to be going through the motions, with no one besides star Ben Affleck trying very hard to do it right. Overall, only a little entertaining, and nothing to get worked up about.

Links:
Official Studio Site
Radio Free's Review

Remember the Titans (2000)
(PG)
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Denzel Washington becomes the new head football coach at a newly integrated Virginia high school in the 70's. He must pull the team together while they and the rest of their city deal with the hatred between the races. The movie doesn't present much that hasn't been seen before, while many scenes go somewhat over the top and sometimes feeling contrived. However, it also has moments where the emotion is able to shine through, and with the help of the acting and (at least for these scenes) the directing, these moments help to pull this movie up to an entertaining level. Overall, you most likely have already memorized the script without even having seen it, but if you enjoy this type of film, you should still enjoy it.

Links:
Official Studio Site
Peter Brunette's Film.com Review
Tom Keogh's Film.com Review
Roger Ebert's Review

The Replacement Killers (1998)
(R)
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One of the best shoot-'em-ups I've seen. A hired killer refuses to kill a cops son, and the person he was working for brings in new killers to finish his job and kill him. He then starts fighting back by going after his ex-boss and the new killers. The only thing I think could have been better about this movie is if they had made it a little longer, and developed the characters of the replacement killers a little more. The movie seemed too short to me, and those characters didn't seem to make a difference to the movie. Other than that, I really liked it.

Links:
Replacement Killers Picture
Radio Free's Review

Repo Man (1984)
(R)
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This is the quintessential 1980's L.A. flick. Otto (Emilio Estevez) is a hoodlum kid who has little or no future. His parents have been brainwashed by a televangelist and his girlfriend has just dumped him. Out of nowhere, he is recruited by a team of repo men led by Bud (Harry Dean Stanton). The rest of the movie involves Otto's strange encounters with over-the-top characters. This film is bizarre with a capital "B". It's famous for it's endless list of quotable lines (most of which are supplied by Mr. Stanton), and the humor is so eccentric at times that you just want to shake your head in disbelief. But this is what makes this film such a cult classic. Be sure to watch for the non-descript food labeling in the convenience mart (food, drink, beer, corn flakes, tastee-os, etc).



The Replacements (2000)
(PG-13)
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During a players strike, former collage quarterback Keanu Reeves is called in to a pro team with a group of other almost-good-enough players to play for the final four games of the season. The movie is generic, but manages to make the jokes and character interaction work well enough to be fun. The actors are all good at their parts, and there are enough good moments that the movie is able to rise above a story that's nearly beaten into the ground.

Links:
Tom Keogh's Film.com Review
Sean Means' Film.com Review
Roger Ebert's Review

Return to Me (2000)
(PG)
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A man loses his wife, who's heart goes to a woman who needs a transplant. The man then falls in love with the woman, not knowing she has his former wife's heart. The movie was actually more enjoyable than I thought it would be, since it seemed almost believable and had some good jokes and drama. The plot never seemed forced, and the director never forgot to develop the characters at the expense of setting up the idea of ironic fate. The end was a little hokey, but not enough to ruin the movie.

Links:
Official Studio Site
Film.com's Review

Return to Paradise (1998)
(R)
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Two friends were vacationing in a foreign country with another person they had met. After the friends left, the third man got caught with the drugs the three had been smoking and went to prison. Two years later, the friends had gone their own ways, unaware that the third person was in prison. His lawyer contacted them both, saying that if they weren't willing to go back and accept their share of the responsibility for the drugs, he would be killed. The rest of the movie is them deciding whether they are willing to give up three years of their lives to save someone they met once. The movie was interesting in the ideas it came up with, but dragged a lot. It felt like they were really stretching for material to lengthen the movie with. The acting was good and the script was believable, but they shouldn't have dragged it out for as long as they did.

The Ring (2002)
(R)
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After a mysterious death, a reporter finds a video tape that, according to legend, kills people seven days after they watch it. She then tries to figure out the story behind the tape, while her seven days count down. The plot seemed a bit silly, but the director was able to include enough subtle chills to make the movie work. While not incredibly insightful, the movie is very spooky and plays like a good X-Files episode.

Links:
Official Studio Site
Reel.com's Review
Roger Ebert's Review

Rising Sun (1993)
(R)
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Two cops are requested by a group of business men to investigate a murder in a new office building. They eventually discover that they were requested because the business men thought that the two of them working together wouldn't be able to solve the crime, so they go about proving them wrong. The story for this was great, and the acting was excellent, although the characters could have been a little less generic. Overall, a fun suspense film.

Links:
Roger Ebert's Review

The River Wild (1994)
(PG-13)
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A family on a white water rafting vacation get taken hostage by a man who needs their rafting experience to get away from the cops. The story is a little slow, and drags a lot. The acting is great, though, and the characters get developed well. The climax, where they try to take on a dangerous part of the rapids, is exciting and is a good pay off for all the character development. Over all, good when the pace is up, but the slow parts are a little overly melodramatic.

Links:
The Joseph Mazzello Fan Page's River Wild Page

Road Trip (2000)
(R)
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A group of collage guys go on a road trip to try to get a tape that was mailed cross-country to a girlfriend before she can see it. The movie tries for the same type of humor as American Pie, but only moderately succeeds. Many of the jokes only got a mild chuckle out of me at best, but a few worked really well. The movie was only moderately funny, but good if you're in the mood for a stupid sex comedy.

Links:
Official Studio Site

Ronin (1998)
(R)
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A group of agents are led into a set up, and try to deal with it to their advantage. The movie moves slow, but has good characters that keep it somewhat interesting - there were only a few places I was bored waiting for the action to start up again. The faster paced scenes - the car chases, shoot outs, ect. - are really well choreographed and directed. The whole movie made me feel like I was there, actually watching it happen.

Links:
Official Studio Site

The Rookie (2002)
(G)
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Dennis Quaid plays a man who had to give up on his baseball career after an injury, but gets another chance after promising the team he couches that he would try out again if they won their district trophy. It isn't anything that hasn't been done before, but is done very well. The characters are interesting and the story stays alive, but what impressed me the most is that the director held my interest without anything that people could object to, to the point where the movie received a G rating. Instead of throwing in cheap thrills to bring in the crowds, the director relied on the story to make it good, and it worked well. Well worth it for anyone not burned out on the fairly overused story.

Links:
Official Studio Site

Rounders (1998)
(R)
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A former card shark who gave up poker after losing everything goes back into the game to help get his friend out of debt. The movie is very well cast, and is fun because of how well the actors are able to play the characters. The story it self is somewhat of a ferry tale, with the central character eventually having to play one more game with the man he lost all his money too. Enjoyable if you have nothing better to do (or want to see Matt Damon or Edward Norton in some of their better roles).

Links:
Official Studio Site

Rules of Engagement (2000)
(R)
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A U.S. Marine is put on trial after a rescue mission at a U.S. embassy results in the death of 89 people who seem to be innocent civilian. The movie has good acting from everyone involved, but I only occasionally got as emotionally involved as I would have liked. Most of the film was spent presenting facts in a courtroom that never really amount to much. The interaction between the characters is what saves some of the movie, but other parts tend to drag on looking for something interesting to do.

Links:
Official Studio Site
Film.com's Review

Run Lola Run (1999)
(R)
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A woman has twenty minutes to find 100,000 Marks (German money) in order to save her boyfriend's life. The movie is shot in real time, and, after a short introduction, shows three different possible ways the story could have played out. I found the movie to be interesting in a MTV sort of way, although it could have used a little more substance to really get me involved. It was a little long for what it had to work with, but was still enjoyable. An interesting movie that was just a little too caught up in the substance of the film, but is still worth seeing once.

Links:
Official Studio Site
Ernest Hardy's Film.com Review
Gemma Files' Film.com Review
Roger Ebert's Review

Rush Hour (1998)
(PG-13)
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A cop is brought in from China to help locate a kidnapped daughter, and an American cop is given the job of keeping him out of the way while the FBI do their work. The two of them wind up going after the bad guys, and spend most of the movie getting into fights and trying to teach each other about each other's ways of life. Most to the action sequences are really well done, although a few are a little slow. The time in between the fights would be boring except they manage to include some very good humor. Over all, a fairly fun, entertaining movie.

Links:
Official Studio Site

Rush Hour 2 (2001)
(PG-13)
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A fun continuation of the first film, this has Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker trying to find the person responsible for an attack on the American embassy in China. The story is, as expected, just an excuse to give the film some good action sequences, and pulls it off really well. The action is fun and many of the jokes work, making this a rare sequel that as was as impressed by as the original.

Links:
Official Studio Site
Roger Ebert's Review

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