RoboCop: Ghost in the Machine

Peter Weller. Photo: Orion Paul Verhoeven is a lively fellow. At work, he tends to use his entire body to show the cast and crew of a film exactly what…

Taxi Driver: Rough Justice

Robert De Niro. Photo: Columbia Travis Bickle can’t stand the streets of New York. He’s waiting for the rain that will wash the trash off the streets, all the thieves,…

The Village 

The people of a small, isolated Pennsylvania village have a special agreement with creatures that inhabit the surrounding woods, but an accident brings about changes... M. Night Shyamalan's first major…

Collateral 

Los Angeles cab driver Max Durocher (Jamie Foxx) takes a passenger (Tom Cruise) who turns out to be a hit man with a contract on five people; he needs Max…

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 

As Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) begins his third year at Hogwarts, authorities are looking for a convict who could be hiding somewhere near the school. The third entry in the…

Freddy Vs. Jason 

Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) manipulates Jason Vorhees (Ken Kerzinger) into slaughtering teens on Elm Street; that’s supposed to make Freddy strong enough to mount a comeback. On paper, this is…

Scary Movie 2 

This sequel is mainly a send-up of The Haunting (1963), as the leading characters spend a weekend at a haunted house. But many other films are also desecrated, including The…

Scary Movie 

High school teens accidentally hit a stranger with their car; some time later, a murderer strikes at their school. This horror spoof looked to Airplane! (1980) for ideas, but came…

The Ring 

This surprisingly effective remake of Ringu (1998), a Japanese chiller, became a box office smash and helped elevate Naomi Watts to stardom. She is engaging as the reporter who watches…

Tomorrow Never Dies

The story in this 18th James Bond flick, about a media tycoon’s (Jonathan Pryce) attempt to jump-start a war between Britain and China, shows the dangerous potential of powerful media…