IF YOU'RE AN AMERICAN, A STRANGE FEELING bubbles up inside you when, after getting to know the Japanese soldiers training and digging trenches on the lonely island of Iwo Jima in anticipation of the enemy's arrival, you see the Marines finally land on its volcanized shores, marking the start of the gruesome 1945 battle that [...]
WE CLAMBER THROUGH THE MINUTES of No Country for Old Men, Ethan and Joel Coen's latest neo-noir, the way we clamber through the Cormac McCarthy novel on which it's based, full of furtive energy and basic need. The plot propels us forward through its animalistic focus on the hunt and the chase, and we want [...]
THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS, the new Will Smith vehicle about a single father's efforts to move from the poorhouse to a penthouse, attempts to reinvigorate -- or reaffirm, depending on your income bracket -- our faith in the American Dream. Set in Reagan-era San Francisco, it's the "true" story of Chris Gardner's (Smith) rise from [...]