Crime Films

Michael Bay returns to his roots, sort of, with Pain & Gain, a low budget crime comedy-thriller starring Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie and Tony Shalhoub. Please note that "low budget" for Michael Bay means $25 million.

Read FilmJabber’s full Pain & Gain movie review.

From the writer/director of Shotgun Stories and Take Shelter comes Mud, which stars Matthew McConaughey as a wanted fugitive who is befriended by two teenage boys who agree to help him elude a group of bounty hunters and reunite him with his on-and-off girlfriend while evading poisonous snakes and angry parents. Mud is Jeff Nichols’ most accessible and entertaining movie to date, but it’s also the least memorable.

Read FilmJabber’s full Mud movie review.

Snatch without the edge, Angel’s Share is a sort-of-heartwarming British crime drama-comedy that is well done but largely unremarkable. Now playing in limited American theaters, Angel’s Share evaporates from memory like so much whiskey.

Read FilmJabber’s full Angels’ Share movie review.

Mark Wahlberg. Russell Crowe. Catherine Zeta-Jones. It’s a cast made for great things, not Broken City, a flat thriller that finds inspiration in unoriginality.

Read FilmJabber’s full Broken City movie review.

What makes a son like his father? Is a son doomed to make his father’s mistakes? These questions are explored in the sweeping yet personal epic from director Derek Cianfrance The Place Beyond the Pines, which reunites him with his Blue Valentine star Ryan Gosling. At times captivating, at other times longwinded, The Place Beyond the Pines is the first good drama of the year. Unfortunately, it’s also far from perfect.

Read FilmJabber’s full The Place Beyond the Pines movie review.

I had the opportunity to sit down with writer/director Derek Cianfrance, who has a new film coming out this Friday called The Place Beyond the Pines, which stars his Blue Valentine star Ryan Gosling as well as Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes and Ray Liotta. While I only had a few minutes with him, I asked him about his motivations to make the film, what it’s like to work with Ryan Gosling and how both men are criminal masterminds at heart.

Read the full article »

The Walt Disney Company presents a new family friendly film starring two of its very own princesses – Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens – all but assuring a new franchise that will eventually be spun into an ABC Family sitcom. It’s Spring Breakers, an innocent film about innocent Amish girls who find themselves stranded in Florida during Spring Break.

Read FilmJabber’s full Spring Breakers movie review.

Selena Gomez may have been a Disney princess, but she isn’t anymore. The off-and-on Bieber bombshell stars in the clearly R-rated crime thriller Spring Breakers, alongside Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, Rachel Korine and a very sleazy looking James Franco, which at the very least looks like a steamy and deranged film.

Read the full article »

Gangster Squad proves that an all-star cast and flashy direction aren’t enough for what is essentially an unnecessary and ultimately bland upgrade of The Untouchables. Featuring the likes of Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Robert Patrick, Michael Peña and Giovanni Ribisi, Gangster Squad is moderately entertaining on occasion but instantly forgettable.

Read FilmJabber’s full Gangster Squad movie review.

Matthew McConaughey sizzles in Killer Joe, a violent but alluring crime thriller from director William Friedkin. Though the movie isn’t for everyone, Killer Joe is a rare return to form for the director whose best movies – led by The Exorcist and The French Connection – are from another age.

Read FilmJabber’s full Killer Joe movie review.

Killing Them Softly is the kind of movie that makes audiences hate movie critics. With a 77% convincingly fresh rating on RottenTomatoes, the new Brad Pitt crime drama appears like a movie worth seeing. The movie flopped in its opening weekend, however – the worst debut for Pitt in a long time. Many pundits said it was because people don’t want to see the actor playing against type. I blamed the marketing, or lack thereof. But there’s a simpler factor at play…

Read FilmJabber’s full Killing Them Softly movie review.

Edgar Allen Poe was a morbid little guy. So naturally, director James McTeigue (V for Vendetta) has made a movie about Edgar Allen Poe investigating a series of murders inspired by Edgar Allen Poe poems. John Cusack plays Edgar Allen Poe, but unfortunately The Raven pales in comparison to the writer’s real work.

Read FilmJabber’s full The Raven movie review.