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Noted mostly as Philip Seymour Hoffman’s cinematic swan song, A Most Wanted Man is also a clear-eyed look at the long twilight struggle that we in the West have with the Islamists who are trying to kill us. Hoffman goes deep – real deep – as a 21st century German intel officer trying to keep Ha…

High Sierra remains a very entertaining movie some sixty years after it made Humphrey Bogart a star. In many ways it set the template for future antihero movies made in realistic settings. But never mind that. With Bogie at his best, working from a script written by John Huston and W.R. Burnett…

The Sentinel came out in ‘06, halfway through Kiefer Sutherland’s bravura run as Jack Bauer on TV’s 24, the quintessential post-9/11 secret agent series. From there it’s a short hop to Secret Service mucky-muck in the Presidential Protective Division. Michael Douglas is also well-cast as his …

I’m loyal to Katniss Everdeen, so had to see the end of her story. Love can be painful and this movie was. Freighted with profound mournfulness, it’s simply too much and too long. Alas, The Hunger Games is ultimately high-toned YA, notwithstanding its often brilliant political grandstanding. Th…

The Commitments retains its charm some 25 years after it premiered, even as Ireland and the music world have changed dramatically in the intervening quarter-century. That charm stems from a can’t-miss combination of sweet soul music, quirky characters coming together in a band, and some real se…