kathryn bigelow's THE HURT LOCKER (2009)

there's been a lot of talk since people started making movies about the Iraq war that people don't want to go watch movies about the Iraq war, but Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker -- called "a Platoon for the Iraq war" by ex-hubby Jim Cameron, which is perhaps a more smartly observed line than anything in Avatar -- is a pretty definitive refutation, no matter how underseen it remains. most films made thus far about the war were obviously done so from a place of political anger, and directed (consciously or not) at those who feel the same; while Bigelow's does stoop to the occasional potshot/groaner (one of the film's not-inconsiderable flaws) it's still quite clear her aim is to make an honest-to-god war film like we haven't seen in some time.

but that's not to say we've necessarily seen anything quite like this, and not just because we skipped all those other Iraq movies. The Hurt Locker is an action film and a war film, but plays like neither where it really counts; in choosing to focus on a small team of soldiers tasked with the disposal of live improvised explosives -- among the most unknowable enemies in a land chock full of them, and almost certainly the most devastating --  Bigelow (and writer Scott Boal, who despite strong work is more to fault for the film's problems) has found a top-notch scenario for visceral suspense, and makes the most of it. several of the setpieces play out for two or three times as long as a less tasteful, less sure filmmaker would think to let them, and each takes a jagged trajectory, ratcheting up the tension at irregular intervals, sometimes ending thirty seconds before we know they're over, sometimes ending three minutes after we think we're sure.

what fills the gaps between these scenes is much more uneven, and even corny toward the end, attempting a character study of the sort of solider that relishes his scrapes with death above all other earthly pleasures (including Evangeline Lilly!) but not really having the point of view to say anything compelling about it. Jeremy Renner is terrific in the role, but, like the film itself, always best from beneath his explosives suit.

scott sanders' BLACK DYNAMITE (2009)

it's tempting to underrate Black Dynamite because it is in one sense little more than a canny pastiche, painstakingly and to great effect re-creating the 'tude and 'sthetic of 70s soul cinema but necessarily sidestepping originality and even (depending on how you define it) sincerity. it is both impossibly straight-faced and a series of sly winks, and as its reputation builds it will be referred to by people who throw words around as a parody, or a spoof; it's neither of those things, but the mistake is understandable. Black Dynamite is indulgent novelty, and there's no getting around that.

but that doesn't stop it from being one of the year's funniest, most entertaining movies, and almost parenthetically one of its best. the core is Michael Jai White, who co-wrote the screenplay and stars as its titular badasssss, a Vietnam vet, ex-CIA, occasionally nunchuck-wielding soul brother whose quest to avenge his brother's murder pits him against drug dealers, cops, junkie orphans ("I will shake this poisonous shit out of your little smacked-up body if I have to!" "Black Dynamite stop, we've tried that, nothing works"), pimps and the Fiendish Dr. Wu on his way to fight The Man himself. it would probably be a big silly mess if White (and his script!) weren't so pitch-perfect, in both his hard-assed, super-cool demeanor (he does not so much imitate Blaxsploitation heroes as create the Last Great one) and his considerable kung-fu excellence.

but it's Sanders that really sells it: from the film's uproarious, awkwardly propulsive tone to the framing, texture and "production gaffes" (one scene sees a character bitch-slap another in mid-fight, at which point the slapee dejectedly breaks character and is replaced frames later by a different actor) he has made a film that would pass flawlessly for the sort of films it mimics were it not just a liiiiiiittle too smart for its own good. (Sanders is an encouraging new force in the dire world of black cinema, not matter how much Black Dynamite's ingrained (pop)cultural politics may seem to trivialize it.) it is above all else an example of how to goof on something dear to you: with wit, definitive knowledge and zero self-consciousness. despite a criminally minor theatrical run, Black Dynamite is an unmistakable success, and doesn't have long to cool its heels in obscurity.

francis ford coppola's THE GODFATHER (1972)

alfred hitchcock's ROPE (1948)

alex proyas' DARK CITY: THE DIRECTOR'S CUT (1998)

in the final couple of years of the twentieth century a heady sort of trend emerged in science fiction film; reacting largely to technology's progressing effect on the human experience, The Matrix and a handful of lesser tagalongs wrapped up notions of reality and experience in a bow of paranoiac sci-fi capering. the easy pinnacle of this mini-genre, though (now that we can all agree on The Matrix as little more than a rad tech demo) is the one that takes its cues from deep fantasy rather than virtual reality: Alex Proyas' 1998 stunner Dark City, which follows an apparently murderous amnesiac (Rufus Sewell) through the streets of its titular metropolis as he investigates his own emerging telekinetic powers as well as a race of pasty "Strangers" who may or may not be bending reality to their own sinister purposes.

silly as its synopsis may sound, Dark City's gorgeous, austere blend of fantastical sci-fi and film noir has gained an enthusiastic following since its initial box office sputter (Roger Ebert champions the film as 1998's single best), and the newly prepared Director's Cut should only improve its standing. most of the changes are minor, even unnoticeable, but it's the big one that makes the difference: gone is the theatrical release's studio-mandated opening narration and montage, which together gave away egregious chunks of information about the nature of the Strangers.

the result is a much more suitably mysterious film, as these antagonists and their visually wondrous methods are afforded the introductions and impact they deserve, reinforcing Proyas' strong vision for what the disc's special features reveal to be a film of great personal importance to him. it's generally true that the "alternate cut" has lately become as much a way to move DVDs as a deference to the filmmaker, but fans of the film (and even moreso those seeing it for the first time) will be glad to know that this one moves an already underrated film squarely into the upper reaches of the sci-fi canon.

(from the KNOXVILLE VOICE)

martin scorsese's GOODFELLAS (1990)

tarsem's THE FALL (2008)