In James Mangold’s stark new western “3:10 to Yuma,” Dan Evans (Christian Bale) and his son William (Logan Lerman) must transport a prisoner Ben Wade (Russell Crowe), the notorious leader of an outlaw gang, to a prison train in order to collect a reward and save the Evans family farm. Wade’s gang, led by Ben Foster’s prissy yet sadistic Prince, engage in a a scorched-earth campaign to get their boss back at all costs. Evans and Wades journey takes them across a grim, pre-PC Old West that more closely resembles a dry, lifeless moonscape than the green vistas of travelogue-style…
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In “The Kingdom,” an elite FBI unit led by Agent Ronald Fleury (Jamie Foxx) is dispatched to investigate a devastating terrorist attack on American oil workers living in a compound in Saudi Arabia. To find the killers, the investigators must learn to work with conservative Muslim locals who oppose the American presence in their Holy Lands.

Given the provocative premise and locale, I wondered going in whether to expect another entry in the recent spate of thoughtful meditations on terrorism (“Munich,” “Syriana,” etc.). Instead, director Berg and screenwriter Matthew Michael Carnahan serve up a paint by the numbers…
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This turbulent decade has borne out the old adage that good art arises out of bad times. While the peace and prosperity of the late nineties brought us toothless best picture winners like “Titanic” and “Shakespeare in Love,” (Damn you Bill Clinton!), today’s films roil with a new, bracing cynicism. The frenetically, paranoid “Syriana” held up a mirror to America’s addiction to oil and the Middle East entanglements that it has engendered. “Good Night and Good Luck” was a stinging indictment of the Post-September 11 press and its failure to confront a government running rough-shod over the rights of its…
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Movie City News recently released a second compilation of Oscar pundits predictions. Oscar Frenzy is excited to be considered a “guru” have our predictions included on the new Gurus 2.0 list

As Oscar Frenzy emerges from its hibernation and prepares for the upcoming awards season, I wanted to touch on some of the more promising films that were released earlier in 2007. This is by no means an exhaustive list of the films I’ve seen during that time (if there is a hue and cry for my thoughts on “Disturbia” or “The Hitcher” remake, I will gladly oblige). Rather, I thought I would be remiss if I did not give these films of Spring and Summer their due.

Breach (* and a 1/2 out of ****)

“Breach” is the…
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