Hard Eight (1996)

Paul Thomas Anderson's Hard Eight is a solid debut film, better seen in retrospect. In 1997, it must have seemed heavily inspired by Quentin Tarantino -- as so many movies in that time were -- especially given the fact that it has Samuel L. Jackson as another tough-talking gangster. Moreover, as skilled and controlled as it is for a debut, it's such a simple, small-scale film that it couldn't possibly anticipate what Anderson would be capable of later on. read more...

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• Innocence ▶ Seasoned, Savvy, Streetwise

Milk (2008)

Gus Van Sant leaves behind his recent string of quasi-experimental films for this Hollywood biopic, although it's not exactly a mainstream kind of affair and it has many of Van Sant's outsider touches. Sean Penn plays slain San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk (1930-1978) as if he were born to the part; he requires some minor hair and makeup touches, but otherwise, it's a true physical and spiritual embodiment (this may have been the ultimate reason that Penn moved to the Bay Area years ago). read more...

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Marshall (2017)

Reginald Hudlin's Marshall is, simply, an important film as well as an entertaining one. read more...

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• Moralistic ▶ Yes please

Find Me Guilty (2006)

Veteran director Sidney Lumet returns to the big screen with his best film since Running on Empty (1988) and a junior companion piece to his 1957 debut, 12 Angry Men, although quite a bit more subversive. read more...

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On the Basis of Sex (2018)

United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's nephew, Daniel Stiepleman, wrote the screenplay for this sweet, bright biopic, the story of an early, crucial court case in Ginsburg's career. Ruth (adorably played by Felicity Jones) stumbles upon a case in which a man is denied financial aid to care for his elderly mother, and hopes to use it to establish a precedent for other examples of discrimination on the basis of sex. Stiepleman's screenplay is a subtle marvel, managing to take piles of tax law jargon and turn it into a dynamic, vivid, human story. The casting and acting here are the high point. Aside from Jones, Armie Hammer is excellent as Ginsburg's husband Martin, a unique man who was comfortable with his wife's immense power. Sam Waterston seems to enjoy his role as the villainous, sex-discriminating Dean of Harvard Law, as does Kathy Bates in her role as cynical, acid-tongued activist Dorothy Kenyon. But Justin Theroux steals the show as Mel Wulf of the ACLU, sinking into his 1970s mustache and wardrobe as if he'd time traveled from there. On the whole, On the Basis of Sex is not too heavy or serious, and also nicely compliments the recent documentary RBG. read more...

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