The Gunman

Review by Bob Ignizio

Sean Penn plays an ex-military contractor trying to atone for his violent past in THE GUNMAN. The film begins in 2006 with Jim "Twink" Terrier (Penn) stationed in the Democratic Republic of Congo where he's assigned to guard workers for NGOs. One of the workers is an attractive doctor named Annie (Jasmine Trinca) who winds up involved with Terrier while his co-worker Felix (Javier Bardem) looks on with a jealousy verging on outright creepiness.

Terrier and Felix aren't just bodyguards, though. They do the dirty work for various corporate interests on the side under the direction of Cox (Mark Rylance). After one such job, the assassination of the Congolese mining minister, Terrier is forced to flee the DRC without even being able to say goodbye to Annie, trusting in Felix to look after her. Terrier pulls off the hit, but the repercussions for the country go far beyond the death of one man.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Review by Bob Ignizio

The titular character in THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY is a shy, soft spoken guy who works at LIFE magazine overseeing the negatives for all the photos (at least the ones still taken on actual film) submitted for publication. Walter's (Ben Stiller) father died when he was only 17, leaving him to assume the role of chief breadwinner and head of the family. Years later Walter still fulfills this role for his aging mother (Shirley MacLaine) and happy-go-lucky sister (Kathryn Hahn). Apparently this necessitated Walter giving up all vestiges of a personal life, so to make up for his dreary existence he frequently drifts off into vivid daydreams where life is an adventure and he's the hero.

Gangster Squad

Review by Matt Finley

Going into GANGSTER SQUAD, I was worried that my almost total lack of knowledge surrounding famed Brooklyn mobster Mickey Cohen and his bloody westward pilgrimage that placed 1940s Los Angeles under mob control might temper the viewing experience. Luckily, I could’ve missed every second gunfight and still kept up. 

Ruben Fleischer’s (ZOMBIELAND) slick, gaudy shoot ‘em up is a huge, dumb, violent pulp comic of a film. Anyone eager for the dark intricacies and moral culs de sac of L.A. CONFIDENTIAL will find themselves hemorrhaging more expectation than the baddies do blood. Set your sights on SIN CITY, minus the personality, or DICK TRACY with a digital sheen (come to think of it, Sean Penn’s squinty, snarling Cohen would look right at home between Flattop and Mumbles).