As a smuggler from Zimbabwe, Leonardo DiCaprio in Blood Diamond (Warner Bros.) has the cynicism and charm of a Bogart-esque hero, suggesting the weary soul of a good man withered away by compromise and disappointment. DiCaprio earned his Oscar nomination, but the film's awkward attempt to couch an important issue in a generic action-adventure movie squanders his magnetic performance…
To give Sylvester Stallone some credit, Rocky Balboa (MGM) turned out better than it had any right to be, considering that the very prospect of Stallone's 60-year-old palooka returning to the ring had audiences laughing the trailer out of the theater. Perhaps in light of these low expectations, critics were a little too liberal with the praise, forgetting that Stallone was basically remaking the original Rocky 30 years later. It's a deeply calculating movie, but whenever that Bill Conti score kicks in, it's hard to resist…
A franchise-starter gone horribly awry, Eragon (Fox) adapts the first of Christopher Paolini's still-incomplete Inheritance Trilogy, a bestselling set of fantasy novels aimed at young-adult readers. But even the devoted turned their back on this lifeless lump, which has some impressive effects, a plodding pace, a dull lead, and phoned-in performances from Jeremy Irons and John Malkovich…
If real life came with its own sorrowful country soundtrack, it'd look a lot like Come Early Morning (Weinstein), a low-affect, ambling character study of a slowly disintegrating Arkansas gal (Ashley Judd, in a signature tough-but-vulnerable role) whose failed efforts to make a connection with her father leads to her instead connecting with whoever looks good in the local bar when she's drunk. Those with fond memories of Judd's breakthrough role in Ruby In Paradise will want to tune in to this latest angsty, affecting Judd showcase, the promising writing-directing debut of Chasing Amy actress Joey Lauren Adams…
There was no shortage of documentaries about Iraq in 2006, but the Oscar-nominated My Country, My Country (Zeitgeist) counts as one of the most even-handed and probing looks at the war and its effects on Iraqi civilians. The film discovers the perfect "Joe Iraqi," a Sunni doctor who genuinely wants to participate in the political system, but finds the roadblocks too massive to transcend.