Two corporate lackeys, bored with their existence and frustrated and angry with their relationships with females, form a pact to romance a woman at the same time and then dump her. They want to do this as a way to exact revenge on all the women they believe have wronged them in the past. Their plan grows even more demented when they decide to find the most vulnerable girl possible and they pick an insecure deaf coworker.

This is the plot to 1997’s independent film In the Company of Men, directed by Neil LaBute and adapted from his play. If the movie sounds controversial and un-PC, it is. It’s also terrific. Men explores the complexities of men’s attitudes about women in a way very few pictures have before or since. This is not the kind of relationship drama a major studio would touch.

In the Company of Men was a critical darling that found a niche audience. Aaron Eckhart (most known now as Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight) plays Chad, one of the co-conspirators. It’s a career best performance from the actor. He should have been nominated for an Oscar. The solid cast includes Matt Malloy as his coworker Howard and Stacy Edwards as Christine, the victim of their sick prank.

The film ends up going in unexpected directions. It’s driven by dialogue and only dialogue and you’ll be on the edge of your seat. In the Company of Men is well worth seeking out if you’re looking for a challenging and thought-provoking experience. I highly recommend it.

Director Kenneth Branagh was known for a while in Hollywood as the Shakespeare guy with such critically acclaimed pictures as 1989’s Henry V and 1993’s Much Ado About Nothing. Lately, he’s become a successful commercial director, with 2011’s Thor and Jack Ryan (coming Christmas 2013), which restarts that franchise.

He’s an accomplished director, but my personal favorite of his is definitely 1991’s Dead Again. The movie is an homage to Hitchcock and if you’re a Hitch fan, I expect you’ll find a lot to like about Dead Again. The story switches back and forth between the 1940s and present day, with Branagh and Emma Thompson (his wife at the time) playing dual characters. The plot involves possible past lives and murder. There’s multiple twists and turns in grand Hitchcockian fashion. It’s got a solid supporting cast including Andy Garcia, Derek Jacobi, and Robin Williams.

The movie was modest success in the United States, but it was released long ago and you don’t hear much about it anymore. Dead Again is a lot of fun and comes highly recommended, especially for Hitchcock lovers.

He may have faltered a bit last week with the commercially disappointing Gangster Squad, but Ryan Gosling has been on quite a run over the past few years, alternating between critical indie darlings and commercially successful fare.

Of course, Gosling’s big breakout was 2004’s The Notebook. I’m sure Mr. Gosling got offered every type of romantic drama and action film under the sun afterwards, but he chose an admirable path doing indie work like 2007’s Lars and the Real Girl and 2010’s Blue Valentine.

2011 proved to be even more of a breakout for him, with three well-regarded pictures: the romantic dramedy Crazy Stupid Love, the George Clooney-directed political thriller The Ides of March, and the terrific Drive. 

He’s been (for the most part) pretty shrewd about picking his projects and he’s got upcoming indie collaborations with the directors of both Blue Valentine and Drive. He’s been solid in everything I’ve seen him in, but one movie stands out in particular: 2006’s Half Nelson. It is also, sadly, one of his least known pictures.

Gosling plays a middle school teacher in the inner city who forms a friendship with one of his female students after she discovers his secret: he’s a severe drug addict. This is an extremely well-written and insightful story. And Gosling is fantastic in the role. He would receive an Oscar nomination for the film that was very well-deserved. Even with the nomination, Half Nelson would earn a light $4.6 million at the box office, though it was profitable due to a tiny $700K budget.

If you’re a fan of Mr. Gosling, I highly recommend Half Nelson. He’s certainly got a bright career ahead of him and he’s had some top-notch performances so far. This is his best one to date.

As many of you may know, I’ve been deeply immersed in the James Bond 50th anniversary Blu Ray set and blogging about each film individually.

At press time, I’m nearly through the Roger Moore era with the Timothy Daltons, Pierce Brosnans, and Daniel Craigs left to go. For my “Movies You Might Not Know” series, this felt like a good time to recommend a trio of Pierce Brosnan titles that aren’t nearly as well-known as his 007 pictures.

From 2001, Tailor of Panama, a highly entertaining thriller with comedic elements co-starring Geoffrey Rush and Jamie Lee Curtis. Brosnan plays an MI6 agent here, but his character is a whole lot different than Mr. Bond. Based on a John Le Carre novel and from John Boorman, director of such classics as 1967’s Point Blank and 1972’s Deliverance, this is a fun movie that got lost in a bit in the box office shuffle and comes highly recommended.

Next we have 2005’s The Matador, with Brosnan playing a master assassin who befriends a normal couple, played by Greg Kinnear and Hope Davis. This dark comedy is quite a good time and features Pierce showing off his considerable comedic chops.

Finally, we have Roman Polanski’s The Ghost Writer, with Brosnan playing an ex-British Prime Minister who hires Ewan McGregor’s character to write his political memoirs. This leads to all sorts of danger and intrigue. Released in 2010, Ghost Writer (not to be confused with the Nicolas Cage film Ghost Rider), did bigger business overseas than in the United States. It’s a very good picture with all kinds of twists and turns and a terrific ending.

So, there you have some nice suggestions for alternate non-007 Brosnan movies before I begin to dissect his work as film’s most famous superspy. Enjoy!

 

Continuing with my recommendations of movies that maybe you haven’t seen and should, I offer up three pictures with one thing in common: they’re all about crooked cops. While you’ve probably seen genre titles like Serpico, Cop Land, Training Day and Dark Blue, I would highly recommend this trio as well.

Two come from 1990. First, Internal Affairs featuring crooked cop Richard Gere. He’s joined by co-star Andy Garcia. This is one of Gere’s finest performances. Internal Affairs comes from director Mike Figgis, best known for 1995’s Leaving Las Vegas with Nic Cage.

Next is Q&A featuring crooked cop Nick Nolte. Directed by the great Sidney Lumet (who brought us classics like Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, 12 Angry Men, and Network), this film fell under the radar screen and shouldn’t have. Nolte is fantastic in it.

Finally, we have Narc featuring crooked cop Ray Liotta. This is better than Liotta’s other crooked cop flick (1992’s Unlawful Entry with Kurt Russell, though that’s worth a look too). Directed by Joe Carnahan (who would later direct The A-Team and The Grey), Narc is a solid genre piece with first-rate performances from Liotta and Jason Patric.

So there you have it! Now have yourself a nice little crooked cop triple feature and thank me later…

And now for a new feature on my blog where I recommend a film that you may not know. I’ve brilliantly called it “Movies You Might Know”.

I’m often asked by friends and colleagues for recommendations for movies so I’ll use this ongoing series to point out titles that I think many of you perhaps haven’t seen.

We start with a really fun 1992 action flick called Trespass. The plot is very simple: two firemen (Bill Paxton and William Sadler) find a treasure map while battling a blaze. It leads them to East St. Louis, where they search for the gold promised on the map. They get more than they bargained for when they also have to battle a tough street gang, led by Ice Cube and Ice-T.

Trespass comes from a fine action director, Walter Hill, who brought us The Warriors and 48 HRS., among others. The script is written by big-time Robert Zemeckis and his partner, Bob Gale. The picture was released in December 1992 and fell through the cracks, earning just $13 million at the box office.

If you’re looking for a good action flick, Trespass delivers. It’s definitely worth a look.