I've Totally Seen That Movie Before

The Lincoln Lawyer (2011) Director:  Brad Furman Writers: John Romano (screenplay), Michael Connelly (novel) Cast:  Matthew McConaughey, Marisa Tomei, Ryan Phillippe, William H. Macy, Josh Lucas, John Leguizamo, Michael Pena, Bob Gunton, Frances Fisher, Bryan Cranston, Trace Adkins, Laurence Mason, Margarita Levieva, Pell James, Shea Whigham, Kate Moenning Synopsis: Mick Haller (McConaughey) is a criminal defense attorney that operates his practice out of the back seat of his Lincoln. His friend Val (Legizamo), a bail bondsman, approaches him one day with the opportunity to represent Louis Roulet (Phillippe), a wealthy realtor who is accused of assaulting a prostitute. Roulet maintains his innocence and claims that he was a victim of the prostitute's scheme sue him. With the help of his investigator, Frank (Macy), Mick discovers there's more to the case than meets the eye. He also discovers that it connects to another case from his past, one that represents his only failure in...

Legend (1985) Director:  Ridley Scott Writer: William Hjortsberg Cast:  Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, Tim Curry, David Bennent , Alice Playten, Billy Barty, Cork Hubbert, Peter O'Farrell, Kiran Shah, Annabelle Lanyon, Robert Picardo, Tina Martin Synopsis:   In this modern fairy tale, the Lord of Darkness (Curry) plans to bring about eternal night upon the world by killing the last two unicorns. To this end, he sends a group of minions, led by the goblin Blixx (Playten) to set a trap for the creatures, who are only attracted by that which is pure and innocent. Blixx and company find young Princess Lily (Sara) who has come to the enchanted forest to visit her beloved, Jack (Cruise). Unaware of the danger lurking in the shadows, Jack takes Lily to see the unicorns which is when Blixx takes to opportunity to strike wounding one unicorn in the process and cutting off its horn. Blixx also manages to capture Lily, as well as the other unicorn, in the ensuing chaos. Lost and confused, Ja...

Lethal Weapon 4 (1998) Director:  Richard Donner Writers:  Shane Black (characters), Jonathan Lemkin (story), Alfred Gough (story) Miles Millar (story), Channing Gibson (screenplay) Cast:  Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Joe Pesci, Rene Russo, Chris Rock, Jet Li, Steve Kahan, Kim Chan, Darlene Love, Traci Wolfe, Eddy Ko, Mary Ellen Trainor Synopsis: After blowing up a city block in process of stopping a maniac with a flamethrower, Detectives Riggs (Gibson) and Murtaugh (Glover) are promoted to Captain because the LAPD will lose its insurance carrier if they're kept on the street. Things have also changed in their personal lives as Riggs and Lorna (Russo) are expecting their first child, while Murtaugh is about to be a grandfather for the first time. The pair become embroiled in a case involving a Chinese human trafficking ring and enlist the help of the irascible Leo Getz (Pesci), who is now a PI, and the young Detective Lee Butters (Rock) to investigate local Chinese gangster ...

Valkyrie (2008) Director: Bryan Singer Writers: Christopher McQuarrie, Nathan Alexander Cast:  Tom Cruise, Bill Nighy, Carice van Houten, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Wilkinson, Thomas Kretschmann, Terence Stamp, Eddie Izzard, Kevin McNally, Christian Berkel Jamie Parker, David Bamber, Tom Hollander, David Schofield. Kenneth Cranham, Halina Reijn Synopsis: Disillusioned by the Third Reich and Adolph Hitler's (Bamber) leadership, crippled war hero Col. Claus von Stauffenberg and a group of like-minded German officers decide to try and save their country, and thousands of lives, before the Allies close in on Berlin. They realize the only way to save Germany is to kill Hitler and overthrow the government. Stauffenberg partners with an influential cabal of high-ranking officials and politicians and together they devise a scheme to modify Operation Valkyrie, Hitler's emergency plan intended to restore civil order in the event of a coup. The also devise a plan to kill Hitler using concealed ...

Platoon (1986) Director:  Oliver Stone Writer:  Oliver Stone Cast: Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Keith David, Forest Whitaker, Francesco Quinn, Kevin Dillon, John C. McGinley, Reggie Johnson, Mark Moses, Corey Glover, Johnny Depp, Chris Pedersen, Bob Orwig, Corkey Ford, David Neidorf, Richard Edson, Tony Todd Synopsis: In 1967, Chris Taylor (Sheen) opts to drop out of university to volunteer for combat in the Vietnam War. However, things aren't as he imagined they would be as he is ostracized by the rest of his platoonmates because he hasn't put his time in yet. The platoon is led by two non-commissioned officers, the intense and ill-tempered SSgt. Barnes (Berenger) and the more pleasant Sgt. Elias (Dafoe), who often butt heads when it comes to leading them men. The conflict between the two NCOs is intensified when Barnes commits an illegal killing during the raid of a Vietnamese village pulling the whole platoon into conflict. As the war drags on, Chris is pulled...

Red Dragon (2002) Director:  Brett Ratner Writer:  Thomas Harris (novel), Ted Tally (screenplay) Cast:  Edward Norton, Anthony Hopkins, Ralph Fiennes, Harvey Keitel, Emily Watson, Mary-Louise Parker, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Anthony Heald, Ken Leung, Frankie Faison, Tyler Patrick Jones Synopsis: A remake of the 1986 film Manhunter .  Will Graham (Norton) is a retired FBI profiler living in Florida with his wife Molly (Parker) and son Kevin (Jones). He was once one of the Bureau's top profilers but he was forced to retire after being wounded and traumatized following his capture of the notorious Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Hopkins). Graham is visited by his former boss and friend Jack Crawford (Keitel) who asks him to get back into the game by helping him catch a serial killer known as the Tooth Fairy (Fiennes), who kills on the full moon. Will reluctantly agrees but the Tooth Fairy proves to be elusive and Graham comes up empty at every turn. Desperate and with time running...

Manhunter (1986) Director:  Michael Mann Writers:  Thomas Harris (novel), Michael Mann (screenplay) Cast:  William Petersen, Kim Greist, Joan Allen, Brian Cox, Dennis Farina, Stephen Lang, Tom Noonan, David Seaman, Benjamin Hendrickson, Michael Talbott, Dan Butler Synopsis: Will Graham (Petersen) is a retired FBI profiler living in Florida with his wife Molly (Greist) and son Kevin (Seaman). He was once one of the Bureau's top profilers but he was forced to retire after being wounded and traumatized following his capture of the notorious Dr. Hannibal Lecktor (Cox). Graham is visited by his former boss and friend Jack Crawford (Farina) who asks him to get back into the game by helping him catch a serial killer known as the Tooth Fairy (Noonan), who kills on the full moon. Will reluctantly agrees but the Tooth Fairy proves to be elusive and Graham comes up empty at every turn. desperate with time running short until the next full moon, Will decides to ask Lecktor for advice...

Liar Liar (1997) Director:  Tom Shadyac Writers: Paul Guay, Stephen Mazur Cast:  Jim Carrey, Maura Tierney, Amanda Donohoe, Jennifer Tilly, Justin Cooper, Cary Elwes, Anne Haney, Jason Bernard, Swoosie Kurtz, Mitchell Ryan, Christopher Mayer, Eric Pierpoint, Randal 'Tex' Cobb, Cheri Oteri Synopsis: Fletcher Reede (Carrey) is a fast talking and successful lawyer who has built his career on lying. He also has a habit of putting his career first over everything, including his his young son Max (Cooper). After breaking another promise and missing his birthday party, Max makes a wish that for one whole day, his father can't tell a lie. Shockingly, the wish comes true and Fletcher has to navigate life without being able to tell any sort of lie, white or otherwise. Mayhem ensues. First Impressions: I originally saw this one in theaters when I was in my early 20s. I generally liked most of Carrey's movies back then (it was before he started trying so hard to win an Oscar), howe...