For Summer 2011, we recommend...
Ronin (1998) | As we endure the annual summertime gauntlet of blockbusting sensationalism and vaguely humorous redundancies, treat yourself instead to one of the better conventional action flicks this side of the Andrew Webb Jason Bourne franchise. Raw, not too far-fetched, and starring a triumvirate of blatant, if understated, masculinity in Robert De Niro, Jean Reno and Sean Bean, Ronin, and with it one of the very best car chases in all of cinema, is a smarter thrill.
Pan's Labyrinth (2006) | In what will forever be fantasy auteur Guillermo del Toro's magnum opus, the Spanish-language "Laberinto del Fauno" is a visual masterwork set in Franco's autocratic, midcentury Spain that tells the very adult, very fantastical tale of a little girl living in the Spanish countryside. Be sure to catch any one of Del Toro's much-anticipated upcoming projects, most notably the first of the two-part Lord of the Rings prequel, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, as well as Pacific Rim.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) | Sergio Leone's enduring classic is arguably the finest Western ever put in the cinema, Spaghetti or otherwise (John Ford be damned). The final installment of a loosely-bound trilogy, this sprawling, Civil War-era epic finds Clint Eastwood once again portraying the Man with No Name. Again alongside two other legends of the medium, Eli Wallach as Tuco and the gleefully sinister Lee Van Cleef (below) as Angel Eyes, Eastwood forges his legend here, treating us to his Gary Cooper-esque mastery of facial subtleties and exuded testosterone.
