Today's Pick

German director Werner Herzog doesn't do normal. His lengthy and fearlessly brilliant career has involved everything. He captured a gallery of oddballs both real and fictional, turning his lens on everyone from a doomed "Grizzly Man" to "Aguirre, the Wrath of God." He's finally met his match in manic actor Nicolas Cage, and the product of their unholy union, "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans," a crime drama shocks and confuses in the Big Easy, from First Look Pictures opens theaters today. It should give fans of the cultish and weird a reason to cheer, and for those seeking mainstream fare should consider themselves forewarned.
"Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans," A powerful spiral into oblivion, works best as a study of a man in the grip of madness, magic and iguanas. The movie is not a remake of Abel Ferrara's 1992 tour of New York law-enforcement hell, nor is it a sequel. According to Mr. Herzog, who has taken "Bad Lieutenant" from New York to post-Katrina New Orleans, a perceptive move that allows him to explore his cardinal themes of man's inhumanity to man and the indifference of nature in a city stripped to its swampy essence. "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans" is its own special fever-swamp of a movie, an anarchist film noir that seems, at times, almost as unhinged as its protagonist.
"A New Orleans mystery: A Cop So Bad, He's Good" in this Herzog's trippy new thriller, the Oscar-winning actor reunites with his "Ghost Rider" co-star Eva Mendes, and gives one of his best performances in years. Cage plays an on-the-edge and corrupted cop who's just promoted to lieutenant, and investigating the killing of five Senegalese immigrants. He plunges into drug addiction after a heroic on-the-job accident. He throws himself into this role with the energy of a man accepting a double dog dare, that lets him indulge in his most manic, unhinged mannerisms, taking viewers to the very precipice of nihilistic depravity while preserving just enough self-conscious humor to keep from tumbling in. He does some of his best work in over a decade here. Not all of it works, but it's a joy to see Cage take some risks again.

The film "State of Play" comes to us on DVD/Blu-Ray today. From director Kevin Macdonald of "The Last King of Scotland" and his committee of screenwriters have, like newsroom rewrite aces, based on the critically acclaimed BBC miniseries of the same name, "State of Play." The plot of the six-hour serial has been condensed to fit two hours, and shifting locales from London to U.S. capital. The film was released in North America on April 17.
Academy Award-winner Russell Crowe leads an all-star cast, including Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams & Helen Mirren in the blistering political thriller about deception, manipulation and corruption. When a street smart D.C. reporter Cal McCaffrey (Crowe), an old-school-style journalist is assigned to investigate the murder of an assistant to an up-and-coming U.S. Congressman (Affleck), who's also his best friend, he uncovers a conspiracy that threatens to bring down the nation's power structures. In a town of spin-doctors and wealthy power brokers, he will discover one truth: when fortunes are at stake, no one's integrity, love or life is safe.
Political thrillers are most effective when they deal with an issue that resonates with their audiences. It can be difficult to produce them in a timely matter because news happens constantly, and seemingly weekly, the world is on to the next story of corruption or injustice.
With this tense thriller "State of Play," the universal themes of greed and amoral politicians, it brings together gripping performances, riveting suspense and is "sophisticated, intelligent and powerful". It feels a little familiar as far as paranoid political thrillers go, but it's so nicely executed—well written, compelling and rich—with a stellar set of actors that it's easy to get engrossed in the story, and the current American political climate fits nicely with the story. The drama features terrific performances from its stars as well. The special extras for DVD include deleted scenes and behind-the-scenes making-of featurette.

Following up his acclaimed legal thriller "Michael Clayton" and "Bourne" movies, writer/director Tony Gilroy takes a vacation with the deceptively lightweight "Duplicity," is supposedly one of the smartest screenwriters we've got. The film was released on March 20, and it's DVD/Blu-ray with featuring commentary will be available today.
The allure of this romance caper, Oscar winner Julia Roberts and Clive Owen star as two sexy spies-turned-corporate operatives in the midst of a clandestine love affair. When they find themselves on either side of an all-out corporate war between rival manufacturers, they'll put everything on the line to remain one double-cross ahead in a high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse.
Carol Hemphill & Kent Tentschert Merriam-Webster defines the word, "duplicity," as "contradictory doubleness of thought, speech, or action," and Gilroy must love these contradictions. The ways in which the paranoid pair interact are complicated, and any clear description would introduce spoilers. Suffice it to say that this witty thriller-cum-romance explores the seductive power of the almighty dollar. It’s that great Julia and Owen chemistry dancing through Gilroy’s clever dialogue that makes this a crowd-pleaser.
"Duplicity" is well-crafted, smart, and often funny, but it’s mostly more cerebral than visceral and features far too many plot twists. As silly as the convoluted plot turns out to be, the movie is about the journey, not the destination. All moves, countermoves and double crosses keep you guessing until the finale.

The brand-new official trailer for the upcoming Kate Beckinsale's new ice-cold thriller 'Whiteout' has finally surfaced on IGN. The Warner Bros's new thriller, based on the 1998 graphic novel, directed by Dominic Sena, Shooting in Quebec, Canada has been one of the most weirdly under-publicized movies of the year since early summer of 2007, and will hits theaters on September 11.
Kate plays a lone U.S. marshal, Carrie Stetko, who is as anxious as anyone to be going home, but the only one assigned to Antarctica's South Pole research base, where “nature never intended you to survive, the most isolated landmass on the planet, no permanent population, 120 Below zero temp, 200 mph of wind, no horizon, no shadows, there is only...WHITE!" to investigate the continent's 1st homicide. However, more importantly, “Nature is not the only thing to fear…” Now with only 3 days until the onset of a 6-month winter, and everyone around her packing up and getting out, Carrie must solve the crime before Antarctica is plunged into 6 months of darkness winter, and she is stranded with the killer on a land where nothing comes in and no one gets out. 'Whiteout' definitely ratchets up the suspense a notch or two. Enjoy!