Movie Review: Reservation Road

Reservation Road
Directed by Terry George
Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Connelly
Rated R


I just feel lost, Frankie. You know? I just, um... I just feel lost. -- Kathy from House of Sand and Fog

Sometimes things happen that are out of your control and those are the times you have to stand up and be a man. -- Dwight Arno from Reservation Road

Prolonged Reckonings (NOTE: Spoilers!!!)

One evening, in a horrific second, the lives of the Learner family are changed forever. Their son, Josh Learner (Sean Curley), is killed by a hit and run driver outside a gas station on Reservation Road. The family has just come from a music recital where Josh has played the cello beautifully -- an incredibly gifted musician. They stop at a gas station. While his parents, Ethan (Joaquin Phoenix) and Grace (Jennifer Connelly) and his sister Emma (Elle Fanning) go inside the station, he remains outside to release fireflies from a jar. Meanwhile, Dwight Arno (Mark Ruffalo) and his son, Lucas (Eddie Alderson) are coming home from a Boston Red Sox game. They had a great day at the game. Lucas is exhausted from the excitement of the game. Dwight is cruising along; and he is distracted by his cell phone. His son is sleeping on the passenger side. In a matter of seconds, he swerves to avoid another car, but in doing so he hits Josh. Dwight knows he has hit and possibly killed the boy, but he panics and keeps driving. The Learner family has lost their son. Ethan has witnessed the accident, but all he knows is that a black SUV is responsible for taking his son away from him. Dwight tells Lucas that they hit a log. Each father will deal with this in his own way...continue reading this review at Geeks of Doom!

Movie Review: We Own The Night

We Own The Night
Directed by James Gray
Starring Mark Wahlberg, Joaquin Phoenix, Robert Duvall
Rated R

We Own The Night: Brooklyn Darkness

What are you doing? Nice college boy. Doesn't wanna get mixed up in the family business. You think this is a battle field where you shoot someone a mile away? No, you get a 45' shoot them up close and bada bing blood all over your nice ivy league suit. You're taking this awfully personal. Tom this is business and this kid's taking this very personal. -- Sonny Corleone, The Godfather

James Gray has made only three films in thirteen years. Like John Dahl, he has a mastery and firm understanding of the crime drama. We Own The Night may not be in the same league as Little Odessa or The Yards, but give it time to sink in. I was not blown away by We Own The Night. Seven years ago, I felt the same way about The Yards, but it grew on me over the years. I have a feeling the same will be true with We Own The Night. The first thing that stands out in this film is the cinematography. If I didn't know any better, I would have sworn this film was shot by Gordon Willis, the veteran cinematographer of the Godfather films, The Parallax View, All The President’s Men, and many other classics. The film’s cinematographer, Joaquin Baca-Asay, creates a vivid world of varying degrees of darkness -- one cannot help but think of certain scenes from The Godfather. The film may take place in the Brooklyn of the late Eighties, but it has a definite Seventies-style darkness to it. It is very refreshing. Wojcech Kilar’s haunting and brooding score only heightens the dark moods. His music works very well here as it did in Roman Polanski’s The Ninth Gate and Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula...continue reading this review at Geeks of Doom!

'Reservation Road' Images + 5 Clips

Focus Features sent us the five new clips and production photos for the upcoming film Reservation Road, starring Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Connelly, and Mira Sorvino.

Reservation Road will be released in theaters October 19, 2007....check out our exclusive film clips and production photos after the jump at Geeks of Doom