Friday's Top 5... Prohibition-Set Gangster Movies

#5: The Roaring Twenties
Before he was a star, Humphrey Bogart was the guy who was always getting killed by James Cagny and Edward G. Robinson. In The Roaring Twenties Bogart and Cagny are army buddies who rise - and violently fall - as bootleggers.

Review: Troy (2004)

* *Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Starring: Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom

Never has the word "loosely" been more necessary as a qualifier. Loosely based on the Iliad, Wolfgang Petersen's Troy quickly abandons any pretense towards prestige and announces itself as a by the books action epic. Even laying aside the objections of purists to changes in the story, Troy never gets around to justifying its own existence, choosing instead to be just another bloated Hollywood production.

Review: Corpse Bride (2005)

* * *Director: Tim Burton, Mike Johnson
Starring: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter

For a film about the living dead, The Corpse Bride is actually pretty sweet. The story of a meek groom and his two brides - one living, the other dead; neither of whom he becomes betrothed to by choice - told through stop-motion animation, the film is reminiscent of Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, but with a little less edge. Fortunately, it still has plenty of charm.

Friday's Top 5... Tony Scott Movies

#5: Top Gun
Does any other movie more perfectly encapsulate Hollywood in the 1980s? It's fast, it's loud, it's kind of dumb and kind of cheesy... and absolutely perfect for what it is.

Review: Ed Wood (1994)

* * * 1/2
Director: Tim Burton
Starring: Johnny Depp, Martin Landau

It's sometimes hard to remember now, when their colaborations have become increasingly soulless and empty, but Tim Burton/Johnny Depp movies used to be as genuinely interesting and meaningful as they were stylistically odd. Ed Wood, a loving tribute to history's "worst filmmaker," is a movie about misfits, a visually interesting piece that doesn't sacrifice the story or the characters to that visual aspect. It's one of the best films in either Burton or Depp's filmographies, and still somehow seems special nearly 20 (!) years after it's initial release.