The Punisher (2004)

★★★½
The Bride has some competition. Uma Thurman's character from Kill Bill: Volume 2 isn't the only one going on a revenge spree. The Marvel Comics hero The Punisher comes to the big screen once again (previously seen in a 1989 movie) and, like Spider-Man and Daredevil, he does so with a vengeance, literally. The movie is an explosively good time, but it doesn't settle for pyrotechnics to carry it. This is a strong character-driven film fueled by an intense performance by Thomas Jane and a surprisingly sadistic performance by John Travolta, in what is probably his best role since Pulp Fiction.

Matchstick Men (2003)

★★★½
While I liked Ridley Scott's Oscar-winning Gladiator, I didn't think it represented his best work. He's a solid director, who made Black Hawk Down and Thelma & Louise some of the most talked-about films of recent years. Matchstick Men is another winner, a film of surprising complexity and strong characterizations. It features another stellar performance by Nicolas Cage, and a string of captivating supporting performances that enhance the film's rich texture.

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)

★★★★
One of the television show's enduring images is that of Laura Palmer's reveal. We see it first within minutes of the premiere episode of Twin Peaks, and we see it again towards the end of David Lynch's Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. It is heartbreaking. Those eyelids and her melancholy posture suggest the saddest of stories. Even as motionless Laura Palmer, Sheryl Lee was still acting. She conveyed emotion with a slight tilt of her head and that sorrowful frown. Hers was a life that ended horrifically when it should have been glorious. Blue Velvet opened with an immediate warning signal—that of burrowing ants—to suggest the horrors to come in a town of picturesque neighborhoods complete with white picket fences. Now imagine Blue Velvet was itself only the surface, and there exists a small town with even darker forces at work. Dennis Hopper's Frank Booth was an evil character, but the antagonist in Fire Walk with Me is a force of nature that feeds off suffering.