JAMES GRAY

Just saw WE OWN THE NIGHT, the new film from James Gray, the director of THE YARDS and LITTLE ODESSA. I enjoyed it immensely. Not a perfect film, but a damn fine one, and extremely entertaining. Will have much more on this film tomorrow, but I will say that aside from a few illigocal plot moments, WE OWN THE NIGHT is a refreshingly old-school cop thriller with a big, beefy performance from Joaquin Phoenix. It's a gritty, dark, tough movie with some nasty gun violence and a near operatic finale shoot-out set against the back drop of a burning weed field on the border of New York and New Jersey. The film also boasts one of the best car chases in recent memory, shot almost entirely with a subjective point-of-view cinematography style that is as white-knuckle as it gets. Not as good overall as MICHAEL CLAYTON or EASTERN PROMISES, but WE OWN THE NIGHT more than delivered. More tomorrow.