Collateral

Michael Man (
Manhunter,
Miami Vice,
Crime Story) directed this movie and it's great. The story is very good, the acting is fabulous, stunts and fights were amazing, but we thought the direction was the star. We loved how the old Miami Vice tv show was directed - those late night scenes - remember Sonny Crockett driving in the night, the lights reflecting off his wheels, Phil Collins singing "Hold on, Hold On" Great stuff.

Man has the same wonderful feel to this movie. He captures late night in LA perfectly. LA is Robert's old stompin grounds and he was much more captivated than I with that part. Tom Cruise (
Last Samurai) does a great job here as Vincent, a guy going around one night killing people. We don't know why, but he is. He's cold blooded about it too. I'm not a big Cruise fan, but I totally enjoyed him in this one. He was very convincing.

Jamie Foxx (Ali, and the upcoming Ray Charles bio movie) stars as the average man - taxi driver - guy with dreams who is making it the best he can. We've seen Foxx in many many things over the years and he's always okay, but here he just shines. He has come into his own.

Jada Pinkett-Smith (
Enter the Matrix) shows up here early and you think "hmm, you're too big a star to be in such a little role..." That, my friend, is called foreshadowing. She has great online chemistry with Foxx. It felt to us like peeking in on a conversation, instead of watching actors in a movie, and that's how it's supposed to be if the movie is well done.

Mark Ruffalo (
13 Going on 30) plays a cop and he is great. His career has definitely gotten started after 13 Going on 30. He's good to watch in this one.

There are some fight scenes that were great. We have talked about going back to see it again. Robert really wants to.

We gave this one a 4!

Great popcorn - nice folks at Pueblo Tinseltown!

(heehee - added note: on 8/18 we did go back to see this one again! It's just as good the second time around. We really enjoyed the L.A. night scenes. Some movies just click for you. This one is nice.)