Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 masterpiece, The Conversation, is still brilliant today, and it’s a classic example of Coppola’s enigmatic directing. Although the film was in development as early as 1966, Coppola was waiting for The Godfather to become a success (which it was, wildly so) before working on this film. The Conversationwent on to win the 1974 Palme d’or, the highest prize at The Cannes Film Festival, and it has received many other nominations and awards.

Despite the success of The Conversation, the frustrating twist is that lead actor Gene Hackman did not receive an Academy Award nomination. Hackman was a big reason that The Conversation was, and remains, a masterpiece, and it’s still shocking today that he did not get at least a nomination.

I experienced The Conversation in 35 MM projection at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago. Seeing it in an old school cinema palace like the Music Box really helped make it an unforgettable experience. I felt like I was back in the 1970s experiencing it as a new release. The organ player before the film made it truly nostalgic for cinema aficionados like myself.

To recap the plot, The Conversation takes place in San Francisco. Hackman is Harry Caul, an introverted surveillance expert who is in an assignment to record a couple, and his surveillance reveals that his client may be the source of danger to the couple. Harrison Ford plays Harry’s boss, Martin Stett, and Harry’s assistant, Stan, is played by John Cazale. The recordings become the source of much tension between the three of them, and the plot takes a turn when it becomes apparent that it the couple are not the target of the danger.

I love a lot of things about The Conversation, including the old recording devices with their tapes and bulky consoles. The sound quality, or lack thereof, becomes an issue at times and adds an air of tension to the film. Coppola of course makes the most of this tension, and his directing keeps us on our toes as to whose side we should be on. And again, Gene Hackman is superb. Four stars for the revisited experience with The Conversation.

The late Director Benny Chan left the world a lethal adventure in Raging Fire, a thriller with some kung-fu and gun action thrown in. Raging Fire is like The Raid: Redemption(2011) on acid. Sadly, Benny Chan has passed away, but Raging Fire has a crazy amount of action and violence, and it’s a film that fans of that genre should experience.

Raging Fire takes place in Hong Kong. Donnie Yen plays Cheung Sung-bong, a veteran police officer of the Regional Crime Unit. His protégé is Yau Kong-ngo, played by Nicholas Tse. But Cheung and Yau eventually find themselves to be enemies in the dark criminal underworld of Hong Kong.

The action and violence in Raging Fire are riveting. Around every corner is a wild fight—sometimes group fights, and many times those fights have lots of shootings, too. But the film is not just about fighting and shooting; there is a good dose of Chinese cultural rituals that are also fascinating. And the cultural rituals are intertwined with the criminal behavior.

I’ve always loved movies with a lot of action and, again, Raging Fire definitely has plenty of action. It’s a rollercoaster of craziness and two-faced criminals. The plot was a bit dry at times, but Chan’s choreography and the film’s continuity is where Raging Fire shines. Three and a half stars for Raging Fire.

I watched The 355 with mixed expectations. It has several glamorous actresses, so I knew that would be a plus. And I expected some decent suspense. But it turned out to be a poorly defined film lacking a solid storyline. The net result, to put it bluntly, is that The 355 is a disorganized mess, and is really just barely mediocre.

The 355 is in the genre of a spy thriller, and the main conflict is that a top-secret weapon has fallen into the hands of mercenaries. Several female agents mobilize to keep them from using the weapon, which would have worldwide catastrophic consequences. The agents include Jessica Chastain as Mace, Penelope Cruz as Graciela Rivera, Bingbing Fan as Lin Mi Sheng, Diane Kruger as Marie Schmidt, and Lupita Nyong’o as Khadijah Adiyeme.

I will give the film props for some of its action sequences, and there were some suspenseful segments. But despite the all-star lineup, to me this film came off as a Bourne film meets Charlie’s Angels and topped with a silly 007 approach. And it just never really became clear exactly how their mission was critical.

It’s really a struggle to be positive with this one. Director Simon Kinberg is still new to the directing game, and that may be where much of the blame lies. The film is disorganized and has no compelling factors to be anything close to a blockbuster hit, in spite of its great cast. The film didn’t even come close to living up to the trailers, which really just tried too hard. Just two stars for The 355.