don't look so surprised. Even a call girl can scramble an egg

The 'all bad guys' selection...

The Italian Job (2003) - "Led by John Bridger (Donald Sutherland) and Charlie Croker (Mark Wahlberg) a team is assembled for one last heist to steal $35 million in gold bars from a heavily guarded safe in Venice, Italy. After successfully pulling off the heist, a team member, Steve (Edward Norton), driven by greed and jealousy, arranges to take the gold for himself and eliminate the remaining members of the group. Thinking the team dead, he returns to Los Angeles with the gold. Charlie and the survivors of this betrayal follow Steve to L.A. to exact revenge against the traitor. Charlie enlists the help of John Bridger's daughter, Stella (Charlize Theron) - a professional safe cracker - to get revenge. With Stella and the hacking skills of Lyle (Seth Green), the explosives skills of "Left Ear" (Yasiin Bey), and the driving skills of "Handsome" Rob (Jason Statham) this new team plans and executes a daring heist that weaves through the freeways and subways of L.A."
source: I own the DVD
I watched it because: my companion had not yet seen it
IMDB: 7.0/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 73% Audience: 80%
my IMDB: 6/10

notable quote: "This dude got dogs. I don't do dogs... I had a real bad experience, man."

MPAA rating: PG-13

directed by: F. Gary Gray

my notes: fun, occasionally too far-fetched, fast, and frivolous

overall:  recommended

Hang 'em High (1968) - "A band of vigilantes catch Jed Cooper (Clint Eastwood) and, incorrectly believing him guilty of cattle rustling and murder, hang him, and leave him for dead. But he doesn't die. He returns to his former profession of lawman to hunt down his lynchers and bring them to justice."
source: I borrowed the DVD from my parents' collection
I watched it because: I like Clint
IMDB: 7.0/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 92% Audience: 73%
my IMDB: 6/10

notable quote: "Are we going to hang him or beat him to death?"

MPAA rating: TV-14

directed by: Ted Post

my notes: I didn't love it. It is relentlessly hard and bleak. My favorite Westerns have some possibility of redemption.

overall: recommended to fans of the genre

House of D (2004) - "On their son Odell's 13th birthday, graphic artist Tom Warszaw finally confesses to his wife why he fled Greenwich Village, NYC for Paris when he was that age. As a schoolboy, naturally sensitive, considerate Tommy's best buddy was 'adult' half-wit Pappass, Father Duncan's Catholic School's assistant janitor. Smothered by his dependent mother, a mute orderly, Tommy got 'parental advice' from a women's-prison inmate. Together with Pappas, he saves up tips from their butchery delivery rounds. One night, Pappas steals the bike they were saving for. Tommy tries to take the blame, but ends up expelled as if he had been the instigator. Even more tragic consequences follow."
source: I borrowed the DVD from my parents' collection
I watched it because: Anton Yelchin movies now seem... poignant
IMDB: 6.8/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 10% Audience: 73%
my IMDB: 3/10

notable quote: "A man is only a man when he can be who he is wherever he is."

MPAA rating: PG-13

directed by: David Duchovny

my notes: Weird premise, the first 4/5 of the film is complete dreck, and the final 20 minutes or so mostly redeems it. It's so clearly an ego project for Duchovny that I cannot support it, but if you do start watching it—expect that it won't end as it's started.

overall: not recommended

The Hurricane (1999) - "This film tells the story of Rubin 'Hurricane Carter, an African-American man who rose above his troubled youth to become a top contender for the middle-weight boxing title. However, his dreams are shattered when he is accused of a triple murder, and is convicted to three natural-life terms. Despite becoming a cause celebre and his dogged efforts to prove his innocence through his autobiography, the years of fruitless efforts have left him discouraged. This changes when an African-American boy and his Canadian mentors read his book and are convinced of his innocence enough to work for his exoneration. However, what Hurricane and his friends learn is that this fight puts them against a racist establishment that profited from this travesty and have no intention of seeing it reversed."
source: I borrowed the DVD from my parents' collection
I watched it because: I knew nothing about it 
IMDB: 7.6/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 83% Audience: 87%
my IMDB: 5/10

notable quote: "'Hey, hey. Not all white people are racist.'

    'Not all black people are murderers.'"

MPAA rating: R

directed by: Norman Jewison

my notes: the legal aspects were interesting. The film starts as a boxing movie, which is not generally something I would seek out. Denzel is... Denzel. If you like him, you'll probably like this. He stamps his personality on the character.

Academy Award nominee: Best Actor—Denzel Washington 
overall: mildly recommended

The Machinist (2004) - "Trevor Reznik is a machinist in a factory. An extreme case of insomnia has led to him not sleeping in a year, and his body withering away to almost nothing. He has an obsessive compulsion to write himself reminder notes and keep track of his dwindling weight, both scribbled on yellow stickies in his apartment. The only person he lets into his life in an emotional sense is Stevie, a prostitute, although he has an infatuation with Maria, a single mother waitress working in an airport diner. His co-workers don't associate with and mistrust him because of not knowing what is going on in his life that has led to his emaciated physical appearance. A workplace incident further alienates him with his coworkers, and in conjunction with some unfamiliar pieces of paper he finds in his apartment, Trevor believes that someone or some people - probably one or some of his coworkers - are out to get him, using a phantom employee named Ivan as their front. As Trevor goes on a search for evidence as to Ivan's schemes and whereabouts, Trevor may come to a true understanding of what has caused his insomnia."
source: I borrowed the DVD from my parents' collection
I watched it because: I'd heard it was worth seeing
IMDB: 7.7/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 77% Audience: 83%
my IMDB: 6/10

notable quote: "'You know so little about me. What if I turn into a werewolf or something? 

    'I'll buy you a flea collar.'"

MPAA rating: R

directed by: Brad Anderson

my notes: very trippy and fucked up. There are many, many Meaningful Coincidences. In all, it's a lot of work

overall:  recommended with reservations.

[the title quotation is from The Machinist]