A Brooklyn nightclub owner (Joaquin Phoenix) must choose between his family of cops (Mark Wahlberg, Robert Duvall) or the Russian mobsters that are bankrolling him. With his third feature since 1994's Little Odessa, writer/director James Gray proves that he has a fine cinematic eye, but still can't write a script with a shred of originality, or create three-dimensional characters that we give a damn about. Also like his previous two films, there is an overwhelming feeling of heavy self-consciousness, which weighs down the entire proceedings. Hopefully Gray will come up with a story that's more from his heart and own life experiences, instead of continuing to make movies about all the movies that he's seen. 5/10
Review of We Own the Night
