Move over, Julia Roberts...Richard Gere shows what a high-priced escort is and, more importantly, how to do it well with class. American Gigolo is a fantastic neo-noir with lots of style. The Armani clothes that Gere wears, he introduces the brand in a big way. Lauren Hutton does an admirable job of keeping up with Richard Gere who's simply unbeatable.

Affliction features a typical Russell Banks story which is always about childhood abuse and awkward relationships among relatives. Maybe for the first time in James Coburn's career, he puts in some effort to act as somebody else other than himself. As a reward, he received an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Nick Nolte steals the show and is thus the biggest reason to watch this film.

"They pit the lifers against the new boys, the young against the old, the black against the white. Everything they do is to keep us in our place." That's Blue Collar in a nutshell. Paul Schrader and Leonard Schrader wrote a complicated script about three dumb auto workers who are besieged by bills and facts of life. If I complained about Norma Rae for not going deep enough about the union, this one will make up for it. The cinematography was shot for real on location at the Checker Cab plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Two main ways of knowing who Bob Crane was are Hogan's Heroes, which is really a Stalag 17 spinoff, and any book that covers Hollywood scandals. Naturally, most people aren't familiar with the actor or the sordid details that led to him being bludgeoned to death. Therefore, Auto Focus will enlighten anyone with Greg Kinnear and Willem Dafoe playing Bob Crane and his sidekick, respectively.

Paul Schrader delivers once again. Light Sleeper is a low-key neo-noir with a strong performance by Willem Dafoe who plays a mellow version of Rick Masters. It's easy to be reminded of American Gigolo which is punctuated by the same ending that's obviously inspired by Pickpocket. Of course, Paul Schrader can't resist having a Travis Bickle moment of violence before then.

Two films came out during 1997 for Paul Schrader: Affliction and Touch. Everybody knows about the first one which received a lot of accolades, but the second never showed up on radar. The cast is extremely strong which sends a clear message: this is about acting. Skeet Ulrich and Bridget Fonda are the true standouts. Because of Paul Schrader, it's about conflict with religion. Hardcore and The Last Temptation of Christ covered that in depth. This time, Touch is about exploiting miracles.