[7] Near the end of the silent film era, Carl Theodor Dreyer (Vampyr) would deliver one of the medium’s most powerful titles — The Passion of Joan of Arc. Maria Falconetti stars as the nineteen-year-old French heroine who fought to rescue France from English domination during the Hundred Years War. But she was eventually captured by the English, and Dreyer’s film focuses on her trial …
[7] With all due deference to his accomplishments, Steve Jobs’ career isn’t something I thought I needed to see a movie about. Faithful biopics generally make for uneven films, and how the hell can a dork making computers make for an exciting movie? Well, leave it to eminent screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing, The Social Network) and maverick director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Sunshine) to …
[8] Don Cheadle stars as Paul Rusesabagina in the true story of a Rwandan man who saved over a thousand lives by harboring refugees in his hotel during the Hutu slaughtering of the Tutsi in 1994. Hotel Rwanda takes about ten or fifteen minutes to set itself up before it becomes a non-stop terrifying fight for life. Once the Hutu begin killing his friends and …
[5] George C. Scott’s charisma is the best thing Patton has going for it. The film is a pastiche of the famous (and infamous) army general’s career through World War II, including his successful invasion of Sicily, media blunders resulting in military reprimand, and his eventual aid in the fall of the Third Reich. The film initially paints Patton as a hard-ass who gets the …
[7] Tom Hanks plays Fred Rogers, the famous host of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, a children’s program that ran on PBS for over thirty years. But this movie isn’t just about Fred Rogers. It’s also the true story of journalist Tom Junod (named Lloyd Vogel in the movie), and the life-affirming friendship he developed while interviewing Rogers for an article. In the beginning, Vogel (played admirably …
[8] I am not a fan of car racing. I couldn’t care less about it, really. But like so many other great sports movies, Ford v Ferrari isn’t really about the sport itself. It’s about the people engaged in the sport. And to that extent, director James Mangold (Logan, Walk the Line) hits a home run with this true story about two men who overcome …
[8] Renée Zellweger gives an Oscar-worthy performance as Hollywood legend Judy Garland in this film about the decline of her life and career, based on the stage play “End of the Rainbow”. Despite inherent potential for doom and gloom in a story about a woman suffering from alcoholism and drug abuse, Judy is actually a hopeful story of perseverance. The painful flashbacks about her childhood …
[7] Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon reteam in Mervyn LeRoy’s biopic of Madame Curie. Garson plays the title character, Marie Curie, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the first person to ever win two of them. This film version of her life story splits its focus between her private life with husband Pierre Curie (Pidgeon) and their joint discovery of radium. Madame …
[7] Larry Clark (Kids) directs this adaptation of a true story involving a group of Florida teenagers who conspire to murder a mutual friend. Bobby (Nick Stahl) is the object of everyone’s scorn. He’s a complicated, twisted character in the film. You can feel that he’s under the pressure of his father, and is probably fighting homosexual desire (he watches gay porn while having sex). …
[3] Elizabeth Taylor plays the powerful and sexy Egyptian queen who fends off Roman conquest while falling in love with its leaders — first Rex Harrison’s Caesar, and then Richard Burton’s Antony. First I’ll be nice to Cleopatra. The sets are sprawling, opulent, and sometime jaw-dropping. Richard Burton gives a powerful, remorseful monologue near the end, and Roddy McDowall gives one of the best performances …
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