[7] The same year she won an Oscar for My Cousin Vinny, Marisa Tomei also made an immeasurable contribution to this romantic drama about a Minneapolis waitress who falls in love with a shy, quiet bus boy (Christian Slater) who rescues her from an assault. The two are an odd couple, but seem to make sense together. Unfortunately, the specter of tragedy hangs over them, …
[8] Katie Holmes and Patricia Clarkson lead an ensemble cast in this quaint but compelling drama/comedy about a ‘black sheep’ daughter (Holmes) who tries like Hell to host Thanksgiving dinner for her visiting family. Neither Holmes nor her estranged family really want to share the holiday together, except that the mother (Clarkson) is terminally ill — and this could very well be their last holiday …
[5] Harrison Ford returns as Jack Ryan in his second Tom Clancy adaptation, Clear and Present Danger. The story this time puts Ryan in the middle of a secret war between the U.S. government and a Colombian drug cartel. The plot is long and winding, with in-fighting on both sides of the battle line, culminating in a showdown of sorts between Ryan and the highest …
[8] Norma Shearer (The Divorcee) fronts an all-star, all-female cast in George Cukor’s adaptation of Clare Boothe Luce’s The Women. Shearer plays a happily married woman of privilege who learns through the gossipy grapevine that her husband is having an affair with another woman, played by Joan Crawford. Shearer struggles under the dueling influences of her mother (Lucile Watson) and her so-called ‘friends’, which include …
[7] Director Adam McKay (Vice, Don’t Look Up) adapts Michael Lewis’ bestselling novel about the men who predicted the 2008 mortgage implosion and near-collapse of the world economy. If this sounds like dreary, heady, political stuff, that’s because it is. But McKay tackles the material with enough irreverence and off-beat humor to make it palatable… or as palatable as the triumph of capitalist greed can …
[8] Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg star as brothers working on different sides of the law in this crime drama from writer/director James Gray (Ad Astra, The Lost City of Z). Wahlberg’s character follows in the footsteps of their father (Robert Duvall), recently being promoted to captain within the New York police. Phoenix is a nightclub manager who is reluctant to help his dad and …
[7] Lauren Bacall finds herself in a love triangle with two best friends played by Rock Hudson and Robert Stack. She marries Stack, the rich playboy, while Hudson continues pining for her. After moving into the family home, Stack’s sister (Dorothy Malone), the town slut, tries to drive a wedge between them and blackmail Hudson into marrying her. Add to this storyline a heap of …
[6] James Wilby and Hugh Grant star as young lovers driven apart by oppressive heteronormativity in pre-World War I England. The two meet in college and cautiously profess their love for one another. But when a fellow gay student is put on trial for immorality and his career promises ruined, Clive (Grant) gets cold feet and decides to live a ‘straight’ lifestyle. The two remain …
[8] Future Oscar-winner Laura Dern (Marriage Story) gives her first leading performance in this adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates’ “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” the story of a fifteen-year-old girl who pursues male attention without considering the potential consequences. Dern’s character, Connie, lies to her family about her whereabouts, ditching the mall for the beach, or the movies for a bar across …
[6] Peter Gallagher and Daryl Hannah play a young American couple vacationing in the Greek Islands whose relationship hits a rough patch when Gallagher takes a shine to a French archaeologist (Valérie Quennessen). But guilt and jealousy give way to something more congenial, and the archaeologist eventually moves in with the Americans as a polyamorous relationship is born. Summer Lovers is written and directed by …
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