[5] Ingrid Bergman takes a job as governess to a wealthy family of four sons. Then the mother dies, the stock market crashes, and many years later, one of the boys marries a treacherous slut who threatens to tear the family apart. Ingrid does her best to keep things together, all while falling in love with the father. It’s a bizarre movie. Ingrid is good …
[6] Frank Sinatra plays an unhappy writer and WWII veteran who has trouble readjusting to life in his scenic Indiana hometown. The screenplay, based on a novel by James Jones, gets lackadaisical in the middle, but Vincent Minnelli does a good job capturing both the quaint and stifling qualities of small-town life. Sinatra is good, but he’s easily outshined by his colorful costars. Shirley MacLaine …
[6] Cary Grant plays a wandering Londoner who’s reluctant to settle down. This changes when he discovers his mother, played by Ethel Barrymore, has terminal cancer. Poverty and loneliness drive Grant and Barrymore to desperate measures, and just when you think things can’t get any gloomier, the film ends with foreshadowing of the second world war. None But the Lonely Heart is a dark film, …
[8] Harrison Ford must hide among the Amish after he discovers corruption within his police department. Witness was an opportunity for Ford to show his acting chops, and it remains one of his best performances. This was the first American film made by Australian director Peter Weir (Picnic at Hanging Rock, Fearless). Weir is probably my favorite director. He balances poetic license with elegant restraint …
[6] Vincente Minnelli sheds a bright light on gender politics in this story of a bullied teenager who finds solace with his college housemaster’s wife. It is fascinating to watch a film deal with mysogyny and homophobia at a time when these words were barely in our collective vocabulary. It’s even more remarkable that this film, made during the height of rigid gender codes, asks …
[7] Kathryn Bigelow (Strange Days, Near Dark) won the Oscar for directing this suspense thriller about three soldiers who disarm bombs in Iraq. The movie also won Best Picture, maybe just because nothing better came out during the year (except the REAL best picture, District 9, but I digress). It’s far from groundbreaking and surprisingly predictable — but it’s a brisk, entertaining flick that hits …
[7] Precious is the kind of movie a studio exec must dread hearing a pitch about: “So, there’s this girl, and she’s really sad, her daddy raped her, she named her down syndrome baby Mongo, her mother violently abuses her, she’s HIV-positive, and, yeah, it really sucks to be her.” Surprisingly, Precious doesn’t wallow in melodrama. It plays straight-forward and honest, and you really start …
[6] Drew Barrymore makes her directorial debut with what is basically a high school sports movie. It reminded me of those ’80s flicks where the young guy (be it Cruise, Bacon, Lowe, or Modine) commited himself to a sport his parents frowned upon, and then ended up winning their respect by winning the game. Well, just change the ‘him’ to a ‘her’ and make the …
[5] Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for her performance in this film, and that’s pretty much the best reason to see this movie. I’m not sure if it was the best performance of the year, but she is certainly very good — surprisingly controlled and low-key. I have mixed feelings about the story, which is supposed to be the inspirational true story of a Republican/Christian …
[5] A young minister (John Beal) falls in love with a gypsy (Katharine Hepburn) and begins a village scandal. Hepburn and Beal are fairly matched and the rural setting is lovingly evoked through impressive indoor sets. The story, based on a novel by Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie, doesn’t quite break free from the hackneyed cross-class romance mold, but you could do worse for formulaic …
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