[4] Errol Flynn clings to the last few years of his good looks in Montana, before his opium and alcohol addictions sent him to an early grave at the age of 50. Montana seems unintentionally silly to me — it’s all about cattle herders vs sheep herders, a sort of West Side Story for the northern plains. Alexis Smith plays Flynn’s love interest (making you …
[7] Three teenaged boys run away from home and build a house in the woods where they live off the land, experiment with facial hair, and let a pretty young girl come between them. The boys are played with plenty of charisma and personality by Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso, and Moises Arias. The film vacillates between awkward comedy and semi-drippy melodrama — a bit of …
[5] Not being a poker player, there’s probably a lot about The Cincinatti Kid that I simply don’t get. Still, for a movie about people sitting at a table playing cards, it ain’t half bad. Steve McQueen and Edward G. Robinson play the heavies who come head-to-head in the high-stakes climax. Karl Malden plays the man who sets the game up, black-mailed into rigging the …
[6] Michael Fassbender stars as a lawyer who reaps the whirlwind when he tangles with drug lords in this Ridley Scott film penned by author Cormac McCarthy. McCarthy’s screenplay will test the patience of many. It contains an abundance of two-person dialogue scenes — one after the other for the entire first half of the film. All the action, tension, and dramatic high points are …
[6] Sidney Lumet directs this fictionalized account of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, a married couple who were accused of being Soviet spies and executed in the midst of 1950s’ McCarthyism hysteria. Lumet cuts back and forth in time throughout the movie, balancing flashbacks with Julius and Ethel, played by Mandy Patinkin and Lindsay Crouse, with the story of their children ten or fifteen years after …
[7] Ethan Hawke plays a freshman L.A. narcotics officer crash-coursing with a rogue, undercover detective played by Denzel Washington. Training Day hits the ground running and turns into a taut, character-driven thriller that throws a few twists and surprises I didn’t see coming. The power-play between the two characters is the backbone of the movie. Denzel has the more colorful role, but Hawke is required …
[8] This 2002 classic, period-piece rendition of Charles Dickens’ Nicholas Nickleby is sweet, sentimental, and beautifully executed. I personally found it irresistible. Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy, Pacific Rim) is perfectly cast as Nicholas, a young man who discovers his own strength of character when called upon to defend his family and friends from villainy. The main villain is his own uncle, played deliciously by …
[7] Al Pacino plays a New York police detective who goes deep under cover, posing as gay to root out a serial killer preying on gay men. Director William Friedkin (The Exorcist, The French Connection) stirred controversy for his depiction of the leather subculture. The gay community feared straight America might see the film and assume all gay men were leather daddies with Tom of …
[6] This was the last film from the late Nora Ephron, the rom-com heavy-hitter who directed Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail, and wrote the script for When Harry Met Sally. It’s based on two different books (both true stories) and takes a two-pronged approach to storytelling that is cute for a while, but somewhat unsatisfying when it comes to a close. Half the …
[7] Stockard Channing and Julia Stiles decide to exact revenge on an accused rapist in this intimate character showcase written and directed by Patrick Stettner. Channing’s character is a cool, collected business woman who has just been made CEO of her company. Stiles is a shady underling who waxes philosophic on gender studies. The two get to know each other while laid over at a …
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