[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 …
[7] A police cadet (Hanno Koffler) nervously begins an affair with a fellow officer-in-training (Max Riemelt), throwing his marriage into disarray and inviting scorn from both his family and the police force. Gay dramas tend to be didactic and end in tragedy, and while this offering from Germany doesn’t fully avoid those pitfalls, it turns out to be better than most others of its kind. …
[5] Bette Davis stars in this Oscar-bait melodrama about a spoiled socialite who learns she has an inoperable brain tumor. After co-star George Brent performs an operation, Davis is told she’s all better — when really her doctor and close friends are keeping a secret from her. The tumor will return and she will die. While waiting for Bette to discover the truth, Dark Victory …
[4] Meryl Streep stars as a food critic reluctant to remarry. But who can resist the charm of Jack Nicholson? The two marry and squeeze out a kid, and then sure enough, he cheats on her and the infidelity escalates from there. Heartburn is written by the late Nora Ephron (Sleepless in Seattle) and directed by Mike Nichols (The Graduate), and given that pedigree, it’s …
[6] Nicole Kidman stars as a recently widowed woman who meets a young boy claiming to be her husband reincarnated. Jonathan Glazer (Sexy Beast) directs from a script he co-wrote, keeping the true nature of the piece shrouded in mystery until just the right time. Is the boy really Kidman’s husband, or is it all a strange hoax? Kidman is terrific in a role that …
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