Gentleman Jim (1942)

Gentleman Jim (1942)

[7]

Errol Flynn plays a banker who takes up boxing and makes it all the way to a climactic match against the heavyweight champion of the world. Gentleman Jim is more entertaining than I imagined, thanks to Flynn’s persistent charm and healthy doses of wit and humor. Alan Hale returns to Flynn’s side, this time playing his proud papa, while Alexis Smith takes over the leading lady duties. She’s no De Havilland, but she holds her own in a romantic subplot that is unusually tolerable for the time.

Boxing Helena (1993)

Boxing Helena (1993)

[4] Julian Sands and Sherilyn Fenn star in this odd-ball drama about a surgeon who chops off the limbs of his feisty lady love so he can have her all to himself. I appreciate a lot of what writer/director Jennifer…
Room for One More (1952)

Room for One More (1952)

[7]

Cary Grant already has three children and little time alone with his wife (Betsy Drake), but that doesn’t stop her from bringing home a few troubled foster children. Room for One More is a sweet comedy with just enough dramatic heft. Grant (at his droll, beleaguered best) and Drake have some great exchanges, especially after one of their boys inquires where babies come from. Grant draws the figure of a woman in the sand and explains. Drake then comes along and asks what the drawing is.

Grand Hotel (1932)

Grand Hotel (1932)

[6] The lives of tenants at a Berlin hotel interconnect over the course of one day in Grand Hotel, based on the novel by Vicki Baum and produced by the famed Irving Thalberg. With Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Jean Hersholt,…
American Beauty (1999)

American Beauty (1999)

[5]

SPOILER REVIEW

I really liked American Beauty when it was first released. Maybe I was wooed by its quirky introspection and aesthetic achievments. Or maybe it was screenwriter Alan Ball’s fresh new way of blending the real with the surreal. Or even the meditative lilt of Thomas Newman’s trend-setting score. But whatever the reason(s), watching the film ten years later, I realize — American Beauty ain’t all that. It’s kinda whack.

Alexander (2007)

Alexander (2007)

[6]

Oliver Stone’s epic bio of the Macedonian military legend, like so many pet projects, is a glorious mess of a movie. The screenplay goes back and forth in time, mixing scenes of Alexander’s youth with scenes of his conquests. The result is jarring, never allowing you to get to know the character in any time. The narrative also relies far too much on Anthony Hopkins’ narration to explain what is going on. Stone has an Academy Award for writing Midnight Express, but his writing on Alexander seems like the clunky work of an amateur.

Pocket Money (1972)

Pocket Money (1972)

[4] Paul Newman teams up with Lee Marvin to deliver cattle from Mexico to a shady dealer played by Strother Martin. Newman and Martin are re-teamed here with Cool Hand Luke director Stuart Rosenberg, with a script adapted by Terrence…
Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)

Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)

[8]

Leo McCarey won the best director Oscar for The Awful Truth, released the same year, but told the Academy they’d awarded him for the wrong picture. He may be right. Make Way for Tomorrow is a disarming, bonafide love story between an elderly couple (Victor Moore and Beulah Bondi) who are forced to separate when the bank forecloses on their home. The film is remarkably restrained and unsentimental for its time. The characters constantly mask their true feelings, fending off melodrama by acting against our immediate expectations.

Christopher Strong (1933)

Christopher Strong (1933)

[6] Katharine Hepburn plays a daring aviator, her first starring role, in Christopher Strong. You can see a lot of the attitude and behavior that would later define her career in this early talkie. But the film, directed by Dorothy…
Green Mansions (1959)

Green Mansions (1959)

[5] Bizarre, lavish misfire featuring Audrey Hepburn as a jungle girl who falls in love with a political refugee played by Anthony Perkins. The movie's beautiful in a kitschy kind of way, but the story is slow-moving and suffers from…