[8] Errol Flynn makes a triumphant return to the genre that made him a star (after Hollywood shelved period action flicks for the duration of WWII). Adventures of Don Juan is splashy, colorful, good-humored, and terrifically entertaining. Despite public knowledge that Flynn’s boozing and whoring were spiraling out of control by this point in his life, he delivers a quintessential Flynn performance as the legendary …
[3] What a shitty Best Picture winner Gigi is. It’s a musical about an unhappy playboy (Louis Jourdan) and an unhappy debutante (Leslie Caron) who fall in love, but then out of love, and back in love, and out, and finally in again. Apparently neither one feels right playing by the rules of Parisian upper-crust society and doing what is expected of them, so they …
[2] There’s precious little to keep you interested in this hideous-looking and busily boring shit-fest of a film that is both a nadir for director Tim Burton’s creative trajectory and emblematic of everything wrong with Hollywood in the early 21st century. Much muchness? Indeed. Alice in Wonderland is the cinematic equivalent of a priapism.
[6] John Huston adapts Tennessee Williams’ play for the big screen, and finds big stars to play the parts. Richard Burton and Ava Gardner deliver great performances as a defrocked priest and a jaded hotel owner, both on the verge of nervous breakdowns, who mingle with libidinous guests at Gardner’s jungle inn south-of-the-border. It’s less stagey than most theater adaptations, even though it stays largely …
[4] I knew I would eventually have to watch this 3-hour 20-minute behemoth and thank goodness it’s over. Doctor Zhivago is a sprawling epic about the Russian Revolution as seen through the eyes of a doctor (Omar Sharif) who wants to have his cake (his wife is played by Geraldine Chaplin) and eat it, too (his mistress is played by Julie Christie). The first half …
[8] Fans of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator might be surprised how much they will also enjoy (perhaps even prefer) its progenitor. Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus is a briskly-paced epic, and uncharacteristically emotional compared to his other work. Kirk Douglas is iconic in the lead role, playing a slave forced to fight in the gladiatorial arena for the enjoyment of the aristocracy. Of course he falls in love …
[7] Based on the novel Washington Square by Henry James, The Heiress centers around Catherine (Olivia de Havilland), a shy, socially inept young woman who gets swept off her feet by a dashing young destitute (Montgomery Clift). When her father (Ralph Richardson) accuses the man of preying on his daughter’s inheritance, he threatens to cut her off. Putting all her faith in her first love, …
[10] Peter Jackson (Dead Alive, The Frighteners) embraces the Herculean task of bringing Tolkien’s supreme fantasy to the silver screen, and hits a home run. The Fellowship of the Ring gets the trilogy off to a strong start, as Frodo Baggins and his companions set off to destroy the One Ring. Jackson is faithful to the source material while masterfully balancing action, horror, heart, and …
[10] Two drag queens and a grouchy transsexual brave the Australian outback to perform at a hotel in the middle of nowhere. Hugo Weaving (The Matrix, Lord of the Rings) plays the drag queen with a secret, Guy Pierce (Memento, LA Confidential) plays the flaming provocateur, and in a brilliant bit of casting, Terence Stamp (General Zod from Superman) plays the grieving post-op woman whose …
[10] Straight biographies rarely make great film, but by filtering the subject through another man’s envy, director Milos Forman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) delivers one of the best bio-films I’ve ever seen. This isn’t a film about a composer and his music (how boring would that be?) — it’s a film about an insanely jealous contemporary named Salieri. Salieri, played brilliantly by F. …
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