[6] A pleasant screwball comedy from the versatile George Stevens. Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea, and Charles Coburn play mismatched roommates during a housing shortage. Scenes where the three narrowly avoid collision while getting ready in the morning will remind you of a ‘Three Stooges’ skit. Coburn took home a supporting actor Oscar for his avuncular role. His costars were nominated, as were Stevens and the …
[6] [Warning: This review contains spoilers.] Spike Jonze directs this meta tale of a screenwriter losing his mind trying to adapt a book called The Orchid Thief. While his twin brother moves in and begins mirroring him in many ways, he decides he needs to find the author of the book to excavate its meaning. If you can’t already tell, Adaptation is a very hard …
[6] Henry Fonda is caught between a beleaguered WWII cargo crew and their vindictive captain in this oddly cheerful, lightweight drama directed by John Ford and Mervyn Leroy. James Cagney hams it up as the nutcase captain while William Powell makes a graceful big screen exit as the ship’s doctor. Jack Lemmon won the first of his two Oscars for his supporting role as an …
[7] Richard Gere plays a navy cadet who falls in love with a factory worker played by Debra Winger. The romance part of the story doesn’t work as well as Gere’s combative relationship with his drill instructor, played by Louis Gossett Jr. Director Taylor Hackford (Dolores Claiborne, Ray) does a remarkable job grounding the melodrama, especially in the tragic third act, but I have a …
[8] David O. Russell directs a top-notch cast in this story of a Massachusetts boxer who tries to get out from under the influence of his crack-addicted brother and domineering mother. If those character descriptions sound like Oscar-bait, indeed they are — Christian Bale and Melissa Leo both took home supporting performer Oscars for their portrayals. Mark Wahlberg is commendable as the main character, and …
[7] Paul Muni stars as Emile Zola, the famous French author whose critical writings brought the scorn of the French government, especially when he came out in support of a wrongfully-condemned army officer. The first half of this film, directed by William Dieterle (The Devil and Daniel Webster), offers a high level overview of Zola’s penniless beginnings and his breakthrough success with the novel Nana. …
[4] Alan J. Pakula (Sophie’s Choice, The Pelican Brief) directs the big-screen story of how Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein cracked the Watergate scandal that lead to President Nixon’s resignation. I love Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman enough to get through any movie, but this is not a cinematic story. Every other scene is a phone conversation. And the nature of Woodward …
[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 …
[10] I love road movies and ensemble pieces, but Little Miss Sunshine goes one step further by saying something we all need to hear from time to time: it’s okay to fall short of ambition. The film throws six disparate personalities, all family, into a Volkswagen bus for a weekend road trip so that the youngest of them can compete in a junior beauty pageant. …
[10] I doubt Tim Burton will ever make a finer film. Armed with a powerhouse screenplay by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (The People vs Larry Flynt), Burton turns the biography of Hollywood’s most infamously bad director into a poignant and hilarious film about never giving up… no matter how much you might suck. The film is admittedly white-washed, concentrating and embellishing upon Ed Wood’s …
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