[5] Whoopi Goldberg, Mary-Louise Parker, and Drew Barrymore star in this ‘girl power’ road trip movie from director Herbert Ross (Steel Magnolias, Footloose). Goldberg plays a singer who wants to leave New York for Los Angeles and decides to make the trip with a woman (Parker) looking for a traveling companion to San Diego. Along the way, they rescue Goldberg’s friend (Barrymore) from an abusive …
[7] Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck star in Andrew Dominik’s dramatization of the last months of famous outlaw Jesse James’ life. Pitt plays James and Affleck plays his admirer-turned-assassin, Robert Ford. The young Ford character is smitten from the outset, but ridicule from James and the other gang members slowly hardens his heart. Jealousy eventually turns him against his idol. As James, Pitt is unstable …
[8] This ensemble drama from Big Chill director Lawrence Kasdan is perhaps the most metaphor-laden movie I’ve ever seen. The screenplay (cowritten by Kasdan and his wife, Meg) gets pretentious and overreaching at times, but a well-meaning message and a strong cast do a lot to compensate for it. Kevin Kline, Danny Glover, Mary McDonnell, Steve Martin, Alfre Woodard, Mary-Louise Parker, and Jeremy Sisto are …
[6] Jean-Luc Godard once said, “All you need for a movie is a girl and a gun.” Watching Helen Mirren seize comand of a blazing Gatling gun, I think Godard may be onto something. RED isn’t terribly original or surprising, but its venerable cast rescues it from mediocrity. Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, and Mirren play retired CIA agents who return to their old habits …
[7] While it lacks the pervasive chill that runs through The Silence of the Lambs, Red Dragon is a well-made thriller that engages from beginning to end, thanks to a briskly-paced script adaptation by Ted Tally (who won an Oscar for his treatment of Lambs). This is a prequel to the time Lecter met Starling, and also a re-make of Michael Mann’s stylish 1986 film …
[9] It may be steeped in sentiment and nostalgia, but Fried Green Tomatoes doesn’t need to use them as a crutch to elicit a powerful emotional response. It’s got bigger guns than that: character and storytelling. It’s one of the rare movies that successfully captures the importance of real, honest-to-God friendship, whether its reflected in the toned-down affection between Mary Stuart Masterson and Mary-Louise Parker …
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