WITH BOOK
One of the most winning and intelligent romantic comedies of the '90s, Shakespeare in Love is filled with such good will, sunny romance, snappy one-liners, and devilish cleverness that it's absolutely irresistible. At the 1999 Academy Awards, this dark-horse costume comedy sneaked off with seven Oscars, besting the highly favored Saving Private Ryan for Best Picture. With tongue placed firmly in cheek, at its outset the film tracks young Will Shakespeare's overwrought battle with writer's block and the efforts of theater owner Philip Henslowe (Geoffrey Rush, in rare form) to stage Will's latest comedy, Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter. Most of the jokes in the first one-third of the film are along these lines: Will's anachronistic therapist session, a mug inscribed "A Souvenir from Stratford-Upon-Avon," Henslowe's battles to pay off his debts, and the backstage high jinks of pre-production. However, once Will sets his eyes on the beautiful Viola De Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow), joking takes a backseat to ravishing romance. Well, almost--turns out Viola wants to break into the world of male-only theater, and disguises herself as a young man to wangle herself an audition. She wins the part of Romeo and, after much misunderstanding, the playwright's heart. Soon enough, Will's pirate comedy becomes a beautiful, tragic romance, and Ethel is shoved aside for a woman named Juliet. Will and Viola's romance, however, is equal parts comedy and tragedy--he's married, and she's betrothed to the slimy Lord Wessex (Colin Firth), and it doesn't take an English major to figure out that it's not all's well that ends well. Like Shakespeare's work itself, the film is instantly accessible to everyone, from the raucous groundlings looking for low comedy to the aesthetes hankering for some intellectual bite behind their entertainment. The way that Oscar-winning screenwriters Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard enfold their story within the parameters of Romeo and Juliet (and even Twelfth Night) is nothing short of brilliant--it would take a Shakespearean scholar to dissect the innumerable parallels, oft-quoted lines, plot developments, and thematic borrowings. And most amazingly, Norman and Stoppard haven't forgotten to entertain their audience in addition to riding a Shakespearean roller coaster. Director John Madden (Mrs. Brown) reigns in his huge ensemble with a rollicking energy that keeps the film's momentum going at top speed for its entire two hours. Along the way there are small gems to be found: Ben Affleck's riotous egotistical actor, Imelda Staunton's nimble nurse, and of course Judi Dench's eight-minute, Oscar-winning turn as a truly regal Queen Elizabeth. However, the key element of Shakespeare in Love's success rests on the milky-white shoulders of its two stars. Fiennes, inexplicably overlooked at Oscar time, is a dashing Will as we might expect him at the early stage of his career, bundled full of comedy and tragedy but unsure of how to harness his talent. And as for Best Actress winner Paltrow... well, nothing she'd done before could have prepared viewers for how amazing she is here. Breathtakingly beautiful, fiercely intelligent, strong-willed, and lovestruck--it's a performance worthy of Shakespeare in more ways than one. By the film's end, you'll be thoroughly won over--and brushing up your Shakespeare with newfound ardor. --Mark Englehart
Delicate and hypnotic, The Hours interweaves three stories with remarkable skill: in the 1920s Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman) grapples with her inner demons and slowly works on her novel Mrs. Dalloway; in 1949 housewife Laura Brown (Julianne Moore) feels her own destructive impulses; and in 1999 book editor Clarissa Vaughn (Meryl Streep)--much like the title character of Woolf's novel--prepares to throw a party, in honor of her dearest friend, a seriously ill poet (Ed Harris). Small details reverberate from story to story as a powerhouse cast (including Allison Janney, Toni Collette, Claire Danes, Jeff Daniels, John C. Reilly, Stephen Dillane, and Miranda Richardson) gives subtle and beautifully modulated performances. In the hands of director Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot), The Hours is almost more a piece of music than a story, and like music, it may move you in unexpected ways. --Bret Fetzer --This text refers to the Theatrical Release edition.
DVD features
It's hard to imagine anyone wanting more than what's on this lovely, single disc. There are four newly produced segments: a talk with composer Philip Glass, a featurette on the three main actresses, a must-see 10-minute feature on the writer of the novel (Michael Cunningham) and the screenplay (David Hare), and a crisp half-hour history of Virginia Wolfe with many anecdotes from various scholars. There are two commentaries. Highly recommended is Cunningham with director Stephen Daldry as they go... read more
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The Net, the first of Hollywood's big cyberthrillers of the mid-1990s, was also the most successful, thanks in large part to the natural appeal of star Sandra Bullock. Still riding high from Speed and While You Were Sleeping, Bullock plays a computer expert victimized by sinister cyberforces who steal her identity for reasons unknown. It's a clever combination of high-tech paranoia and Hitchcockian references (including Jeremy Northam as a romantic stranger named Devlin, after Cary Grant in Notorious). Film historians may look back someday on films like this--Roger Ebert calls them "hacksploitation"--to see what they reveal about our society's reaction to the increasing role of technology in our lives, just as we now study the fears of Communism and the atom bomb reflected in films of the 1950s. Dennis Miller and Diane Baker costar. --Jim Emerson
Graham Greene's allegorical novel about America's role in the Vietnam conflict, and how it was perceived by the rest of the world, is brought to the screen for the second time in this adaptation directed by Phillip Noyce. Thomas Fowler (Michael Caine) is a British journalist who in 1952 is covering the early stages of the war in Indo-China for the London Times, not a demanding assignment since few in England are especially interested in the conflict. When not filing occasional reports, Fowler spends his time with Phuong (Do Thi Hai Yen), a beautiful woman who shares lovemaking and opium with Fowler and is willing to accept the fact the married journalist will never make her his wife. Fowler becomes friendly with Alden Pyle (Brendan Fraser), a cheerful and articulate if seemingly naïve American who is in Saigon as part of a medical mission. As Fowler and Pyle develop a closer friendship, Pyle is introduced to Phuong, and the American soon becomes infatuated with her. When Fowler's editors suggest he return to London, he responds by digging himself deeper in covering the war, and Pyle attempts to take Phuong away; she soon rejects him. Undaunted, Pyle continues with his work, but Fowler discovers that medical help is not what the American is bringing to Vietnam. Pyle is in fact a CIA operative who is helping to organize and finance a "Third Force" who will battle Ho Chi Min's forces as well as the French and their allies. Fowler also learns that Pyle is behind a series of bombings which are believed to have been carried out by Communist extremists, and faces the ugly fact that his American friend is in fact a terrorist killing in the name of Uncle Sam's political interests. While completed in the fall of 2001, The Quiet American went unreleased until late 2002; after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the film's producers felt the film's critical view of America's role in the Vietnam war might be considered especially offensive. -- Mark Deming
AMG REVIEW:
The Quiet American could be considered both a murder mystery and a political thriller. But its main emphasis isn't on clever plot twists or nail-biting suspense, although it does offer danger and intrigue. Instead, this deliberately paced and intelligently scripted film places its main emphasis on how the personal and the political intersect in the lives of the main characters. Michael Caine gives a nuanced, affecting performance in the lead role as world-weary British journalist Thomas Fowler. Caine is very effective at conveying how Fowler is torn between his cynicism and his nobler values as he struggles with difficult decisions and motives that aren't always pure. Brendan Fraser does a generally good job with his role as the American Alden Pyle; his measured performance could be more layered, but he does manage to suggest that there is more to this character than immediately meets the eye. Unfortunately, the film loses some of its emotional impact because the friendship between Fowler and Pyle doesn't seem quite as intense as the story demands. This problem is exacerbated by Do Thi Hai Yen's inability to do much with her underwritten role as Phuong, the woman in the middle of the love triangle; often she seems less like a full-fledged character than a depersonalized object of affection and symbol of Vietnam. Indeed, Pham Thi Mai Hoa makes a stronger impression than Do Thi Hai Yen in a smaller role as Phuong's sister. Nonetheless, the sumptuous cinematography and Caine's impressive performance are riveting enough to carry the film through its occasional rough spots. -- Todd Kristel
AWARDS:
Best Actor (nom) Michael Caine - 2002 Academy
Top Ten Movie of the Year (win) - 2002 American Film Institute
Best Actor - Drama (nom) Michael Caine - 2002 Golden Globe
Best Director (win) Phillip Noyce - 2002 National Board of Review
Best Picture (nom) - 2002 National Board of Review
Best Actor (Runner-up) (win) Michael Caine - 2002 National Society of Film Critics
Do you know anyone who hasn't seen this movie? A box-office smash when released in 1993, this spectacular update of the popular 1960s TV series stars Harrison Ford as a surgeon wrongly accused of the murder of his wife. He escapes from a prison transport bus (in one of the most spectacular stunt-action sequences ever filmed) and embarks on a frantic quest for the true killer's identity, while a tenacious U.S. marshal (Tommy Lee Jones, in an Oscar-winning role) remains hot on his trail. Director Andrew Davis hit the big time with this expert display of polished style and escalating suspense, but it's the antagonistic chemistry between Jones and Ford that keeps this thriller cooking to the very end. In roles that seem custom-fit to their screen personas, the two stars maintain a sharply human focus to the grand-scale manhunt, and the intelligent screenplay never resorts to convenient escapes or narrative shortcuts. Equally effective as a thriller and a character study, this is a Hollywood blockbuster that truly deserves its ongoing popularity. --Jeff Shannon
Randy Newman's opening song, "A Fool in Love," perfectly sets up the movie that follows. The lyrics begin, "Show me a man who is gentle and kind, and I'll show you a loser," before praising the man who takes what he wants. Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) is the fool in love in Meet the Parents. Just as he's about to propose to his girlfriend Pam (Teri Polo), he learns that her sister's fiancé asked their father, Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro), for permission to marry. Now he feels the need to do the same thing. When Greg meets Jack, he is so desperate to be liked that he makes up stories and kisses ass rather than having the courage of his convictions. It doesn't take an elite member of the CIA to see right through Greg, but that's precisely what Jack is. Directed by Jay Roach (the Austin Powers movies), Meet the Parents is an incredibly well-crafted comedy that stands in nice opposition to, say, the sloppy extremes of the Farrelly brothers. Stiller is great at playing up the uncomfortable comedy of errors, balancing just the right amount of selfishness and self-deprecating humor, while De Niro's Jack is funny as the hard-ass father who just wants a few straight answers from the kid. What makes the Jack character all the funnier is Blythe Danner as his wife, the Gracie to his George Burns, who is the true heart of the movie. Oh, and Owen Wilson turns in yet another terrific comic performance as Pam's ex-fiancé. --Andy Spletzer --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Yes, he's back, and he's still hungry. Ten years after The Silence of the Lambs, Dr. Hannibal "the Cannibal" Lecter (Anthony Hopkins, reprising his Oscar-winning role) is living the good life in Italy, studying art and sipping espresso. FBI agent Clarice Starling (Julianne Moore, replacing Jodie Foster), on the other hand, hasn't had it so good--an outsider from the start, she's now a quiet, moody loner who doesn't play bureaucratic games and suffers for it. A botched drug raid results in her demotion--and a request from Lecter's only living victim, Mason Verger (Gary Oldman, uncredited), for a little Q and A. Little does Clarice realize that the hideously deformed Verger--who, upon suggestion from Dr. Lecter, peeled off his own face--is using her as bait to lure Dr. Lecter out of hiding, quite certain he'll capture the good doctor. Taking the basic plot contraptions from Thomas Harris's baroque novel, Hannibal is so stylistically different from its predecessor that it forces you to take it on its own terms. Director Ridley Scott gives the film a sleek, almost European look that lets you know that, unlike the first film (which was about the quintessentially American Clarice), this movie is all Hannibal. Does it work? Yes--but only up to a point. Scott adeptly sets up an atmosphere of foreboding, but it's all buildup for anticlimax, as Verger's plot for abducting Hannibal (and feeding him to man-eating wild boars) doesn't really deliver the requisite visceral thrills, and the much-ballyhooed climatic dinner sequence between Clarice, Dr. Lecter, and a third unlucky guest wobbles between parody and horror. Hopkins and Moore are both first-rate, but the film contrives to keep them as far apart as possible, when what made Silence so amazing was their interaction. When they do connect it's quite thrilling, but it's unfortunately too little too late. --Mark Englehart --This text refers to the Theatrical Release edition.
Based on the novel by Valerie Martin, this gothic suspense story offers a fresh perspective on Robert Louis Stevenson's classic horror tale Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by presenting the material from a different viewpoint -- that of Mary Reilly (Julia Roberts), an Irish servant girl who has come to work for esteemed surgeon Dr. Henry Jekyll (John Malkovich). Mary is fascinated but also intimidated by her new employer, while the doctor seems to take a personal interest in her that goes beyond mere professional courtesy, much to the annoyance of Mr. Poole (George Cole), Jekyll's brutish manservant who also appears to have his eye on her. Jekyll's interest in Mary increases when he learns that she was abused as a child by her violent and repressive father. The doctor seems to take a keen interest in the violent and uncontrollable side of human nature. One day, he announces to his housekeeping staff that his new colleague, Edward Hyde, may be dropping by unexpectedly and not to be alarmed at his presence. Just as she's become attracted to the studious Dr. Jekyll, Mary is fascinated by the brash and impulsive Mr. Hyde, though he carries an air of danger with him at all times -- and Mary doesn't realize at first that he is merely a manifestation of the darker side of Jekyll's personality. Mary Reilly also features Glenn Close as the Madame Mrs. Farraday. Stephen Frears -- who previously worked with Close, Malkovich and screenwriter Christopher Hampton on 1988's Dangerous Liaisons -- directed. -- Mark Deming
AMG REVIEW:
Although it bombed at the box office and put a dent in Julia Roberts' career, Mary Reilly is actually a pretty effective piece of contemporary Grand Guignol. Given that the audience probably knows the general outline of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, director Stephen Frears and screenwriter Christopher Hampton fashion Valerie Martin's literary retelling into a baroque mood piece in which Roberts, bereft of blush and in need of a good eyebrow plucking, gets to employ her cavernous eyes and gawky voice for something more than sexy charm. As Mary creeps from her master's laboratory to a London brothel to her mother's funeral, you can see Roberts pushing against the limits of her acting chops, but she almost pulls it off, investing her character with quiet dignity and probing intellect. As for co-star John Malkovich, he finally gets another role that warrants his affected mannerisms; in fact, he gets two, inventing distinctive tics for both Henry Jekyll and his alter ego, Edward Hyde. One could quibble about Jenny Shircore's makeup, which lets a haircut and a shave suffice as differentiators between these two characters, but the script's attention to the duality of the human psyche sets up the conceit that Hyde is no grotesque, but rather a testosterone-soaked twist on Jekyll's gentle template. The film's real monsters are the Victorian money-grubbers who exploit those of Mary's station, from avaricious landlords to shrewd ladies of the night. Among that latter class falls Mrs. Farraday, proprietress of the house of ill repute where Hyde hides out. Glenn Close interprets this character as yet another variation on her frequent parody-of-femininity archetype, bringing a nicely Dickens-ian villainy to a film whose moral palette skews more to greys than black-and-white. -- Brian J. Dillard
Director Kenneth Branagh's interpretation of Mary Shelley's classic horror novel stars Robert DeNiro as a terrifying monster created in an obsessive attempt to defeat death and stretch the limits of medicine in the early 19th century. With the use of flashback, a dying Dr. Viktor Frankenstein (Kenneth Branagh) divulges a tale of gruesome terror to a sea captain (Aidan Quinn): As a medical student, the rebellious Frankenstein elaborates on the work of a brilliant scientist (John Cleese), successfully bringing to life a "man" assembled from the body parts of corpses. Upon realizing the destructive consequences of his experiment, Dr. Frankenstein abandons the creature and attempts to return to a normal life with his medical partner, Henry (Tom Hulce), and his fiancée (and adopted sister), Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter). In the meantime, the nameless creature struggles with loneliness and rejection from society until he sets out to track down his creator in search of one of two things: a bride to keep him company or revenge. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994) was produced by Francis Ford Coppola, who previously directed and produced monster-drama Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). -- Lisa Kropiewnicki
AMG REVIEW:
Coming off of his critically successful interpretation of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing (1993), director and star Kenneth Branagh disappointed audiences with this production of Mary Shelley's gothic horror tale. Although its script stays true to the basic structure of Shelley's novel and there are some truly graphic thrills (including a beating heart recently ripped from a live person), Branagh's rendition leans toward melodramatic performances and overly impressionistic design, diverting attention from the story. Instead of building suspense and unveiling the creation of the monster, the intensity is lost through overly aggressive camera shots and absurdly frenetic pacing. Plot holes such as the creature suddenly knowing how to walk, read, and write after the point being made that he is nearly retarded, lead to confusion and unbelievability. Branagh is likable and complex as Dr. Frankenstein but the chemistry is tepid between he and his lover/sister, Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter). The appearance of the creature is suitably graphic and authentic to its wild premise, but there are so many characteristic Robert DeNiro mannerisms glaring through the creature's exterior that it defeats the cosmetic effort. For a more successful modern interpretation of the gothic horror genre, see Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). -- Lisa Kropiewnicki
AWARDS:
Best Makeup (nom) - 1994 Academy
In the uproarious follow-up to the hit comedy SMOKE, Harvey Keitel (PULP FICTION) returns with a red-hot all-star cast that includes Michael J. Fox -- SPIN CITY, STUART LITTLE), Roseanne (ABC-TV's ROSEANNE), and Academy Award(R)-winner Mira Sorvino (1995 Best Supporting Actress -- MIGHTY APHRODITE). It's nonstop laughs when a wacky group of locals visits the neighborhood cigar shop, looking for good times ... and finding plenty of hilarious fun! But when the greedy owner threatens to close the shop for good -- and turn it into a trendy vegetarian restaurant -- the neighborhood proves they'll do just about anything to save their favorite hangout! Don't miss the highly original and entertaining comedy that had critics and audiences cheering!
An enormously entertaining (if somewhat shallow) affair from blockbuster director Steven Spielberg. Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Frank Abagnale, Jr., a dazzling young con man who spent four years impersonating an airline pilot, a doctor, and a lawyer--all before he turned 21. All the while he's pursued by a dedicated FBI agent named Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks), whose dogged determination stays one step behind Abagnale's spontaneous wits. Both DiCaprio and Hanks turn in enjoyable performances and the movie has a bouncy rhythm that keeps it zipping along. However, it never gets under the surface of Frank's drive to lose himself in other identities, other than a simplistic desire to please his father (Christopher Walken, excellent as always), nor does it explore the complex mechanics of fraud with any depth. By the movie's end, it feels like one of Frank's pilot uniforms--appearance without substance. --Bret Fetzer --This text refers to the Theatrical Release edition.
Master filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci applies his considerable talent to this haunting adaptation of the Paul Bowles novel. John Malkovich and Debra Winger play Port and Kit Moresby, characters loosely based on Bowles and his wife Jane, who flee New York for North Africa, where they hope to find mystical truths that will reignite the spark of their marriage. But instead they lose their moral bearings (with help from a friend, played by Campbell Scott, who has an affair with Kit) while traveling deeper and deeper into the Sahara. Before long, what started as a vacation at exotic lodgings has descended into a tour of hell, as they stumble farther and farther into an unknowable spiritual territory. Though long and at times slow-moving, the film features marvelously nuanced acting by Malkovich and Winger and visionary filmmaking that makes the landscape at once picturesque and threatening. --Marshall Fine --This text refers to the VHS Tape edition.
Description
American artist couple Port (John Malkovich) and Kit (Debra Winger) Moresby are drawn by desire and destiny to travel through Saharan Africa, attempting to recapture the love the once shared.
Graham Greene's allegorical novel about America's role in the Vietnam conflict, and how it was perceived by the rest of the world, is brought to the screen for the second time in this adaptation directed by Phillip Noyce. Thomas Fowler (Michael Caine) is a British journalist who in 1952 is covering the early stages of the war in Indo-China for the London Times, not a demanding assignment since few in England are especially interested in the conflict. When not filing occasional reports, Fowler spends his time with Phuong (Do Thi Hai Yen), a beautiful woman who shares lovemaking and opium with Fowler and is willing to accept the fact the married journalist will never make her his wife. Fowler becomes friendly with Alden Pyle (Brendan Fraser), a cheerful and articulate if seemingly naïve American who is in Saigon as part of a medical mission. As Fowler and Pyle develop a closer friendship, Pyle is introduced to Phuong, and the American soon becomes infatuated with her. When Fowler's editors suggest he return to London, he responds by digging himself deeper in covering the war, and Pyle attempts to take Phuong away; she soon rejects him. Undaunted, Pyle continues with his work, but Fowler discovers that medical help is not what the American is bringing to Vietnam. Pyle is in fact a CIA operative who is helping to organize and finance a "Third Force" who will battle Ho Chi Min's forces as well as the French and their allies. Fowler also learns that Pyle is behind a series of bombings which are believed to have been carried out by Communist extremists, and faces the ugly fact that his American friend is in fact a terrorist killing in the name of Uncle Sam's political interests. While completed in the fall of 2001, The Quiet American went unreleased until late 2002; after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the film's producers felt the film's critical view of America's role in the Vietnam war might be considered especially offensive. -- Mark Deming
AMG REVIEW:
The Quiet American could be considered both a murder mystery and a political thriller. But its main emphasis isn't on clever plot twists or nail-biting suspense, although it does offer danger and intrigue. Instead, this deliberately paced and intelligently scripted film places its main emphasis on how the personal and the political intersect in the lives of the main characters. Michael Caine gives a nuanced, affecting performance in the lead role as world-weary British journalist Thomas Fowler. Caine is very effective at conveying how Fowler is torn between his cynicism and his nobler values as he struggles with difficult decisions and motives that aren't always pure. Brendan Fraser does a generally good job with his role as the American Alden Pyle; his measured performance could be more layered, but he does manage to suggest that there is more to this character than immediately meets the eye. Unfortunately, the film loses some of its emotional impact because the friendship between Fowler and Pyle doesn't seem quite as intense as the story demands. This problem is exacerbated by Do Thi Hai Yen's inability to do much with her underwritten role as Phuong, the woman in the middle of the love triangle; often she seems less like a full-fledged character than a depersonalized object of affection and symbol of Vietnam. Indeed, Pham Thi Mai Hoa makes a stronger impression than Do Thi Hai Yen in a smaller role as Phuong's sister. Nonetheless, the sumptuous cinematography and Caine's impressive performance are riveting enough to carry the film through its occasional rough spots. -- Todd Kristel
AWARDS:
Best Actor (nom) Michael Caine - 2002 Academy
Top Ten Movie of the Year (win) - 2002 American Film Institute
Best Actor - Drama (nom) Michael Caine - 2002 Golden Globe
Best Director (win) Phillip Noyce - 2002 National Board of Review
Best Picture (nom) - 2002 National Board of Review
Best Actor (Runner-up) (win) Michael Caine - 2002 National Society of Film Critics
In this tense tale of psychological terror, Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) is a child psychologist whose new patient has a problem far outside his usual area of expertise. Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment) is six-years-old and claims to see the spirits of dead people all around him. It seems that Cole has psychic powers and can channel the ghosts of those who were troubled. Cole doesn't understand his powers, and he has little control over them; he's constantly terrified by what he sees, and Dr. Crowe is the only one with whom he feels he can share this secret. However, as the doctor digs deeper into Cole's strange powers, it leads to strange and unexpected consequences for both of them. M. Night Shyamalan, who wrote and directed the film, has a small role as Dr. Hill. -- Mark Deming
AMG REVIEW:
A successful update of ghost stories and thrillers that forego gore and violence to create suspense, this breakthrough film by writer/director M. Night Shyamalan reconfirmed star Bruce Willis' credibility as a leading man and as an actor, in his most sensitive screen work to date. Newcomer Haley Joel Osment won heavy acclaim (and an Oscar nomination at age 11) for his quietly studied portrayal of a haunted youngster, and Toni Collette shines as his working-class mother who doesn't understand his strange abilities. The film is too moody by half, and too reliant on its ending (which, admittedly, is quite well-done), but the director's perceptive study of young people's fears and the consequences of death is highly admirable. A giant summer hit that nobody anticipated (it was rumored that Disney, its distributor, originally planned it for a fall release until they realized what they had), Sense rejuvenated the suspense thriller in a way no one had seen in ages. Additionally, the film garnered six major Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and two for Shyamalan. -- Jason Clark
AWARDS:
Best Director (nom) M. Night Shyamalan - 1999 Academy
Best Editing (nom) Andrew Mondshein - 1999 Academy
Best Original Screenplay (nom) M. Night Shyamalan - 1999 Academy
Best Picture (nom) - 1999 Academy
Best Supporting Actor (nom) Haley Joel Osment - 1999 Academy
Best Supporting Actress (nom) Toni Collette - 1999 Academy
Best Cinematography (nom) Tak Fujimoto - 1999 American Society of Cinematographers
Best Director (nom) M. Night Shyamalan - 1999 British Academy Awards
Best Editing (nom) Andrew Mondshein - 1999 British Academy Awards
Best Film (nom) - 1999 British Academy Awards
Best Original Screenplay (nom) M. Night Shyamalan - 1999 British Academy Awards
Best Director- Feature Film (nom) M. Night Shyamalan - 1999 Directors Guild of America
Best Screenplay (nom) M. Night Shyamalan - 1999 Golden Globe
Best Supporting Actor (Motion Picture) (nom) Haley Joel Osment - 1999 Golden Globe
Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role (nom) Haley Joel Osment - 1999 Screen Actors Guild
Best Original Screenplay (nom) M. Night Shyamalan - 1999 Writers Guild of America
Actor Bruce Willis and writer/director M. Night Shyamalan reunite after the surprise success of The Sixth Sense for this supernatural thriller. David Dunne (Willis) is taking a train from New York City back home to Philadelphia after a job interview that didn't go well when his car jumps the tracks and collides with an oncoming engine, with David the only survivor among the 131 passengers on board. Astoundingly, David is not only alive, he hardly seems to have been touched. As David wonders what has happened to him and why he was able to walk away, he encounters a mysterious stranger, Elijah Prince (Samuel L. Jackson), who explains to David that there are a certain number of people who are "unbreakable" -- they have remarkable endurance and courage, a predisposition toward dangerous behavior, and feel invincible but also have strange premonitions of terrible events. Is David "unbreakable"? And if he is, what are the physical and psychological ramifications of this knowledge? Unbreakable also stars Robin Wright-Penn as Megan, David's wife; the supporting cast includes Spencer Treat Clark and Joey Perillo. -- Mark Deming
AMG REVIEW:
This follow-up to M. Night Shyamalan's out-of-nowhere breakout smash The Sixth Sense retains that film's deliberate pacing and attention to detail, but has more on its mind. This makes Unbreakable an even more ambitious and intriguing picture, even if the film's resolution leaves the viewer in the lurch by not realizing its full potential. A bold take on the mythology of comic books and realizing one's fate, the film is closest to the spirit of Alfred Hitchcock, who, like Shyamalan, lures viewers in one direction only to draw attention to something completely different when they least expect it. This is one of the film's strongest points: it is genuinely unpredictable and, until its wrap-up, feels as if it was helmed by a true visionary. Bruce Willis is quietly powerful in a rare interior role, fully engaging the viewer with his unshowy, sympathetic portrayal of a conflicted individual. While no Sixth Sense in terms of popularity, Unbreakable was still a box-office champ, despite polarizing much of its core audience. Supposedly, Shyamalan intended this film to be part of a planned trilogy, all of which would further explore Willis' character. -- Jason Clark
Oscar-nominated Randall Wallace (Braveheart) made his directorial debut with this adaptation of the 1848 classic by Alexandre Dumas (1802-70), featuring Leonardo DiCaprio in a dual role. Years have passed since the Three Musketeers, Aramis (Jeremy Irons), Athos (John Malkovich), and Porthos (Gerard Depardieu) fought together with their friend D'Artagnan (Gabriel Byrne). The arrogant, tyrannical King Louis XIV (Leonardo DiCaprio) desires the beautiful Christine (Judith Godreche), so he orders her suitor Raoul (Peter Sarsgaard), the son of Athos, off to face death at the front. He also sends Aramis to kill the leader of a Jesuit rebellion. Louis is unaware that his loyal protector and informant, D'Artagnan, is the secret lover of his mother, Queen Anne (Anne Parillaud). Louis' younger twin brother, Philippe (also DiCaprio) is the man in the iron mask, imprisoned for the past six years. Arthos and Porthos plan to free Philippe, abduct Louis and replace him by putting Philippe on the throne. French location scenes include the Chateau de Fontainbleau. Previous adaptations: Allan Dwan's The Iron Mask (1929) with Douglas Fairbanks, the 1939 James Whale version with Louis Hayward, Patricia Medina in Lady in the Iron Mask (1952), Henri Decoin's Le Masque de Fer (1962), Mike Newell's 1976 TV movie with Richard Chamberlain, and Ken Annakin's The Fifth Musketeer (1978, aka Behind the Iron Mask) with Beau Bridges, Lloyd Bridges, Sylvia Kristel, Ursula Andress, Cornel Wilde, Jose Ferrer, Rex Harrison, and Olivia de Havilland. A second film titled The Man in the Iron Mask was released in 1998, a low-budget effort from director William Richert. -- Bhob Stewart
AMG REVIEW:
The Man in the Iron Mask had the great fortune of hitting theaters a mere three months after Titanic transformed Leonardo Di Caprio into a celluloid god, capable of choosing from any film project in development. But it still barely scraped up $50 million at the box office, probably because it cast Leo in the decidedly un-Jack roles of weaselling pubescent King Louis XIV, a true creep, and his twin brother Philippe, who spends years clamped into an iron mask (which, miraculously, does nothing to hurt his complexion). It's a strange choice for Di Caprio, even when not viewed as a follow-up to Titanic, which it wasn't; Di Caprio has been known for his offbeat indie choices (What's Eating Gilbert Grape, The Basketball Diaries) both before and after his outing on the doomed oceanliner. It's a given that The Man in the Iron Mask has no ambitions toward high art, but it ends up being rather lackluster escapism as well -- yet another retelling of Alexandre Dumas' Three Musketeers, but set in their later years and featuring the aging swashbucklers' attempt to replace the vicious Louis with Philippe, the throne's rightful heir. It's more soap opera than swordplay epic, with few actors seeming to relish their roles. There's much more melodramatic soul-searching than clashing of sabers. -- Derek Armstrong
Combining drama, comedy, and romance, Jerry Maguire was a critical and commercial success built on an original script by writer/director Cameron Crowe and an Oscar-nominated performance by Tom Cruise. Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) is an agent with a major sports management firm. He's enthusiastic, successful, a great negotiator and people like him. But it begins to dawn on Jerry that there's something wrong with what he's doing, and not long after a troubling encounter with the son of an injured athlete he represents, Jerry has a serious crisis of conscience. In the midst of a sleepless night, Jerry writes a memo calling on himself and his colleagues to think more about the long-term welfare of the clients they represent and less about immediate profits. While everyone around him applauds the sentiment, Jerry's superiors think his ideas are bad for business; Jerry is fired, and, rather than standing in solidarity with him, his "friends" in the firm scramble like sharks to claim Jerry's clients. At the end of his last day, the only people willing to join Jerry as he strikes out on his own are staff accountant Dorothy (Renee Zellweger), a single mother secretly in love with Jerry, and Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr.), a football player whose pride and arrogance have gotten in the way of his reaching his potential. Jerry Maguire earned an Academy Award for Cuba Gooding Jr.'s performance as Tidwell and provided a breakthrough role for Renee Zellweger; it also made "Show me the money!" an unavoidable catchphrase for several months. -- Mark Deming
AMG REVIEW:
Jerry Maguire juggles romance, drama, sports, and comedy as it chronicles an egotistical sports agent's discovery of what's really important to him. Writer-director Cameron Crowe populates his sprawling script with a bevy of talented actors: He designed the title role for Tom Cruise, and the actor turns in one of the most genuine, nuanced performances of his career. As the talented football pariah Rod Tidwell, the enthusiastic Cuba Gooding Jr. earned a Best Supporting Actor award -- as well as a place in movie catch-phrase history. Renee Zellweger owes Crowe a similar debt: the director and Cruise fought the studio to cast an unknown in the role, and her naivete and infectious optimism provide a perfect foil for Cruise's (initial) slickness. Jerry Maguire's take on sports is refreshing as well, neither glamorizing the industry nor wallowing in its supposed underbelly. Though predictable, the film's feel-good resolution is heart-felt and not manipulative. -- Matthew Doberman
AWARDS:
Best Actor (nom) Tom Cruise - 1996 Academy
Best Editing (nom) Joe Hutshing - 1996 Academy
Best Original Screenplay (nom) Cameron Crowe - 1996 Academy
Best Picture (nom) James L. Brooks - 1996 Academy
Best Supporting Actor (win) Cuba Gooding, Jr. - 1996 Academy
Best Child Performance (win) Jonathan Lipnicki - 1996 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Supporting Actor (win) Cuba Gooding, Jr. - 1996 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Supporting Actor (win) Cuba Gooding, Jr. - 1996 Chicago Film Critics Association
Best Director (nom) Cameron Crowe - 1996 Directors Guild of America
Best Actor (Comedy/Musical) (win) Tom Cruise - 1996 Golden Globe
Best Actor (win) Tom Cruise - 1996 National Board of Review
Best Breakthrough Performance (win) Renée Zellweger - 1996 National Board of Review
Best Picture (nom) - 1996 National Board of Review
Best Supporting Actress (Runner-up) (win) Renée Zellweger - 1996 National Society of Film Critics
Best Actor (nom) Tom Cruise - 1996 Screen Actors Guild
Best Supporting Actor (win) Cuba Gooding, Jr. - 1996 Screen Actors Guild
Best Supporting Actress (nom) Renée Zellweger - 1996 Screen Actors Guild
This comedy drama, a sort of British version of The Big Chill (1983), was directed by Kenneth Branagh. Ten years after they were members of a music and comedy troupe at Cambridge University, a diverse group of friends in their early 30s gather at the expansive estate of Peter Morton (Stephen Fry), who's invited them there for a reunion. Among the guests are Andrew (Branagh), who has married Carol (Rita Rudner), the star of the American situation comedy he writes; lonely Maggie (Emma Thompson), who thinks she may be in love with Peter; Roger (Hugh Laurie) and Mary (Imelda Staunton), a couple in advertising who have lost a child; and single Sarah (Alphonsia Emmanuel), who's always attracted to the wrong men, including her latest boyfriend, the married Brian (Tony Slattery). Also on hand is Vera (Phyllida Law, the real-life mother of Thompson), a housekeeper who has protectively watched over Peter since childhood. Over the course of the weekend, various jealousies and fears are revealed between joyous feasts, but a startling, tragic announcement from Peter puts everyone's petty dramas into proper perspective. American stand-up comedienne Rudner wrote the screenplay with her husband, (Martin Bergmann). -- Karl Williams
AMG REVIEW:
Peter's Friends is a good little film that desperately wants to be a very good film but can't help falling short of that goal. Although it is frequently criticized for being a knock-off of The Big Chill, Peter's really has little in common with it other than the idea of a reunion of a group of old friends. In tone, Peter's is quite different than Chill: freer, looser, and wackier, although it still has its more serious moments. Unfortunately, it doesn't always mix the comic and the serious as well as it might, and Rita Rudner and Martin Bergman's screenplay also traffics in a few too many clichés for comfort, especially toward the end. Still, it does have many genuinely funny moments and more than its fair share of amusing lines and bits. Kenneth Branagh's direction is a bit uneven in spots, but he certainly knows how to get the most out of his ensemble (with the exception of Rudner, who at times seems to be performing in a different movie altogether). Best among the rest are Emma Thompson, whom one wants to simply wrap one's arms around and hug, and Stephen Fry, who is wryly cynical yet still warm. If Peter's is not a great film, it still provides a great deal of entertainment. -- Craig Butler
AWARDS:
Best Picture (nom) - 1992 National Board of Review
They don't really make many romantic comedies like Notting Hill anymore--blissfully romantic, sincerely sweet, and not grounded in any reality whatsoever. Pure fairy tale, and with a huge debt to Roman Holiday, Notting Hill ponders what would happen if a beautiful, world-famous person were to suddenly drop into your life unannounced and promptly fall in love with you. That's the crux of the situation for William Thacker (Hugh Grant), who owns a travel bookshop in London's fashionable Notting Hill district. Hopelessly ordinary (well, as ordinary as you can be when you're Hugh Grant), William is going about his life when renowned movie star Anna Scott (Julia Roberts) walks into his bookstore and into his heart. After another contrived meet-cute involving spilled orange juice, William and Anna share a spontaneous kiss (big suspension of disbelief required here), and soon both are smitten. The question is, of course, can William and Anna reconcile his decidedly commonplace bookseller existence and her lifestyle as a jet-setting, paparazzi-stalked celebrity? (Take a wild guess at the answer.) Smartly scripted by Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral) and directed by Roger Michell (Persuasion), Notting Hill is hardly realistic, but as wish fulfillment and a romantic comedy, it's irresistible. True, Roberts doesn't really have to stretch very far to play a big-time actress who makes $15 million per movie, but she's more winning and relaxed than she's been in years, and Grant is sweetly understated as a man blindsided by love. Together, in moments of quiet, they're a charming couple, and you can feel her craving for real love and his awe and amazement at the wonderful person for whom he has fallen. The only blight on the film is its overbearing pop soundtrack, though Elvis Costello's heart-wrenching version of "She" gets poignant exposure. With Rhys Ifans as Grant's scene-stealing, slovenly housemate and Alec Baldwin in a sly, perfectly cast cameo. --Mark Englehart --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Bad Company boasts all the gloss one expects from A-list Hollywood talent, but you get a lot of chaff with the wheat. Pay attention to Anthony Hopkins as a weary CIA veteran, and you'll see the reliable work of an old pro giving his best in the absence of challenge. That sums up this movie, however: Hopkins and costar Chris Rock are already fighting clichés when Rock is recruited into the CIA after his identical twin brother (they'd been separated at birth) is killed in the line of duty. Rock and Hopkins must carry out a sting against nuclear terrorists, but apart from this coincidental similarity to The Sum of All Fears, director Joel Schumacher seems asleep at the wheel, rotely crafting a thriller without thrills for Pearl Harbor producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Those expecting comedy from Rock will be disappointed; Bad Company reins him in, and that restraint affects the rest of the movie. --Jeff Shannon --This text refers to the Theatrical Release edition.
Russ Duritz (Bruce Willis) is an ultracynical, 40-year-old L.A. image consultant who fashions bogus façades for scumbag clients. Oblivious to his own need for a makeover, he's a tyrant in the office (to the chagrin of his sarcastic assistant, played to perfection by Lily Tomlin), and he's emotionally unavailable to the morally centered woman (Emily Mortimer) who senses goodness beneath Russ's hardened veneer. Not a moment too soon, a pudgy kid (Spencer Breslin) mysteriously appears in Russ's life, revealing himself to be Rusty Duritz--that is, Russ's 8-year-old self, arriving by some magic to put the adult Russ's life into beneficial perspective. This variation on A Christmas Carol has Rusty guiding Russ on a tour of his past to reveal how he became a loveless, hard-shelled loser. It takes a bit of smarmy chicken-soup psychology to explain it all, but The Kid is an otherwise charming and involving fantasy, suggesting that perhaps we'd all benefit from a bit of counseling by our younger selves. Written with admirable restraint by Audrey Wells (who brought a similar appeal to The Truth About Cats and Dogs) and directed by Jon Turteltaub (Cool Runnings), the movie doesn't force its supernatural elements or attempt to explain Rusty's existence. It's just a fable for our modern age and a reminder to embrace the better angels of our nature. Delivered with an easy blend of humor and sentiment, that message makes The Kid an unexpected pleasure. (Look closely for Matthew Perry as Willis's shaggy-haired client.) --Jeff Shannon
DVD features
Spencer Breslin may not steal every scene he's in as the title role of The Kid, but he does steal every bit of the hilarious commentary on the DVD. The extras focus on young Breslin, first with a 20-minute featurette with behind-the scenes footage of Spencer from his casting to the film's wrap. The witty and playful director Jon Turteltaub reverses an old axiom stating he loves working with kids, especially Spencer. He illustrates this--and Spencer's unabashed enthusiasm--by sharing the... read more
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Writer-director Woody Allen has produced yet another challenging and funny film, this time taking on the musical genre and bending it to his own unique vision. The result is one of the most charming films in recent years, as Allen assembles a typically sterling ensemble cast to evoke the romanticism of years past. This time, the large cast (including Alan Alda, Drew Barrymore, Goldie Hawn, Edward Norton, and Tim Roth) not only turn in funny and touching performances, but they sing the classic songs of the 1930s and 1940s themselves, and sing them very well. The plot centers on an extended family in New York and their various romantic entanglements, including Allen's pursuit of Julia Roberts through the streets of Paris and the canals of Venice. The musical numbers are the film's high point, displaying wonderful choreography ranging from a room full of dancing Groucho Marxes to a dancing couple in flight at the banks of the Seine. Everyone Says I Love You is a witty and entertaining fantasy, and a truly romantic escape. --Robert Lane --This text refers to the VHS Tape edition.
Stephen Frears' Hero is a contemporary re-working of a Frank Capra-styled fable about a two-bit criminal named Bernie (Dustin Hoffman) who saves several passengers from a plane crash and leaves the scene without being identified, leaving only a lost shoe for identification. One of the passengers happens to be news-reporter Gale (Geena Davis) who is intent on finding her savior, and offers a million dollars to the "hero" of the crashed flight. Bernie has since given his remaining shoe to a homeless man named John (Andy Garcia) who decides to cash in on the offer. A handsome, charming man, John wins the hearts of the entire city. Soon, Bernie realizes that he's been cheated out of a million dollars, and he begins an effort to get his proper recognition--and his money. Hero manages to be quite funny and satirical while sticking to a story that is essentially a Hollywood fable. That is to the credit of director Frears and the cast, who turn in uniformly excellent performances. Nevertheless, Hoffman is superb as a bitterly comic and spiteful variation on his classic Ratso Rizzo character. By the way, be on the lookout for Chevy Chase in a very funny cameo. -- Stephen Thomas Erlewine
AMG REVIEW:
Stephen Frears' fusion of Capra fantasy and Sturges satire is often as sharply hilarious as its models, but veers off the track with an inflated finish. Dustin Hoffman stars as a petty thief who pulls 54 people out of a downed plane, but must allow an attractive homeless man (Andy Garcia) to accept the hefty reward, due to his understandable need to "keep a low profile." The film sets up the grimy reality of the character's life, playing it humorously off his nearly paranoid delusions, while establishing his love for his wife and child. It rolls along beautifully in this mode until the plot forces him to make a bid to get the reward money that he thinks would solve his problems. Instead of wrapping this up quickly (like Sturges et al.), the filmmakers drag out the ending with a fulsomely operatic coda awash in sentimentality. Its Capraesque ending is out of tune with this dark, decidedly non-Capra character. Yet the script is rarely less than smart and entertaining, satirically noting heroism's easy association with looks and charm in a media-saturated age. Until his final few scenes, which he stretches out interminably, Hoffman gives a brilliant performance in the kind of "little man" role that has become his specialty. Andy Garcia is appropriately charismatic as the public's hero, and Geena Davis gives a wonderfully nuanced performance as a tough reporter with a soft heart. -- Michael Costello
Supernatural forces hover over the courtroom in this devilish drama adapted from the novel by Andrew Neiderman. Attorney Kevin Lomax (Keanu Reeves) doesn't heed the Bible-based warnings of his mother (Judith Ivey), who views New York City as "the dwelling place of demons." Instead, he leaves Gainesville, Florida, with his wife Mary Ann (Charlize Theron) to put his legalistic skills to the test at a leading Manhattan law firm run by John Milton (Al Pacino). It all goes smoothly -- with Milton urging them to stay, putting Kevin on a $400-per-hour salary, and moving the couple into a luxurious apartment in his own building on Fifth Avenue -- where Mary Ann falls under the influence of neighbor Jackie (Tamara Tunie). After Kevin defends a weird animal sacrificer (Delroy Lindo, uncredited), he moves up to an important case with an apparent murderer, real-estate tycoon Alexander Cullen (Craig T. Nelson). Ignored by Kevin, the troubled Mary Ann has some disturbing experiences, verging on the occult, while Kevin, at work, becomes attracted to redhead Christabella (Connie Neilsen). Dazzled by his entrance into paradise, Kevin doesn't grasp who handed him this Big-Apple success. Could it be...Satan? The film features demonic creatures by Rick Baker. Cameos (Senator Alfonse D'Amato, Don King, others) add to the ambiance of ambition and power in the canyons of Manhattan. -- Bhob Stewart
AMG REVIEW:
Part John Grisham thriller and part Rosemary's Baby, Devil's Advocate is a sharp and compelling film that comes to life thanks to an energetic performance from Al Pacino. While most fictional films concerning temptation and religion are often inane and unrealistic, the playfully slick script by Tony Gilroy and Jonathan Lemkin makes this particular outing both thought-provoking and engaging. Keanu Reeves may be dwarfed by Pacino's acting skill, but he gives an astonishingly decent performance. Reeves is the straight man of the narrative, and proves that he can handle roles that require him to deliver dialogue (as opposed to his dismal performances in A Walk in the Clouds and Much Ado About Nothing). The film explores themes like temptation, sexual depravity, and vanity, while never allowing special effects to become the main focus of the story, and the fantastical climax, set to the Frank Sinatra version of "It Happened in Monterey" is part camp, part thriller, and part soap opera. It is the jolting finale to a surreal and enticing film that takes chances and truly raises some hell. -- Adam Goldberg
To call Pearl Harbor a throwback to old-time war movies is something of an understatement. Director Michael Bay's epic take on the bombing that brought the United States into World War II hijacks every war movie situation and cliché (some affectionate, some stale) you've ever seen and gives them a shiny, glossy spin until the whole movie practically gleams. Planes glisten, water sparkles, trees beckon--and Bay's re-creation of the bombing itself, a 30-minute sequence that's tightly choreographed and amazingly photographed, sets the action movie bar up quite a few notches. And in updating the classic war film, Bay and screenwriter Randall Wallace (Braveheart) use that old plot standby, the love triangle--this time, it's between two pilots (Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett) and a nurse (Kate Beckinsale) who find themselves stationed at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, during what they thought would be a nice, sunny tour of duty. Then, of course, history intervened. For the first 90 minutes of the movie, Affleck and Beckinsale find a nice, appealing chemistry that plays on his strengths as a movie star and hers as a serious actress--he gives her glamour, she gives him smarts. Their truncated romance--the beginning of which is told in flashback so we can get right to the point where he has to leave her to go to England--works, thanks to their charm. They're no Kate and Leo from Titanic (a strategy the film strives hard toward), but they're pretty darn adorable in their own right. Hartnett, as the not entirely unwelcome third wheel, squints bravely but makes only a slight dent in the film. Everyone else in Pearl Harbor--from Cuba Gooding Jr.'s brave navy seaman to Jon Voight's able impersonation of FDR--is pretty much a glorified walk-on, taking a backseat to the pyrotechnics and action sequences that keep the three-hour film in fairly constant motion. But when that action does take hold, Pearl Harbor is quite a thrilling ride. --Mark Englehart
The title character, a manic depressive prone to very irrational behavior (Richard Gere), is hospitalized for treatment. While there, the psychiatrist responsible for his rehabilitation (Lena Olin) becomes involved with him and cannot stand to allow his check-out. -- John Bush
A woman is brought to civilization after spending her life in the wilds in this drama. Dr. Jerome Lovell (Liam Neeson) happens upon a shack deep in the woods, where he discovers a strange woman who appears to be about 30, speaking an incomprehensible language. The woman, named Nell (Jodie Foster), was raised in the cabin by her late mother, who was incapacitated by strokes (Nell speaks English, but distorted -- as it was by her mother's infirmities); with the exception of her twin sister, who died as a child, Nell has had contact with no other human being. Lovell brings in a psychiatrist, Dr. Paula Olsen (Natasha Richardson) to help determine what, if anything, should be done for Nell; Olsen thinks that Nell should be committed to an institution, but Lovell demands a period of unobtrusive observation instead. When it becomes obvious that the courts will demand that Nell be hospitalized for psychiatric observation, Lovell and Olsen take it upon themselves to gently introduce Nell to the outside world. Jodie Foster's performance in Nell earned her an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress, and she won the Screen Actor's Guild award in that category. -- Mark Deming
AMG REVIEW:
Jodie Foster's beguiling mix of pre-linguistic drawling and moon-eyed curiosity make hers one of the most engrossing portrayals of stunted development captured on film. Although Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson provide strong support as Foster's surrogate parents, Nell lives on the strength of Foster's unselfconscious dedication to her craft. She awards and rescinds trust like a wounded animal, and she's convincingly fluent in a sing-songy language that flows effortlessly. Michael Apted is a fitting director for the project, as the film blends themes from his Gorillas in the Mist and his respected documentary series 7 Up. Acclaimed cinematographer Dante Spinotti captures the Carolina woods with virtuosity, from the helicopter shot that accompanies the opening credits to the moving camera following Nell through the lakes and forest stomping grounds of her memory. Despite talent bursting from every pore, however, Nell can't quite escape its disease-of-the-week trappings. The script follows familiar patterns when it turns into a tug of war between the humanists who prize Nell's happiness and the scientists who yearn to probe and examine her. The fact that this culminates in a courtroom competency hearing with considerably lax standards just underscores the film's conventionality. Still, Foster's Oscar nomination was clearly justified, and one can understand why Neeson and Richardson develop an intense parental affection for her character. -- Derek Armstrong
AWARDS:
Best Actress (nom) Jodie Foster - 1994 Academy
Best Actress (Drama) (nom) Jodie Foster - 1994 Golden Globe
Best Film (Drama) (nom) - 1994 Golden Globe
Best Original Score (nom) Mark Isham - 1994 Golden Globe
Best Actress (win) Jodie Foster - 1994 Screen Actors Guild
A starry-eyed would-be star discovers just how far the notion that "there's no such thing as bad publicity" can go in this screen adaptation of the hit Broadway musical Chicago, originally directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse. In the mid-'20s, Roxie Hart (Renee Zellweger) is a small-time chorus dancer married to a well-meaning dunderhead named Amos (John C. Reilly). Roxie is having an affair on the side with Fred Casley (Dominic West), a smooth talker who insists he can make her a star. However, Fred strings Roxie along a bit too far for his own good, and when she realizes that his promises are empty, she becomes enraged and murders Fred in cold blood. Roxie soon finds herself behind bars alongside Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones), a sexy vaudeville star who used to perform with her sister until Velma discovered that her sister had been sleeping with her husband. Velma shot them both dead, and, after scheming prison matron "Mama" Morton hooks Velma up with hotshot lawyer Billy Flynn (Richard Gere), Velma becomes the new Queen of the scandal sheets. Roxie is just shrewd enough to realize that her poor fortune could also bring her fame, so she convinces Amos to also hire Flynn. Soon Flynn is splashing Roxie's story -- or, more accurately, a highly melodramatic revision of Roxy's story -- all over the gutter press, and Roxy and Velma are soon battling neck-to-neck over who can win greater fame through the headlines. A project that had been moving from studio to studio since the musical opened on Broadway in 1973, Chicago also features guest appearances by Lucy Liu and Christine Baranski. -- Mark Deming
AMG REVIEW:
If Moulin Rouge heralded the triumphant return of the movie musical, Rob Marshall's rhapsodic rendition of Chicago takes that tendency a welcome two-step further. Using the best capabilities of both stage and screen, Marshall mounts a rousing cinematic achievement that may trump Baz Luhrmann's -- he's filmed a conventionally structured musical that needs no tricks, only its own tight mechanics, to reach across generations of moviegoers. A Broadway chestnut written in the 1970s about the 1920s may not seem ripe with 21st century relevance, but an astonishing cast of performers breathes new excitement into the lyrics and music of John Kander and Fred Ebb and the swagger of playwright/choreographer Bob Fosse. And in Chicago, "performer" is no term of backhanded praise. Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Richard Gere sing every impressive note and cut every impressive groove across each dance floor, their heretofore unknown talents prompting bouts of surprised applause throughout the audience. That they deliver award-worthy acting on top of it is a bonus. But Chicago is as much a triumph of editing as any other attribute. The production numbers run steadily throughout, so Marshall deftly weaves expository passages into the score's quieter moments, the lyrics and images offering a perfect symbiosis of storytelling methods. Martin Walsh's editing also gets its own chance at center stage, notably during the thrilling sequence in which Gere's climactic courtroom speech alternates with footage of the actor engaged in a rapid-fire tap dance. That Chicago also functions as a familiar but juicy indictment of the bloodthirsty media and its fickle readership...well, it leaves a reviewer about as breathless as Zeta-Jones after a spirited romp across the set. -- Derek Armstrong
AWARDS:
Best Actress (nom) Renée Zellweger - 2002 Academy
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) Bill Condon - 2002 Academy
Best Art Direction (win) - 2002 Academy
Best Cinematography (nom) - 2002 Academy
Best Costume Design (win) - 2002 Academy
Best Director (nom) Rob Marshall - 2002 Academy
Best Editing (win) - 2002 Academy
Best Picture (win) - 2002 Academy
Best Song (nom) - 2002 Academy
Best Sound (win) - 2002 Academy
Best Supporting Actor (nom) John C. Reilly - 2002 Academy
Best Supporting Actress (nom) Queen Latifah - 2002 Academy
Best Supporting Actress (win) Catherine Zeta-Jones - 2002 Academy
Top Ten Movie of the Year (win) - 2002 American Film Institute
Best Acting Ensemble (nom) - 2002 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Picture (nom) - 2002 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Supporting Actress (nom) Catherine Zeta-Jones - 2002 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Director (win) Rob Marshall - 2002 Director's Guild of America
Best Actor - Musical or Comedy (win) Richard Gere - 2002 Golden Globe
Best Actress - Musical or Comedy (nom) Catherine Zeta-Jones - 2002 Golden Globe
Best Actress - Musical or Comedy (win) Renée Zellweger - 2002 Golden Globe
Best Director (nom) Rob Marshall - 2002 Golden Globe
Best Picture - Musical or Comedy (win) - 2002 Golden Globe
Best Screenplay (nom) Bill Condon - 2002 Golden Globe
Best Supporting Actor (nom) John C. Reilly - 2002 Golden Globe
Best Supporting Actress (nom) Queen Latifah - 2002 Golden Globe
Best Directorial Debut (win) Rob Marshall - 2002 National Board of Review
Best Picture (nom) - 2002 National Board of Review
Best Actor (nom) Richard Gere - 2002 Screen Actors Guild
Best Actress (win) Renée Zellweger - 2002 Screen Actors Guild
Best Cast (win) - 2002 Screen Actors Guild
Best Supporting Actress (nom) Queen Latifah - 2002 Screen Actors Guild
Best Supporting Actress (win) Catherine Zeta-Jones - 2002 Screen Actors Guild
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) Bill Condon - 2002 Writers Guild of America
Best Ensemble Acting (win) - 2003 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Picture (win) - 2003 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Supporting Actress (win) Catherine Zeta-Jones - 2003 Broadcast Film Critics Association
This lavishly mounted adaptation of the play by William Nicholson tells the true story of the doomed love affair between novelist and noted Christian scholar C.S. Lewis and a Jewish-American poet. Anthony Hopkins stars as C.S. "Jack" Lewis, an Oxford professor and successful author of the Chronicles of Narnia series of children's fantasy novels. A confirmed bachelor, Jack's existence is an inward life of the mind. Somewhat detached from the world, his only social outlet is evenings out at a local pub discussing philosophy and religion with his fellow lecturers. Jack has been corresponding with a bluntly intelligent American woman, Joy Gresham (Debra Winger), who arrives to visit him, with her young son Douglas (Joseph Mazzello) in tow. She tells Jack that she has actually fled from an abusive marriage and plans to divorce, and Jack astonishes friends and family by agreeing to a platonic marriage with Joy so that she can obtain British citizenship. As their friendship deepens and Joy discovers that she has a terminal illness, the relationship between Joy and Jack becomes a genuine romance, and their marriage turns into a real commitment. Shadowlands (1993) had previously been filmed as a well-regarded British television movie in 1985 starring Joss Ackland as Lewis. -- Karl Williams
AMG REVIEW:
One of the best qualities of Richard Attenborough's adaptation of William Nicholson's play is the way it doesn't feel like a play at all. This is an excellent quality to possess, especially in a film that is in part about a middle-aged man discovering the joy of being alive. About halfway in, Winger's Joy takes Hopkins' Jack on vacation, a sequence shot in typically lush Attenborough fashion but made truly memorable by the inexperienced Jack's joy upon discovering that he can order cocktails sent up to his room. Extremely well-acted by both leads (note the way Winger slowly absorbs English inflections in her speech the more time her character spends there), Shadowlands steers away from the maudlin territory typically inhabited by doomed romances, emphasizing instead the emotional journeys of each character, both in terms of their time together and apart. Winger subtly plays a woman whom life has continually disappointed, and who is faced with the prospect of leaving it just as her fortunes have turned around. Hopkins' character is one who's come to think he's solved life's mysteries and must suddenly admit how little he knows. Teamed with Attenborough's restrained direction, they create a deeply memorable drama of unexpected renewal. -- Keith Phipps
AWARDS:
Best Actor (win) Anthony Hopkins - 1992 L.A. Film Critics Association
Best Actress (nom) Debra Winger - 1993 Academy
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) William Nicholson - 1993 Academy
Alexander Korda Award for Outstanding British Film of the Year (win) - 1993 British Academy Awards
Best Actor (win) Anthony Hopkins - 1993 British Academy Awards
Best Actress (nom) Debra Winger - 1993 British Academy Awards
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) William Nicholson - 1993 British Academy Awards
Best Director (David Lean Award) (nom) Richard Attenborough - 1993 British Academy Awards
Best Film (nom) Richard Attenborough - 1993 British Academy Awards
Best Actor (win) Anthony Hopkins - 1993 National Board of Review
Best Picture (nom) - 1993 National Board of Review
Alexander Korda Award for Outstanding British Film of the Year (win) Brian Eastman - 1994 British Academy Awards
Best British Film (win) - 1994 British Academy Awards
Michael Douglas runs afoul of a treacherous supervisor in this film version of Michael Crichton's novel. Douglas plays Tom Sanders, an executive at DigiCom, a leading computer software firm. DigiCom is about to launch a new virtual reality-based data storage system that is expected to revolutionize the industry, and Bob Garvin (Donald Sutherland), the owner of the company, is in the midst of negotiating a merger that could bring $100 million into the firm. However, while Tom is expecting a promotion, he discovers the position has been given instead to a new hire, Meredith Johnson (Demi Moore), with whom Tom had an affair years ago, before he was married. After her first day of work, Meredith invites Tom up to her office and makes a concerted attempt to seduce him; while Tom doesn't fight off her advances with very much gusto at first, eventually he decides things have gone too far and leaves in a huff. The next morning, Meredith accuses Tom of sexual harassment, and he realizes this was merely a power ploy to get him out of DigiCom for good; Tom, determined to fight, files a counter-suit, which makes him no friends at the company, since rocking the boat too hard could very well scotch the merger. Dennis Miller also appears as one of Tom's wise-cracking co-workers. -- Mark Deming
AMG REVIEW:
An excellent cast of solid supporting players and a notable roster of talent behind the scenes transforms a Michael Crichton novel with a questionable premise and some hackneyed plot developments into a sturdy, attractive thriller. While the basic story of the source material doesn't stand up to close scrutiny, director Barry Levinson and screenwriter Paul Attanasio have populated their tale with enough dazzling high-tech gadgetry, office intrigue, and thriller-style convolutions to distract viewers. It's a cinematic shell game to be sure, but it makes for an enjoyable romp of a film. Michael Douglas has become the go-to guy when a big-budget film needs a white-male cultural scapegoat, while Demi Moore shines as an aggressive, manipulative female executive, in marked contrast to her most recent role as a naïve wife in Indecent Proposal (1993). The leads are ably supported by trustworthy character actors such as Dylan Baker, Roma Maffia, Donald Sutherland, and Donal Logue in the service of a story that at times veers into the territory of delightful absurdity. It doesn't all make sense, but Disclosure is a guilty pleasure. -- Karl Williams
One man takes on the Irish family law system and the Catholic Church in a bid to be reunited with his children in this drama, based on a true story. In 1953, Desmond Doyle (Pierce Brosnan) was a house painter and decorator who, despite a strong work ethic, had a hard time holding on to steady work. Desmond's wife had grown tired of her marriage and her husband's financial problems, and one day walked away from her home, leaving Desmond to raise their three children on his own. While Desmond struggles to keep body and soul together for his children, his sporadic employment eventually attracts the attention of the law, and a court order sends his two sons and young daughter to separate Catholic orphanages until Desmond can prove he's capable of properly supporting them. However, Desmond discovers merely getting work is not enough to bring his children back to him, and when he learns that his daughter, Evelyn (Sophie Vavasseur), is having a rough time of it at the hands of several stern nuns, he becomes determined to win their custody in a court of law. Through Bernadette (Julianna Margulies), a barmaid who has caught his eye, Desmond meets Michael Beattie (Stephen Rea), a lawyer and Bernadette's brother. While Michael doesn't believe Desmond's case can be won in an Irish court, his partner Nick Barron (Aidan Quinn), an expatriate American who lost custody of his own children in a divorce proceeding, is eager to help, and they agree to take the case. However, they both realize they're fighting an uphill battle, and so they persuade Thomas Connolly (Alan Bates), a former football star who became one of Ireland's most respected barristers, to lend his knowledge and prestige to the case. Leading man Bronson also served a co-producer for Evelyn; Bruce Beresford directed, who previously collaborated with Pierce Brosnan on Mr. Johnson. -- Mark Deming
AMG REVIEW:
Evelyn may be based on a true and historically significant story, but the filmmakers have made every effort to disguise it as an unimaginative screenwriter's invention. As a child custody drama, it's unfair to even compare it to a film like Ken Loach's Ladybird, Ladybird, which is not only genuinely powerful and emotionally honest, but reflects the problems of the society and systems it depicts. Evelyn doesn't even compare favorably to a well-executed Hollywood melodrama like Kramer vs. Kramer. Director Bruce Beresford and screenwriter Paul Pender lay on the sentiment in thick, brogue-addled gobs as they desecrate a true but presumably dramatically inadequate story, adding an evil, perjuring nun (while essentially giving the Catholic Church, which was probably largely responsible for the Irish child welfare laws of the time, a free pass) and an ill-tempered, leering stock villain of a judge. They also chose to turn Desmond Doyle (Pierce Brosnan) into a stereotypical Irish drunk, remove two of his children from the tale, and turn Evelyn's two remaining younger brothers into voiceless extras. Brosnan has a few genuine moments of anger (including one startling scene wherein he throttles the abusive nun) that cut through the cotton candy of the script, while Sophie Vavasseur acquits herself well enough as the impossibly self-possessed title character. Stephen Rea, generally a fine actor, barely registers, and Alan Bates hams it up egregiously, perhaps in a desperate effort to inject a little life into this predictable tale, in which barely a single moment rings true. -- Josh Ralske
"All the animals come out at night" -- and one of them is a cabby about to snap. In Martin Scorsese's classic 1970s drama, insomniac ex-Marine Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) works the nightshift, driving his cab throughout decaying mid-'70s New York City, wishing for a "real rain" to wash the "scum" off the neon-lit streets. Chronically alone, Travis cannot connect with anyone, not even with such other cabbies as blowhard Wizard (Peter Boyle). He becomes infatuated with vapid blonde presidential campaign worker Betsy (Cybill Shepherd), who agrees to a date and then spurns Travis when he cluelessly takes her to a porno movie. After an encounter with a malevolent fare (played by Scorsese), the increasingly paranoid Travis begins to condition (and arm) himself for his imagined destiny, a mission that mutates from assassinating Betsy's candidate, Charles Palatine (Leonard Harris), to violently "saving" teen hooker Iris (Jodie Foster) from her pimp, Sport (Harvey Keitel). Travis' bloodbath turns him into a media hero; but has it truly calmed his mind? Written by Paul Schrader, Taxi Driver is an homage to and reworking of cinematic influences, a study of individual psychosis, and an acute diagnosis of the latently violent, media-fixated Vietnam era. Scorsese and Schrader structure Travis' mission to save Iris as a film noir version of John Ford's late Western The Searchers (1956), aligning Travis with a mythology of American heroism while exposing that myth's obsessively violent underpinnings. Yet Travis' military record and assassination attempt, as well as Palatine's political platitudes, also ground Taxi Driver in its historical moment of American in the 1970s. Employing such techniques as Godardian jump cuts and ellipses, expressive camera moves and angles, and garish colors, all punctuated by Bernard Herrmann's eerie final score (finished the day he died), Scorsese presents a Manhattan skewed through Travis' point-of-view, where De Niro's now-famous "You talkin' to me" improv becomes one more sign of Travis' madness. Shot during a New York summer heat wave and garbage strike, Taxi Driver got into trouble with the MPAA for its violence. Scorsese desaturated the color in the final shoot-out and got an R, and Taxi Driver surprised its unenthusiastic studio by becoming a box-office hit. Released in the Bicentennial year, after Vietnam, Watergate, and attention-getting attempts on President Ford's life, Taxi Driver's intense portrait of a man and a society unhinged spoke resonantly to the mid-'70s audience -- too resonantly in the case of attempted Reagan assassin and Foster fan John W. Hinckley. Taxi Driver went on to win the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, but it lost the Best Picture Oscar to the more comforting Rocky. Anchored by De Niro's disturbing embodiment of "God's lonely man," Taxi Driver remains a striking milestone of both Scorsese's career and 1970s Hollywood. -- Lucia Bozzola
AMG REVIEW:
"I'm God's lonely man," says Travis Bickle, played by Robert De Niro in one of his finest and most memorable performances. Travis, the protagonist and focal point of Taxi Driver, is severely out of his element in New York City, though it's hard to imagine where else he would fit in; he goes through life as if the world speaks a dialect unknown to him. He seems incapable of relating to anyone beyond superficial pleasantries or casual violence, and when he does attempt to reach out to others -- to beautiful campaign manager Betsy (Cybil Shepherd), to philosophical cabbie Wizard (Peter Boyle), or to teenage runaway-turned-prostitute Iris (Jodie Foster) -- he runs into a brick wall despite his best intentions, as he can't fully comprehend others and they can't fathom him. Screenwriter Paul Schrader and director Martin Scorsese place this isolated, potentially volatile man in New York City, depicted as a grimly stylized hell on Earth, where noise, filth, directionless rage, and dirty sex (both morally and literally) surround him at all turns. When Travis attempts to transform himself into an avenging angel who will "wash some of the real scum off the street," his murder spree follows a terrible and inevitable logic: he is a bomb built to explode, like the proverbial gun which, when produced in the first act, must go off in the third. While De Niro's masterful performance brings Travis to vivid life, it's Scorsese's dynamic, idiosyncratic visual storytelling (given an invaluable assist by cinematographer Michael Chapman) that provides the perfect narrative context. Capturing New York's underbelly with a palate of reds and yellows that burn with an evil glow, Scorsese fills the story with tiny details and offhand moments that form the fully rounded reality of Travis' fallen world. If De Niro produced one of film's most troubling portraits of a lost soul, Scorsese created a painfully vivid purgatory for him to live in, and, alongside Raging Bull, Taxi Driver marks the finest work of this actor/director team. -- Mark Deming
AWARDS:
Best Actor (nom) Robert De Niro - 1976 Academy
Best Original Score (nom) Bernard Herrmann - 1976 Academy
Best Picture (nom) - 1976 Academy
Best Supporting Actress (nom) Jodie Foster - 1976 Academy
Anthony Asquith Award for Original Film Music (win) Bernard Herrmann - 1976 British Academy Awards
Best Film Martin Scorsese - 1976 British Academy Awards
Best Supporting Actress (win) Jodie Foster - 1976 British Academy Awards
Most Promising Newcomer (win) Jodie Foster - 1976 British Academy Awards
Palme d'Or (win) - 1976 Cannes International Film Festival
Best Director (nom) Martin Scorsese - 1976 Directors Guild of America
Best Actor - Drama (nom) Robert De Niro - 1976 Golden Globe
Best Screenplay (nom) Paul Schrader - 1976 Golden Globe
Best Actor (win) Robert De Niro - 1976 L.A. Film Critics Association
Best Music Score (win) Bernard Herrmann - 1976 L.A. Film Critics Association
New Generation Award (win) Jodie Foster - 1976 L.A. Film Critics Association
New Generation Award (win) Martin Scorsese - 1976 L.A. Film Critics Association
Best Actor (win) - 1976 National Society of Film Critics
Best Director (win) - 1976 National Society of Film Critics
Best Supporting Actress (win) - 1976 National Society of Film Critics
Best Actor (win) De Niro, Robert - 1976 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Direction (nom) Martin Scorsese - 1976 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Film (nom) Martin Scorsese - 1976 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Supporting Actor (nom) Harvey Keitel - 1976 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Supporting Actress (nom) Jodie Foster - 1976 New York Film Critics Circle
U.S. National Film Registry (win) - 1993 Library of Congress
100 Greatest American Movies (win) - 1998 American Film Institute
Director Joe Johnston takes over the creative reins from Steven Spielberg for this third installment in the thriller franchise. Sam Neill returns as Dr. Alan Grant, a scientist who's tricked by wealthy couple Paul and Amanda Kirby (William H. Macy and Tea Leoni) into a fly-over of Isla Sorna. The object of their sightseeing tour is one of the Costa Rican islands populated by ferocious, genetically bred dinosaurs and the "site B" setting of Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World (1997). After their plane crash-lands, it's revealed that the Kirbys are actually seeking their teenage son, lost on the island after a paragliding accident. Trapped on Isla Sorna, Grant and his companions discover some painful truths the hard way. Among their discoveries: some of the scaly monsters possess more advanced communicative abilities than previously believed, the dreaded Tyrannosaurus Rex has a larger and more lethal competitor, and flying Pteranodons pose an even graver threat than some of their land-locked brethren. Jurassic Park III is the first in the series not to be based upon a novel by original author Michael Crichton. -- Karl Williams
AMG REVIEW:
When Steven Spielberg was looking for someone to take over the helm of his dinosaur series, Joe Johnston was a natural choice. He'd already worked on the special effects for the first Star Wars trilogy and directed Honey I Shrunk the Kids and October Sky, proving his skill at working with special effects without losing sight of a story's human interest. Johnston has done the series proud, as Jurassic Park III is a non-stop action-adventure of the highest order. The director was aided by a talented cast, including William H. Macy of Fargo, Alessandro Nivola of Face/Off, the charming Téa Leoni, and Sam Neill, returning as Dr. Alan Grant from the first film. They all deliver strong performances, bringing just the right level of gravity to the wildly improbable proceedings. The script, co-written by Election's Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, was still not finished when the film started production, which makes the contribution of the actors, who were forced to improvise some of their dialogue, even more impressive. But most of the credit for the film's success goes to Johnston, editor Robert Dalva, and the technical crew (both puppeteers and CGI artists) responsible for bringing the film's real stars to life. The dinosaurs look great, especially during a thrilling battle sequence between a T-Rex and an even larger, more ferocious Spinosaurus. Johnston and Dalva do an amazing job of keeping the proceedings moving at a breakneck pace. Without the exposition of the first two films to slow it down, Jurassic Park III leaps right into the action. It's the most action-packed, kinesthetically intense film of the series. A great summer popcorn movie, clocking in at a tight 92 minutes, the film moves fast enough to create its own air conditioning. -- Josh Ralske
Ivan Reitman directed this romantic comedy-adventure that opens in New York where fast-paced magazine associate editor Robin Monroe (Anne Heche) and her boyfriend, Frank (David Schwimmer), leave for a week's vacation on a remote island. They've already been together for three years, so when Frank asks her to marry him, she says yes. For a one-day Tahiti photo shoot, Robin engages the services of South Pacific cargo pilot Quinn Harris (Harrison Ford). Robin and Quinn head off to do the shoot, but a squall forces Quinn to land his DeHavilland Beaver on the beach of a remote, unknown island. With broken landing gear, they're trapped there. Search parties set forth. Robin and Quinn cope with each other. Survival skills surface. Sexual tensions escalate. Meanwhile, back at the hotel, Frank and Quinn's girlfriend, Angelica (Jacqueline Obradors), compare concerns at the hotel bar. Several days later, the search is called off. Quinn and Robin are left to their own devices, including removing pontoons from a convenient Japanese war plane and attempting a take off. Filmed on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. -- Bhob Stewart
AMG REVIEW:
Unfairly, Six Days, Seven Nights got much of its attention because prying minds doubted that Anne Heche could convincingly play the heterosexual lead in a romantic comedy, having just come out as Ellen DeGeneres' girlfriend. That question is no less ridiculous than whether audiences would believe Harrison Ford as an island-hopping pilot because he's never taken flying lessons. Heche and Ford are charming as the stranded duo who fall for each other between bouts of contrived bantering and being chased by pirates. Concessions to silliness aside, the film is more enjoyable than it has any right to be, due in part to director Ivan Reitman's facility for coaxing natural comedy from his stars. The Hawaiian island setting provides good escapism too. Ultimately unsuccessful -- the 75-million-dollar box office was rather small for a summer release starring one of Hollywood's most bankable men -- Six Days, Seven Nights is as fun as it needs to be for a frivolous romp with few ambitions. -- Derek Armstrong
Director David Fincher's dark, stylish thriller ranks as one of the decade's most influential box-office successes. Set in a hellish vision of a New York-like city, where it is always raining and the air crackles with impending death, the film concerns Det. William Somerset (Morgan Freeman), a homicide specialist just one week from a well-deserved retirement. Every minute of his 32 years on the job is evident in Somerset's worn, exhausted face, and his soul aches with the pain that can only come from having seen and felt far too much. But Somerset's retirement must wait for one last case, for which he is teamed with young hotshot David Mills (Brad Pitt), the fiery detective set to replace him at the end of the week. Mills has talked his reluctant wife, Tracy (Gwyneth Paltrow), into moving to the big city so that he can tackle important cases, but his first and Somerset's last are more than either man has bargained for. A diabolical serial killer is staging grisly murders, choosing victims representing the seven deadly sins. First, an obese man is forced to eat until his stomach ruptures to represent gluttony, then a wealthy defense lawyer is made to cut off a pound of his own flesh as penance for greed. Somerset initially refuses to take the case, realizing that there will be five more murders, ghastly sermons about lust, sloth, pride, wrath, and envy presented by a madman to a sinful world. Somerset is correct, and something within him cannot let the case go, forcing the weary detective to team with Mills and see the case to its almost unspeakably horrible conclusion. The moody photography is by Darius Khondji; the nauseatingly vivid special effects are by makeup artist Rob Bottin, best known for more fantasy-oriented work in films like The Howling (1981). -- Robert Firsching
AMG REVIEW:
With its old cop/young cop pair trailing a brilliant psycho, Seven (1995) could have been just another serial killer movie. Director David Fincher's prodigious visual talent for choreographing an atmosphere of grim tension and evocative, partially hidden horrors, however, made it a disturbing foray into human darkness. From the jittery, unsettling credits sequence on, Seven reveals just enough of the grisly murders signifying the Bible's deadly sins, and the extremity of killer John Doe's devotion to his project, to allude to unspeakable terrors without actually showing a lot of violence. Circumspect old-timer Morgan Freeman's dedication and tyro Brad Pitt's fury both mirror the telling responses of their characters, and reveal signs of how tenuous the line is between cop and killer. Enhancing the aura of universal, unfathomable mystery shrouding Seven's unnamed city, Darius Khondji's cinematography creates a neo-noir urban murk of permanently rain-swept streets and deep interior shadows wanly pierced by flashlights that allow Doe to literally hide in plain sight from the audience before he turns himself in. Though the film divided some critics over whether it was stylishly rote depravity or tour de force filmmaking, Seven became a surprise smash, redeeming Fincher after his ill-fated debut feature, Alien 3 (1992). -- Lucia Bozzola
AWARDS:
Best Editing (nom) Richard Francis-Bruce - 1995 Academy
Best Cinematography (nom) Darius Khondji - 1995 American Society of Cinematographers
Best Cinematography (win) Darius Khondji - 1995 Chicago Film Critics Association
Best Supporting Actor (win) Kevin Spacey - 1995 National Board of Review
Best Supporting Actor (Runner-up) (win) Kevin Spacey - 1995 National Society of Film Critics
A woman serving on the jury of an anti-Mafia trial must protect herself and her young son from a psychopathic gangster in this thriller. Demi Moore stars as Annie Laird, a single mother and artist who readily agrees to do her civic duty on the jury in the trial of a major organized crime figure. She quickly comes to regret this decision when a mysterious and eccentric Mafia associate known as The Teacher (Alec Baldwin) threatens to kidnap her son and harm her friends unless she promises to vote not guilty. Fearing for their lives, she plays along, but unfortunately the Teacher shows no sign of backing away from his plans, having become personally obsessed with Annie. Unwilling to trust the authorities, Annie instead develops a plan to save her child by taking on the Teacher and the mob. Adapting a novel by George Dawes Green, the screenplay was written by Ted Tally (The Silence of the Lambs). -- Judd Blaise
AMG REVIEW:
Very similar to a slightly superior film from two years earlier, Trial by Jury (1994), this psychological thriller is rote until it becomes positively awful by veering into the simmering, psychotic attraction between a mother and her criminal torturer. As the Mafia mastermind who manipulates a single mom juror, Alec Baldwin tries his best to portray the difficult mixture of suave sophistication and mentally unhinged that made Hannibal Lecter such a fascinating character. The screenplay is even adapted from the source novel by Ted Tally, Oscar winner for his The Silence of the Lambs (1991) script. If it's all a bit predictable and made-for-TV in tone, at least it works until Baldwin's character goes 'round the bend and becomes sexually obsessed with his prey. Demi Moore is convincing enough as a single mom desperate for a little excitement in her life, but the film becomes so absurd by its conclusion that her fate is of little interest. Director Brian Gibson uses blunt, obvious narrative devices to hammer home the film's weak suspense, most offensively in a pair of scenes involving a child and a woman's suicide. The advertising tag line for The Juror (1996) was "There is no defense." At last, truth in advertising. -- Karl Williams
Based on Helen Fielding's hugely popular novel, this romantic comedy follows Bridget (Renee Zellweger), a post-feminist, thirty-something British woman who has a penchant for alcoholic binges, smoking, and an inability to control her weight. While trying to keep these things in check and also deal with her job in publishing, she visits her parents for a Christmas party. They try to set her up with Mark (Colin Firth), the visiting son of one of their neighbors. Snubbed by Mark, she instead falls for her boss Daniel {Hugh Grant), a dashing lothario who begins to send her suggestive e-mails that soon lead to a dinner date proposition. Daniel reveals that he and Mark attended college together, during which time Mark had an affair with his fiancée. When Bridget finds Daniel cavorting with an American colleague, she decides to change her life with a new job as a TV presenter. At a dinner party, she bumps into Mark again, who expresses his affection for her; when Daniel claims he wants Bridget back, the two fight over who deserves her affections the most. Popular British performers Gemma Jones, Jim Broadbent, and Shirley Henderson appear in the supporting cast. -- Jason Clark
AMG REVIEW:
The success of the best-selling novel on which this movie was based lies in author Helen Fielding's ability to make us simultaneously cringe with recognition and laugh out loud at the over-the-top failures of its spirited, single heroine. The Bridget Jones of both the book and the film weathers frustrated career ambitions, romantic flops, and frequent failures of common sense -- all with a determination that straddles the line between self-help stick-to-it-iveness and deranged masochism. In adapting her novel for the screen and turning over the direction to her friend Sharon Maguire, a documentarian, Fielding translates the essence of her story without nailing its nuances. The entire movie hinges on the performance of Renee Zellweger, who perfectly captures Bridget's cigs-and-booze bravado but overplays her wretched neediness. The actress was game enough to gain weight, wear unflattering outfits, and take over-the-top pratfalls in the name of rambunctious comedy, but her wide-open face and wounded eyes often turn the book's singular heroine into another variation on her own vulnerable screen persona. Hugh Grant has nasty fun with the role of Bridget's hollow but charming boss/boyfriend, while Colin Firth, as the standoffish Mark Darcy, grits his teeth convincingly till the final reel. Fielding and her award-winning co-writers, however, plug these characters into a standard-issue romantic-comedy triangle, reducing much of the novel's supporting cast to a series of cameos. In the end, despite its many charms, the film turns a post-feminist farce into a pre-feminist fairy tale, one where the knight in shining armor is more important than the princess' friends. -- Brian J. Dillard
AWARDS:
Best Actress (nom) Renée Zellweger - 2001 Academy
Best Actress (nom) Renée Zellweger - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) Richard Curtis - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) Helen Fielding - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) Andrew Davies - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best British Film (nom) Jonathan Cavendish - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best British Film (nom) Eric Fellner - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best British Film (nom) Tim Bevan - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Supporting Actor (nom) Colin Firth - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Actress (nom) Renée Zellweger - 2001 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best European Film (nom) - 2001 European Film Academy
Best Actress - Musical or Comedy (nom) Renée Zellweger - 2001 Golden Globe
Best Picture - Musical or Comedy (nom) - 2001 Golden Globe
Best Actress (nom) Renée Zellweger - 2001 Screen Actors Guild
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) Helen Fielding - 2001 Writers Guild of America
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) Andrew Davies - 2001 Writers Guild of America
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) Richard Curtis - 2001 Writers Guild of America
This romantic historical drama is based on the diaries of Agnes Von Kurowsky, who while serving as a nurse during World War I had a love affair with a young man who would later become one of the great literary figures of the 20th century, Ernest Hemingway. In 1918, 18-year-old Hemingway has volunteered to fight in the great war; while he goes into battle imagining it to be a lark, he soon discovers that the realities of warfare are far more grim, and during a shelling attack in Italy, his leg is severely wounded. Hemingway has taken a great deal of shrapnel, and the doctors at the field hospital decide that amputation would be the quickest and most effective way to deal with the injury. However, the idea of losing a leg horrifies Hemingway, and he pleads with Agnes (Sandra Bullock), the Austrian nurse looking after him, not to let the doctors cut off his limb. Moved by Hemingway's concern, Agnes convinces the doctors to pursue other treatments, and she looks after him during his long and difficult convalescence. Love and passion bloom between the young and naive soldier and the 26-year-old nurse, but while he's eager for her to return home with him as he follows his muse as a writer, she regards him not as the love of her life but as a passing fling and thinks that he's too young to marry. Agnes eventually sends Hemingway a "Dear John" letter; later Hemingway would use her as the basis for several characters in his novels and short stories, not always flatteringly. In Love and War was directed by Richard Attenborough, previously an Academy Award winner for Gandhi. -- Mark Deming
Actor Oliver Parker made his directorial debut with this adaptation of the tragic play by William Shakespeare that abridges the original text by half and ups the quotient of sex and violence. Laurence Fishburne stars as the Moorish general Othello, who returns a hero after crushing an invasion attempt by the Turkish army near Cyprus. Pledged to marry the lovely Desdemona (Irene Jacob), Othello ignores the advice of his intended's father, who tells him that she may have a deceptive nature. Othello's aide Iago (Kenneth Branagh), jealous over the elevation of his rival, Cassio (Nathaniel Parker, the director's real-life brother) to lieutenant, begins scheming to make Othello believe that Desdemona and Cassio are carrying on an affair. On the slimmest of evidence, Iago manages to manipulate Othello's suspicious, distrustful nature. Played previously in black face on film by actors Orson Welles and Laurence Olivier, Parker's production of Othello (1995) was the first major cinematic production to cast an African-American in the title role. -- Karl Williams
AMG REVIEW:
Oliver Parker's film version of the Shakespeare classic is unbalanced by the dominance of Kenneth Branagh's seductive Iago, who overshadows a miscast Laurence Fishburne. Although almost any Shakespeare text needs to be cut for the screen, Parker seems to have gone farther than necessary, excising much of the rhetorical grandeur to achieve a more contemporary feel. He's also injected some non-Shakespearian erotic flashbacks, giving it the patina of a noirish thriller. As the passionate Moor at the heart of the play, Fishburne, self-possessed and almost aloof, seems to be a man utterly incapable of falling into a trap. For the celebrated French actress Iréne Jacob as Desdemona, it's the complexities of Shakespeare's tongue-knotting lines that prove to be a stumbling block. Branagh, who gives the film's best and most entertaining performance, has nonetheless been given too much space by Parker, dominating the film as a sort of campy puppet master more amused by his own considerable skill at manipulation than intent on the destruction of his superior officer. Above all, one misses a venomous undercurrent, a sense of the "motiveless malignancy" that Samuel Taylor Coleridge saw as the essence of Iago's evil. -- Michael Costello
AWARDS:
Best Supporting Actor (nom) Kenneth Branagh - 1995 Screen Actors Guild
A successful career criminal considers getting out of the business after one last score, while an obsessive cop desperately tries to put him behind bars in this intelligent thriller written and directed by Michael Mann. Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) is a thief who specializes in big, risky jobs, such as banks and armored cars. He's very good at what he does; he's bright, methodical, and has honed his skills as a thief at the expense of his personal life, vowing never to get involved in a relationship from which he couldn't walk away in 30 seconds. Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) is an L.A.P.D. detective determined to catch McCauley, but while McCauley's personal code has forced him to do without a wife and children, Hanna's dedication has made a wreck of the home he's tried to have; he's been divorced twice, he's all but a stranger to his third wife, and he has no idea how to reach out to his troubled step-daughter. While McCauley has enough money to retire and is planning to move to New Zealand, he loves the thrill of robbery as much as the profit, and is blocking out plans for one more job; meanwhile, he's met a woman, Eady (Amy Brenneman), whom he's not so sure he can walk away from. The supporting cast includes Val Kilmer as Chris, one of McCauley's partners; Ashley Judd as his wife Charlene; Jon Voight as Nate; Hank Azaria as Alan Marciano; and Henry Rollins as Hugh, who is beaten up by Hanna. -- Mark Deming
AMG REVIEW:
Prior to Michael Mann's stylish crime epic, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro had appeared in only one film together, The Godfather Part II, in which they never appeared in the same scenes. Their combined star power was one of Heat's major selling points, but there's also more to the film than their onscreen meeting. As he did in Thief, Manhunter, and Last of the Mohicans, Mann ladles on a rich, visceral atmosphere. The impressive shoot-out sequence on the streets of Los Angeles has an operatic resonance that would make Sam Peckinpah, Sergio Leone, or even John Woo proud. Mann's slick direction is matched by Elliot Goldenthal's driving score and the glistening cinematography of Dante Spinotti. -- Brendon Hanley
A high-school reunion in a snowy New England town brings together a diverse band of former classmates. They include NYC pianist Willie Timothy Hutton who has found only small success playing night clubs and is considering taking a job as a supply salesman. While in town, Willie, who is having relationship problems with his girlfriend, finds himself becoming friends with 13 year-old Marty Natalie Portman. Then there's Tommy Matt Dillon, the aging jock who though seriously involved with Sharon Mira Sorvino, cannot resist the occasional walk down memory lane by sleeping with the former prom-queen Darian Lauren Holly, who is married but believes that her husband won't find out. Paul Michael Rapaport is dumped by his waitress girlfriend Jan Martha Plimpton, in part because of the swimsuit-clad supermodels plastered all over his walls. Paul then becomes attracted to Andera Uma Thurman, who is visiting her cousin Stinky Pruitt Taylor Vince, a local tavern owner. Also among the group -- Gina Rosie O'Donnell, who fancies herself a feminist counselor and who, in one of the film's highlights, delivers a poignant rant against how magazines present unrealistic images of women. -- All Movie Guide
AMG REVIEW:
Ted Demme's schmaltzy buddy romance picture amasses some good Hollywood faces, new and old. From the tender-aged teen sensation Natalie Portman to resident weirdo David Arquette to Hollywood vets Matt Dillon, Timothy Hutton, and Uma Thurman, the strength of this film is its cast -- though the performances themselves are often overwrought and sometimes exceedingly corny. Rosie O'Donnell's loudmouth busybody and Michael Rappaport's bumbling wiseacre practically steal the show. Demme borrows touches from Barry Levinson's Diner but also gives a contemporary polish to the subject matter. This film gets very few high marks for originality and substance, but it doesn't really garner any low ones either. On the whole, it's a playful piece of lighthearted fodder. -- Mike DiBella
Woody Allen wrote, directed, and stars in this very dark comedy about a novelist, Harry Block, who says with admirable honesty, "I'm a guy who can't function well in life, but I can in art." So far, Harry has made his way through six psychiatrists and three marriages (one, conveniently enough, with one of his psychiatrists), and he has precious few friends whom he hasn't alienated or betrayed. Harry uses the chaos of his life as fodder for his writing, angering his friends, lovers, and family, who find thinly veiled (and rarely flattering) portraits of themselves in his work. Drowning his growing misery in pills and sex, Harry finds himself invited to receive an award at a college in upstate New York which he attended, but never graduated from. However, he has a hard time finding anyone who will attend the weekend-long symposium with him: his girlfriend Fay (Elisabeth Shue) has just left him to marry his friend Larry (Billy Crystal); his best friend Richard (Bob Balaban) is afraid he's about to have a heart attack; his former wife/analyst Joan (Kirstie Alley) refuses to let him take their son, and his one-time sister-in-law Lucy (Judy Davis) is literally ready to kill him. Undaunted, Harry hires a hooker, Cookie (Hazelle Goodman), kidnaps his son, forces Richard to come along, and heads upstate, where disaster awaits. A stellar cast appears in small roles and episodes from Harry's stories, including Robin Williams, Demi Moore, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Eric Bogosian, Amy Irving, Richard Benjamin, Mariel Hemingway, and Julie Kavner. -- Mark Deming
AMG REVIEW:
Deconstructing Harry is Wild Strawberries (1957) New York-style, as Woody Allen looks to Ingmar Bergman again for creative inspiration, and comes up with a story that deals darkly, if hilariously, with his purported propensity for using his famously troubled personal life as fodder for his art. Once again displaying his command of the medium as well as his endless capacity for self-examination, Allen parodies his signature neuroses, references his past work, and uses jump-cuts, flashbacks, and "novelized" depictions of Harry Block's past to illuminate the blocked writer's personal travails and romantic failings. Despite the acrid tone, Allen still mines humor out of Harry's wrecked life, particularly in an imaginary trip to Hell (featuring Billy Crystal as Harry's personal Satan), and a "fictional" set piece involving Robin Williams as an actor who has literally lost his focus. Praised as a cinematic step forward after several smoothly genial comedies, Deconstructing Harry failed to break Allen's box office drought despite (or perhaps because of) its tempting air of raunchy candidness; Allen, however, did earn his 13th Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. -- Lucia Bozzola
AWARDS:
Best Original Screenplay (nom) Woody Allen - 1997 Academy
Four women look back at the girls they used to be in this warm comedy-drama. Author Samantha Albertson (Demi Moore), actress Tina Tercell (Melanie Griffith), gynecologist Roberta Martin (Rosie O'Donnell), and housewife Christina DeWitt (Rita Wilson) are friends from childhood who get together for the first time in years when Christina is about to have a baby. Seeing the old gang sends Samantha down memory lane, as she recalls the summer of 1970, when the girls were 12-years-old and edging into womanhood. Samantha (Gaby Hoffmann) is struggling with the collapse of her parent's marriage, Roberta (Christina Ricci) must deal with the death of her mother, Tina (Thora Birch) is upset over her folks' apparent disinterest in her, and Christina (Ashleigh Aston Moore) is trying to overcome her mother's disinformation campaign about sex. Together, they discuss boys and first kisses, compare notes on the physical and emotional changes they're going through, and have seances where they try to communicate with a boy who died tragically 30 years earlier. Demi Moore, whose character narrates the film, also served as producer. -- Mark Deming
Based on the best-selling novel by James Ellroy, this award-winning crime drama explores both the dark side of the Los Angeles police force and Southern California's criminal underbelly in the early '50s, when Hollywood was still seen as America's capital of sophistication, glitter, and glamour. Dudley Smith (James Cromwell) is the head of the LAPD and is loyal to his officers and eager to turn a blind eye to violence or corruption within his department, as long as it's the "bad guys" who are getting hurt. Bud White (Russell Crowe) is a police detective whose violent and cynical nature is often at war with his basic sense of decency and justice. Ed Exley (Guy Pearce) is a beat cop-turned-detective whose strict by-the-book philosophy and willingness to blow the whistle on other officers is balanced by a shrewd and opportunistic understanding of the internal politics of the department. And Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) is a flashy "Hollywood" detective who serves as technical advisor for the TV series Badge of Honor. He is also in cahoots with Sid Hudgeons (Danny DeVito), publisher of the scandal sheet Hush Hush, who throws kickbacks to Vincennes in exchange for being brought along when showbiz figures get busted. White, Exley, and Vincennes find themselves drawn into a tangled and sticky web of violence and betrayal following a multiple murder at a coffee shop that is believed to be part of an effort by Mickey Cohen (Paul Guilfoyle) to consolidate his hold on organized crime in L.A. This lead appears to be connected to the discovery of a bizarre pornography and call-girl ring operated by Pierce Patchett (David Strathairn), whose women are given plastic surgery so that they more closely resemble well-known movie stars. White's role in the investigation is complicated when he falls for Lynn Bracken (Kim Basinger), one of Patchett's prostitutes, who is the spitting image of Veronica Lake. L.A. Confidential was nominated for nine Academy Awards and won two, with Curtis Hanson (who directed) and Brian Helgeland honored for Best Adapted Screenplay and Kim Basinger taking home a statuette as Best Supporting Actress. -- Mark Deming
AMG REVIEW:
A polished policier in the tradition of Chinatown (1974), with a plot as convoluted as film noir chestnut The Big Sleep (1946), L.A. Confidential (1997) proved that it was still possible to fashion an actor-driven detective yarn in 1990s Hollywood. Adapting the story from James Ellroy's novel, director Curtis Hanson deftly captures the glamour and sleaze of post-war Los Angeles, where hookers look like movie stars and movie stars are mistaken for hookers, as an antagonistic trio of police detectives discovers how deeply ingrained the city's corruption has become. Russell Crowe's pugnacious White, Guy Pearce's smug Exley, and Kevin Spacey's smooth, celeb-struck Vincennes are all somewhat tainted, but even they cannot quite believe the rot they uncover; the accompanying gallery of rogues and innocents, including scandal mongers, prostitutes, and other cops, constantly shifts the moral order. Dante Spinotti's cinematography and Jeannine Oppewall's detailed production design lend a period sheen while richly alluding to the shadowy truth hidden by symbols of law and order. Opening to raves, particularly for the lead trio and Kim Basinger's Veronica Lake-esque pro, L.A. Confidential swept the critics' awards for Best Film and received nine Academy Award nominations. In the wake of Titanic, though, only Basinger and co-screenwriters Hanson and Brian Helgeland won statuettes. -- Lucia Bozzola
AWARDS:
Best Adapted Screenplay (win) Curtis Hanson - 1997 Academy
Best Adapted Screenplay (win) Brian Helgeland - 1997 Academy
Best Art Direction (nom) Jeannine Oppewall - 1997 Academy
Best Art Direction (nom) Jay R. Hart - 1997 Academy
Best Cinematography (nom) Dante Spinotti - 1997 Academy
Best Director (nom) Curtis Hanson - 1997 Academy
Best Dramatic Score (nom) Jerry Goldsmith - 1997 Academy
Best Editing (nom) Peter Honess - 1997 Academy
Best Picture (nom) - 1997 Academy
Best Sound (nom) Kirk A. Francis - 1997 Academy
Best Sound (nom) Andy Nelson - 1997 Academy
Best Sound (nom) Anna Behlmer - 1997 Academy
Best Supporting Actress (win) Kim Basinger - 1997 Academy
Best Cinematography (nom) Dante Spinotti - 1997 American Society of Cinematographers
Best Adapted Screenplay (win) Curtis Hanson - 1997 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Adapted Screenplay (win) Brian Helgeland - 1997 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Picture (win) - 1997 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Director (win) Curtis Hanson - 1997 Chicago Film Critics Association
Best Picture (win) - 1997 Chicago Film Critics Association
Best Screenplay (win) Curtis Hanson - 1997 Chicago Film Critics Association
Best Screenplay (win) Brian Helgeland - 1997 Chicago Film Critics Association
Best Director (nom) Curtis Hanson - 1997 Directors Guild of America
Best Director (nom) Curtis Hanson - 1997 Golden Globe
Best Dramatic Picture (nom) - 1997 Golden Globe
Best Original Score (nom) Jerry Goldsmith - 1997 Golden Globe
Best Screenplay (nom) Brian Helgeland - 1997 Golden Globe
Best Screenplay (nom) Curtis Hanson - 1997 Golden Globe
Best Supporting Actress (win) Kim Basinger - 1997 Golden Globe
Best Cinematography (win) Dante Spinotti - 1997 L.A. Film Critics Association
Best Director (win) Curtis Hanson - 1997 L.A. Film Critics Association
Best Picture (win) - 1997 L.A. Film Critics Association
Best Screenplay (win) Curtis Hanson - 1997 L.A. Film Critics Association
Best Screenplay (win) Brian Helgeland - 1997 L.A. Film Critics Association
Best Director (win) Curtis Hanson - 1997 National Board of Review
Best Picture (win) - 1997 National Board of Review
Best Director (win) Curtis Hanson - 1997 National Society of Film Critics
Best Picture (win) - 1997 National Society of Film Critics
Best Screenplay (win) Brian Helgeland - 1997 National Society of Film Critics
Best Screenplay (win) Curtis Hanson - 1997 National Society of Film Critics
Best Film (win) - 1997 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Ensemble Acting (nom) - 1997 Screen Actors Guild
Best Supporting Actress (win) Kim Basinger - 1997 Screen Actors Guild
Best Director [Runner-up] (win) Curtis Hanson - 1997 Toronto Film Critics Association
Best Picture [Runner-up] (win) - 1997 Toronto Film Critics Association
A sterling cast headed by Oscar-nominated Susan Sarandon makes this slick thriller one of the better adaptations of a John Grisham bestseller. Mark Sway (Brad Renfro) witnesses the suicide of a Mafia lawyer, who confesses that the Mob was behind the murder of a U.S. senator. Mark's brother is traumatized into a coma by the incident; gangster Barry Muldano (Anthony LaPaglia) is soon on Mark's trail, and in desperation, he arrives at the office of recovering alcoholic lawyer Reggie Love (Sarandon). With the Mob after them, and a ruthless federal attorney (Tommy Lee Jones) trying to force Mark to reveal what he knows, Love battles to guarantee the safety of her client and his family. The relationship between Reggie Love and Mark Sway is the center of the film, adding considerable character development to plot's routine elements. Director Joel Schumacher helmed another Grisham adaptation, A Time To Kill, in 1996. -- Don Kaye
AMG REVIEW:
The Client, against all logic, combined a number of dubious plot elements into a fairly entertaining thriller. The mid-'90s ushered in a glut of John Grisham adaptations that were at best guiltily entertaining (The Pelican Brief) and at worst deathly dull (The Chamber). The Client falls firmly into the former category, thanks in large part to a great cast and the straightforward direction of Joel Schumacher. When not trying too hard (Falling Down) or barely trying at all (Batman & Robin), Schumacher can keep a story moving along nicely. He's in fine form here, leading a cast in which even the minor roles are filled out by terrific actors. Similarly, the best Grisham-inspired films seem to be those with the least ambition. Without the capital punishment hand-wringing of The Chamber or the superficial racial politics of A Time to Kill (also directed by Schumacher), The Client counts as a minor but decided success. Susan Sarandon even manages to carve out a highly memorable role, playing a character whose difficult past informs her every choice. It may be more than the film needs, but it's a welcome contribution nonetheless. -- Keith Phipps
AWARDS:
Best Actress (nom) Susan Sarandon - 1994 Academy
Best Actress (nom) Susan Sarandon - 1994 Screen Actors Guild
After parodying the blaxploitation films of the 1970s in I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, Keenen Ivory Wayans takes aim at slasher films of the 1980s and 1990s in this raunchy satire, which was produced under the clumsy but inarguably appropriate title Scream If You Know What I Did Last Halloween. As you might expect, a group of teenagers -- not-terribly-bright Buffy (Shannon Elizabeth), her best friend Brenda (Regina Hall), stoner Shorty (Marlon Wayans), fey football player Ray (Shawn Wayans), loudmouthed Greg (Lochlyn Munro), sexually overexcited Bobby (Jon Abrahams), and his prim girlfriend Cindy (Anna Faris) -- are on the run from a maniacal killer who is looking for revenge after the kids accidentally kill a man following an auto accident. They also find themselves having to contend with intrusive reporter Gail Hailstorm (Cheri Oteri) and eccentric high school principal Squiggly (David L. Lander). Incidentally, the title Scary Movie is something of an inside joke: it was the working title for Scream, the movie that kick-started the mid-'90s slasher film revival. -- Mark Deming
AMG REVIEW:
Absurd, lowbrow gags form the basis for this crowd-pleasing comedy hit from co-writer and director Keenan Ivory Wayans, who finally makes a significant splash in the world of feature films after several lackluster efforts. While the relentless pace and the obsession with bodily functions, sex, and drug abuse will be familiar to fans of the Farrelly brothers, Scary Movie doesn't rise to the Farrellys' level. Particularly lacking is character development -- perhaps too strong a quibble for a film that's essentially a satire of the teen horror genre. Some sly attempts to slip socially relevant jokes into the proceedings are much appreciated, and overall Wayans has created (along with his co-starring brothers Marlon Wayans and Shawn Wayans) a reasonably funny if overly broad comedy that, while not particularly intelligent, meets the substandard requirements of its benighted, over-the-top genre. -- Karl Williams
In this psychological thriller, a needy young woman finds fulfillment by trying to literally become her successful roommate. Attractive Manhattanite Allison Jones (Bridget Fonda) has it all: a handsome beau, a rent-controlled apartment, and a promising career as a fashion designer. When boyfriend Sam (Steven Weber) proves unfaithful, Allison strikes out on her own but must use the classifieds to seek out a roommate in order to keep her spacious digs. In steps Hedra Carlson (Jennifer Jason Leigh), who's timid and frumpy but puppy-dog sweet. The self-centered Allison finds Hedra's eager friendship flattering, but soon she grows annoyed as Hedra begins emulating everything about her. After Allison gets back with Sam and asks Hedra to please vacate the premises, the pert beauty really gets to see her weird new roomie's bad side -- Hedra, it seems, is downright homicidal. Directed by Barbet Schroeder, who wowed Hollywood with Barfly and Reversal of Fortune. Single White Female was the second screenplay from future Opposite of Sex director Don Roos. -- Brian J. Dillard
AMG REVIEW:
Although it's not as distinctive as the movies that earned Barbet Schroeder his stellar American reputation, Single White Female is the most entertaining of the straight genre pieces the director filmed in the 1990s. With a wickedly literal twist on the familiar roommate-from-hell scenario, Don Roos' screenplay exploits suspense film conventions, but the gender of the players and the Alfred Hitchcock-style doubling of the plot add a welcome dose of psychological subtext to a genre that had of late become rather straightforward in Hollywood's hands. With her malleable looks and easily projected neediness, Jennifer Jason Leigh is downright creepy as Hedra, a role that gave the idiosyncratic actress cineplex exposure while still allowing her to expand her range. As Allison, Bridget Fonda isn't afraid to coast on the charm of her famous face and portray a character whose very substance is her facile nature and knack for coming out on top. The supporting characters, from Allison's boyfriend to the obligatory gay best friend, are fairly standard-issue, but this is a two-person psychodrama, not an ensemble picture. Bob Rafelson's Black Widow explored similar subject matter with a more brazenly lesbian undertone, but for a mainstream thriller, Single White Female is pretty darn edgy even while it remains solidly entertaining. -- Brian J. Dillard
AWARDS:
Best Villain (win) - 1992 MTV Movie Awards
The tale of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table is always ripe for retelling. In this rendition, the sexy Richard Gere is Sir Lancelot, threatening to supersede the aging King Arthur (Sean Connery) by winning the love of his young wife Guinivere (Julia Ormond). This update of the age-old legend succeeds on the strength of Gere's happy-go-lucky sex appeal, Ormond's gorgeous period costuming, and Connery's unbeatable wry nobility. The script focuses on the triangle of the three principals: the older man's reluctance to relinquish his love and power to the younger man destined to supplant him; the young woman torn between her loyalty to her aged husband and her love for his rival; the young man balancing the demands of loyalty to his sovereign with the rewards of true love. This beautiful production forgoes the legend's usual elements of magic and fantasy, leaving Merlin the Magician completely out of the picture. -- Laura Abraham
AMG REVIEW:
This sweeping re-imagining of the Arthurian legend boasts marvelous production design, some superior acting from Sean Connery as the leader of Camelot, and a handful of efficient, exciting action sequences skillfully directed by Jerry Zucker. Despite these positive elements, the film doesn't really work due to a trio of flaws overwhelming the material and making suspension of disbelief simply too difficult. The first is Richard Gere in the Lancelot role, an odd casting choice to say the least. Gere is simply too old, too corporate slick, and too calculating to play the virtuous, youthful man of the woods. The second problem is the film's attempt to excise the magic, sorcery, and witchcraft that is such an integral part of the source material. The Arthur mythos is nothing if not about the tension between the Old World, as represented by female-powered, earth-based paganism, and the new masculine ways symbolized by Christianity and Arthur's round-table attempts at civilized democracy-building. Here, Zucker has excised all of the former, retained the latter, and presented Arthur and his knights as a sort of lofty-minded, medieval JFK and cabinet. Such a radical departure even requires the invention of a completely new and rather pointedly named villain, Malagant, played with teeth-gnashing obviousness by Ben Cross. The third and final flaw, perhaps the film's most unforgivable, is that each character is presented as noble and upright, their struggles with infidelity not so much the result of inner flaws or delusional beliefs, but sheer proximity. The attraction between Guinevere and Lancelot can't even be called a romance since in this sexless version their passion is never consummated. In the final analysis, such radical detours from the classic and well-known source are too many and too great in degree. First Knight (1995) is an interesting attempt to present a secular humanist vision of an ancient fable, but the filmmakers have sacrificed too much of the grit, pain, and moral compromise of the traditional story elements in the name of modernization. -- Karl Williams
Embroiled in an affair with Thomas Callahan (Sam Shephard), her alcoholic professor, precocious 24-year-old Tulane University law student Darby Shaw (Julia Roberts) writes up an insightful theory about the recent murder of two Supreme Court justices, one of whom, Abraham Rosenberg (Hume Cronyn), served as Callahan's mentor. When Callahan shares this so-called "Pelican Brief" with buddy Gavin Verheek (John Heard), an FBI lawyer, the document makes its way to White House flack Fletcher Coal (Tony Goldwyn), who believes it could topple the current administration. When Callahan is murdered and the President (Robert Culp) convinces the FBI to hold off on investigating Darby's theory, the resourceful student must go into hiding, stalked by relentless assassin Khamel (Stanley Tucci). Her only hope of escaping Callahan's fate and proving her theory lies in Washington investigative reporter Gray Grantham (Denzel Washington), who's already had one confidential source back out of sharing information about the assassinations. This John Grisham adaptation is fairly faithful to the best-selling novel, but the book's interracial romance between Shaw and Grantham was left out of the script (or at least the finished product), leaving many progressive viewers annoyed at Hollywood's conservatism. Fans of HBO's Sex and the City will notice one of its future stars, Cynthia Nixon, in a small role as one of Darby's New Orleans classmates. -- Brian J. Dillard
AMG REVIEW:
For his penultimate film, the late thriller veteran Alan J. Pakula wrote, produced, and directed this overlong but engrossing suspense piece, which could have been 30 minutes shorter and still had time for a love scene between stars Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington. Instead, we get an emotive hug and a chaste kiss, but every other nuance and plot point is obsessed over in detail, leaving us with a cross between a police procedural and a political page-turner, replete with shadowy conspiracies within conspiracies. Washington and Roberts play to type, but turn in solid performances -- him as the virtuous, overachieving journalist, her as the toothy ingenue. Each gets at least one short, great moment -- Washington when Grantham blows a heated chase because a cabbie won't stop for an African-American in sweats, Roberts when Darby watches a loved one blow up before her very eyes. The real fun, though, lies not in watching the stars who must play it straight, but in savoring Stanley Tucci, portraying a chameleon-like assassin whose character owes more than a little to Edward Fox in Day of the Jackal, and Tony Goldwyn, playing the same shifty bastard he's been cast as ever since his role in 1990's Ghost. Continuing the transformation from leading man to character actor that would eventually lead to his decayed, corrupt cop character on The Sopranos, John Heard turns in solid work as the FBI lawyer who tries to help Darby. Throw in John Lithgow as a testy newspaper editor and a rogue's gallery of imperious lawyers, PR vampires, and picturesque heavies, and you've got a fun, pulpy ride that takes itself just seriously enough to convince. -- Brian J. Dillard
If a film fan had never heard of director Mike Leigh, one might explain him as a British Woody Allen. Not that Leigh's films are whimsical or neurotic; they are tough-love examinations of British life--funny, outlandish, and biting. His films share a real immediacy with Allen's work: they feel as if they are happening now. Leigh works with actors--real actors--on ideas and language. There is no script at the start (and sometimes not at the end). Secrets and Lies involves Hortense (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), an elegant black woman wanting to learn her birth mother's identity. She will find it's Cynthia (Brenda Blethyn), who is one of the saddest creatures we've seen in film. She's also one of the most real and, ultimately, one of the most lovable. Timothy Spall is Cynthia's brother, a giant man full of love who is being slowly defeated by his fastidious wife (Phyllis Logan). There is a great exuberance of life in Secrets & Lies, winner of the Palme D'Or and best actress (Blethyn) at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival--not Zorba-type life but the little battles fought and won every day. Leigh's honest interpretation of daily life is usually found only on the stage. Secrets & Lies is more realistic than a stage production, however, especially when Leigh shows us uninterrupted scenes. Critic David Denby states that Leigh has "made an Ingmar Bergman film without an instant of heaviness or pretension." If that sounds like your cup of tea, see Secrets & Lies. --Doug Thomas --This text refers to the VHS Tape edition.
One of the most beloved American films, this captivating wartime adventure of romance and intrigue from director Michael Curtiz defies standard categorization. Simply put, it is the story of Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), a world-weary ex-freedom fighter who runs a nightclub in Casablanca during the early part of WWII. Despite pressure from the local authorities, notably the crafty Capt. Renault (Claude Rains), Rick's café has become a haven for refugees looking to purchase illicit letters of transit which will allow them to escape to America. One day, to Rick's great surprise, he is approached by the famed rebel Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid) and his wife, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), Rick's true love who deserted him when the Nazis invaded Paris. She still wants Victor to escape to America, but now that she's renewed her love for Rick, she wants to stay behind in Casablanca. "You must do the thinking for both of us," she says to Rick. He does, and his plan brings the story to its satisfyingly logical, if not entirely happy, conclusion. -- Robert Firsching
AMG REVIEW:
There are many people for whom Casablanca is the greatest Hollywood movie ever made, and, while that may be going a bit far, one would be hard-pressed to think of another film in which the pieces fell together with such serendipity. It's hard to imagine a movie in which the leads are better cast: Humphrey Bogart's tough, effortless cool gives Rick the ideal balance of honor and cynicism, Ingrid Bergman's luminous beauty makes it seem reasonable that men would fight for Ilsa's affections, and Paul Henreid's Victor is cold enough that you can imagine Ilsa's being tempted by her old flame. The supporting cast is superb down the line; Claude Rains, Peter Lorre, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Dooley Wilson, and S.Z. Sakall are all so memorable that one tends to forget that none is onscreen for very long. The screenplay often walks the border of cliché, but the story has just enough twists, and the dialogue so much snap, that it stays compelling throughout. And Michael Curtiz knew just when to turn on the schmaltz and when to cut it off. Casablanca blends romance, suspense, humor, and patriotic drama with such skill that one imagines it must have happened by accident, and the movie looks better with each passing year. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll cheer, and the good guys strike a blow against Fascism -- what more could you want from a movie? -- Mark Deming
AWARDS:
10 Best Films (win) - 1942 Film Daily
Best Actor (nom) Humphrey Bogart - 1942 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Actress (nom) Ingrid Bergman - 1942 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Direction (nom) Michael Curtiz - 1942 New York Film Critics Circle
10 Best Films (win) - 1942 New York Times
Best Actor (nom) Humphrey Bogart - 1943 Academy
Best Black and White Cinematography (nom) Arthur Edeson - 1943 Academy
Best Director (win) Michael Curtiz - 1943 Academy
Best Editing (nom) Owen Marks - 1943 Academy
Best Picture (win) - 1943 Academy
Best Score - Drama or Comedy (nom) Max Steiner - 1943 Academy
Best Screenplay (win) Philip G. Epstein - 1943 Academy
Best Screenplay (win) Julius J. Epstein - 1943 Academy
Best Screenplay (win) Howard W. Koch - 1943 Academy
Best Supporting Actor (nom) Claude Rains - 1943 Academy
Best Picture (nom) - 1943 National Board of Review
U.S. National Film Registry (win) - 1988 Library of Congress
100 Greatest American Movies (win) - 1998 American Film Institute
London's most frequently eligible bachelor gets some lessons in growing up from a maladroit 12-year-old boy in this third big-screen adaptation of a Nick Hornby novel, directed and co-written by siblings Chris and Paul Weitz of American Pie fame. About a Boy concerns the parallel coming-of-age stories of the thirtysomething Will (Hugh Grant), a layabout "serial nice guy" living a posh, carefree lifestyle off his deceased father's fortune; and the preteen Marcus (Nicholas Hoult), a bright but awkward youth who's tired of his mom Fiona's (Toni Collette) depressed, boyfriend-less state. Their paths collide when Will, deciding that single mothers are the easiest romantic conquests on the dating scene, fabricates a two-year-old son and joins a group called S.P.A.T. (Single Parents Alone Together). Marcus is wise to Will's scheme, however, and through some incessant pestering and blackmail, he contrives for Will to date Fiona. Though Will doesn't hit it off immediately with either Marcus or his mother, he gradually begins to open up to the people around him -- so much so that he attracts the attention of another attractive single mom (Rachel Weisz). A U.S./U.K. co-production of Robert DeNiro's Tribeca Films and Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner's Working Title (the company responsible for the Grant-related Four Weddings and a Funeral and Bridget Jones's Diary), About a Boy was co-written by What's Eating Gilbert Grape creator Peter Hedges. -- Michael Hastings
AMG REVIEW:
A thoroughly pleasant but decidedly un-romantic comedy boasting another witty star turn from Hugh Grant, this Nick Hornby adaptation belongs to the increasingly common subgenre of hybrid British-American comedy-dramas that are easy enough going down, but may leave viewers with a few naggingly unresolved character arcs and motivations. As a funny, involving tale of redemption for a lazy, spoiled lad edging toward middle age, About a Boy succeeds. Hugh Grant is one of the few actors since Cary Grant who can remain likeable even as he's committing near-despicable acts of dishonesty, and directors Chris and Paul Weitz have found a perfect foil for him in the disarmingly guileless Nicholas Hoult. They've also managed to make their first genuinely stylish film, shot with grainy aplomb by Remi Adefarasin (less successful are editor Nick Moore's showy jump cuts and wipe transitions). But their script, written with Peter Hedges, leaves something to be desired in its romantic half. By the time About a Boy reveals the charming but ineffectual love interest Rachel Weisz, audiences may be long past the point of caring if, when, or with whom its cad of a protagonist is going to settle down. It doesn't help that the luminous Toni Collette, though saddled with a frump of a role, walks off with every scene she's in, and has unlimited depth and chemistry with Grant. Though the Weitz brothers have proven that they have heart to spare when it comes to their lovelorn heroes -- American Pie proved as much -- ultimately, they're not as democratic when it comes to some of their supporting characters, and engaging as it is, About a Boy can't help but suffer as a result. -- Michael Hastings
AWARDS:
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) Peter Hedges - 2002 Academy
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) Chris Weitz - 2002 Academy
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) Paul Weitz - 2002 Academy
Top Ten Movie of the Year (win) - 2002 American Film Institute
Best Young Performer (nom) Nicholas Hoult - 2002 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Actor - Musical or Comedy (nom) Hugh Grant - 2002 Golden Globe
Best Film - Musical or Comedy (nom) - 2002 Golden Globe
Best Supporting Actress [Runner-up] (win) Toni Collette - 2002 Toronto Film Critics Association
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) Peter Hedges - 2002 Writers Guild of America
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) Paul Weitz - 2002 Writers Guild of America
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) Chris Weitz - 2002 Writers Guild of America
Best Young Actor/Actress (nom) Nicholas Hoult - 2003 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Here's a classic Hollywood star vehicle. Up Close and Personal--the story of Tally Atwater (Michelle Pfeiffer), an inexperienced but ambitious TV news personality, and her well-weathered journalistic mentor, Warren Justice (Robert Redford)--was carefully tailored to fit its stars. What began as a screenplay based on the biography of troubled TV anchorwoman Jessica Savitch (Golden Girl, by Alanna Nash) took more than eight years to reach the screen, written and rewritten, on and off, over the years by husband-and-wife team John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion, mainly because they needed the work to qualify for the splendid Writers' Guild health-insurance plan. Although the considerable charisma of Pfeiffer and Redford go a long way, in many respects Nash's original nonfiction book (and even Dunne's peculiarly disingenuous "insider" account of the writing of the screenplay, Monster: Living Off the Big Screen) offers tales more compelling than the one that eventually made it to the screen. But, all things considered, that's a little like comparing apples and oranges, since the slick Up Close and Personal bears about as much resemblance to its gritty original source material as...well, an apple does to an orange. Critic Roger Ebert, who awarded the movie three stars, nevertheless said he was reminded of the time producer Samuel Goldwyn commissioned a screenplay about the Lindbergh kidnapping. Only, to quote Goldwyn, "it can't be about kidnapping, which is against the Code. For legal reasons, we have to change the name from Lindbergh. And the kid's father shouldn't fly." Read the book, see the movie, read the book about writing the movie. Anyone interested in how movies are made will learn an entertaining lesson about the studio system by devouring all three. --Jim Emerson --This text refers to the VHS Tape edition.
Steven Soderbergh kickstarted the independent film movement of the 1990s with this landmark drama about the tangled relationships among four people and a video camera. John (Peter Gallagher) is an unscrupulous, self-centered yuppie lawyer with a beautiful wife named Ann (Andie MacDowell). Ann feels secure and well provided-for in their relationship, but she has almost no interest in sex; she tells her therapist that she's more concerned about waste disposal. John, however, is still quite interested in sex and is having an affair with Ann's sister Cynthia (Laura San Giacomo), whose personality is fire to Ann's ice; sex is the one area in which she's been able to best her more successful sister, and she relishes her ability to seduce Ann's husband. Into this dysfunctional picture comes Graham (James Spader), a college friend of John's whom he hasn't seen in nine years. Graham has decided that talking about sex is more interesting than actually having sex, so he meets women and asks them discuss their desires and fantasies as he tapes them with a camcorder. A sensation at the Sundance Film Festival, the film made that festival a synonym for a new brand of low-budget indie dramas about contemporary life and relationships. Together with Quentin Tarantino's very different Pulp Fiction (1994), sex, lies, and videotape was one of the most influential movies for independent filmmaking of the 1990s. -- Mark Deming
AMG REVIEW:
The feature debut by 26-year-old writer/director/editor Steven Soderbergh galvanized the independent film movement of the late '80s and '90s with its breakout success leading out of the Sundance Film Festival. Soderbergh's late twentysomethings are so alienated and sexually dysfunctional that voyeuristic, videotaping onanist Graham's professions of relative healthiness ring ironically true. In these warped lives, the mediating presence of the video camera becomes a means to self-awareness, yet human connection can happen only via a machine. Winner of the Audience Prize at Sundance, sex, lies and videotape commanded international attention by winning the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival (as well as the Best Actor prize for James Spader's subtle performance as Graham), setting the stage for the award-winning prominence of American independent cinema at the Cannes festival in subsequent years. Picked up and aggressively marketed by Miramax, sex, lies and videotape grossed 26 million dollars, raising the bar for an "indie" hit, establishing Miramax as the most prominent purveyor and savvy marketer of independent film, and refocusing attention on non-Hollywood product as a vital creative and entertainment alternative to blockbusters. -- Lucia Bozzola
AWARDS:
Best Actress (win) Andie MacDowell - 1988 L.A. Film Critics Association
New Generation Award (win) Laura San Giacomo - 1988 L.A. Film Critics Association
Best Screenplay (nom) Steven Soderbergh - 1988 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Screenplay (nom) Steven Soderbergh - 1988 New York Film Critics Circle
Audience Award: Dramatic (win) Steven Soderbergh - 1988 US Film Festival (through 1989)
Best Original Screenplay (nom) Steven Soderbergh - 1989 Academy
Best Actor (win) James Spader - 1989 Cannes International Film Festival
Palme d'Or (win) - 1989 Cannes International Film Festival
Best Actress (Drama) (nom) Andie MacDowell - 1989 Golden Globe
Best Screenplay (nom) Steven Soderbergh - 1989 Golden Globe
Best Supporting Actress (nom) Laura San Giacomo - 1989 Golden Globe
Best Actor (nom) James Spader - 1989 Independent Spirit Award
Best Actress (win) Andie MacDowell - 1989 Independent Spirit Award
Best Director (win) Steven Soderbergh - 1989 Independent Spirit Award
Best Picture (win) - 1989 Independent Spirit Award
Best Supporting Actress (win) Laura San Giacomo - 1989 Independent Spirit Award
Best Picture (nom) - 1989 National Board of Review
An American woman discovers that Paris truly is the city of love -- though not in the manner she expected -- in this romantic comedy. Kate (Meg Ryan) is desperately afraid of flying, so when her fiancée Charlie (Timothy Hutton) flies to Paris on business, she must stay behind. Kate has been having second thoughts about her impending marriage, but that changes when Charlie calls her to say that the engagement is off -- he's met a beautiful French woman named Juliette (Susan Anbeh), and he's fallen in love. Determined to win Charlie back, Kate confronts her fears and hops on board the next flight to Paris, where she finds herself seated next to Luc Teyssier (Kevin Kline), a French thief who stashes some valuable jewelry in her baggage hoping to avoid capture. While Luc simply wants to get his jewels back, he pretends to be willing to help Kate find Charlie and win him back in order to keep her luggage out of harm's way, but to his surprise (as well as Kate's), the two become infatuated as they make their way through the City of Lights. Leading lady Meg Ryan also served as co-producer for this film. -- Mark Deming
AMG REVIEW:
The fourth film collaboration of director Lawrence Kasdan and actor Kevin Kline, French Kiss is also their least successful, perhaps in large part because Kasdan himself did not write it. The tug-of-war between the film's light and airy tone and the betrayal-induced desperation of the main characters makes for an unsatisfying misfire of a comedy that's neither light nor dark enough. Meg Ryan plays the same deluded yet intelligent, frazzled klutz she patented in When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle. Abandoning too much self-dignity and practical thinking to be believable, Kate (Ryan) inspires French jewelry thief Luc Teyssier (believably played by Kevin Kline) to ask the question we all want to know, "Why are you wasting your time on this ridiculous man?" The answer comes much too slowly as Kate and Luc spend most of the second act bickering as they travel together through Paris and the pastoral French countryside. The outcome is predictable and the conflict spare: the cop trailing Luc is also an old pal, Kate doesn't seem perturbed by the thief who's stolen her passport, and even philandering Charlie (a bored Timothy Hutton) gets off too easy in the end. Pockets of witty dialogue and energetic performances by Ryan and Kline make for light entertainment, but the movie as a whole is comme ci, comme ca. -- Lisa Kropiewnicki
In this Cold War spy classic, Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten), a third-rate American pulp novelist, arrives in postwar Vienna, where he has been promised a job by his old friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles). Upon his arrival, Martins discovers that Lime has been killed in a traffic accident, and that his funeral is taking place immediately. At the graveside, Martins meets outwardly affable Major Calloway (Trevor Howard) and actress Anna Schmidt (Alida Valli), who is weeping copiously. When Calloway tells Martins that the late Harry Lime was a thief and murderer, the loyal Martins is at first outraged. Gradually, he discovers not only that Calloway was right but also that the man lying in the coffin in the film's early scenes was not Harry Lime at all--and that Lime is still very much alive (he was the mysterious "third man" at the scene of the fatal accident). Thus the stage is set for the movie's famous climactic confrontation in the sewers of Vienna--and the even more famous final shot, in which Martins pays emotionally for doing "the right thing." Written by Graham Greene, The Third Man is an essential classic, made even more so by the insistent zither music of Anton Karas. The film is currently available in both an American and British release version; the American print, with an introduction by Joseph Cotten, is slightly shorter than the British version, which is narrated by director Carol Reed. Nominated for several Academy Awards, The Third Man won Best Cinematography for Robert Krasker. -- Hal Erickson
AMG REVIEW:
Carol Reed's The Third Man is one of the odder successes among international films of the late 1940s: at a time when movies were supposedly getting dulled-down, in keeping with audience sensibilities, here was a quirky movie from England, with Hitchcock-like touches and an odd sense of humor, that manages to be grim, topical, and wryly witty, while retaining, even augmenting, a good bit of author Graham Greene's sensibility. For all the film's virtues, its making was a tale of compromises turned into inspiration. Producer Alexander Korda wanted Noël Coward to play the mysterious Harry Lime, but, once Orson Welles was cast in the part, the movie became a testament to his presence and impact; he's only on screen for about a quarter of the movie, but he's the actor that everyone remembers. In fact, Welles was off shooting another movie, reporting to The Third Man only late in the shooting, and he was doubled for many scenes: that was Carol Reed's assistant, future Goldfinger director Guy Hamilton, in the black trench coat running down Vienna's darkened streets, and those were director Reed's fingers reaching through the sewer grating at the chase's end. Recasting Joseph Cotten's Holly Martins as an American in turn allowed Greene to bring to the screen for the first time his antipathy toward Americans and their bright-eyed, bushy-tailed innocence in approaching the world's problems, a theme that would manifest itself even more directly in relation to Vietnam in The Quiet American. -- Bruce Eder
AWARDS:
Best Film - Any Source Carol Reed - 1949 British Academy Awards
Grand Prix (win) - 1949 Cannes International Film Festival
Best Director (nom) Carol Reed - 1949 Directors Guild of America
Best Director (win) Carol Reed - 1949 Directors Guild of America
Best Black and White Cinematography (win) Robert Krasker - 1950 Academy
Best Director (nom) Carol Reed - 1950 Academy
Best Editing (nom) Oswald Hafenrichter - 1950 Academy
Best Foreign Film (nom) - 1950 National Board of Review
100 Greatest American Movies (win) - 1998 American Film Institute
In this military courtroom drama based on the play by Aaron Sorkin, Navy lawyer Lt. Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise) is assigned to defend two Marines, Pfc. Louden Downey (James Marshall) and Lance Cpl. Harold Dawson (Wolfgang Bodison), who are accused of the murder of fellow leatherneck Pfc. William Santiago (Michael de Lorenzo) at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Kaffee generally plea bargains for his clients rather than bring them to trial, which is probably why he was assigned this potentially embarassing case, but when Lt. Commander JoAnne Galloway (Demi Moore) is assigned to assist Kaffee, she is convinced that there's more to the matter than they've been led to believe and convinces her colleague that the case should go to court. Under questioning, Downey and Dawson reveal that Santiago died in the midst of a hazing ritual known as "Code Red" after he threatened to inform higher authorities that Dawson opened fire on a Cuban watchtower. They also state that the "Code Red" was performed under the orders of Lt. Jonathan Kendrick (Kiefer Sutherland). Kendrick's superior, tough-as-nails Col. Nathan Jessup (Jack Nicholson), denies any knowledge of the order to torture Santiago, but when Lt. Col. Matthew Markinson (J.T. Walsh) confides to Kaffee that Jessup demanded the "Code Red" for violating his order of silence, Kaffee and Galloway have to find a way to prove this in court. A Few Good Men also features Kevin Bacon as prosecuting attorney Capt. Jack Ross and Kevin Pollak as Kaffee and Galloway's research assistant, Lt. Sam Weinberg. -- Mark Deming
AMG REVIEW:
Rob Reiner's military courtroom drama is rife with over-the-top acting and emotional hyperbole. Treading the familiar cinematic paths of government cover-ups, military codes and honor, new ground is broken for mindless entertainment. The intensity and seriousness with which the ultra-glam cast of Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, Kevin Bacon, and Jack Nicholson carry on would suggest a film of grave import, but in actuality, this severe tone is so overblown as to render the film ridiculous. Ridiculous but fun, especially in the case of Jack Nicholson, who collected a big check for his role as a tough-as-nails mean marine without really breaking a sweat. Nicholson mails it in one scene then transforms into the brilliantly crazed Nicholson of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest in the next, giving this off-key drama some life and appeal. However, Cruise was less adolescent in Risky Business and Demi Moore is flat and lifeless. Kevin Bacon and Kevin Pollack give heads-up supporting performances to level things off a bit. Part of an early '90s outbreak of word-mincing suspense dramas, using finish-the-other guy's-sentence dialogue a great deal, A Few Good Men proved again that Reiner is a filmmaker who knows what the public likes. Of course, appealing to the masses may sell tickets but does not necessarily make for great cinema. -- Mike DiBella
AWARDS:
Best Editing (nom) Robert Leighton - 1992 Academy
Best Picture (nom) - 1992 Academy
Best Sound (nom) Robert Eber - 1992 Academy
Best Sound (nom) Rick Kline - 1992 Academy
Best Sound (nom) Kevin O'Connell - 1992 Academy
Best Supporting Actor (nom) Jack Nicholson - 1992 Academy
Best Cinematography (nom) Robert Richardson - 1992 American Society of Cinematographers
Best Director (nom) Rob Reiner - 1992 Directors Guild of America
Best Actor (Drama) (nom) Tom Cruise - 1992 Golden Globe
Best Director (nom) Rob Reiner - 1992 Golden Globe
Best Film (Drama) (nom) - 1992 Golden Globe
Best Screenplay (nom) Aaron Sorkin - 1992 Golden Globe
Best Supporting Actor (nom) Jack Nicholson - 1992 Golden Globe
Best Film (win) - 1992 MTV Movie Awards
Best Picture (nom) - 1992 National Board of Review
Best Supporting Actor (win) Jack Nicholson - 1992 National Board of Review
Best Film - 1992 PEO
Best Film (in Drama) - 1992 PEO
Best Supporting Actor (win) - 1993 CHI
Filmed with the usual meticulous attention to period and detail of films from Ismail Merchant and James Ivory, Remains of the Day is based on a novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. Anthony Hopkins plays Stevens, the "perfect" butler to a prosperous British household of the 1930s. He is so unswervingly devoted to serving his master, a well-meaning but callow British lord (James Fox), that he shuts himself off from all emotions and familial relationships. New housekeeper Miss Kenton (Emma Thompson) tries to warm him up and awaken his humanity. But when duty calls, Stevens won't even attend his own dying father's last moments on earth. The butler also refuses to acknowledge the fact that his master is showing signs of pro-Nazi sentiments. Disillusioned by Hitler's duplicity, the master dies an embittered man, and only then does Stevens come to realize how his own silence has helped bring about this sad situation. Years later, regretting his lost opportunities in life, he tries once more to make contact with Miss Kenton, the only person who'd ever cared enough to seek out the human being inside the butler's cold veneer. -- Hal Erickson
AMG REVIEW:
While somewhat overshadowed by the box-office performance of Howards End (1992), The Remains of the Day received nine Academy Award nominations and finds Merchant and Ivory at the top of their game. On the eve of World War II, almost everyone in The Remains of the Day seems committed to tired traditions that adhere to a rigid formality. Anthony Hopkins masterfully portrays Stevens' proper exterior, communicating the butler's emotional sterility in "real life" situations through small gestures. Emma Thompson beautifully plays Miss Kenton and once again proves the ideal partner for Hopkins. Their failed relationship (failed because it never even gets started) perfectly underlines the regret that saturates The Remains of the Day. The deeper tragedy, however, lies in the fact that Stevens, Miss Kenton, and Lord Darlington (James Fox) all become conscious of the mistakes they have made, but seem incapable of altering their way of life. Social adherence to tradition and class distinctions has led to an inability to adapt to the modern world. The Remains of the Day displays the same close attention to period detail and lovely cinematography that viewers have come to expect from Merchant and Ivory productions, and the screenplay has once again been adapted by the sure hand of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. -- Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr.
AWARDS:
Best Actor (win) Anthony Hopkins - 1992 L.A. Film Critics Association
Best Actor (nom) Anthony Hopkins - 1992 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Actor (nom) Anthony Hopkins - 1992 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Actor (nom) Anthony Hopkins - 1993 Academy
Best Actress (nom) Emma Thompson - 1993 Academy
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) Ruth Prawer Jhabvala - 1993 Academy
Best Art Direction (nom) Luciana Arrighi - 1993 Academy
Best Costume Design (nom) John Bright - 1993 Academy
Best Costume Design (nom) Beaven, Jenny - 1993 Academy
Best Director (nom) James Ivory - 1993 Academy
Best Picture (nom) - 1993 Academy
Best Score (nom) Richard Robbins - 1993 Academy
Best Actor (nom) Anthony Hopkins - 1993 British Academy Awards
Best Actress (nom) Emma Thompson - 1993 British Academy Awards
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) Ruth Prawer Jhabvala - 1993 British Academy Awards
Best Director (David Lean Award) (nom) James Ivory - 1993 British Academy Awards
Best Film (nom) James Ivory - 1993 British Academy Awards
Best Director (nom) James Ivory - 1993 Directors Guild of America
Best Actor (Drama) (nom) Anthony Hopkins - 1993 Golden Globe
Best Actress (Drama) (nom) Emma Thompson - 1993 Golden Globe
Best Director (nom) James Ivory - 1993 Golden Globe
Best Film (Drama) (nom) - 1993 Golden Globe
Best Screenplay (nom) Ruth Prawer Jhabvala - 1993 Golden Globe
Best Actor (win) Anthony Hopkins - 1993 National Board of Review
Best Picture (nom) - 1993 National Board of Review
Best Actor (Runner-up) (win) Anthony Hopkins - 1993 National Society of Film Critics
Best Actor (win) Anthony Hopkins - 1994 British Academy Awards
Based on Bram Stoker's classic 1897 novel, this film from Francis Ford Coppola and screenwriter James Victor Hart offers a full-blooded portrait of the immortal Transylvanian vampire. The major departure from Stoker is one of motivation as Count Dracula (Gary Oldman) is motivated more by romance than by bloodlust. He punctures the necks as a means of avenging the death of his wife in the 15th century, and when he comes to London, it is specifically to meet heroine Mina Harker (Winona Ryder), the living image of his late wife (Ryder plays a dual role, as do several of her costars). Anthony Hopkins is obsessed vampire hunter Van Helsing, while Keanu Reeves takes on the role of Jonathan Harker, and Tom Waits plays bug-eating Renfield. Bram Stoker's Dracula was the winner of three Academy Awards. -- Hal Erickson
AMG REVIEW:
One of the most commercially successful horror films of all time, Francis Ford Coppola's reinterpretation of the legendary vampire story isn't really a horror film at all. Despite a powerful opening sequence, amazing special effects, and a brief scene of a lycanthropic wolf-beast having sex, this version strips away most of the scares and sex in favor of romance. Rather than the powerful, feral sexuality of previous screen Draculas -- Christopher Lee comes to mind -- Gary Oldman's performance hinges on sadness, longing, and the memory of his murdered wife. Those familiar with horror archetypes might even argue that this is a mummy film in vampire's clothing. Critics were quick to praise Coppola for his faithfulness to Bram Stoker's novel, but, in re-creating its detail, he may have missed its essence: the vampire is not a romantic anti-hero, but a dark representation of sexual taboo. -- Robert Firsching
AWARDS:
Best Art Direction (nom) Garry Lewis - 1992 Academy
Best Art Direction (nom) Thomas Sanders - 1992 Academy
Best Costume Design (win) Eiko Ishioka - 1992 Academy
Best Makeup (win) Matthew Mungle - 1992 Academy
Best Makeup (win) Greg Cannom - 1992 Academy
Best Makeup (win) Michele Burke - 1992 Academy
Best Sound Effects (win) Tom C. McCarthy - 1992 Academy
Best Sound Effects (win) David E. Stone - 1992 Academy
William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) is on a cold streak. Not only is he writing for Philip Henslowe (Geoffrey Rush), owner of "The Rose," a theatre whose doors are about to be closed by sadistic creditors, but he's got a nasty case of writer's block. Shakespeare hasn't written a hit in years. In fact, he hasn't written much of anything recently. Thus, the Bard finds himself in quite a bind when Henslowe, desperate to stave off another round of hot-coals-to-feet application, stakes The Rose's solvency on Shakespeare's new comedy, "Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter." The problem is, "Romeo" is safely "locked away" in Shakespeare's head, which is to say that not a word of it is written. Meanwhile, the lovely Lady Viola (Gwyneth Paltrow) is an ardent theatre-goer -- scandalous for a woman of her breeding -- who especially admires Shakespeare's plays and, not incidentally, Bill himself. Alas, she's about to be sold as property into a loveless marriage by her mercenary father and shipped off to a Virginia tobacco plantation. But not before dressing up as a young man and winning the part of Romeo in the embryonic play. Shakespeare soon discovers the deception and goes along with it, using the blossoming love affair to ignite his muse. As William and Viola's romance grows in intensity and spirals towards its inevitable culmination, so, too, does the farcical comedy about Romeo and pirates transform into the timeless tragedy that is Romeo and Juliet. -- Merle Bertrand
AMG REVIEW:
In a decade in which Shakespearean subjects had become increasingly popular, John Madden's Shakespeare In Love ripped the envelope and then some. Madden's treatment of Marc Norman's and Tom Stoppard's screenplay reminded audiences that Shakespeare's plays were works of flesh and blood, and their playwright a living, breathing human being who faced practical problems and used his best creative impulses, sometimes on the spur of the moment, to solve them. Joseph Fiennes's Shakespeare is a realistically human portrayal, the jumping-off point for one of the more robustly believable movie depictions of Elizabethan life, true to history in large measure, yet not afraid to allow some laughter and incorporate a historical conceit or two in telling its story. The movie won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Gwyneth Paltrow as Best Actress, and Judi Dench in a brief but memorable turn as Queen Elizabeth, revealed to be as quirkily and dimensionally human as Shakespeare himself. -- Bruce Eder
AWARDS:
Best Actress (win) Gwyneth Paltrow - 1998 Academy
Best Art Direction (win) Jill Quertier - 1998 Academy
Best Art Direction (win) Martin Childs - 1998 Academy
Best Cinematography (nom) Richard Greatrex - 1998 Academy
Best Costume Design (win) Sandy Powell - 1998 Academy
Best Director (nom) John Madden - 1998 Academy
Best Editing (nom) David Gamble - 1998 Academy
Best Makeup (nom) Lisa Westcott - 1998 Academy
Best Makeup (nom) Veronica Brebner - 1998 Academy
Best Musical or Comedy Score (win) Stephen Warbeck - 1998 Academy
Best Original Screenplay (win) Marc Norman - 1998 Academy
Best Original Screenplay (win) Tom Stoppard - 1998 Academy
Best Picture (win) - 1998 Academy
Best Sound (nom) Peter Glossop - 1998 Academy
Best Sound (nom) Dominic Lester - 1998 Academy
Best Sound (nom) Robin O'Donoghue - 1998 Academy
Best Supporting Actor (nom) Geoffrey Rush - 1998 Academy
Best Supporting Actress (win) Judi Dench - 1998 Academy
Best Cinematography (nom) Richard Greatrex - 1998 American Society of Cinematographers
Best Original Screenplay (win) Tom Stoppard - 1998 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Original Screenplay (win) Marc Norman - 1998 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Breakthrough Performer (win) Joseph Fiennes - 1998 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Screenplay (win) Tom Stoppard - 1998 Chicago Film Critics Association
Best Screenplay (win) Marc Norman - 1998 Chicago Film Critics Association
Most Promising Actor (win) Joseph Fiennes - 1998 Chicago Film Critics Association
Best Director (nom) John Madden - 1998 Directors Guild of America
Best Actress in Musical or Comedy (win) Gwyneth Paltrow - 1998 Golden Globe
Best Picture (Musical or Comedy) (win) - 1998 Golden Globe
Best Screenplay (win) Marc Norman - 1998 Golden Globe
Best Screenplay (win) Tom Stoppard - 1998 Golden Globe
Best Screenplay (win) Marc Norman - 1998 L.A. Film Critics Association
Best Picture (nom) - 1998 National Board of Review
Best Screenplay (Runner-up) (win) Tom Stoppard - 1998 National Society of Film Critics
Best Screenplay (Runner-up) (win) Marc Norman - 1998 National Society of Film Critics
Best Supporting Actress (win) Judi Dench - 1998 National Society of Film Critics
Best Actor (nom) Joseph Fiennes - 1998 Screen Actors Guild
Best Actress (win) Gwyneth Paltrow - 1998 Screen Actors Guild
Best Ensemble Acting (win) - 1998 Screen Actors Guild
Best Supporting Actor (nom) Geoffrey Rush - 1998 Screen Actors Guild
Best Supporting Actress (nom) Judi Dench - 1998 Screen Actors Guild
Best Actress [Runner-up] (win) Gwyneth Paltrow - 1998 Toronto Film Critics Association
Silver Bear for Outstanding Individual Performance (win) Marc Norman - 1999 Berlin International Film Festival
Silver Bear for Outstanding Individual Performance (win) Tom Stoppard - 1999 Berlin International Film Festival
It was Richard Attenborough's lifelong dream to bring the life story of Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi to the screen. When it finally reached fruition in 1982, the 188-minute, Oscar-winning Gandhi was one of the most exhaustively thorough biopics ever made. The film begins in the early part of the 20th century, when Mohandas K. Gandhi (Ben Kingsley), a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of "passive resistance," endeavoring to win freedom for his people without resorting to bloodshed. In the horrendous "slaughter" sequence, more extras appear on screen than in any previous historical epic. The supporting cast includes Candice Bergen as photographer Margaret Bourke-White, Athol Fugard as General Smuts, John Gielgud as Lord Irwin, John Mills as the viceroy, Martin Sheen as Walker, Trevor Howard as Judge Broomfield, and, in a tiny part as a street bully, star-to-be Daniel Day-Lewis. Gandhi won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Director. -- Hal Erickson
AMG REVIEW:
Gandhi is a worshipful tribute to one of the 20th century's greatest leaders with Ben Kingsley giving a superb performance in the title role. Produced and directed on a grand scale by Richard Attenborough, the film sacrifices the complexities of history for an inspirational focus on its subject. Critics frequently cite the film's dismissal of supporting character development among its weaknesses, with the strongest objections reserved for Candice Bergen's miscast performance as photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White. Nonetheless, the film transcends the typical biopic with vivid recreations of important incidents from Gandhi's life. More than 300,000 extras, most of them unpaid volunteers, are said to have taken part in the funeral sequence, which occupies only slightly more than two minutes of the film. As was widely predicted, the film swept the Oscars, winning eight, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Director. -- Richard Gilliam
AWARDS:
Best Actor (win) Ben Kingsley - 1982 Academy
Best Art Direction (win) Bob Laing - 1982 Academy
Best Art Direction (win) Michael Seirton - 1982 Academy
Best Art Direction (win) Stuart Craig - 1982 Academy
Best Cinematography (nom) Ronnie Taylor - 1982 Academy
Best Cinematography (win) Billy Williams - 1982 Academy
Best Costume Design (win) Bhanu Athaiya - 1982 Academy
Best Costume Design (win) John Mollo - 1982 Academy
Best Director (win) Richard Attenborough - 1982 Academy
Best Editing (win) John Bloom - 1982 Academy
Best Makeup (nom) Tom Smith - 1982 Academy
Best Original Score (nom) George Fenton - 1982 Academy
Best Original Score (nom) Ravi Shankar - 1982 Academy
Best Original Screenplay (win) John Briley - 1982 Academy
Best Picture (win) - 1982 Academy
Best Sound (nom) Jonathan Bates - 1982 Academy
Best Sound (nom) Simon Kaye - 1982 Academy
Best Sound (nom) Gerry Humphreys - 1982 Academy
Best Sound (nom) O'Donoughue, Robin - 1982 Academy
Best Actor (win) Ben Kingsley - 1982 British Academy Awards
Best Direction (win) Richard Attenborough - 1982 British Academy Awards
Best Film (win) Richard Attenborough - 1982 British Academy Awards
Best Supporting Actress (win) Rohini Hattangady - 1982 British Academy Awards
Best Director (win) Richard Attenborough - 1982 Directors Guild of America
Best Actor - Drama (win) Ben Kingsley - 1982 Golden Globe
Best Director (win) Richard Attenborough - 1982 Golden Globe
Best Foreign Film (win) - 1982 Golden Globe
Best Screenplay (win) John Briley - 1982 Golden Globe
New Star of the Year - Male (win) Ben Kingsley - 1982 Golden Globe
Best Actor (win) Ben Kingsley - 1982 L.A. Film Critics Association
Best Actor (win) Ben Kingsley - 1982 National Board of Review
Best Picture (win) - 1982 National Board of Review
Best Actor (win) Ben Kingsley - 1982 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Film (win) Richard Attenborough - 1982 New York Film Critics Circle
Anthony Minghella wrote and directed this award-winning adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's novel about a doomed and tragic romance set against the backdrop of World War II. In a field hospital in Italy, Hana (Juliette Binoche), a nurse from Canada, is caring for a pilot who was horribly burned in a plane wreck; he has no identification and cannot remember his name, so he's known simply as "the English Patient," thanks to his accent. When the hospital is forced to evacuate, Hana determines en route that the patient shouldn't be moved far due to his fragile condition, so the two are left in a monastery to be picked up later. In time, Hana begins to piece together the patient's story from the shards of his memories; he's actually Count Laszlo Almasy (Ralph Fiennes), of Hungarian nobility and an explorer working with a group mapping uncharted territory in North Africa. An Englishman, Geoffrey Clifton (Colin Firth), soon joins Almasy's team; travelling with him is his lovely and spirited wife, Katherine (Kristin Scott Thomas). Katherine and Laszlo soon fall in love, which leads Laszlo to betray his friend, his country and all that is dear to him. Meanwhile, Hana and the Patient are joined by Kip (Naveen Andrews), a Sikh with a gift for defusing mines, and Caravaggio (Willem Dafoe), an intelligence agent who knows some of Laszlo's most shameful secrets. The English Patient won nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actress (Juliette Binoche). -- Mark Deming
AMG REVIEW:
The English Patient is admired for the lush, romantic texture of its story and for its visual richness. It is a complex and rewarding film, meticulously produced and featuring superb performances from an ensemble cast, particularly Juliette Binoche, whose upset Oscar win as Best Supporting Actress (over sentimental favorite Lauren Bacall) is one aspect of the film that has never been significantly under question. It is also fair to say that few films have had so quick a downward re-evaluation. The winner of nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture, the film was released to a smartly designed marketing campaign of snob appeal that overwhelmed the Oscar voting season. There arose an immediate and continuing consensus that nine Oscars may have been too many for this romantic war epic and that Fargo was the greater and more lasting work of 1996. Producer Saul Zaentz was the primary creative force behind the film, obtaining the financing and bringing together an unusually talented team of top-notch actors and tech personnel. The film was marketed as a triumph of "independent" filmmaking, even though it was essentially financed and distributed by its corporate parent, studio giant Disney. -- Richard Gilliam
AWARDS:
Best Actor (nom) Ralph Fiennes - 1996 Academy
Best Actress (nom) Kristin Scott Thomas - 1996 Academy
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) Anthony Minghella - 1996 Academy
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (win) Stephenie McMillan - 1996 Academy
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (win) Stuart Craig - 1996 Academy
Best Cinematography (win) John Seale - 1996 Academy
Best Costume Design (win) Ann Roth - 1996 Academy
Best Director (win) Anthony Minghella - 1996 Academy
Best Dramatic Score (win) Gabriel Yared - 1996 Academy
Best Editing (win) Walter Murch - 1996 Academy
Best Picture (win) Saul Zaentz - 1996 Academy
Best Sound (win) Walter Murch - 1996 Academy
Best Sound (win) Mark Berger - 1996 Academy
Best Sound (win) Newman, Chris - 1996 Academy
Best Sound (win) Parker, David - 1996 Academy
Best Supporting Actress (win) Juliette Binoche - 1996 Academy
Best Cinematography (win) John Seale - 1996 American Society of Cinematographers
Best Director (win) Anthony Minghella - 1996 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Screenplay (win) Anthony Minghella - 1996 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Cinematography (win) John Seale - 1996 Chicago Film Critics Association
Best Director (win) Anthony Minghella - 1996 Directors Guild of America
Best Drama (win) - 1996 Golden Globe
Best Score (win) Gabriel Yared - 1996 Golden Globe
Best Cinematography (win) John Seale - 1996 L.A. Film Critics Association
Best Picture (nom) - 1996 National Board of Review
Best Supporting Actress (win) Juliette Binoche - 1996 National Board of Review
Best Supporting Actress (win) Kristin Scott Thomas - 1996 National Board of Review
Best Actor (nom) Ralph Fiennes - 1996 Screen Actors Guild
Best Actress (nom) Kristin Scott Thomas - 1996 Screen Actors Guild
Best Ensemble Acting (nom) - 1996 Screen Actors Guild
Best Supporting Actress (nom) Juliette Binoche - 1996 Screen Actors Guild
Silver Bear for Best Actress (win) Juliette Binoche - 1997 Berlin International Film Festival
Best Actress (win) Juliette Binoche - 1997 European Film Academy
Best Cinematographer (win) John Seale - 1997 European Film Academy
Best Foreign Film (nom) - 1997 French Academy of Cinema
Six guys with nothing left to lose try losing their clothing for fun and profit in this international hit comedy. Gaz (Robert Carlyle) and Dave (Mark Addy) are two former steelworkers in the British industrial town of Sheffield who have been devastated by the economic downturn in their community. Gaz is threatened with losing visitation rights with his son if he can't pay his child support, while Dave feels emasculated by his inability to support his wife. One day, Gaz stops by a local pub for a drink and is told it's women only tonight -- the Chippendales male exotic dancing troupe is playing, and they are demanding a hefty cover charge. Gaz decides there's nothing a bunch of pantywaists from America can do that he and his pals can't do better, and decides to form his own crew of male strippers, called "Hard Steel." However, the local talent pool leaves a bit to be desired. Gaz isn't bad looking, but Dave is a bit heavy and very self conscious about it. Horse (Paul Barber) was probably hot stuff at Soul Night in the mid-70's, but his joints don't move like they used to. Guy (Hugo Speer) can't dance to save his life, but makes the troupe because ... well, let's say he and Dirk Diggler would have a lot to say to each other. Lomper (Steve Huison) is sometimes too busy attempting suicide to practice. And Gerald (Tom Wilkinson), their choreographer, isn't much on male exotic dancing -- ballroom dancing is more his speed. While "Hard Steel"'s performances are more amusing then enticing, for the first time since they lost their jobs the men have a reason to get up in the morning; joining the group has given them a circle of friendship, and a renewed sense of purpose. Combining broad comedy with believable and well-drawn characters, The Full Monty was a major box-office hit both in England and the United States and was nominated for Academy Awards as Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. -- Mark Deming
AMG REVIEW:
The Full Monty is a pleasant blend of British working-class comedy and socially conscious drama similar in tone and theme to Raining Stones (1993) or Brassed Off (1996). Thoroughly entertaining, the film also has a deeper message about the economic dilemma between need and self-respect. Though many films have featured protagonists caught between survival and crime, this may be the first film to subject its hero to the choice between survival or stripping. Is the emasculation of poverty worse than the emasculation of revealing it all in a pub? It's a light question, but director Peter Cattaneo and screenwriter Simon Beaufoy generate enough human drama to connect with American as well as English audiences. Robert Carlyle's warm turn as the down-and-out leader of the bunch of low-rent Chippendales was a revelation to audiences who knew him best as the psychopathic Begbie from Trainspotting (1996). The low-budget production was a surprise hit with the American Motion Picture Academy, nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. -- Brendon Hanley
AWARDS:
Best Director (nom) Peter Cattaneo - 1997 Academy
Best Musical or Comedy Score (win) Anne Dudley - 1997 Academy
Best Original Screenplay (nom) Simon Beaufoy - 1997 Academy
Best Picture (nom) - 1997 Academy
Best European Film (win) - 1997 European Film Academy
Best Foreign Film (nom) - 1997 French Academy of Cinema
Best Musical or Comedy Picture (nom) - 1997 Golden Globe
Best Picture (nom) - 1997 National Board of Review
Best Ensemble Acting (win) - 1997 Screen Actors Guild
The launching pad for Billy Wilder's comedy classic was a rusty old German farce, Fanfares of Love, whose two main characters were male musicians so desperate to get a job that they disguise themselves as women and play with an all-girl band in gangster-dominated 1929 Chicago. In this version, musicians Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon) lose their jobs when a speakeasy owned by mob boss Spats Columbo (George Raft) is raided by prohibition agent Mulligan (Pat O'Brien). Several weeks later, on February 14th, Joe and Jerry get a job perfroming in Urbana and end up witnessing a gangland massacre in a parking garage. Fearing that they will be next on the mobsters' hit lists, Joe devises an ingenious plan for disguising their identities. Soon they are all dolled up and performing as Josephine and Daphne in Sweet Sue's all-girl orchestra. En route to Florida by train with Sweet Sue's band, the boys (girls?) make the acquaintance of Sue's lead singer Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe, in what may be her best performance). Joe and Jerry immediately fall in love, though of course their new feminine identities prevent them from acting on their desires. Still, they are determined to woo her, and they enact an elaborate series of gender-bending ruses complicated by the fact that flirtatious millionaire Osgood Fielding (Joe E. Brown) has fallen in love with "Daphne." The plot gets even thicker when Spats Columbo and his boys show up in Florida. Nominated for several Oscars, Some Like It Hot ended up the biggest moneymaking comedy up to 1959. Full of hilarious set pieces and movie in-jokes, it has not tarnished with time and in fact seems to get better with each passing year, as its cross-dressing humor keeps it only more and more up-to-date. -- Hal Erickson
AMG REVIEW:
Possibly the best cross-dressing film of all time, Some Like It Hot is a testament to both the humor of hairy men in heels and Billy Wilder's ability to stretch a one-joke premise into a two-hour film. Still hilarious after all these years, Some Like It Hot was remarkably ahead of its time, providing both timeless laughs and sly gender commentary. The film also stands out as a classic example of the heights to which all-out farce can aspire, achieving an uncontrived giddiness through both plot manipulation and the finely tuned work of its performers. As the film's reluctantly dragged-up musicians, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis give almost flawless fish-out-of-water performances. Their frustrated befuddlement when confronted with the terrors of walking in heels or adjusting fake breasts still feels fresh and unforced, unlike the self-conscious posturing of other actors in subsequent drag films. As the aptly named Sugar Kane, Marilyn Monroe is at her bubble-headed, sexy best, her voluptuous sensuality providing a perfect foil for Lemmon and Curtis. One of Wilder's best films, Some Like It Hot retains its intergenerational appeal, proving that under the frothy icing of 1950s sex comedies lurked some very dense cake. Some Like It Hot remains one of the few films that can still make drag seem a novel and innovative subject. -- Rebecca Flint
AWARDS:
Best Actor (nom) Jack Lemmon - 1959 Academy
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) I.A.L. Diamond - 1959 Academy
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) Billy Wilder - 1959 Academy
Best Black and White Art Direction (nom) Edward S. Haworth - 1959 Academy
Best Black and White Art Direction (nom) Edward Boyle - 1959 Academy
Best Black and White Cinematography (nom) Charles B. Lang - 1959 Academy
Best Black and White Costume Design (win) Orry-Kelly - 1959 Academy
Best Director (nom) Billy Wilder - 1959 Academy
Best British Film Billy Wilder - 1959 British Academy Awards
Best Foreign Actor (win) Jack Lemmon - 1959 British Academy Awards
Best Director (nom) Billy Wilder - 1959 Directors Guild of America
Best Actor - Musical or Comedy (win) Jack Lemmon - 1959 Golden Globe
Best Actress - Musical or Comedy (win) Marilyn Monroe - 1959 Golden Globe
Best Picture - Comedy (win) - 1959 Golden Globe
Best Picture (nom) - 1959 National Board of Review
Best Actor (nom) Jack Lemmon - 1959 New York Film Critics Circle
U.S. National Film Registry (win) - 1988 Library of Congress
100 Greatest American Movies (win) - 1998 American Film Institute
In this romantic comedy-drama, a couple learns that the relationship between the mind and the body can take many different forms. Rose Morgan (Barbra Streisand) is a plain and pudgy middle-aged college English professor who shares a house with her mother, Hannah (Lauren Bacall). Rose got the brains in her family, but her sister Claire (Mimi Rogers) got the good looks, and as Claire prepares for her wedding to Alex (Pierce Brosnon), Rose can't help but despair over the blank page that is her love life, especially since she's long had a crush on Alex. Gregory Larkin (Jeff Bridges) teaches mathematics at the same school as Rose, and he has come to the conclusion that sex serves no purpose but to complicate relationships between men and women; after a series of disastrous romantic affairs, Gregory is looking for an intellectual relationship with a woman -- and nothing more. One day, Gregory passes by Rose's lecture hall as she discusses the role of chaste love in literature, and he's intrigued; he takes her out on a date and is impressed by Rose's quick wit and broad range of knowledge. Gregory is so taken with Rose that he proposes marriage, but under the condition that theirs be strictly a meeting of the minds, without sexual relations. While Rose is very much attracted to the handsome mathematician, the prospect of spending the rest of her life either alone or with Hannah seems far worse than a marriage without passion, and she agrees to his proposal. However, Rose's affection for Gregory makes it difficult for her to stop with a handshake, and one night she puts on her best nightgown and attempts to seduce her husband, much to Gregory's annoyance and confusion. Gregory leaves on a lecture tour shortly afterward, and after Hannah reassures a heartbroken Rose that she was beautiful as a child, Rose goes on a crash course in self improvement. She goes on a diet, starts working out, changes her hairstyle, learns a few makeup tricks, and revamps her wardrobe, and by the time Gregory returns, he discovers that there's a very different woman in the twin bed next to his own. The Mirror Has Two Faces, based on the 1958 French comedy Le Miror a Deux Faces, was Barbra Streisand's third project as a director; she also served as co-producer and helped compose the film's theme song, "I Finally Found Someone." -- Mark Deming
AMG REVIEW:
The Mirror Has Two Faces finds Barbra Streisand making the mature choice, as both an actor and a director, to look at herself objectively, and cast herself accordingly. The result is a welcome addition to the genre of relationship films featuring self-deprecating New Yorkers. By finally acknowledging that she is the brains of the family, and casting another actress (Mimi Rogers) as the looks, Streisand frees herself up for some wickedly personal humor that strikes a deeper chord for its honesty. Richard LaGravenese's writing shines most brightly during Streisand's lectures to her university students, which also showcase her acting at its most natural and relaxed. In several masterful scenes, she couches the film's themes in the language of classroom debate, as insightful as it is irreverent, and all the more impressive because it demonstrates her easy nature and sharp sense of humor. There's plenty of humor beyond the classroom walls, from Streisand's ironic laments ("Why put makeup on? It's still me, only in color") to the physical and emotional awkwardness of Jeff Bridges' fuddy-duddy. Streisand does revert to "aren't I pretty?" mode on occasion, as when her elaborate makeover proves enough to win the affections of the shallow hunk played by Pierce Brosnan. For the most part, however, The Mirror Has Two Faces is a smart consideration of the regrettable dichotomy between intellectual and physical love, and whether it is okay to settle for one if you can't have the other. -- Derek Armstrong
AWARDS:
Best Song (nom) Marvin Hamlisch - 1996 Academy
Best Song (nom) Bryan Adams - 1996 Academy
Best Song (nom) Robert John Lange - 1996 Academy
Best Song (nom) Barbra Streisand - 1996 Academy
Best Supporting Actress (nom) Lauren Bacall - 1996 Academy
Best Supporting Actress (win) Lauren Bacall - 1996 Golden Globe
Best Supporting Actress (win) Lauren Bacall - 1996 Screen Actors Guild
Brad Pitt is reunited as a co-star with his A River Runs Through It (1992) director Robert Redford for this espionage thriller from Tony Scott. On the verge of retirement from the Central Intelligence Agency, veteran spy Nathan Muir (Redford) learns that his one-time protégé Tom Bishop (Pitt) has gone rogue and been taken prisoner in Beijing after attempting to smuggle a prisoner out of China. Although Muir and Bishop had once been close friends, sharing adventures from Vietnam to Berlin, bad blood and resentment developed between them, and the two men haven't seen each other in years. As his memories of their friendship come flooding back, Muir agrees to take the most dangerous mission of his career -- the rescue of his old friend from a Communist jail. Spy Game (2001) co-stars Catherine McCormack as a human rights activist and Bishop's love interest. -- Karl Williams
AMG REVIEW:
Ignoring its somewhat dubious politics, Tony Scott's espionage thriller remains a taut and engrossing -- if glossily shallow -- take on international intrigue, shoved along at a steady clip by brisk editing and an insistent score. This is the kind of material a director like Alan J. Pakula would have thrived on in the '70s; Michael Frost Beckner and David Arata's script is rife with double- and triple-crosses, sex, assassinations, elaborate flashbacks, daring rescues, and beat-the-clock political maneuvering. In the hands of Pakula or a similarly accomplished director, Spy Game would have been truly epic instead of endlessly watchable, but, as it is, the movie offers more than enough coherent drama for audiences to chew over. Though Scott's excessive stylistic flourishes are mostly distracting, he's to be commended for delineating a head-spinning amount of information in a relatively compact, 127-minute running time. Granted, some characters fall by the wayside -- the luminous Charlotte Rampling has a nothing part -- and some plot details remain unclear, but through it all, Robert Redford anchors the film with a relaxed cool he hasn't exhibited in years. It's a part tailor-made for him, and his mere presence lends the film a gravity it wouldn't have had otherwise. Scott seems mostly uninterested in his characters' emotional transformations, but the veteran leading man more than makes up for it in his repartee with a similarly well-cast Brad Pitt. So while it's tantalizing to think of the movie Spy Game could have been, the one that's onscreen proves to be more than enough. -- Michael Hastings
The Bridges Of Madison County is one of those rare examples of a movie improving on the book it was based on. Adapted from the monster, if purple-prosed, best seller by Robert James Waller, the film tells the simple story of an Iowa housewife, Francesca Johnson (Meryl Streep), who meets a traveling National Geographic photographer named Robert Kincaid (Clint Eastwood), who has arrived in Madison County, Iowa to shoot its picturesque covered bridges. The two begin a four-day affair while her husband and children are out of town that reawakens long-lost passions and yearnings in Francesca. Kincaid, meanwhile, confronts his own roving, rootless nature; he asks Francesca to come with him, but they both know that after their brief interlude, they can never be together again. A framing story follows Francesca's children, after her death many years later, as they discover their mother's secret and take stock of their own lives. Eastwood and Streep deliver masterful, touching performances, while Eastwood's subtle direction and Richard LaGravenese's screenplay build the film into a deeply moving reflection on the choices one must make in both life and love. -- Don Kaye
AMG REVIEW:
A far better film than it really has any right to be, Clint Eastwood's adaptation of Robert James Waller's bestselling novel converts a breathlessly overwrought piece of writing into a moving melodrama in the classic mold. Though it starts badly and comes to a halt every time it returns to its modern day framing device, whenever the film concentrates on the illicit romance of Eastwood and Streep -- which is most of the film -- it serves as a model of understated direction and unimpeachable performances. An unlikely pairing of acting styles, Eastwood and Streep perfectly embody their unlikely lovers. Playing a woman realizing for the first time that she might not be resigned to a life of underappreciated boredom, Streep strikes the right note of nervousness and ecstasy. But unlike its most immediate model, Brief Encounter, since it dwells equally on both lovers, the film turns on Eastwood's performance. Here he transforms his character from a figure of fantasy into a fully-realized man who slowly recognizes his own unspoken loneliness. Though the film's final act drags on well past its emotional climax, as a director Eastwood -- working form a script by Richard LaGravenese -- elsewhere avoids indulgence and always stays away from overt sentimentality, allowing his film to work as a heartbreaking story of hard choices and unrealized dreams. -- Keith Phipps
AWARDS:
Best Actress (nom) Meryl Streep - 1995 Academy
Best Cinematography (nom) Jack N. Green - 1995 American Society of Cinematographers
Best Actress (Drama) (nom) Meryl Streep - 1995 Golden Globe
Best Film (Drama) (nom) - 1995 Golden Globe
Best Actress (nom) Meryl Streep - 1995 Screen Actors Guild
Economics and music are the twin focal points of this comedy/drama about a community in crisis. The small British town of Grimley has long been dominated by the coal mine where most of the men work, and the town's greatest source of pride is the Grimley Colliery Band, a brass ensemble that's won a number of nationwide competitions. Danny (Pete Postlewaite) is a retired miner in poor health who directs the band; a national championship is coming up, and Danny is determined that Grimley will walk away with a trophy. But many of his musicians have other things on their minds: word has it that the mine may soon close down, and, in a city already suffering an economic downturn, this is just short of a death sentence. Adding to the intrigue is the return of Gloria (Tara Fitzgerald), who used to live in Grimley and is back in town for a while on an assignment. While the band has traditionally been all-male, Danny considers bending the rules to allow Gloria in the band, as she's a fine fluglehorn player, but her presence is bad news for the town: she works for the government and is investigating the feasibility of closing down the mine. Ace trumpeter Andy (Ewan McGregor) also has mixed feelings about Gloria; they were once a couple, and he still has feelings for her, but he's not sure he wants to set himself up for another breakup. The real-life Grimethorpe Colliery Band performs on the soundtrack. -- Mark Deming
AMG REVIEW:
Brassed Off! starts out like a predecessor to The Full Monty, only with trumpets instead of g-strings. It uses similar themes of British blue-collar hardship that Monty took to grand heights of wry humor a year later, but it switches from a light comedy to a heavier melodrama partway through, which may have prevented it from receiving a warmer reception. Still, all the ingredients are there for a generally uplifting tale that's charmingly acted, with lively dialogue full of clipped sentiments that are both funny and thoroughly British. It's probably a better movie for not resorting to easy answers to the massive mine closures, perpetuated by Margaret Thatcher's Tory party, that plagued the workforce in the early '90s. The dour moments, and there are a few, are true to history. Ewan McGregor heads up a cast that includes the lovely Tara Fitzgerald, plus a touching performance from Stephen Tompkinson as a die-hard union man at the end of his rope with his wife and creditors, forced to resort to a second career as a hapless clown named Mr. Chuckles. Pete Postlethwaite is the proud band leader, whose fiery climactic speech is quoted by the musical group Chumbawamba at the beginning of its power-to-the-people hit "Tubthumping." The Grimethorpe Colliery Band provides the score, by turns rousing and pensive, like the movie itself. -- Derek Armstrong
AWARDS:
Best Foreign Film (win) - 1997 French Academy of Cinema
Best Foreign Film (win) - 1997 Lumière de Paris d'Unifrance
There's a real murder and a real mystery in Woody Allen's Manhattan Murder Mystery, but these plot pegs are used mainly to allow Allen to explore modern urban relationships. Allen plays a book editor, married to Diane Keaton (who replaced Mia Farrow, for reasons which were well publicized at the time). Keaton is a free spirit, ever willing to try new experiences, but Allen is a wet blanket. When it becomes apparent that a neighbor has killed his wife, Keaton is eager to investigate the mystery, but Allen thinks her suspicions are nonsensical and doesn't want to leave his apartment. Undaunted, Keaton finds another "Nick Charles" in the form of family-friend Alan Alda, who, along with his enthusiastic wife (Angelica Huston), joins in the investigation. Slightly jealous, Allen reluctantly agrees to go along on Keaton's clue-hunting expedition--and it is he who discovers the corpse, who as it turned out was killed after Keaton started poking around the apartment building. -- Hal Erickson
AMG REVIEW:
Manhattan Murder Mystery is not a standout in Woody Allen's prolific oeuvre, but it blends well with his perennial goals, exploring the neurotic foibles of aging New Yorkers amidst a plot that's slightly chaotic and ludicrous. Diane Keaton gives the most winning performance as a bored upper middle-class woman who is both shocked and invigorated by her own obsessive curiosity. As she haphazardly embarks on risky detective missions inside her neighbor's home, Allen is left pleading and tagging behind, nearly fainting from nervousness. It's a hilarious setup that gets deliciously exacerbated by the encouragement of Alan Alda and Angelica Huston, both of whom are perfectly suited to Allen's talky dialogue. Never one to fully buy a traditional mystery, Allen incorporates this wariness into the jokes, writing for himself so many wisecracks about what's supposed to happen next that it's all the funnier when they actually do. Even though his dialogue is stylized according to his own distinct patterns, it remains natural enough that Allen pulls off the idea that these are real people embroiled in surreal events. His handheld camera creates a realistic, documentary-style feel, further supporting the effort. It all makes for a darn fun movie, continuing to prove the superiority of even Allen's lesser-known films. -- Derek Armstrong
AWARDS:
Best Actress (Musical or Comedy) (nom) Diane Keaton - 1993 Golden Globe
The violent rise of gangland power in New York City at a time of massive political corruption and the city's evolution into a cultural melting pot set the stage for this lavish historical epic, which director Martin Scorsese finally brought to the screen almost 30 years after he first began to plan the project. In 1846, as waves of Irish immigrants poured into the New York neighborhood of Five Points, a number of citizens of British and Dutch heritage who were born in the United States began making an open display of their resentment toward the new arrivals. William Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis), better known as "Bill the Butcher" for his deadly skill with a knife, bands his fellow "Native Americans" into a gang to take on the Irish immigrants; the immigrants in turn form a gang of their own, "The Dead Rabbits," organized by Priest Vallon (Liam Neeson). After an especially bloody clash between the Natives and the Rabbits leaves Vallon dead, his son goes missing; the boy ends up in a brutal reform school before returning to the Five Points in 1862 as Amsterdam (Leonardo DiCaprio). Now a strapping adult who has learned how to fight, Amsterdam has come to seek vengeance against Bill the Butcher, whose underworld control of the Five Points through violence and intimidation dovetails with the open corruption of New York politician "Boss" Tweed (Jim Broadbent). Amsterdam gradually penetrates Bill the Butcher's inner circle, and he soon becomes his trusted assistant. Amsterdam also finds himself falling for Jenny Everdeane (Cameron Diaz), a beautiful but street-smart thief who was once involved with Bill. Amsterdam is learning a great deal from Bill, but before he can turn the tables on the man who killed his father, Amsterdam's true identity is exposed, even though he has conceiled it from nearly everyone, including Jenny. Gangs Of New York was the first film in two years from actor Leonardo DiCaprio; ironically, it was at one time scheduled to open on the same day as Catch Me if You Can, the Steven Spielberg project that DiCaprio began filming immediately after Gangs wrapped. -- Mark Deming
AMG REVIEW:
Returning to Lower Manhattan's mean streets, Martin Scorsese's profoundly ambitious and engaging Gangs of New York sheds a different light on America's violent foundation myths. Embedding his signature concerns with Catholic immigrants, rival gangs, and arcane ethical codes in the spectacularly recreated squalor of the Five Points ghetto on the cusp of the 1863 Draft Riots, Scorsese's epic tale of nativist conflict, official corruption, and familial revenge is at once a precursor to his earlier Mob films and a sharp indictment of the usual American bromides about liberty and righteous conflict. From Liam Neeson's magisterial march through a baroque, torch-lit cellar to his death at the hands of Daniel Day-Lewis's eagle-eyed, fiercely charismatic "Bill the Butcher," the opening clash between Irish and "natives" is a stunning, kinetic montage of primitive violence. The U.S. military, however, is responsible for the copious blood on the streets at Gangs' tumultuous conclusion, overwhelming the archaic feud between Bill and Leonardo DiCaprio's Amsterdam and underlining the systemic bloodshed arising from Bill and his cohorts' entrenched racism and classism. Though the more intimate dimensions of the story are a mixed bag of allegorical romance and hoary Oedipal conflict involving DiCaprio, Day-Lewis and Cameron Diaz's California-dreaming thief, the visceral punch of the action scenes is occasionally matched by such quiet interludes as the flag-clad Bill's sublimely twisted disquisition on paternity and honor. A potent and thoughtful cinematic experience despite its flaws, Gangs of New York is Scorsese's most vital work since The Age of Innocence (1993). -- Lucia Bozzola
AWARDS:
Best Actor (nom) Daniel Day-Lewis - 2002 Academy
Best Art Direction (nom) - 2002 Academy
Best Cinematography (nom) - 2002 Academy
Best Costume Design (nom) - 2002 Academy
Best Director (nom) Martin Scorsese - 2002 Academy
Best Editing (nom) - 2002 Academy
Best Original Screenplay (nom) Kenneth Lonergan - 2002 Academy
Best Original Screenplay (nom) Steven Zaillian - 2002 Academy
Best Original Screenplay (nom) Jay Cocks - 2002 Academy
Best Picture (nom) - 2002 Academy
Best Song (nom) U2 - 2002 Academy
Best Sound (nom) - 2002 Academy
Top Ten Movie of the Year (win) - 2002 American Film Institute
Best Cinematography (nom) Michael Ballhaus - 2002 American Society of Cinematographers
Best Actor (nom) Daniel Day-Lewis - 2002 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Director (nom) Martin Scorsese - 2002 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Picture (nom) - 2002 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Actor (win) Daniel Day-Lewis - 2002 Chicago Film Critics Association
Best Director (nom) Martin Scorsese - 2002 Director's Guild of America
Best Director (win) Martin Scorsese - 2002 Golden Globe
Best Film (nom) - 2002 Golden Globe
Best Original Song (win) U2 - 2002 Golden Globe
Best Original Song (win) U2 - 2002 Golden Globe
Best Supporting Actress (nom) Cameron Diaz - 2002 Golden Globe
Best Actor (Tie) (win) Daniel Day-Lewis - 2002 L.A. Film Critics Association
Best Production Design (win) Dante Ferretti - 2002 L.A. Film Critics Association
Best Picture (nom) - 2002 National Board of Review
Best Actor (win) Daniel Day-Lewis - 2002 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Actor (win) Daniel Day-Lewis - 2002 Screen Actors Guild
Best Actor [Runner-up] (win) Daniel Day-Lewis - 2002 Toronto Film Critics Association
Best Original Screenplay (nom) Kenneth Lonergan - 2002 Writers Guild of America
Best Original Screenplay (nom) Steven Zaillian - 2002 Writers Guild of America
Best Original Screenplay (nom) Jay Cocks - 2002 Writers Guild of America
Best Actor (win) Daniel Day-Lewis - 2003 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Director (nom) Martin Scorsese - 2003 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Picture (nom) - 2003 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Sleepless in Seattle, the sophomore directorial effort from Nora Ephron, is a light romantic comedy inspired by the 1957 film An Affair to Remember. Tom Hanks stars as widower and single father Sam. When Sam's son, Jonah (Ross Malinger), calls into a talk radio program looking for a new mother, Sam ends up getting on the phone and laments about his lost love. Thousands of miles away, Annie (Meg Ryan) hears the program and immediately falls in love with Sam, despite the fact that she has never met him and that she is engaged to humdrum Walter (Bill Pullman). Believing they are meant to be together, Annie sets out for Seattle to meet Sam, who, meanwhile, contends with an onslaught of letters from available women equally touched by his phone call. Rosie O'Donnell, Rita Wilson, and Rob Reiner also star. -- Matthew Tobey
AMG REVIEW:
Nora Ephron's gentle romantic comedy, a throwback to the tearjerkers of the '40s and '50s, is saved from mawkishness by a combination of deft one-liners and a typically winning performance by Tom Hanks. Ephron, who made her reputation as a tough, no-nonsense journalist and author in the '60s before moving on to screenwriting, was also famous for having eviscerated her two ex-husbands in print. Whether her late-career foray into romantic comedy signaled a new-found vulnerability or a keen awareness of film industry economics, only she can say. The film uses Leo McCarey's An Affair to Remember (1957) as a touchstone, and its gossamer plot is similarly based on coincidence, as an affianced journalist (Meg Griffin) becomes enamored of an architect (Hanks) after hearing him express his love for his deceased wife on a radio call-in show. Though the film offers little in the way of surprise, Ephron was shrewd in casting Hanks, an actor whose rare ability to play both his character's melancholy and deadpan wit help to keep the project's saccharine quotient at a tolerable level. Ross Malinger, who plays his young son, also scores here, a kid with the timing and delivery of a veteran tummler. Ryan is appealing, but is saddled with a vague character defined mostly by her date with destiny. To enhance the mood the film, it features a soundtrack of love songs from earlier decades by the likes of Nat King Cole and Ray Charles, which can be enjoyed even by those who are a mite skeptical about what they've been watching. -- Michael Costello
AWARDS:
Best Original Screenplay (nom) Nora Ephron - 1993 Academy
Best Original Screenplay (nom) David S. Ward - 1993 Academy
Best Original Screenplay (nom) Jeffrey Arch - 1993 Academy
Best Song (nom) Marc Shaiman - 1993 Academy
Best Original Screenplay (nom) - 1993 British Academy Awards
Best Score (nom) Marc Shaiman - 1993 British Academy Awards
Best Actor (Musical or Comedy) (nom) Tom Hanks - 1993 Golden Globe
Best Actress (Musical or Comedy) (nom) Meg Ryan - 1993 Golden Globe
Best Film (Musical or Comedy) (nom) - 1993 Golden Globe
Best Original Screenplay (nom) - 1994 British Academy Awards
Best Original Screenplay (nom) - 1994 British Academy Awards
At least the 22nd time William Shakespeare's most famous tragedy has been brought to the screen, Kenneth Branagh's film adaptation of Hamlet was the first to preserve Shakespeare's entire text, uncut and unabridged. Moving the action into the 19th century, Branagh cast himself in the title role and, as in his adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing, assembled an eclectic group of actors that mixed veteran Shakespearean performers (including John Mills, Judi Dench, John Gielgud, and Derek Jacobi) with Hollywood stars not known for interpreting the Bard's work (among them Robin Williams, Charlton Heston, Billy Crystal, and Jack Lemmon). However, unlike most interpretations, it's the women who really carry the show, with the two best performances delivered by Kate Winslet as Ophelia and Julie Christie as Gertrude. As usual, Hamlet finds himself torn over what to do after the death of his father and his mother's hasty remarriage. Branagh's version of Hamlet was also notable on a technical level, as it was filmed in the 70-mm format for increased visual clarity and detail. -- Mark Deming
AMG REVIEW:
The first cinematic of Hamlet to retain virtually all of its text, Kenneth Branagh's lofty, often maddeningly overdirected film version runs a full four hours, yet seems to make less of an impact than previous film versions featuring Laurence Olivier and Mel Gibson. Lush-looking, and filmed on spectacular sets, this incarnation paints the Dane as a brooding, simpering brat (especially as interpreted by star Branagh), making the central affliction involving his lascivious mother and stepfather less emotionally felt than it should be. The casting is also a serious gamble, with its cavalcade of international stars that range from the inspired (Julie Christie and a wonderfully robust Charlton Heston) to the insipid (Jack Lemmon and Robin Williams seem highly out of place). Typical of his recent style, Branagh uses so many crane shots and fanciful tricks that the story gets lost in the overkill. In fact, there are points when the film feels like a musical because of its grandiose structure (one he would employ in his later all-singing, all-dancing adaptation of Love's Labour's Lost). In a highly criticized move, the Academy nominated the writer-director for Best Adapted Screenplay, despite the fact that film contains virtually all of William Shakespeare's original printed matter, thus suggesting there was almost nothing to adapt. -- Jason Clark
AWARDS:
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) Kenneth Branagh - 1996 Academy
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (nom) Tim Harvey - 1996 Academy
Best Costume Design (nom) Alexandra Byrne - 1996 Academy
Best Dramatic Score (nom) Patrick Doyle - 1996 Academy
John Irving scripted this screen adaptation of his 1985 novel. Set during World War II, The Cider House Rules concerns Homer Wells (Tobey Maguire), an orphan who spent most of his childhood at the St. Cloud Orphanage in rural Maine, where he grew up under the strong but affectionate care of Dr. Wilbur Larch (Michael Caine). Larch has passed along his medical education to Homer, and the young man helps the doctor care for abandoned children and the newborn babies of unwed mothers; however, Homer refuses to assist Larch with the illegal abortions that he performs on the side; Homer has moral objections to abortion, while Larch believes in the rights of the individual and sees it as his duty to keep women in need away from dangerous incompetents. Wally Worthington (Paul Rudd), an air-force pilot, brings his girlfriend Candy (Charlize Theron) to St. Cloud for an abortion, and Homer decides to go with them when they leave, hoping to see the world; however, the three end up going no further than the state line, where Wally's mother (Kate Nelligan) runs an apple orchard and cider mill, and Candy's family traps lobsters. When Wally ships off to battle, Homer grows closer to Candy, and the two fall in love. But their idyllic life at the cider mill is interrupted when Rose Rose (Erykah Badu), a field worker at the orchard, becomes pregnant and her father, cider-house foreman Mr. Rose (Delroy Lindo), turns out to be the father of her unborn child. This news coupled with the death of Dr. Larch, forces Homer to take a long look at both his moral principles and his future. Rapper Heavy D appears in the supporting cast as Peaches. -- Mark Deming
AMG REVIEW:
A streamlined version of John Irving's much-treasured novel -- adapted by the author himself -- this middling effort from director Lasse Hallstrom fails to reach the emotional heights of its source material, and instead uses entirely noble intentions to seemingly complement all audiences. In the opening portion, a wan Tobey Maguire exhibits wonderful chemistry with co-star Michael Caine, who is touching as the story's "good doctor." However, the film begins to unravel as Maguire's naive young Homer takes residence in the cider house of the film's title. All of the charm and spiritual ardor drains away as the film explores shaky race and abortion politics, and its eager-to-please demeanor lessens the impact of key events, possibly in an effort to make them palatable to mainstream audiences. Irving and Caine won Oscars for their work. (Caine actually showed up for the ceremony, making up for his rather embarrassing 1987 absence, which was due to his commitment to the making of Jaws the Revenge.) -- Jason Clark
AWARDS:
Best Adapted Screenplay (win) John Irving - 1999 Academy
Best Art Direction (nom) David Gropman - 1999 Academy
Best Art Direction (nom) Beth A. Rubino - 1999 Academy
Best Director (nom) Lasse Hallström - 1999 Academy
Best Editing (nom) Lisa Churgin - 1999 Academy
Best Original Score (nom) Rachel Portman - 1999 Academy
Best Picture (nom) - 1999 Academy
Best Supporting Actor (win) Michael Caine - 1999 Academy
Best Supporting Actor (nom) Michael Caine - 1999 British Academy Awards
Best Screenplay (nom) John Irving - 1999 Golden Globe
Best Supporting Actor (Motion Picture) (nom) Michael Caine - 1999 Golden Globe
Best Screenplay (win) John Irving - 1999 National Board of Review
Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role (win) Michael Caine - 1999 Screen Actors Guild
Best Performance by a Cast (nom) - 1999 Screen Actors Guild
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) John Irving - 1999 Writers Guild of America
Narrow Margin directed by Peter Hyams and loosely based on the classic film noir of the same title, tells the story of a resourceful District Attorney who must return a witness to San Francisco alive so she can testify in a trial. Carol (Anne Archer) is in the bathroom of the hotel room of her blind date when he is murdered by mobsters for stealing money. Knowing she is the only witness, Carol flees to an isolated Canadian mountain home to hide out. She is followed by Caulfield (Gene Hackman) who knows that she is a witness and wants to make her testify. When the mobsters track Caulfield to the cabin, Carol must join him in a run for her life on a Canadian train. This film, while it is somewhat uneven, is a tour de force for director/writer/cinematographer Peter Hyams, who delivers a fast-paced, action-packed chase through the Canadian mountains, stunningly photographed and well acted by both Hackman and Archer. -- Linda Rasmussen
AMG REVIEW:
Narrow Margin presents a hackneyed story line: A woman witnesses a murder, the perpetrators finger her for a hit, and she goes on the lam. But this film has Gene Hackman. It also has suspense and a speeding train on which Hackman plays Spiderman. As a result, the dimwitted plot -- which unabashedly resorts to wizened clichés and contrivances -- turns into a tolerably decent nail-biter. It all starts when Carol Hunicutt (Anne Archer) witnesses mobsters whacking a hapless sap in a Los Angeles hotel room. To escape their wrath, she holes up in a cabin in the Canadian outback. The pace quickens when a Los Angeles deputy, DA Robert Caulfield (Hackman), tracks down Hunicutt to get her to testify against the killers. Mob helicopter hit men hot on the trail shoot the cabin into a honeycomb, but Caulfield and Hunicutt (who are apparently immortal) escape unscathed and race through the wilds. When all seems lost, Caulfield pulls a Chingachgook: He throws a stone to rustle the bushes and the villains turn tail. All right, original and uplifting the film is not, but after Caulfield and Hunicutt hop a train populated by mob strongarm men and spies (in this film, the mob has more resources than the CIA), the plot takes on an Agatha Christie flavor with a twist of Ian Fleming. It's all good fun. No, the film has no redeeming artistic value and no profound message. But once the action starts, it's hard to stop watching it. Be sure to stick around for the final scene when the hero confronts a tall evildoer on the top of a passenger car as the train approaches a tunnel. -- Mike Cummings
An aspiring musician becomes one of the most famous bartenders in New York in this high-spirited comedy-drama. Small-town girl Violet Sanford (Piper Perabo) dreams of making a name for herself as a singer and songwriter, so she moves to New York City in hopes of landing her big break. Needing to support herself until stardom rolls around, she takes a job as a barmaid at a new nightspot called Coyote Ugly, where the owner Lil (Maria Bello) and the staff of attractive young women dance on the bar, flirt with the mostly male clientele, sing along with the jukebox, and goad the customers into matching them shot for shot. Soon, local media pick up on the bar's success, turning the staff into unexpected celebrities, a situation that presents its own set of problems. Coyote Ugly also stars John Goodman as Violet's straight-laced father, Adam Garcia as a customer Violet becomes involved with, and Tyra Banks, Melanie Lynskey, Bridget Moynahan, and Izabella Miko as the barmaids; action-film titan Jerry Bruckheimer produced. -- Mark Deming
AMG REVIEW:
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer attempts to update the success of his 1983 hit Flashdance for a new generation with this ludicrous rags-to-riches tale about a naïve New Jersey girl who maintains her integrity as a songwriter by flailing her nubile figure at one of New York City's trendier drinking establishments. The titular watering hole -- inspired by a true-life bar chronicled in GQ magazine -- is portrayed as a female-owned and -operated business in which the women hold power over their male clients; since they're in control of their own exploitation, the filmmakers insinuate that it's okay. It's as if Bruckheimer were trying to remake The Accused with a positive spin. For the dawn of the 21st century, Coyote Ugly seems wholly anachronistic: the soundtrack is made up of recycled 1980s pop hits, and the plot is lifted from crummy 1940s melodramas. Even the supposedly titillating bar dances -- in which the actresses' faces never quite match up with their body-double dancers -- do little to quicken the pulse. The charming Piper Perabo does her best to smile cheerily through the morass, but in the end, Ugly gets the best of even her. -- Michael Hastings
Writer/director Jane Campion's third feature unearthed emotional undercurrents and churning intensity in the story of a mute woman's rebellion in the recently colonized New Zealand wilderness of Victorian times. Ada McGrath (Holly Hunter), a mute who has willed herself not to speak, and her strong-willed young daughter Flora (Anna Paquin) find themselves in the New Zealand wilderness, with Ada the imported bride of dullard land-grabber Stewart (Sam Neill). Ada immediately takes a dislike to Stewart when he refuses to carry her beloved piano home with them. But Stewart makes a deal with his overseer George Baines (Harvey Keitel) to take the piano off his hands. Attracted to Ada, Baines agrees to return the piano in exchange for a series of piano lessons that become a series of increasingly charged sexual encounters. As pent-up emotions of rage and desire swirl around all three characters, the savage wilderness begins to consume the tiny European enclave. Campion imbues her tale with an over-ripe tactility and a murky, poetic undertow that betray the characters' confined yet overpowering emotions: Ada's buried sensuality, Baines' hidden tenderness, and Stewart's suppressed anger and violence. The story unfolds like a Greek tragedy of the Outback, complete with a Greek chorus of Maori tribesmen and a blithely uncaring natural environment that envelops the characters like an additional player. Campion directs with discreet detachment, observing one character through the glances and squints of another as they peer through wooden slats, airy curtains, and the spaces between a character's fingers. She makes the film immediate and urgent by implicating the audience in characters' gazes. And she guides Hunter to a revelatory performance of silent film majesty. Relying on expressive glances and using body language to convey her soulful depths, Hunter became a modern Lillian Gish and won an Oscar for her performance, as did Paquin and Campion for her screenplay. Campion achieved something rare in contemporary cinema: a poetry of expression told in the form of an off-center melodrama. -- Paul Brenner
AMG REVIEW:
Not just another costume drama, Jane Campion's The Piano (1993) lushly visualizes the emotional complexities of a 19th century woman's sexual awakening. Mute in a world that silences women, Ada has to find other means to express her responses to the untamed New Zealand landscape, her stiff husband Stewart, and the sensualist Baines. The elliptical narrative minimizes rational explanations in favor of visceral and emotional effects, often structured around parallels between Ada and the natural environment that surrounds her. While Ada's cumbersome 19th century clothes are initially at odds with the muddy forest, Campion reveals Ada's adaptability with a hoop skirt tent, and her reservoirs of passion with the parallel between braids of her hair and forest vines. Stewart, living amidst burnt-out trees, cannot fathom Ada's attachment to her piano, while natural man Baines understands her ardor when he hears and watches her on the open beach. Baines' piano blackmail is transformed into Ada's only path to selfhood; it is a meeting of two rebellious minds and bodies glimpsed voyeuristically by a culture that cannot comprehend its own erotic instincts. Co-winner of the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, The Piano received eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director, winning Best Original Screenplay for Campion, Best Supporting Actress for Anna Paquin's resentful daughter, and Best Actress for Holly Hunter's finely tuned Ada. -- Lucia Bozzola
AWARDS:
Best Actress (win) Holly Hunter - 1992 L.A. Film Critics Association
Best Cinematography (win) Stuart Dryburgh - 1992 L.A. Film Critics Association
Best Director (win) Jane Campion - 1992 L.A. Film Critics Association
Best Screenplay (win) Jane Campion - 1992 L.A. Film Critics Association
Best Supporting Actress (win) Anna Paquin - 1992 L.A. Film Critics Association
Best Actress (win) Holly Hunter - 1992 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Actress (win) Holly Hunter - 1992 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Director (win) Jane Campion - 1992 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Director (win) Jane Campion - 1992 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Film (nom) Jane Campion - 1992 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Film (nom) Jane Campion - 1992 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Screenplay (win) Jane Campion - 1992 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Screenplay (win) Jane Campion - 1992 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Actress (win) Holly Hunter - 1993 Academy
Best Cinematography (nom) Stuart Dryburgh - 1993 Academy
Best Costume Design (nom) Janet Patterson - 1993 Academy
Best Director (nom) Jane Campion - 1993 Academy
Best Editing (nom) Veronika Jenet - 1993 Academy
Best Original Screenplay (win) Jane Campion - 1993 Academy
Best Picture (nom) - 1993 Academy
Best Supporting Actress (win) Anna Paquin - 1993 Academy
Best Cinematography (nom) Stuart Dryburgh - 1993 American Society of Cinematographers
Best Actress (win) Holly Hunter - 1993 British Academy Awards
Best Director (David Lean Award) (nom) Jane Campion - 1993 British Academy Awards
Best Film (nom) Jane Campion - 1993 British Academy Awards
Best Original Screenplay (nom) Jane Campion - 1993 British Academy Awards
Best Score (nom) Michael Nyman - 1993 British Academy Awards
Best Actress (win) Holly Hunter - 1993 Cannes International Film Festival
Palme d'Or (win) Jane Campion - 1993 Cannes International Film Festival
Best Director (nom) Jane Campion - 1993 Directors Guild of America
Best Foreign Film (win) Jane Campion - 1993 French Academy of Cinema
Best Actress (Drama) (win) Holly Hunter - 1993 Golden Globe
Best Director (nom) Jane Campion - 1993 Golden Globe
Best Film (Drama) (nom) - 1993 Golden Globe
Best Original Score (nom) Michael Nyman - 1993 Golden Globe
Best Screenplay (nom) Jane Campion - 1993 Golden Globe
Best Supporting Actress (nom) Anna Paquin - 1993 Golden Globe
Best Foreign Film (win) Jane Campion - 1993 Independent Spirit Award
Best Actress (win) Holly Hunter - 1993 National Board of Review
Best Picture (nom) - 1993 National Board of Review
Best Actress (win) Holly Hunter - 1993 National Society of Film Critics
Best Director (Runner-up) (win) Jane Campion - 1993 National Society of Film Critics
Best Picture (Runner-up) (win) - 1993 National Society of Film Critics
Best Screenplay (win) Jane Campion - 1993 National Society of Film Critics
Best Actress (win) Holly Hunter - 1994 British Academy Awards
Brassed Off meets My Name Is Joe in this gritty coming-of-age drama about a young son of a poor English coal miner who dreams of being a ballet dancer. The film is set during a 1984 miners' strike in Durham county, where angry clashes between picketers and cops in riot gear are nearly daily occurrences. Among the most vociferous protestors are Tony (Jamie Driven) and his dad (Gary Lewis), who nags his youngest son Billy (Jamie Bell) into taking boxing classes. Though the kid can do some fancy footwork, he can't take a punch. One day at the gym, he notices a ballet class taught by hard-bitten Mrs. Wilkinson (Julie Walters), whose young daughter dares him to join. When his father gets wind of this less-than-manly pursuit, he pulls him from the class. Sensing a raw and natural talent, Mrs. Wilkinson offers to teach the lad for free in preparation for the local auditions to the Royal Ballet School. When Tony gets in trouble with the cops, Billy is forced to miss the trials, leading to a confrontation between Billy's pop and Ms. Wilkinson. Though at first he steadfastly refuses to consider his son's desires of going into ballet, he comes to realize that this might be the one shot that Billy has in order to escape the danger and grinding tedium of a miner's life, so he sets out to earn the money by any means necessary to send his son to London. This film is the directorial debut of renowned British stage director Stephen Daldry. -- Jonathan Crow
AMG REVIEW:
The debut feature of acclaimed stage director Stephen Daldry, this effortlessly charming yet entirely familiar coming-of-age story follows along the same lines as such U.S. imports as The Full Monty and Waking Ned Devine, but with a heartfelt ardor all its own. The film rarely strays from its wistful sensibilities, but features ample compensation in its astute casting (newcomer Jamie Bell is a marvelously natural young find) and Daldry's amiable handling of both the title character's dancing ambitions, as well as the backdrop for the main story, northern England's chaotic mining strike of the 1980s. Overall, Billy Elliot is a difficult film to resist, even if it doesn't genuinely surprise. A momentous hit in Britain, the film's irresistible desire to please proves utterly winning in the long run. Interestingly, the film premiered at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival as Dancer, but so as not to be confused with Lars von Trier's highly publicized, Palme d'Or-winning entry of the same year, the filmmakers decided to permanently change Billy Elliot's title for its U.S. release. -- Jason Clark
AWARDS:
Best Director (nom) Stephen Daldry - 2000 Academy
Best Original Screenplay (nom) Lee Hall - 2000 Academy
Best Supporting Actress (nom) Julie Walters - 2000 Academy
Best Actor (win) Jamie Bell - 2000 British Academy Awards
Best British Film (win) - 2000 British Academy Awards
Best Cinematography (nom) Brian Tufano - 2000 British Academy Awards
Best Director (nom) Stephen Daldry - 2000 British Academy Awards
Best Editing (nom) John Wilson - 2000 British Academy Awards
Best Film (nom) - 2000 British Academy Awards
Best Music (nom) Stephen Warbeck - 2000 British Academy Awards
Best Newcomer (nom) Stephen Daldry - 2000 British Academy Awards
Best Newcomer (nom) Lee Hall - 2000 British Academy Awards
Best Original Screenplay (nom) Lee Hall - 2000 British Academy Awards
Best Sound (nom) - 2000 British Academy Awards
Best Supporting Actor (nom) Gary Lewis - 2000 British Academy Awards
Best Supporting Actress (win) Julie Walters - 2000 British Academy Awards
Best Child Performer (win) Jamie Bell - 2000 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Foreign Film (nom) - 2000 French Academy of Cinema
Best Motion Picture - Drama (nom) - 2000 Golden Globe
Best Supporting Actress (nom) Julie Walters - 2000 Golden Globe
Best Breakthrough Performance - Male (win) Jamie Bell - 2000 National Board of Review
Best Picture (nom) - 2000 National Board of Review
Best Young Actor (win) Jamie Bell - 2000 National Board of Review
Best Actor (nom) Jamie Bell - 2000 Screen Actors Guild
Best Ensemble Performance (nom) - 2000 Screen Actors Guild
Best Supporting Actress (nom) Julie Walters - 2000 Screen Actors Guild
Best Original Screenplay (nom) Lee Hall - 2000 Writers Guild of America
This big-budget sequel from writer/director Stephen Sommers navigates much of the same cliffhanger territory as George Lucas and Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones franchise. It is 1933, eight years after the events of The Mummy (1999). Legionnaire Rick O'Connell Brendan Fraser has married his Egyptologist girlfriend Evelyn Carnahan (Rachel Weisz) and the couple has settled in London, where they're raising their young son Alex (Freddie Boath). The family's domestic tranquility is shattered when the 3,000-year-old mummified corpse of Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo), which has been shipped to the British Museum, is resurrected once again to resume his evil quest for immortality. In the meantime, another ancient threat emerges in the form of the Scorpion King (professional wrestler Dwayne Johnson, aka. the Rock), a mighty warrior frozen in time with his supernatural army. In order to save his family, Rick is forced to seek a mythical pyramid of gold, facing marauding bands of pygmy skeletons, among other hazards. The Mummy Returns co-stars John Hannah, Oded Fehr, and Patricia Velasquez. -- Karl Williams
AMG REVIEW:
Writer/director Steven Sommers' follow-up to his unexpected early-summer 1999 smash The Mummy cranks up the number of characters, locations, and special effects from the first film, but the overall result is a sequel that's more anesthetizing than exhilarating. Part of what made The Mummy such a welcome surprise was its economy: The plot was little more than an excuse for a series of increasingly more exciting action set pieces, and it afforded star Brendan Fraser plenty of room for sly winks at the audience. This time around, the action scenes seem as if they're deployed in metronomic, ten-minute intervals, and Fraser's "offhand" comments feel clumsily scripted. Worse yet, there seems to have been a last-minute effort to cater to the audiences who complained that The Mummy Returns' trailer was too shocking when it premiered before 2000's Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas: The film is virtually gore-free, and Sommers has an annoying tendency of fading out of major action scenes just as they get going (when our heroes get swept up by a tidal wave, for example, we're allowed only to see the aftermath). On the plus side, Sommers has beefed up the roles for heroine Rachel Weisz and alluring vamp Patricia Velazquez, although their silly reincarnation flashback clutters the film. It's one of many moments in The Mummy Returns -- which incorporates elements of Crouching Tiger, Gladiator, The Phantom Menace, and every other successful action movie released between 1998 and 2001 -- that belies Sommers' desperation more than anything else. -- Michael Hastings
Mike Nichols directed this Elaine May screenplay adapted from the 1996 bestseller by "Anonymous" (Joe Klein), who fictionalized Bill Clinton's first presidential campaign. In the New Hampshire primary, Governor Jack Stanton (John Travolta) convinces Henry Burton (Adrian Lester), grandson of a respected civil rights pioneer, to become his deputy campaign manager. Stanton's smart wife Susan (Emma Thompson) always comes through with public support for her philandering husband. The film's parallel for James Carville is Stanton's redneck advisor Richard Jemmons (Billy Bob Thornton), who knows every strategy and tactic but worries, "The woman thing, that's the killer." Sure enough, problems during the New Hampshire primary include charges of adultery. To get a handle on past peccadillos, Stanton's staff brings in an old family friend, lesbian Libby Holden (Kathy Bates), who knows how to clean up dirt. Stanton, a strong debater, moves on to Florida and New York. When one opposing candidate drops dead of a heart attack, he's replaced by Florida's Governor Fred Picker (Larry Hagman), but Holden holds the skeleton key to the skeleton in Picker's closet. Just how the Stantons put this information to use reveals whether they are ruthless politicians or inspirational leaders with ideals. -- Bhob Stewart
AMG REVIEW:
Arriving in theaters shortly after the Monica Lewinsky scandal shed new behind-the-scenes light on the Bill Clinton presidency, Primary Colors was perhaps too much a film of its moment. Adapting Joe Klein's roman à clef about the 1992 presidential campaign, director Mike Nichols asserted that the story of a young campaign strategist's eye-opening experience on Southern governor Jack Stanton's White House run was more about general issues of personal and political honor than specific events. John Travolta's honeyed Arkansas drawl, graying hair and affection for donuts, however, left no doubt about Stanton's Clintonian roots; one or two journalists even questioned whether Clinton had tried to influence the film's content. Either way, critics agreed that while Nichols and long-time collaborator Elaine May mined sardonic humor out of the Stanton campaign's sexual shenanigans and dirty dealings, the final turn toward a serious message about the contemporary political process somewhat tempered the film's satiric bite. Despite enormous (and unexpected) publicity from the Lewinsky affair, and pitch-perfect performances from Travolta, Emma Thompson, Oscar nominee Kathy Bates, Billy Bob Thornton, Adrian Lester, and Larry Hagman, Primary Colors failed to find a large audience, suggesting that one presidential media spectacle at a time was probably enough. -- Lucia Bozzola
AWARDS:
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) Elaine May - 1998 Academy
Best Supporting Actress (nom) Kathy Bates - 1998 Academy
Best Supporting Actor (win) Billy Bob Thornton - 1998 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Supporting Actress (win) Kathy Bates - 1998 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Supporting Actress (win) Kathy Bates - 1998 Chicago Film Critics Association
Best Supporting Actress (Runner-up) (win) Kathy Bates - 1998 L.A. Film Critics Association
Best Supporting Actress (win) Kathy Bates - 1998 Screen Actors Guild
Filmmaking siblings Joel Coen and Ethan Coen both embraced and poked satirical fun at their rural Minnesota roots with this comedy-drama-thriller that earned seven Oscar nominations, winning for Best Actress and Best Original Screenplay. Frances McDormand stars as Marge Gunderson, a pregnant police chief whose affable, folksy demeanor masks a whip-smart mind. When a pair of motorists are found slain not far from the corpse of a state trooper, Marge begins piecing together a case involving a pair of dopey would-be kidnappers, Carl (Steve Buscemi) and Gaear (Bergman stock player Peter Stormare). They've been hired by Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy), a car salesman under the thumb of his wealthy, overbearing boss and father-in-law, Wade (Harve Presnell). Jerry's raised some money illegally through a petty scam he's run on General Motors and he's about to get caught. When Wade sours a business deal that could save his son-in-law's hide, the desperate Jerry hires Carl and Gaear to kidnap his wife and hold her for ransom. Things go predictably wrong and a series of murders occur, with Marge, waddling along behind her enormous belly and ever-hungering for an all-you-can-eat buffet, hot on the trail of the killers. Although the credits for Fargo state that the film is loosely based on real events, the story is entirely fictional, the claim being just an ironic jibe on the part of the Coens. -- Karl Williams
AMG REVIEW:
Fargo never seems to make up its mind if it wants to be an absurdist comedy or a stylized crime drama, and that's a big part of its charm: somehow it manages to be both at the same time. While the movie never shies away from the grim facts or consequences of the kidnapping and multiple murders at the core of the narrative, Fargo does manage to skate playfully into a dryly comic look at life in the frozen wastes of Minnesota, where cuisine is ruled by the buffet and folks really say "You betcha!" Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, former Minnesotans themselves, understand the physical and emotional landscape of the little town of Brainerd, and they seem to laugh both with it and at it; while they can't help but find humor in the nasal, Nordic drawl and implacably low-key nature of these people, Joel and Ethan seem genuinely to like them -- especially Police Chief Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand, in a deservedly Oscar-winning performance), whose perversely sunny disposition only partially obscures the fact that she's a clever, observant, and very effective cop. The Coens have even more fun (though of an edgier variety) with Carl Showalter (Steve Buscemi, who steals every scene he's in), a weasely crook whose every word and gesture screams, "I'm Not From Around Here." Despite the film's assured comic sensibility, the Coens bring a nail-biting tension to the murder scenes, and William H. Macy's Jerry Lundergaard is a pathetically compelling mass of misguided motivation and bad choices. While most of their films are remarkable for a gymnastic visual style, the Coen brothers give Fargo a stark, clean look that's the perfect match for the chilly near-monochrome of the snowy Midwestern landscape; Fargo looks less like a Coen brothers film than anything else they've done, while defining their signature themes as clearly as anything else they've done. -- Mark Deming
AWARDS:
Best Actress (win) Frances McDormand - 1996 Academy
Best Cinematography (nom) Roger Deakins - 1996 Academy
Best Director (nom) Joel Coen - 1996 Academy
Best Editing (nom) Roderick Jaynes - 1996 Academy
Best Original Screenplay (win) Joel Coen - 1996 Academy
Best Original Screenplay (win) Ethan Coen - 1996 Academy
Best Picture (nom) Ethan Coen - 1996 Academy
Best Supporting Actor (nom) William H. Macy - 1996 Academy
Best Cinematography (nom) Roger Deakins - 1996 American Society of Cinematographers
Best Actress (win) Frances McDormand - 1996 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Picture (win) - 1996 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Director (win) Joel Coen - 1996 Cannes International Film Festival
Best Actress (win) Frances McDormand - 1996 Chicago Film Critics Association
Best Director (win) Joel Coen - 1996 Chicago Film Critics Association
Best Original Score (win) Carter Burwell - 1996 Chicago Film Critics Association
Best Picture (win) - 1996 Chicago Film Critics Association
Best Screenplay (win) Ethan Coen - 1996 Chicago Film Critics Association
Best Screenplay (win) Joel Coen - 1996 Chicago Film Critics Association
Best Director (nom) Joel Coen - 1996 Directors Guild of America
Best Actor (win) William H. Macy - 1996 Independent Spirit Award
Best Actress (win) Frances McDormand - 1996 Independent Spirit Award
Best Cinematography (win) Roger Deakins - 1996 Independent Spirit Award
Best Director (win) Joel Coen - 1996 Independent Spirit Award
Best Picture (win) - 1996 Independent Spirit Award
Best Screenplay (win) Joel Coen - 1996 Independent Spirit Award
Best Screenplay (win) Ethan Coen - 1996 Independent Spirit Award
Best Screenplay (win) Joel Coen - 1996 L.A. Film Critics Association
Best Screenplay (win) Ethan Coen - 1996 L.A. Film Critics Association
Best Actress (win) Frances McDormand - 1996 National Board of Review
Best Director (win) Joel Coen - 1996 National Board of Review
Best Picture (nom) - 1996 National Board of Review
Best Film (win) - 1996 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Actress (win) Frances McDormand - 1996 Screen Actors Guild
Best Supporting Actor (nom) William H. Macy - 1996 Screen Actors Guild
100 Greatest American Movies (win) - 1998 American Film Institute
In this whimsical romantic comedy that recalls It's a Wonderful Life, Nicolas Cage plays Jack Campbell, a workaholic bachelor who gets to see what his life might have been like had he stayed with his old sweetheart, Kate (Tea Leoni). Thirteen years before, Jack accepted a brokerage internship that marred his relationship with Kate, under the promise that they would only be separated one year. But much later, Jack has become an urban Wall Street exec with no wife or family of his own, and a mysterious proxy (Don Cheadle) offers him the opportunity to step into the life he left behind. After falling asleep in his posh New York apartment, Jack awakens to find himself in bed with his now-wife Kate, daughter Annie (Makenzie Vega), and a new baby, none of which he has ever experienced in his fast-paced single life. After discovering his "real" life has been eliminated, he begrudgingly tries to fit in with his newly appointed life as a family man. The Family Man also stars Saul Rubinek and Jeremy Piven. -- Jason Clark
AMG REVIEW:
A mishmash of earlier and better-thought-out holiday fables, The Family Man is redeemed by the warm, emotional performances of leads Nicolas Cage and Tea Leoni. Embodying elements of every great Christmas story, from Charles Dickens' novel A Christmas Carol to It's a Wonderful Life (1946), the film wanders through "message film" territory with considerable charm and humor but without much focus or precision. Subplots involving the blue-collar job of main character Jack Campbell, his relationship to his boss/father-in-law (Harve Presnell), and a possible extramarital affair are set up then hastily abandoned. Troubling too is the script's repeated assertion that a loving, committed marriage with children is too at odds with career success for both to be enjoyed simultaneously. The Family Man seems to want especially badly to make a grand statement about the struggle to balance family and work, but its conclusion seems to be that one must always be sacrificed for the other, not a particularly cogent or sagacious argument. Director Brett Ratner has much greater success with his cast, drawing top-notch work particularly from Cage, an actor prone to explore bizarre character tics and personality nuances when left too much to his own devices, but who delivers a surprisingly sympathetic and heartfelt performance here. Leoni rounds out her big-screen resume with a tender, compassionate role that is a welcome contrast to the cool, austere career woman she portrayed in her most recent film, Deep Impact (1998). -- Karl Williams
Robert Redford directed himself for the first time in this romantic drama adapted from the 1995 best-seller by Nicholas Evans. Fourteen-year-old Grace MacLean (Scarlett Johansson of Manny & Lo) and her friend Judith go horseback riding in upstate New York on a winter morning, but their horses lose their footing on ice and slide onto a road, where Judith and her horse are killed by a jackknifing truck. Grace and her horse are also seriously injured -- doctors must amputate Grace's right leg -- and the frightening incident leaves a lasting trauma not only on Grace but also on her horse, Pilgrim. Grace's mother -- magazine editor Annie MacLean (Kristin Scott Thomas) -- seeking Grace's recovery, feels there's a link between her crippled, embittered daughter and Pilgrim's behavior. Learning about a horse trainer with a special gift, she takes Grace and Pilgrim to Montana where horse whisperer Tom Booker (Robert Redford) lives on a ranch with his younger brother Frank (Chris Cooper), Frank's wife Diane (Dianne Wiest) and their children. Tom's work with the horse also has a rejuvenating effect on the guilt-ridden Grace. Annie loses her magazine job, and the low-key romantic involvement between Annie and Tom develops during the summer, stifled by the unexpected arrival of Annie's husband, Robert MacLean (Sam Neill). Screenplay by Eric Roth and Richard LaGravenese (who adapted The Bridges of Madison County). Filmed in Montana and Saratoga Springs, New York. -- Bhob Stewart
AMG REVIEW:
Robert Redford's follow-up to his masterful 1994 film Quiz Show is a tasteful and enveloping romance that recalls the days of lush widescreen melodramas, and their ability to win you over with their grand gestures. Similar in theme to Clint Eastwood's The Bridges of Madison County, another modern film that dared to present a love affair between two intelligent adults, The Horse Whisperer takes its time to unravel over the course of nearly three hours, but presents enough honest emotion and cinematic splendor that it all seems worth the effort. Director Redford ideally casts himself as the rugged horse trainer, and Kristin Scott Thomas is equally fine as his love interest. The novel from which it's based (by Nicholas Evans) took its main storyline as an excuse to create soapy sentiment, but Redford wisely eschews this for a more serene tale. In a bold use of cinematography, the film (when viewed in a theater) opens up to a larger screen ratio when its main female characters reach Montana, creating an effective contrast to the starkness of its initial New York City scenes. It is inclusions like this that make the film so memorable, with the ability to steal your heart if you're willing to let it. -- Jason Clark
AWARDS:
Best Original Song (nom) Allison Moorer - 1998 Academy
Best Original Song (nom) Gwil Owen - 1998 Academy
Best Cinematography (nom) Robert Richardson - 1998 American Society of Cinematographers
Actor Bruce Willis and writer/director M. Night Shyamalan reunite after the surprise success of The Sixth Sense for this supernatural thriller. David Dunne (Willis) is taking a train from New York City back home to Philadelphia after a job interview that didn't go well when his car jumps the tracks and collides with an oncoming engine, with David the only survivor among the 131 passengers on board. Astoundingly, David is not only alive, he hardly seems to have been touched. As David wonders what has happened to him and why he was able to walk away, he encounters a mysterious stranger, Elijah Prince (Samuel L. Jackson), who explains to David that there are a certain number of people who are "unbreakable" -- they have remarkable endurance and courage, a predisposition toward dangerous behavior, and feel invincible but also have strange premonitions of terrible events. Is David "unbreakable"? And if he is, what are the physical and psychological ramifications of this knowledge? Unbreakable also stars Robin Wright-Penn as Megan, David's wife; the supporting cast includes Spencer Treat Clark and Joey Perillo. -- Mark Deming
AMG REVIEW:
This follow-up to M. Night Shyamalan's out-of-nowhere breakout smash The Sixth Sense retains that film's deliberate pacing and attention to detail, but has more on its mind. This makes Unbreakable an even more ambitious and intriguing picture, even if the film's resolution leaves the viewer in the lurch by not realizing its full potential. A bold take on the mythology of comic books and realizing one's fate, the film is closest to the spirit of Alfred Hitchcock, who, like Shyamalan, lures viewers in one direction only to draw attention to something completely different when they least expect it. This is one of the film's strongest points: it is genuinely unpredictable and, until its wrap-up, feels as if it was helmed by a true visionary. Bruce Willis is quietly powerful in a rare interior role, fully engaging the viewer with his unshowy, sympathetic portrayal of a conflicted individual. While no Sixth Sense in terms of popularity, Unbreakable was still a box-office champ, despite polarizing much of its core audience. Supposedly, Shyamalan intended this film to be part of a planned trilogy, all of which would further explore Willis' character. -- Jason Clark
The 18th century Scottish legend of Robert Roy MacGregor comes to life in this stylish adaptation of the swashbuckling novel by Sir Walter Scott. Liam Neeson stars as the title character, a cattle drover and proud head of a Highlands clan who takes a one thousand pound loan from the royal Marquis of Montrose (John Hurt) in order to make a profit on some livestock that will keep his struggling people alive through the coming winter. One of the Marquis' henchmen, wily expert swordsman Archibald Cunningham (Tim Roth) learns of the loan from the nobleman's factor, Killearn (Brian Cox), and steals the money by murdering Rob Roy's best friend MacDonald (Eric Stoltz). Unable to repay the loan and unwilling to give up his land, Rob Roy becomes a fugitive, hunted by none other than Cunningham, who rapes Rob Roy's wife Mary (Jessica Lange). Scotch-British politics come to a boil over the Rob Roy affair, leading to an officially sanctioned showdown between the stoic farmer and Cunningham. -- Karl Williams
AMG REVIEW:
There are a pair of superb performances at the heart of Rob Roy. Liam Neeson embodies Roy with a quiet, intense dignity. The character does not want to change the world; he simply wants to live his life. The early scenes showing the robust physical relationship between Roy and his wife, along with a warm sequence in which his clan plays music, cracks jokes, and dances by a bonfire, reveal a man that prefers domesticity to action. A great hero needs a great villain, and Tim Roth's Cunningham is the perfect foil for Roy. He is a man who loves action. He fights in duels, womanizes, and thinks nothing of murder if there is money for the taking. In his early scenes he plays Cunningham like a fop, making his violation of Roy's wife all the more frightening; the audience has no clue as to the depths of his wickedness. Roth's Oscar-nominated turn masterfully conveys Cunningham's two-faced nature throughout the film. The film's best scene is a duel between Roy and Cunningham. Truly one of the greatest sword fights in film history, the climactic struggle stands out from such films as The Princess Bride, The Adventures of Robin Hood, and other swashbuckling spectacles because it presents how physically exhausting a sword fight is. The swords in this film are weapons, not props. These men do not leap about with acrobatic flourishes; they fight as if their lives hang in the balance. Rob Roy is masterfully acted, well written, old-fashioned (in the best sense of the phrase) entertainment that was overshadowed in its initial release by another sweeping Scottish historical epic, Braveheart, a film that favors action over character. -- Perry Seibert
AWARDS:
Best Supporting Actor (nom) Tim Roth - 1995 Academy
Best Supporting Actor (nom) Tim Roth - 1995 Golden Globe
Lawrence Kasdan originally wrote his script for The Bodyguard in the late 1960s as a vehicle for Steve McQueen; by the time it reached the screen, Kasdan's star was another movie hearthrob, Kevin Costner. When imperious musical superstar Whitney Houston begins receiving death threats, she is compelled to hire a bodyguard. Enter Costner, who immediately incurs the wrath of Houston and her entourage by imposing prison-like security measures. An ex-Secret Service agent, Costner still hasn't purged himself of his guilt feelings over his inability to protect President Reagan from would-be assassin John Hinckley (in the original concept, the agent had been guarding JFK in Dallas, but Costner was too young to make this credible; besides, he and Oliver Stone had been there before). Gradually, and inevitably, Costner and Houston fall in love. Ralph Waite is cast as Costner's father, while Robert Wuhl and Debbie Reynolds please the crowd in their cameo roles. The Bodyguard was a huge box-office success, helped along in no small part by Whitney Houston's bestselling rendition of the old Dolly Parton hit "I Will Always Love You." -- Hal Erickson
AMG REVIEW:
In her first major acting role, pop singer Whitney Houston proves that she's quite an impressive chanteuse, more or less playing a version of her real-life persona in Mick Jackson's terminally ridiculous romantic drama. A silly, overheated exercise in futility, the film unwisely attempts to be a romance, a thriller and a music world docudrama all in one, with very poor (but often unintentionally hilarious) results. A labor of love for star-producer Kevin Costner, who is at least charismatic here, this film was written by ace writer-director Lawrence Kasdan several years before as a vehicle for the late Steve McQueen. Though he receives sole credit for the screenplay, Kasdan is reportedly not a fan of the final picture, but gave Costner the blessing to go ahead and make the film. Despite its potentially damaging reviews, the film was hugely successful, and created one of the top-selling pop singles of all time, Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You", which was previously recorded in 1974 by Dolly Parton and featured in the 1982 film, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Deemed a lock for an Oscar win as Best Original Song that year, Houston's recording was ineligible due to its appearance in a previous film. Still, two of the other songs from the film's Grammy-winning soundtrack received nominations. -- Jason Clark
AWARDS:
Best Song (nom) Linda Thompson - 1992 Academy
Best Song (nom) David Foster - 1992 Academy
Best Song (nom) Allan Rich - 1992 Academy
Best Song (nom) Friedman, Jud - 1992 Academy
Best Song (win) - 1992 MTV Movie Awards
Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon play Thelma and Louise, two working-class friends who together have planned a weekend getaway from the men in their lives. Thelma's husband, Darryl (Chris McDonald), is an overbearing oaf, and Louise's boyfriend, Jimmy (Michael Madsen), simply will not commit. Though the road trip starts out as a good time, the pair eventually wind up at a bar. A tipsy Thelma ends up in the parking lot of the bar with a would-be rapist. Louise shoots the man dead. The two decide that they have no choice but to go on the run. They eventually meet up with a young criminal named J.D. (Brad Pitt), whose cowboy spirit rubs off on the timid Thelma. The pair is pursued by a police officer (Harvey Keitel) sympathetic toward their plight. He chases them to the Grand Canyon, where the women make a fateful decision about their lives. Directed by Ridley Scott, Thelma & Louise brought first-time screenwriter Callie Khouri many accolades including the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. -- Perry Seibert
AMG REVIEW:
A revisionist buddy movie/chase movie/road movie/gangster movie/crime drama, Thelma & Louise breathed new life into old genres while vividly reimagining them. Swapping grizzled anti-heroes for smart, sexy anti-heroines (leading one critic to dub the film Bitch Cassidy and the Sundress Kid), it was seen as both a stirring odyssey and a polarizing feminist tract. Following its heroines across the male frontier of the American heartland, the film communicated a message of strength through sisterly solidarity, beginning with Louise's rescue of Thelma from a would-be rapist and ending with an ambivalently triumphant climax. Unsurprisingly, audiences and critics found this message more than a little provocative, and Thelma and Louise became one more battleground for the continuing conflict between feminists and their opponents. Political ramifications aside, Thelma & Louise stands out as a terrific piece of genre filmmaking; its blend of breathless liberation and ominous foreshadowing make it one of the most successfully realized films of its kind ever made, an enduring tribute to friendship and the open road. -- Rebecca Flint
AWARDS:
Best Supporting Actor (win) - 1990 National Society of Film Critics
Best Actress (nom) - 1990 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Actress (nom) Susan Sarandon - 1990 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Actress (nom) Susan Sarandon - 1990 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Actress (nom) Geena Davis - 1990 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Film (nom) - 1990 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Film (nom) - 1990 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Actress (nom) Geena Davis - 1991 Academy
Best Actress (nom) Susan Sarandon - 1991 Academy
Best Cinematography (nom) Adrian Biddle - 1991 Academy
Best Director (nom) Ridley Scott - 1991 Academy
Best Editing (nom) Thom Noble - 1991 Academy
Best Original Screenplay (win) Callie Khouri - 1991 Academy
Best Actress (nom) Susan Sarandon - 1991 British Academy Awards
Best Actress (nom) Geena Davis - 1991 British Academy Awards
Best Director (David Lean Award) (nom) Ridley Scott - 1991 British Academy Awards
Best Film (nom) - 1991 British Academy Awards
Best Original Screenplay (nom) Callie Khouri - 1991 British Academy Awards
Best Director (nom) Ridley Scott - 1991 Directors Guild of America
Best Actress (Drama) (nom) Geena Davis - 1991 Golden Globe
Best Actress (Drama) (nom) Susan Sarandon - 1991 Golden Globe
Best Film (Drama) (nom) - 1991 Golden Globe
Best Screenplay (win) Callie Khouri - 1991 Golden Globe
Best Actress (win) Geena Davis - 1991 National Board of Review
Best Actress (win) Susan Sarandon - 1991 National Board of Review
Best Picture (nom) - 1991 National Board of Review
In this whimsical romantic comedy that recalls It's a Wonderful Life, Nicolas Cage plays Jack Campbell, a workaholic bachelor who gets to see what his life might have been like had he stayed with his old sweetheart, Kate (Tea Leoni). Thirteen years before, Jack accepted a brokerage internship that marred his relationship with Kate, under the promise that they would only be separated one year. But much later, Jack has become an urban Wall Street exec with no wife or family of his own, and a mysterious proxy (Don Cheadle) offers him the opportunity to step into the life he left behind. After falling asleep in his posh New York apartment, Jack awakens to find himself in bed with his now-wife Kate, daughter Annie (Makenzie Vega), and a new baby, none of which he has ever experienced in his fast-paced single life. After discovering his "real" life has been eliminated, he begrudgingly tries to fit in with his newly appointed life as a family man. The Family Man also stars Saul Rubinek and Jeremy Piven. -- Jason Clark
AMG REVIEW:
A mishmash of earlier and better-thought-out holiday fables, The Family Man is redeemed by the warm, emotional performances of leads Nicolas Cage and Tea Leoni. Embodying elements of every great Christmas story, from Charles Dickens' novel A Christmas Carol to It's a Wonderful Life (1946), the film wanders through "message film" territory with considerable charm and humor but without much focus or precision. Subplots involving the blue-collar job of main character Jack Campbell, his relationship to his boss/father-in-law (Harve Presnell), and a possible extramarital affair are set up then hastily abandoned. Troubling too is the script's repeated assertion that a loving, committed marriage with children is too at odds with career success for both to be enjoyed simultaneously. The Family Man seems to want especially badly to make a grand statement about the struggle to balance family and work, but its conclusion seems to be that one must always be sacrificed for the other, not a particularly cogent or sagacious argument. Director Brett Ratner has much greater success with his cast, drawing top-notch work particularly from Cage, an actor prone to explore bizarre character tics and personality nuances when left too much to his own devices, but who delivers a surprisingly sympathetic and heartfelt performance here. Leoni rounds out her big-screen resume with a tender, compassionate role that is a welcome contrast to the cool, austere career woman she portrayed in her most recent film, Deep Impact (1998). -- Karl Williams
Mrs. Doubtfire director Chris Columbus continues to explore the family turmoil of divorce in the tearjerker Stepmom, a story that pits the birth mother against the new mother. Jackie (Susan Sarandon), a one-time book editor, is now the consummate soccer mom juggling the schedules of her two kids in her New York ranch outside of Manhattan. Her ex-husband Luke (Ed Harris), who gets weekend custody of the kids, is living in the city with a woman half his age named Isabel (Julia Roberts), a high-fashion photographer with a strong stylistic sense of "what's hot." Since Luke is always away at work, the burden of getting the kids ready for school when they are with their father falls on Isabel, and she just isn't the nurturing type. The story heats up, however, when Jackie learns that she has cancer. Facing the horrors of medical tests and chemotherapy, she realizes that, should something happen to her, her kids will be left with this irresponsible Isabel as their mother, especially after Luke proposes marriage to her. What ensues is part parenting lesson, part competitive parenting, but 100 percent family bonding, as Jackie must learn to allow Isabel to be part of her world and her family. -- Arthur Borman
AMG REVIEW:
Chris Columbus' reprise of better films such as Tears of Endearment (1984) is a standard tearjerker domestic melodrama which looks to smooth over the intractable realities of divorce and death. Painting in his usual broad strokes, the director proves that he knows his audience well, deploying the same heavy-handed sentimentality that made films such as Mrs. Doubtfire and Nine Months such huge hits. As a saving grace, Susan Sarandon, at the film's center, is excellent as the divorced mother of two, reluctant to trust her two children with her husband's new girlfriend, ably played by Julia Roberts. Ed Harris also gives a typically fine performance as the divorced husband, bewildered by the struggle between the two women. The utter predictability of the plot, as backbiting gives way to tearful hugs under the weight of impending death, is relentlessly telegraphed by a director unwilling to let an audience think and feel for itself. -- Michael Costello
AWARDS:
Best Supporting Actor (win) Ed Harris - 1998 National Board of Review
Jack Nicholson becomes a werewolf in this bizarre comedy-horror film directed by Mike Nichols. Nicholson plays Will Randall, a book editor with a testosterone deficit who has just been sacked at his publishing firm by a new boss, Raymond Alden (Christopher Plummer). A colleague, Stewart Swinton (James Spader), whom Randall thought was his friend, betrays him. Randall's personality changes after he hits a wolf with his car and gets bitten by the creature. He immediately feels more powerful, has heightened hearing and vision, and sets about to right the wrongs in his life. He visits Alden at the publisher's mansion to protest his dismissal, and he is asked to leave -- but Alden's daughter Laura (Michelle Pfeiffer) asks him to stay for lunch. Laura loves to defy her father. Will tells her about the wolf bite, and she becomes attracted to him. But because werewolves usually kill the ones they love, Laura is in danger. Will reasserts his place in the publishing world, supported by his loyal secretary Mary (Eileen Atkins), and his relationship with Laura deepens. -- Michael Betzold
AMG REVIEW:
Mike Nichols' version of the Jim Harrison novel is a witty, intelligent, and beautifully made film that doesn't quite come off. Jack Nicholson stars as a book editor who begins to display strangely lupine characteristics after being bitten by a wolf. With renewed aggression, he begins to go after the hypocritical yuppie James Spader who had recently ousted him from his job. For about the first hour the movie is slyly entertaining, with its caustic dissection of the Darwinian nature of office politics, and Nicholson's growing awareness that his slow transformation into a wolf can have its advantages. At this point the changes are slight enough that the satiric tone remains grounded in reality. As the film progresses, though, moving closer to the realm of the traditional horror movie's myth and fantasy trappings, relationships become more unbelievable and it's more difficult to know what the filmmakers are trying to say. Nicholson, who seems to be loving every minute, gives a superbly modulated performance as the wronged editor, and Spader is excellent as his unctuously backstabbing nemesis. Michelle Pfeiffer, however, is hamstrung by a character that seems hollow and underwritten. Although the film leaves one with a sense of vague dissatisfaction, there is still much here to enjoy. -- Michael Costello
Louisa May Alcott's classic novel about a family of women in Civil War-era New England is again brought to the screen in this adaptation. The focus is on the March sisters, four young girls raised by their mother (Susan Sarandon) after their father leaves for battle as part of the Union Army. At the center is Jo March (Winona Ryder), an idiosyncratic would-be writer said to be based on Alcott herself, but the film also focuses on the stories of her sisters -- the more conventional Meg (Trini Alvarado), the innocent Beth (Claire Danes), and the precocious Amy (Kirsten Dunst and Samantha Mathis, who represent Amy at different ages.) The film spans years, following the girls' struggles with life's challenges and illustrating how their family connection remains strong in the face of tragedies large and small. Australian director Gillian Armstrong emphasizes the story's feminist elements, particularly in Jo's journey to independence. -- Judd Blaise
AMG REVIEW:
With director Gillian Armstrong and star Susan Sarandon involved, it was a safe bet that the 1994 film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's classic novel Little Women would highlight the feminist undertones in a story about four daughters growing up under the nurturing eye of their Marmee. Rather than lard on the sentiment or the message, however, Armstrong's dramatic restraint makes the tale of sisterhood, love, and family all the more affecting. Establishing the March sisters' personalities through their quotidian interactions with one another and the handsome men in their lives, Armstrong never loses sight of Marmee's challenge to her girls to develop their intellects as well as their beauty, even as 19th century convention dictated that they yearn for the men of their dreams. Anchored by Winona Ryder's performance as aspiring writer Jo, the uniformly strong ensemble cast breathes life into the March family's emotional highs and lows; the carefully crafted period settings and costumes lend an appropriately appealing atmosphere. Greeted with rave reviews, Little Women became a Christmas-season success and went on to earn Oscar nominations for Best Score and Best Costumes and for Ryder as Best Actress. -- Lucia Bozzola
AWARDS:
Best Actress (nom) Winona Ryder - 1994 Academy
Best Costume Design (nom) - 1994 Academy
Best Score (nom) - 1994 Academy
The subject of one of Johannes Vermeer's most enduring portraits becomes the focus of this biographical period piece from director Peter Webber. Girl With a Pearl Earring is told from the point of view of Griet (Scarlett Johansson), a teenaged girl who leaves her family's care in the country to become a servant for the Vermeer household in the comparatively bustling, canal-laden burgh of Delft. When she arrives, she finds herself at the low end of the servant totem pole, until she's allowed to clean "the master's" painting quarters. There, she quite literally catches the eye of the taciturn, reclusive Vermeer (Colin Firth), and over a period of time, he begins to craft her portrait. Of course, this does little to further his relationship with his jealous, pregnant wife, Catharina (Essie Davis), or with his most vocal benefactor, van Ruijven (Tom Wilkinson), who often dictates what portraits Vermeer should paint. Meanwhile, Griet navigates a sweet, tentative relationship with a peasant boy her age (Cillian Murphy). Girl With a Pearl Earring had its North American premiere at the 2003 Toronto Film Festival. -- Michael Hastings
AMG REVIEW:
An artist's vision has never been as well-appointed -- or as tastefully, stultifyingly academic -- as it is in Girl With a Pearl Earring, director Peter Webber's dramatization of the process behind one of painting's most enigmatic, enduring portraits. The production design can't be faulted: Webber and cinematographer Eduardo Serra have bathed their minutely detailed sets in sepia and amber tones, and cast a dull, dusty light over even the most insignificant exterior scenes. Adapting Tracy Chevalier's novel, screenwriter Olivia Hetreed also doesn't shy away from the realities of everyday life in 17th century Netherlands, allowing her heroine Griet's lowly, grimy housekeeping tasks to provide a much-needed counterpoint to Vermeer's cushy, commission-based existence. But, careful not to ratchet up any historically inaccurate sexual tension between the painter and his subject, Webber and Hetreed achieve the opposite effect: a passionless artist movie. The central relationship in Pearl Earring is all subtext and symbol, which makes it even more baffling that the filmmakers should choose to exaggerate the evil forces that conspire to keep Vermeer from realizing his vision (namely, Tom Wilkinson's lecherous benefactor Van Ruijiven). Leads Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson may well be capable of portraying the inspiration and chemistry necessary for the creation of a masterpiece, but with direction this muted, it's hard to tell. -- Michael Hastings
AWARDS:
Best Art Direction (nom) Ben Van Os - 2003 Academy
Best Art Direction (nom) Cécile Heideman - 2003 Academy
Best Cinematography (nom) Eduardo Serra - 2003 Academy
Best Costume Design (nom) - 2003 Academy
Best Cinematography (nom) Eduardo Serra - 2003 Chicago Film Critics Association
Best Actress - Drama (nom) Scarlett Johansson - 2003 Golden Globe
Best Score (nom) Alexandre Desplat - 2003 Golden Globe
Best Cinematography (win) Eduardo Serra - 2003 L.A. Film Critics Association
Special Recognition for Excellence in Filmmaking (win) - 2003 National Board of Review
Controversial animator Ralph Bakshi's literal adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic fantasy trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, is brought to the screen in a reverent, stilted way, with Bakshi forsaking his sharp-edged animated looniness for a rotoscoped dullness. Although the film's title encompasses the entire Tolkien trilogy, this longish Bakshi feature, in fact, covers only the first book, The Fellowship of the Ring, and the first half of the second, The Two Towers. Given the complexity of the original story line, this unfortunately means that only those intimately familiar with the books will be able to understand what is happening in the movie. In brief, however, an evil sorcerer from a previous era created a magical ring which enables its users to call upon its tremendous powers to rule the world, but it inevitably warps them to evil. It was believed lost, but during a resurgence of magical evil in the world, Bilbo, a simple, plain-spoken hobbit, recovers it from its hiding place. The forces of good give his nephew Frodo the choice to bear the awful burden of the ring to a place where it may be destroyed. -- Clarke Fountain
AMG REVIEW:
Ralph Bakshi's attempt to bring The Lord of the Rings to the screen in an animated version deserves points for its ambitions, but it falls far, far short of achieving its goals. Chief among its sins is its decision to end the film in the very middle of the massive trilogy -- and to do so in such an abrupt manner as to make most viewers angry that the storyline has been left hanging in such a haphazard manner. Even abbreviated in this way, there is far too much plot to try to squeeze into 131 minutes, with the result that the film is rushed and confusing, with non-Tolkien enthusiasts likely to be totally lost at several points. Worse, breezing through things so quickly never allows the film to develop enough character or charm, nor does it allow the audience to really develop feelings for the individual characters. Finally, Bakshi has chosen to tell the tale using a mixture of animation styles, including entirely too much reliance on rotoscoping and "negative imagery." The styles end up being too frequently at war with each other, an idea that has a certain appeal conceptually since this is a film about a war; unfortunately, it is a much better idea in concept than as executed here. There are some worthy things, of course, such as the character design, some fine voice work, and some lovely muted backgrounds; but on the whole, this Lord is a disappointment. -- Craig Butler
AWARDS:
Best Original Score (nom) Leonard Rosenman - 1978 Golden Globe
New Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson fulfills his lifelong dream of transforming author J.R.R. Tolkien's best-selling fantasy epic into a three-part motion picture that begins with this holiday 2001 release. Elijah Wood stars as Frodo Baggins, a Hobbit resident of the medieval "Middle-earth" who discovers that a ring bequeathed to him by beloved relative and benefactor Bilbo (Ian Holm) is in fact the "One Ring," a device that will allow its master to manipulate dark powers and enslave the world. Frodo is charged by the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) to return the ring to Mount Doom, the evil site where it was forged millennia ago and the only place where it can be destroyed. Accompanying Frodo is a fellowship of eight others: his Hobbit friends Sam (Sean Astin), Merry (Dominic Monaghan), and Pippin (Billy Boyd); plus Gandalf; the human warriors Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) and Boromir (Sean Bean); Elf archer Legolas (Orlando Bloom); and Dwarf soldier Gimli (John Rhys-Davies). The band's odyssey to the dreaded land of Mordor, where Mount Doom lies, takes them through the Elfish domain of Rivendell and the forest of Lothlorien, where they receive aid and comfort from the Elf princess Arwen (Liv Tyler), her father, Elrond (Hugo Weaving), and Queen Galadriel (Cate Blanchett). In pursuit of the travelers and their ring are Saruman (Christopher Lee) -- a traitorous wizard and kin, of sorts, to Gandalf -- and the Dark Riders, under the control of the evil, mysterious Sauron (Sala Baker). The Fellowship must also do battle with a troll, flying spies, Orcs, and other deadly obstacles both natural and otherwise as they draw closer to Mordor. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) was filmed in Jackson's native New Zealand, closely followed by its pair of sequels, The Two Towers (2002) and The Return of the King (2003). -- Karl Williams
AMG REVIEW:
Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is certainly the grandest and most skillfully made cinematic spectacle in recent memory, surpassing even Star Wars -- perhaps the most venerated science fiction series in cinematic history -- in terms of creativity, adventure, and sheer enjoyment. Swift, economical (in spite of a nearly three-hour running time), and extremely engrossing, Jackson starts his tale with a brief and essential history of Middle-earth and its inhabitants to bring moviegoers unfamiliar with J.R.R. Tolkien's epic novel up to speed, while greatly impressing Tolkien's longtime fans with great flourish and a bit of inside humor. And so it goes from the lush and rolling meadows of the Shire to the bleak and infernal wasteland of Mordor, all vividly realized by Jackson's team of screenwriters and special-effects technicians who are all well on their way to receiving a bevy of awards for their amazing work. As for the cast, one would be hard-pressed to assemble a more perfectly suited ensemble. The three main characters -- as portrayed by Elijah Wood, Ian McKellan, and Viggo Mortensen -- are the real life force of the film's narrative, each giving astonishing performances with characters that could have very easily been made into caricatures had they been essayed by lesser actors. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring does have some very minor narrative problems, mostly involving some very brief explanations of certain plot elements, while a handful of the secondary characters -- particularly Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) and Legolas (Orlando Bloom) -- are not quite fully characterized. These issues, however, have more to do with the audacity of attempting to cover the entirety of a 400-page novel in three hours than with some deficiency of the script. As it stands, Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring is the ultimate fantasy film, thereby making the next chapter of the saga, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, one of the most anticipated films of 2002. -- Ryan Shriver
AWARDS:
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) Philippa Boyens - 2001 Academy
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) Fran Walsh - 2001 Academy
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) Peter Jackson - 2001 Academy
Best Art Direction (nom) Grant Major - 2001 Academy
Best Art Direction (nom) Dan Hennah - 2001 Academy
Best Cinematography (win) Andrew Lesnie - 2001 Academy
Best Costume Design (nom) Ngila Dickson - 2001 Academy
Best Costume Design (nom) Richard Taylor - 2001 Academy
Best Director (nom) Peter Jackson - 2001 Academy
Best Editing (nom) John Gilbert - 2001 Academy
Best Makeup (win) Peter Owen - 2001 Academy
Best Makeup (win) Richard Taylor - 2001 Academy
Best Picture (nom) Fran Walsh - 2001 Academy
Best Picture (nom) Peter Jackson - 2001 Academy
Best Picture (nom) Key Not Found: P214004 - 2001 Academy
Best Score (win) Howard Shore - 2001 Academy
Best Song (nom) Nicky Ryan - 2001 Academy
Best Song (nom) Roma Ryan - 2001 Academy
Best Song (nom) Enya - 2001 Academy
Best Sound (nom) Hammond Peek - 2001 Academy
Best Sound (nom) Michael Semanick - 2001 Academy
Best Sound (nom) Christopher Boyes - 2001 Academy
Best Sound (nom) Gethin Creagh - 2001 Academy
Best Supporting Actor (nom) Ian McKellen - 2001 Academy
Best Visual Effects (win) Mark Stetson - 2001 Academy
Best Visual Effects (win) Jim Rygiel - 2001 Academy
Best Visual Effects (win) Richard Taylor - 2001 Academy
Best Visual Effects (win) Randall William Cook - 2001 Academy
Best Composer (nom) Howard Shore - 2001 American Film Institute
Best Digital Effects (win) Jim Rygiel - 2001 American Film Institute
Best Picture (win) Peter Jackson - 2001 American Film Institute
Best Picture (win) Tim Sanders - 2001 American Film Institute
Best Picture (win) Barrie M. Osborne - 2001 American Film Institute
Best Picture (win) Fran Walsh - 2001 American Film Institute
Best Production Design (win) Grant Major - 2001 American Film Institute
Best Cinematography (nom) Andrew Lesnie - 2001 American Society of Cinematographers
Best Actor (nom) Ian McKellen - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) Peter Jackson - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) Fran Walsh - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) Philippa Boyens - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Cinematography (nom) Andrew Lesnie - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Costume Design (nom) Ngila Dickson - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Director (win) Peter Jackson - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Editing (nom) John Gilbert - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Film Music (nom) Howard Shore - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Make Up/Hair (win) - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Picture (win) Tim Sanders - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Picture (win) Peter Jackson - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Picture (win) Barrie M. Osborne - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Production Design (nom) Grant Major - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Sound (nom) - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Special Visual Effects (win) - 2001 British Academy Awards
Orange Award (win) - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Composer (win) Howard Shore - 2001 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Composer (win) Howard Shore - 2001 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Director (nom) Peter Jackson - 2001 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Picture (nom) - 2001 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Song (win) Enya - 2001 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Song (win) Enya - 2001 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Cinematography (win) Andrew Lesnie - 2001 Chicago Film Critics Association
Best Original Score (win) Howard Shore - 2001 Chicago Film Critics Association
Best Director (nom) Peter Jackson - 2001 Directors Guild of America
Best Director (nom) Peter Jackson - 2001 Golden Globe
Best Original Score (nom) Howard Shore - 2001 Golden Globe
Best Original Song (nom) Enya - 2001 Golden Globe
Best Picture - Drama (nom) - 2001 Golden Globe
Best Music Score (win) Howard Shore - 2001 L.A. Film Critics Association
Best Production Design (Runner-up) (win) Grant Major - 2001 L.A. Film Critics Association
Best Production Design (win) Grant Major - 2001 National Board of Review
Best Supporting Actress (win) Cate Blanchett - 2001 National Board of Review
Special Achievement in Filmmaking (win) Peter Jackson - 2001 National Board of Review
Best Cast in a Theatrical Motion Picture (nom) - 2001 Screen Actors Guild
Best Supporting Actor (win) Ian McKellen - 2001 Screen Actors Guild
Best Director [Runner-up] (win) Peter Jackson - 2001 Toronto Film Critics Association
Best Supporting Actor [Runner-up] (win) Ian McKellen - 2001 Toronto Film Critics Association
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) Fran Walsh - 2001 Writers Guild of America
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) Philippa Boyens - 2001 Writers Guild of America
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) Peter Jackson - 2001 Writers Guild of America
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is a seamless continuation of Peter Jackson's epic fantasy based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. After the breaking of the Fellowship, Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) journey to Mordor to destroy the One Ring of Power with the creature Gollum as their guide. Meanwhile, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Legolas (Orlando Bloom), and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) join in the defense of the people of Rohan, who are the first target in the eradication of the race of Men by the renegade wizard Saruman (Christopher Lee) and the dark lord Sauron. Fantastic creatures, astounding visual effects, and a climactic battle at the fortress of Helm's Deep make The Two Towers a worthy successor to The Fellowship of the Ring, grander in scale but retaining the story's emotional intimacy. These two films are perhaps the greatest fantasy films ever made, but they're merely a prelude to the cataclysmic events of The Return of the King. --David Horiuchi
DVD features
The two-disc theatrical-release DVD of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers closely follows the high standards set by the theatrical-release DVD of The Fellowship of the Ring. It has excellent picture and sound, 90 minutes of making-of programs previously seen on TV or on lordoftherings.net (including the 43-minute "Return to Middle-earth" program shown on the WB Network) that will seem redundant to some people and enlightening to others, a music video, the theatrical trailer, and a preview... read more
Description
Frodo Baggins and the Fellowship continue their quest to destroy the One Ring and stand against the evil of the dark lord Sauron. The Fellowship has divided and now find themselves taking different paths to defeating Sauron and his allies. Their destinies now lie at two towers - Orthanc Tower in Isengard, where the corrupted wizard Saruman waits and Sauron's fortress at Baraddur, deep within the dark lands of Mordor.
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The Jewel of the Nile takes up where Romancing the Stone left off, with romance novelist Joan Wilder Kathleen Turner traveling around the world with her boyfriend, Jack Colton Michael Douglas. But Joan is becoming bored with Jack and all the romantic attention; as she asks, "How much romance can one woman take?" Invited by Omar (Spiros Focas), a wealthy Arabian potentate, to travel with him to his homeland, Joan readily accepts. Jack decides to pass on the trip, preferring instead to sail through the Mediterranean. It turns out that Omar wants to usurp the role of an Arab holy man known as The Jewel of the Nile (Avner Eisenberg) and Joan finds herself thrown in prison with the hapless spiritual leader. Jack comes to the rescue, teaming up with the slapstick bad guy from Romancing the Stone, Ralph (Danny De Vito). Together the foursome have to cross North Africa in order to escape from Omar's minions. -- Paul Brenner
AMG REVIEW:
As a sequel, The Jewel of the Nile achieves the kind of moderate success level that makes a viewer glad for its existence, but equally glad there was no third installment. There was something so raw and wonderful about watching an exhausted Kathleen Turner traverse a South American jungle in high heels, alongside a Michael Douglas divided between grungy self-interest and heroism, that made Romancing the Stone such an unexpected delight. The Jewel of the Nile can't quite duplicate the charm, but the chemistry between Douglas, Turner, and perhaps most importantly, Danny DeVito, does keep the second one going through some gangbuster set pieces and miles of North African desert. A holy power struggle is not up to the juicy narrative level of a map-driven quest for a glimmering jewel, but there's enough native whimsy in this movie to keep it lively and fun, especially in the performance of Avner Eisenberg as the kindhearted holy man. It's also nice to see the Arabs portrayed with varying levels of sympathy, not the evil caricatures too often seen in big-budget releases. DeVito's opportunistic Ralph again steals his scenes, spraying gallons of spittle as he tries to talk his way through the most foreign of lands. Undoubtedly confusing some folks who thought it was a third in the series, DeVito paired himself with Douglas and Turner again in War of the Roses, the wicked black comedy he directed four years later. -- Derek Armstrong
Though its PG-13 rating is well earned, Look Who's Talking has some elements that might appeal to a family audience. Chief among them, of course, is the "talking baby" protagonist. The product of an extramarital affair, infant Mikey (played by several different babies, and given voice by Bruce Willis) is a cynical, sarcastic observer of his new world. Mikey's mother, Kirstie Alley, having been dumped by her married lover George Segal, searches high and low for a new father for her baby. Of course, the perfect daddy is right under her nose all the time: cab driver John Travolta, who was on the scene when she went into labor on the sidewalk. The best moments in Look Who's Talking include Ms. Alley's imaginary flights of fancy, and the misadventures of Mikey as he progresses from sperm to reluctant newborn (his violent vocal protests against being yanked from the womb are worth the admission price in themselves). Look Who's Talking has spawned two sequels, neither of which are as charming or disarming as the original. -- Hal Erickson
AMG REVIEW:
Look Who's Talking gets by on the ease of the lead actors, and the arch delivery of Bruce Willis. The premise is sitcom material at best (as a failed television adaptation proved), but one of the reasons movie stars become stars is that they are able to elevate average material. Making one of his many comebacks, John Travolta is as warm and likable as he has been in any film. His character is equal part (non-criminal) con man and family man, but Travolta communicates an innate goodness that is appealing. Kirstie Alley, best known at the time for replacing Shelly Long on Cheers, does what she can with the least interesting of the three main characters. Bruce Willis walks off with the movie without ever appearing on-screen. His delivery was obviously reminiscent of his work on Moonlighting, but devoid of the sexual innuendo which made it click with a wide audience. Coming on the heels of Die Hard, this film showed another layer of Willis' talents. Look Who's Talking is far from a classic, but it is a well-made lighthearted comedy. -- Perry Seibert
AWARDS:
Best Film (in Musical/Comedy) - 1989 PEO
When a star (William Baldwin) and Hollywood Diva Miranda Frayle (Jeanne Tripplehorn) break up, a playboy prince with a stiff upper lip (Colin Firth) sweeps her off her feet and boldly takes her home to meet his high-class, society-minded mother (Julie Andrews), who is none-too-pleased at the thought of having a "starlet" in the family. But, when the former boyfriend hears about the wedding, he jumps back in the spotlight... and with the help of Miranda's meddling mother-in-law to be, he might just win her back.
Description
A comedy of discriminating taste and dirty little secrets. When a movie star and Hollywood diva Miranda Frayle break up, a playboy prince with a stiff upper lip sweeps her off her feet and boldly takes her home to meet his high-class, society-minded mother, who is none-too-pleased at the thought of having a "starlet" in the family. But when the former boyfriend hears about the wedding, he jumps back in the spotlight--and with the help of Miranda's meddling mother-in-law to be, he may just win her back.
The third film from pop-music-obsessed director Baz Luhrmann tweaks the conventions of the musical genre by mixing a period romance with anachronistic dialogue and songs in the style of his previous Romeo+Juliet (1996). Ewan McGregor stars as Christian, who leaves behind his bourgeois father during the French belle époque of the late 1890s to seek his fortunes in the bohemian underworld of Montmartre, Paris. Christian meets the absinthe- and alcohol-addicted artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (John Leguizamo), who introduces him to a world of sex, drugs, music, theater, and the scandalous dance known as the cancan, all at the Moulin Rouge, a decadent dance hall, brothel, and theater that's the brainchild of Harold Zidler (Jim Broadbent). Christian also meets and falls into a tragically doomed romance with the courtesan Satine (Nicole Kidman), who becomes the star of the play he's writing, which parallels the couple's romance and utilizes rock music from a century later, including songs by Nirvana, Madonna, the Beatles, and Queen, among others. Loosely based on the opera Orpheus in the Underworld, Moulin Rouge was shown in competition at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. -- Karl Williams
AMG REVIEW:
A bold artistic statement, Moulin Rouge is Baz Luhrmann's first masterpiece. Frantically edited, paced, and photographed, the film is not an easy undertaking; it forces the viewer to accept it on its terms. The sets, costumes, and sound are stylish in the extreme. The greatest risk the film takes is having the characters speak predominantly in song lyrics. The young writer Christian (Ewan McGregor) and the doomed performer Satine (Nicole Kidman) argue about whether they will fall in love while telling each other, "Love lifts us up where we belong" and "I will always love you." When they aren't speaking in song lyrics, they sing to each other, with McGregor doing a better than credible job with Elton John's "Your Song". The barrage of pop songs quickly transcends kitsch. Luhrmann uses the songs to cut across all barriers between audience members and the characters. He's not playing Name That Tune; he's commenting on the universal desire for love. The intention behind the frantic pacing is not to undercut the grand, melodramatic themes; it is not an ironic commentary on musicals or love. The passion that drips from every frame of the film is there to underscore the sweeping emotions the characters feel as they fall in love with each other. The film slows down just enough in its second half to prepare the audience for the emotionally wrenching finale, which transpires in near silent darkness. Where there was once passion, there is now nothing but the remembrance of passion. Luhrmann's film, structured in flashback, elaborates this theme. It remembers when grand passions instead of cool irony were the norm for the moviegoing public. Moulin Rouge is a joyous, elegiac shout to remember why we go to the movies. It may be too much for some people, but for a generation raised in irony, Luhrmann's film is a shocking wake-up call. -- Perry Seibert
AWARDS:
Best Actress (nom) Nicole Kidman - 2001 Academy
Best Art Direction (win) Brigitte Broch - 2001 Academy
Best Art Direction (win) Catherine Martin - 2001 Academy
Best Cinematography (nom) Donald M. McAlpine - 2001 Academy
Best Costume Design (win) Catherine Martin - 2001 Academy
Best Costume Design (win) Angus Strathie - 2001 Academy
Best Editing (nom) Jill Bilcock - 2001 Academy
Best Makeup (nom) Aldo Signoretti - 2001 Academy
Best Makeup (nom) Maurizio Silvi - 2001 Academy
Best Picture (nom) Fred Baron - 2001 Academy
Best Picture (nom) Martin Brown - 2001 Academy
Best Picture (nom) Baz Luhrmann - 2001 Academy
Best Sound (nom) Guntis Sics - 2001 Academy
Best Sound (nom) Roger Savage - 2001 Academy
Best Sound (nom) Andy Nelson - 2001 Academy
Best Sound (nom) Anna Behlmer - 2001 Academy
Best Composer (win) Craig Armstrong - 2001 American Film Institute
Best Editing (win) Jill Bilcock - 2001 American Film Institute
Best Picture (nom) Martin Brown - 2001 American Film Institute
Best Picture (nom) Baz Luhrmann - 2001 American Film Institute
Best Picture (nom) Fred Baron - 2001 American Film Institute
Best Cinematography (nom) Donald M. McAlpine - 2001 American Society of Cinematographers
Best Cinematography (nom) Donald M. McAlpine - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Costume Design (nom) Catherine Martin - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Costume Design (nom) Angus Strathie - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Director (nom) Baz Luhrmann - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Editing (nom) Jill Bilcock - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Film Music (win) Craig Armstrong - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Film Music (win) Maruis de Vries - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Make Up/Hair (nom) - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Original Screenplay (nom) Craig Pearce - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Original Screenplay (nom) Baz Luhrmann - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Picture (nom) Baz Luhrmann - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Picture (nom) Fred Barron - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Picture (nom) Martin Brown - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Production Design (nom) Catherine Martin - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Sound (win) - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Special Visual Effects (nom) - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Supporting Actor (win) Jim Broadbent - 2001 British Academy Awards
Best Actress (nom) Nicole Kidman - 2001 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Director (win) Baz Luhrmann - 2001 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Director (win) Baz Luhrmann - 2001 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Picture (nom) - 2001 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Director (nom) Baz Luhrmann - 2001 Directors Guild of America
Best Non-European Film - Screen International Award (win) - 2001 European Film Academy
Best Foreign Film (nom) - 2001 French Academy of Cinema
Best Actor - Musical or Comedy (nom) Ewan McGregor - 2001 Golden Globe
Best Actress - Musical or Comedy (win) Nicole Kidman - 2001 Golden Globe
Best Director (nom) Baz Luhrmann - 2001 Golden Globe
Best Original Score (win) Craig Armstrong - 2001 Golden Globe
Best Original Song (nom) David Baerwald - 2001 Golden Globe
Best Picture - Musical or Comedy (win) - 2001 Golden Globe
Best Production Design (win) Catherine Martin - 2001 L.A. Film Critics Association
Best Supporting Actor (win) Jim Broadbent - 2001 L.A. Film Critics Association
Best Picture (win) - 2001 National Board of Review
Best Supporting Actor (win) Jim Broadbent - 2001 National Board of Review
Best Cast in a Theatrical Motion Picture (nom) - 2001 Screen Actors Guild
Best Original Screenplay (nom) Baz Luhrmann - 2001 Writers Guild of America
Best Original Screenplay (nom) Craig Pearce - 2001 Writers Guild of America
Romeo and Juliet is updated to the tenements of New York City in this Oscar-winning musical landmark. Adapted by Ernest Lehman from the Broadway production, the movie opens with an overhead shot of Manhattan, an effect that director Robert Wise would repeat over the Alps in The Sound of Music four years later. We are introduced to two rival street gangs: The Jets, second-generation American teens, and the Sharks, Puerto Rican immigrants. When the war between the Jets and Sharks reaches a fever pitch, Jets leader Riff (Russ Tamblyn) decides to challenge the Sharks to one last "winner take all" rumble. He decides to meet Sharks leader Bernardo (George Chakiris) for a war council at a gymnasium dance; to bolster his argument, Riff wants his old pal Tony (Richard Beymer), the cofounder of the Jets, to come along. But Tony has set his sights on vistas beyond the neighborhood and has fallen in love with Bernardo's sister Maria (Natalie Wood), a love that, as in Romeo and Juliet, will eventually end in tragedy. In contrast to the usual slash-and-burn policy of Hollywood musical adaptations, all the songs written by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim for the original Broadway production of West Side Story were retained for the film version, although some alterations were made to appease the Hollywood censors (especially in the lyrics of "Gee, Officer Krupke"), and the original order of two songs was reversed for stronger dramatic impact. The movie more than retains the original choreography of Jerome Robbins, which is recreated is some of the most startling and balletic dance sequences ever recorded on film. West Side Story won an almost-record 10 Oscars, including Best Picture, supporting awards to Chakiris and Rita Moreno as Bernardo's girlfriend Anita, and Best Director to Robbins and Wise. Natalie Wood's singing was dubbed by Marni Nixon, who also dubbed Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady; the film's New York tenement locations were later razed to make room for Lincoln Center. -- Hal Erickson
AMG REVIEW:
West Side Story is remarkable for its seamless transference from stage musical to screen classic, with the complete Leonard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim song score intact, as well as the choreography of Jerome Robbins. The story, derived from Romeo and Juliet, works on an symbolic rather than realistic level: there is no pretense that this is a true representation of what New York City gangs were like circa 1960. Veteran director Robert Wise is probably the person most responsible for the film's success, and for retaining the best qualities of the stage production, though co-director Robbins, who feuded with Wise throughout the production, would likely disagree. After several weeks of delayed production due to Robbins' insistence on extra rehearsals, Wise tired of the Broadway legend and had him removed from the set. West Side Story swept the Oscars, taking ten awards, including awards for Best Picture and its decidedly non-cordial co-directors. The Academy gave a special choreography award to Robbins, who thanked a great many people in his acceptance speech, noticeably failing to mention Wise. -- Richard Gilliam
AWARDS:
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) Ernest Lehman - 1961 Academy
Best Color Art Direction (win) Boris Leven - 1961 Academy
Best Color Art Direction (win) Victor A. Gangelin - 1961 Academy
Best Color Cinematography (win) Daniel L. Fapp - 1961 Academy
Best Color Costume Design (win) Irene Sharaff - 1961 Academy
Best Director (win) Jerome Robbins - 1961 Academy
Best Director (win) Robert Wise - 1961 Academy
Best Editing (win) Thomas G. Stanford - 1961 Academy
Best Musical Score (win) Johnny Green - 1961 Academy
Best Musical Score (win) Saul Chaplin - 1961 Academy
Best Musical Score (win) Irwin Kostal - 1961 Academy
Best Musical Score (win) Sid Ramin - 1961 Academy
Best Picture (win) - 1961 Academy
Best Sound (win) Gordon Sawyer - 1961 Academy
Best Sound (win) Fred Hynes (Todd-AO Sound Department) - 1961 Academy
Best Supporting Actor (win) George Chakiris - 1961 Academy
Best Supporting Actress (win) Rita Moreno - 1961 Academy
Best Director (win) Jerome Robbins - 1961 Directors Guild of America
Best Director (win) Robert Wise - 1961 Directors Guild of America
Best Actor - Musical or Comedy (nom) Richard Beymer - 1961 Golden Globe
Best Director (nom) Jerome Robbins - 1961 Golden Globe
Best Director (nom) Robert Wise - 1961 Golden Globe
Best Picture - Musical (win) - 1961 Golden Globe
Best Supporting Actor (win) George Chakiris - 1961 Golden Globe
Best Supporting Actress (win) Rita Moreno - 1961 Golden Globe
Best Picture (nom) - 1961 National Board of Review
Best Direction (nom) Robert Wise - 1961 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Direction (nom) Jerome Robbins - 1961 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Film (nom) Robert Wise - 1961 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Screenwriting (nom) Ernest Lehman - 1961 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Film - Both Any Source and British Robert Wise - 1962 British Academy Awards
Best Film - Both Any Source and British Jerome Robbins - 1962 British Academy Awards
U.S. National Film Registry (win) - 1997 Library of Congress
100 Greatest American Movies (win) - 1998 American Film Institute
Self-centered, avaricious Californian Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) is informed that his long-estranged father has died. Expecting at least a portion of the elder Babbitt's $3 million estate, Charlie learns that all he's inherited is his dad's prize roses and a 1949 Buick Roadmaster. Discovering that the $3 million is being held in trust for an unidentified party, Charlie heads to his home town of Cincinnati to ascertain who that party is. It turns out that the beneficiary is Raymond Babbitt (Dustin Hoffman), the autistic-savant older brother that Charlie never knew he had. Able to memorize reams of trivia and add, subtract, multiply, and divide without a second's hesitation, Raymond is otherwise incapable of functioning as a normal human being. Aghast that Raymond is to receive his father's entire legacy, Charlie tries to cut a deal with Raymond's guardian. When this fails, Charlie "borrows" Raymond from the institution where he lives, hoping to use his brother as leverage to claim half the fortune. During their subsequent cross-country odyssey, Charlie is forced to accommodate Raymond's various autistic idiosyncracies, not the least of which is his insistence on adhering to a rigid daily schedule: he must, for example, watch People's Court and Jeopardy every day at the same time, no matter what. On hitting Las Vegas, Charlie hopes to harness Raymond's finely-honed mathematical skills to win big at the gaming tables; but this exploitation of his brother's affliction compels Charlie to reassess his own values, or lack thereof. A longtime pet project of star Dustin Hoffman, Rain Man was turned down by several high-profile directors before Barry Levinson took on the challenge of bringing Ronald Bass' screenplay to fruition (Levinson also appears in the film as a psychiatrist). All three men won Oscars, and the movie won Best Picture. -- Hal Erickson
AMG REVIEW:
Rain Man ranks among the most popular films of the late 1980s, owing to a fine screenplay by Ron Bass and a spectacular performance by Dustin Hoffman in the title role. The film combines two of Hollywood's most successful formulas -- the "fish-out-of-water" story and the "unlikely buddies" picture, and there's even a touch of the old "rotten guy learns to be unselfish" twist added for texture. While such a film could have been typical big studio product, director Barry Levinson managed to find depth in the developing relationship between Hoffman's autistic adult character and the selfish, greedy character played by co-star Tom Cruise. Hoffman, Levinson, and Bass took home Oscars for Rain Man, as did the film itself for Best Picture. -- Richard Gilliam
AWARDS:
Best Actor (nom) Dustin Hoffman - 1987 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Actor (nom) Dustin Hoffman - 1987 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Actor (win) Dustin Hoffman - 1988 Academy
Best Art Direction (nom) Ida Random - 1988 Academy
Best Art Direction (nom) Linda de Scenna - 1988 Academy
Best Cinematography (nom) John Seale - 1988 Academy
Best Director (win) Barry Levinson - 1988 Academy
Best Editing (nom) Stu Linder - 1988 Academy
Best Original Screenplay (win) Barry Morrow - 1988 Academy
Best Original Screenplay (win) Ronald Bass - 1988 Academy
Best Picture (win) - 1988 Academy
Best Score (nom) Hans Zimmer - 1988 Academy
Best Cinematography (nom) John Seale - 1988 American Society of Cinematographers
Best Director (win) Barry Levinson - 1988 Directors Guild of America
Best Actor (Drama) (win) Dustin Hoffman - 1988 Golden Globe
Best Director (nom) Levinson, Barry - 1988 Golden Globe
Best Film (Drama) (win) - 1988 Golden Globe
Best Screenplay (nom) Ronald Bass - 1988 Golden Globe
Best Screenplay (nom) Barry Morrow - 1988 Golden Globe
Best Film (in Drama) - 1988 PEO
Golden Bear (win) - 1989 Berlin International Film Festival
An all-star cast remakes the 1975 socio-political horror flick, The Stepford Wives. After being fired as president of a television network, Joanna (Nicole Kidman, Moulin Rouge) has a nervous breakdown, prompting her husband Walter (Matthew Broderick, Election) to take her to a simple Connecticut town called Stepford to recuperate. But Stepford is a little strange: The schlubby husbands congregate at a closed-doors men's club, while the wives--all in bright summer frocks and air-brushed smiles--exercise to keep their hourglass figures and cook endless pastries. Joanna, along with new arrivals Bobbie (Bette Midler, Beaches) and Roger (the very funny Roger Bart), soon discover that the mastermind of Stepford (Christopher Walken, Communion) has used cybernetics to "perfect" womankind. The Stepford Wives has some satirical zingers (from sneaky screenwriter Paul Rudnick, Addams Family Values), but the basic idea has lost a lot of gas since 1975. Also featuring Glenn Close (Fatal Attraction). --Bret Fetzer --This text refers to the Theatrical Release edition.
Description
In THE STEPFORD WIVES, Walter (Broderick) and Joanna (Kidman) Eberhart are the newest residents in a suburban neighborhood in Stepford. Seeing that the women she surrounds herself with all seem to be cut from the same mold, and are seemingly incapable of thinking for themselves, Joanna begins to think something suspicious is going on in Stepford. Upon realizing that her friends have been replaced by robots and that she's next on the list, Joanna and Walter decide to turn the tables and expose the truth about what's really been going on in Stepford.
Freely adapted from Charles Frazier's beloved bestseller, Cold Mountain boasts an impeccable pedigree as a respectable Civil War love story, offering everything you'd want from a romantic epic except a resonant emotional core. Everything in this sweeping, Odyssean journey depends on believing in the instant love that ignites during a very brief encounter between genteel, city-bred preacher's daughter Ada (Nicole Kidman) and Confederate soldier Inman (Jude Law), who deserts the battlefield to return, weary and wounded, to Ada's inherited farm in the rural town of Cold Mountain, North Carolina. In an epic (but dramatically tenuous) case of absence making hearts grow fonder, Inman endures a treacherous hike fraught with danger (and populated by supporting players including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Natalie Portman, and others) while the struggling, inexperienced Ada is aided by the high-spirited Ruby (Renée Zellweger), forming a powerful farming partnership that transforms Ada into a strong, lovelorn survivor. The film's episodic structure slightly weakens its emotional impact, and it's fairly obvious that director Anthony Minghella is striving to repeat the prestigious romanticism of his Oscar®-winning hit The English Patient. For the most part it works, especially in the dynamic performances of Zellweger and Kidman, and the explosive 1864 battle of Petersburg, Virginia, is recreated with violent, percussive intensity. Those who admired Frazier's novel may regret some of the changes made in Minghella's adaptation (the ending is particularly altered), but Cold Mountain remains a high-class example of grand, old-fashioned filmmaking, boosted by star power of the highest order. --Jeff Shannon --This text refers to the Theatrical Release edition.
DVD features
Anthony Minghella's film receives a classy two-disc DVD debut. There are lots of extras but better still, it has very little padding. A new 70-minute documentary on the making of the film is smart and interesting, often going after elements we normally don't see, including location scouting, dealing with weather, and the preview audiences. Directors Laura Luchetti and Timothy Bricknell don't pander to MTV-style editing, allowing the talent to speak at length. The 20 minutes of deleted scenes... read more
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More than a few critics hailed Spider-Man 2 as "the best superhero movie ever," and there's no compelling reason to argue--thanks to a bigger budget, better special effects, and a dynamic, character-driven plot, it's a notch above Spider-Man in terms of emotional depth and rich comic-book sensibility. Ordinary People Oscar®-winner Alvin Sargent received screenplay credit, and celebrated author and comic-book expert Michael Chabon worked on the story, but it's director Sam Raimi's affinity for the material that brings Spidey 2 to vivid life. When a fusion experiment goes terribly wrong, a brilliant physicist (Alfred Molina) is turned into Spidey's newest nemesis, the deranged, mechanically tentacled "Doctor Octopus," obsessed with completing his experiment and killing Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire) in the process. Even more compelling is Peter Parker's urgent dilemma: continue his burdensome, lonely life of crime-fighting as Spider-Man, or pursue love and happiness with Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst)? Molina's outstanding as a tragic villain controlled by his own invention, and the action sequences are nothing less than breathtaking, but the real success of Spider-Man 2 is its sense of priorities. With all of Hollywood's biggest and best toys at his disposal, Raimi and his writers stay true to the Marvel mythology, honoring Spider-Man creators Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, and setting the bar impressively high for the challenge of Spider-Man 3. --Jeff Shannon
DVD Features
The first commentary track is by director Sam Raimi and a self-deprecating Tobey Maguire speaking in tandem, and producer (and Marvel CEO) Avi Arad and coproducer Grant Curtis speaking in tandem. They discuss a number of topics, including Raimi's memory of his excitement over Richard Donner's Superman and how the character of Black Cat had to be dropped from the film. The second commentary is by six members of the Oscar-nominated effects team, and one of their primary focuses is how Doc Ock's... read more
Description
Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) gives up his crime-fighting identity of Spider-Man in a desperate attempt to return to ordinary life and keep the love of MJ (Kirsten Dunst). But a ruthless, terrifying new villain, the multi-tentacled Doc Ock, forces Peter to swing back into action to save everything he holds dear.
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Jeff Bridges demonstrates once again that he is one of the finest actors in film. Ted Cole (Bridges, Seabiscuit, The Big Lebowski), a successful writer/illustrator of children's books, invites a young student named Eddie (Jon Foster) to be his assistant for a summer. Eddie doesn't realize he's being drawn into the middle of a dissolving marriage until Ted's wife Marion (Kim Basinger, L. A. Confidential) invites him into an affair--which Ted both condones and resents. Slowly, Eddie comes to understand the secrets that are tearing the marriage apart. Bridges never shows off; everything he does seems simple, natural, almost unavoidable, but it's also utterly watchable. Whether you like the movie will depend on whether you like John Irving (The Door in the Floor is based on part of his novel A Widow for One Year), but Bridges's performance is undeniable. Also featuring Mimi Rogers (The Rapture). --Bret Fetzer --This text refers to the Theatrical Release edition.
DVD features
Writer-director Tod Williams (who everyone calls "Kip") brings in his production team for the commentary track focusing on the making of the film and the tricks of the trade. There is no blow-by-blow of the differences between John Irving's novel and the film (based on the first third of his novel), but the author talks for 15 minutes in another extra and certainly gives Williams his stamp of approval. The 30-minute making-of segment can be the poster-child for DVD featurettes: the main players... read more
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The second chapter in the "Bourne Trilogy," based on Robert Ludlum's best-selling espionage novels, reaches the screen in this sequel to the 2002 thriller The Bourne Identity. Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) has abandoned his life as a CIA assassin and has been traveling beneath the agency's radar, eventually reconnecting with Marie Kreutz (Franka Potente), the woman he loves. But Bourne is haunted by vivid dreams and troubling memories of his days as a killer, and he's not certain how much really happened and how much is a product of his imagination. When Bourne is led out of hiding by circumstances beyond his control, he must reconcile his past and present as he struggles to keep Marie out of harm's way and foil an international incident with dangerous consequences. The Bourne Supremacy also features Joan Allen as one of Webb's superiors, while Julia Stiles and Brian Cox reprise their roles as intelligence agents from the first film. -- Mark Deming
AMG REVIEW:
Interesting things happen when real actors are cast in action films. The heroes and villains in films like this are better able to find shades of gray in the usual good-guy/bad-guy conflict. Matt Damon, Brian Cox, and Joan Allen all communicate a powerful intelligence in The Bourne Supremacy. That intelligence helps sell the non-action sequences because a scared intelligent person creates much more tension in a viewer than a scared dumb person. These characters should all be able to think themselves out of difficult situations, and watching each of them mentally process their labyrinthine game of cat and mouse provides the movie's biggest thrills. The problem with the film is that the actual action sequences are shot in tight close-ups and edited frantically so that the audience is never given a big picture in which to place the action. These sequences, especially a momentum-draining final car chase, do not measure up to the quiet moments in the film. Director Paul Greengrass appears to be more interested in the characters than in the action. He resolves the movie with a scene of personal confession, a scene that helps remind the viewer what is really good in the film, rather than an action sequence. The Bourne Supremacy is a humorless film. There was a kick in The Bourne Identity when Jason Bourne discovered his powers. The only time Bourne discovers something about himself in this sequel is at the very end of the film, and that piece of information does not provide any payoff. All it does is promise a third film in the series that hopefully will find a better balance between character and action. Thanks to the top-notch cast, The Bourne Supremacy is a functional summer thriller, but it could have been more. -- Perry Seibert
AWARDS:
Best Popular Movie (nom) - 2004 Broadcast Film Critics Association
While setting a milestone in the progress of digital filmmaking, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow resurrects a nostalgic fantasy world derived from a wide variety of vintage inspirations. It's a dazzling dream for anyone who appreciates the look and feel of golden-age sci-fi pulp magazines, drawing its unique, all-digital design from such diverse sources as Howard Hawks adventures, Fritz Lang's Metropolis, Buck Rogers, Blackhawk comics, The Third Man, cliffhanger serials, and the action-packed Indiana Jones franchise. Writer-director Kerry Conran's feature debut is also guaranteed to inspire digital dreamers everywhere, suggesting a paradigm shift in the way CGI-dominated movies are made. It's a giddy adventure for the young and young-at-heart, in which ace pilot "Sky Captain" Joe Sullivan (Jude Law) and intrepid reporter Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow) must save the world from a mad scientist whose vision of the future has tragic implications for all humankind. Angelina Jolie drops in for a glorified cameo, but it's the ultra-fortunate neophyte Conran who's the star here. His clever riff on The Wizard of Oz is a marvel to behold, and the method of its creation is nothing less than revolutionary. --Jeff Shannon --This text refers to the Theatrical Release edition.
A woman scorned unleashes her fury in this droll comedy based on a story by W. Somerset Maugham. Julia Lambert (Annette Bening) is a famous and well-respected actress, but though her life in the limelight seems glamorous, things are not going well for her off-stage. Julia's husband is unfaithful to her (and not especially discreet about it), her son is angry with her, and she's afraid she's losing her looks and allure as she advances further into middle age. In the midst of this, Julia meets a handsome and dashing young American named Tom, who is close friends with Julia's son. Tom makes no secret of his attraction to Julia, and the feeling is mutual, leading the two into a torrid affair. But, while Julia at first dives into this adulterous romance with little care for how it could affect her reputation, she becomes livid with rage when she learns that Tom is also involved with a younger actress, and is only using Julia to advance his own career in the theater. Julia plots an elaborate revenge against Tom in a scheme that will help her win back the pride and confidence life has recently stripped from her. Being Julia also stars Jeremy Irons, Michael Gambon, Bruce Greenwood, and Shaun Evans. -- Mark Deming
AMG REVIEW:
With Being Julia, Annette Bening got aced out of the Best Actress statue for the second time in five years, both times finishing (presumably) second to Hilary Swank. At least this time, any perceived injustice is mitigated: the film and her performance are less worthy of the gold than American Beauty. Being Julia is at times a broad comedy, other times a light melodrama, but always an excellent showcase for an aging actress willing to admit that her ingenue days are over. Bening received well-deserved kudos for diving into the role, which is vanity-free, not to mention too close to home for many actresses her age. However, her performance is not as note-perfect as one would expect from an Oscar front-runner, though this may be a fault of the writing or of István Szabó's direction. It's not clear whether Julia Lambert is supposed to be a good actress or just a popular one, but in Bening's hands she wildly overacts and preens like a spoiled diva. That's in keeping with the film's comedic agenda, but neither choice seems entirely organic. It's the departures from this that earn Bening her accolades. Without that protective shell of sarcasm, Bening's moments of vulnerability wouldn't have such power and feel so true, which in turn legitimizes those choices. Among the supporting roles, Lucy Punch is funny as Julia's coquettish young rival, but Juliet Stevenson is criminally underused. Ronald Harwood's script is an inevitable comedown from his Oscar-winning screenplay for The Pianist, but it does make for light period comedy that's more than just Bening's movie. -- Derek Armstrong
AWARDS:
Best Actress (nom) Annette Bening - 2004 Academy
Best Actress [Runner-up] (win) Annette Bening - 2004 Boston Society of Film Critics
Best Actress (nom) Annette Bening - 2004 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Actress - Comedy or Musical (win) Annette Bening - 2004 Golden Globe
Best Actress (win) Annette Bening - 2004 National Board of Review
Film Presented - 2004 New York Film Festival
Best Actress (nom) Annette Bening - 2004 Screen Actors Guild
Film Presented - 2004 Toronto International Film Festival
Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood) is a veteran boxing trainer who has devoted his life to the ring and has precious little to show for it; his daughter never answers his letters, and a fighter he's groomed into contender status has paid him back by signing with another manager, leaving Frankie high and dry. His best friend and faithful employee Eddie Dupris is a former fighter who Frankie trained. In his last fight, Eddie suffered a severe injury, a fact that brings Frankie great guilt. One day, Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) enters Frankie's life, as well as his gym, and announces she needs a trainer. Frankie regards her as a dubious prospect, and isn't afraid to tell her why: he doesn't think much of women boxing, she's too old at 31, she lacks experience, and has no technique. However, Maggie sees boxing as the one part of her life that gives her meaning and won't give up easily. Finally won over by her determination, Frankie takes on Maggie, and as she slowly grows into a viable fighter, an emotional bond develops between them. When a tragedy befalls one of the three characters, each comes to a decision that shows how the relationships in the film have changed them. Adapted from a short story by F.X. Toole, a former corner man with years of experience in the fight game, Million Dollar Baby also stars Morgan Freeman, Anthony Mackie, and Mike Colter. -- Mark Deming
AMG REVIEW:
The best decision made by director Clint Eastwood in Million Dollar Baby is to allow Clint Eastwood the performer to drop his screen persona and actually act. As the weathered boxing trainer Frankie Dunn, Eastwood does not seem larger than life, he seems beaten down by it. His banter with Morgan Freeman, as a boxer he used to train, occasionally plays like a brilliantly written Seinfeld episode featuring senior citizens. But often those conversations suddenly hint at great pain and regret, adding an unexpected gravity. Hilary Swank provides the necessary drive and spunk to make the audience believe she would eventually win the emotionally closed-off Frankie over. The first half of the film, an excellently observed boxing drama, allows the audiences to meet the characters and understand where they are in their lives. However, a big event happens (one that would be inappropriate to reveal in this review) and the second half of the film becomes an old-fashioned melodrama. Eastwood's directorial style can be described as low-key, even when the emotions in the film are practically operatic. This decision will either draw audiences into the characters' struggles, or it will distance viewers who feel the film is not allowing them to feel the emotions as fully as possible. At worst, people will be interested in rather than involved with the characters, but those who respond to Eastwood's style will probably be emotionally devastated. What one is left with is a memory of Eastwood's face, that leathery mask of taciturn male pride, cracking with the recognition of where his own life choices have left him. He has directed better films, but he has never given a better performance. -- Perry Seibert
AWARDS:
Best Actor (nom) Clint Eastwood - 2004 Academy
Best Actress (win) Hilary Swank - 2004 Academy
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) Paul Haggis - 2004 Academy
Best Director (win) Clint Eastwood - 2004 Academy
Best Editing (nom) Joel Cox - 2004 Academy
Best Picture (win) - 2004 Academy
Best Supporting Actor (win) Morgan Freeman - 2004 Academy
Best Film (win) - 2004 American Film Institute
Best Actress (win) Hilary Swank - 2004 Boston Society of Film Critics
Best Actress (win) Hilary Swank - 2004 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Director (nom) Clint Eastwood - 2004 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Picture (nom) - 2004 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Supporting Actor (nom) Morgan Freeman - 2004 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Director (win) Clint Eastwood - 2004 Chicago Film Critics Association
Best Director (win) Clint Eastwood - 2004 Director's Guild of America
Best Actress - Drama (win) Hilary Swank - 2004 Golden Globe
Best Director (win) Clint Eastwood - 2004 Golden Globe
Best Picture - Drama (nom) - 2004 Golden Globe
Best Score (nom) Clint Eastwood - 2004 Golden Globe
Best Supporting Actor (nom) Morgan Freeman - 2004 Golden Globe
Best Picture [Runner-up] (win) - 2004 L.A. Film Critics Association
Best Supporting Actor [Runner-up] (win) Morgan Freeman - 2004 L.A. Film Critics Association
Best Picture (nom) - 2004 National Board of Review
Special Filmmaking Achievement (nom) Clint Eastwood - 2004 National Board of Review
Best Actor (Runner-up) (win) Clint Eastwood - 2004 National Society of Film Critics
Best Actress (win) Hilary Swank - 2004 National Society of Film Critics
Best Director (Runner-up) (win) Clint Eastwood - 2004 National Society of Film Critics
Best Picture (Runner-up) (win) - 2004 National Society of Film Critics
Best Picture (win) - 2004 National Society of Film Critics
Best Supporting Actor (Runner-Up) (win) Morgan Freeman - 2004 National Society of Film Critics
Best Director (win) Clint Eastwood - 2004 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Picture (nom) - 2004 Producer's Guild of America
Best Actress (win) Hilary Swank - 2004 Screen Actors Guild
Best Ensemble Acting (nom) - 2004 Screen Actors Guild
Best Supporting Actor (win) Morgan Freeman - 2004 Screen Actors Guild
Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) Paul Haggis - 2004 Writers Guild of Amercia
Two men who have made a career out of spinning remarkable stories find themselves bringing them to life in this inventive fantasy inspired by the creators of some of the world's best-loved fairy tales. Will Grimm (Matt Damon) and his brother Jake Grimm (Heath Ledger) earn their living by traveling from village to village and vanquishing strange supernatural beasts that have been menacing the populace. Or at least that's what their clients think has been happening; as it happens, Will and Jake are confidence men who cleverly stage the ghostly attacks and then take payment for making the creatures they fabricated go away. One day, the brothers arrive in a town and offer to help its people drive away evil spirits, unaware that the community is bordered by a genuine enchanted forest, and that young girls in the village have been disappearing at a frightful rate. The Grimm Brothers must now learn how to deal with real magic, with the help of the lovely but fearless Angelika (Lena Headey). Directed by Terry Gilliam, The Brothers Grimm also stars Monica Bellucci, Peter Stormare, and Jonathan Pryce. -- Mark Deming
AMG REVIEW:
Incoherent and dull, Terry Gilliam's The Brothers Grimm feels like it was edited by someone who was never given access to the shooting script. After an interesting setup that offers some very funny moments from Matt Damon, the film bogs down, losing track of the story and seeming like it has no interest in returning to it anytime in particular. This might be excusable if Gilliam's visual imagination could fill the gap, but the vast majority of the film seems to take place in the same dreary outdoor location, whose nooks and crannies become overly familiar to the viewer fairly quickly. Instead of bringing back fond memories of the best aspects of Time Bandits or The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, the miscalculation that is The Brothers Grimm recalls another infuriating film that ransacked the audience's collective memory of beloved characters, Stephen Sommers' atrocious Van Helsing. -- Perry Seibert
AWARDS:
In Competition - 2005 Venice International Film Festival
Two sisters engage in a subtle war for the affections of a man half their age in this British comedy drama. It's 1936, and Janet Widdington (Maggie Smith) and her sister, Ursula (Judi Dench), are a pair of elderly spinsters who share a home in Cornwall on the coast of England. After a storm, the sisters discover that someone has been washed up on the beach in front of their house. Bringing the body inside, they discover the victim is a handsome German man named Andrea (Daniel Brühl) who has suffered a broken ankle and speaks no English. As the sisters patch up Andrea's ankle, Janet dusts off her old German textbook from school, and begins getting to know more about their guest. It isn't long before Janet develops an infatuation for the good-looking stranger, which is more than a bit maddening to Ursula, who has fallen head over heels for him, especially after the sisters discover he's a gifted violinist and hear him display his craft on a borrowed instrument. As the sisters find themselves vying for Andrea's attention, they wonder if they should report his presence to the authorities, especially after Olga (Natascha McElhone), an attractive woman in her early thirties who lives nearby, becomes aware of Andrea's presence in the home and wants to make contact with him. Based on a short story by William J. Locke, Ladies in Lavender marked the directorial debut of actor Charles Dance. -- Mark Deming
AWARDS:
Film Presented - 2004 Toronto International Film Festival
After suffering the humiliation of being given the third degree by his girlfriend's father, one man now faces the even more embarrassing task of introducing his own mother and father in this star-studded sequel to the box-office smash Meet the Parents. After getting off on the wrong foot (to put it mildly) with his prospective in-laws, Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) has finally won the grudging approval of Jack and Dina Byrnes (Robert De Niro and Blythe Danner) to marry their daughter Pam (Teri Polo). But after clearing the first hurdle, now Greg has to face an even bigger challenge -- introducing the straight-laced Byrnes family to his folks, free-spirited sex therapist Roz (Barbra Streisand) and eccentrically open-minded Bernie, who blend with Pam's parents not quite as well as oil and water. Meet the Fockers was directed by Jay Roach, who handled the same chores for Meet the Parents. -- Mark Deming
AMG REVIEW:
The rare sequel that is far funnier than the box-office smash upon which it is based, Meet the Fockers (2004) is flat-out hilarious. Credit must be given to director Jay Roach and his team of writers for recognizing that the largely one-joke Meet the Parents (2000) coasted too much on the power of its high-concept premise and that any subsequent story would need to be more character-driven and superbly cast. It's a testament to their understanding of comedy that Robert De Niro's Jack Byrnes character is as much the protagonist of Fockers as Ben Stiller's shlubby Gaylord, which gives the story a little more comic elbow room, opening it up for the introduction of Roz and Bernie Focker. They're stereotypes to be sure, but character clichés are where the laughs and the fun are in this franchise. What is Jack if not the boiler-plate Republican father? What is Greg/Gaylord if not the next-generation Milquetoast boyfriend, and both Dina (Blythe Danner) and Pam (Teri Polo) if not the shiksa goddesses of the entire Woody Allen catalogue? Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand seem to be having a genuine ball as gooey-liberal Florida retiree foils, their energy kicking the rest of the cast up a notch. Even De Niro, who has been sleepwalking through some of his latter-career roles, is more engaged, particularly in his scenes with Hoffman and the twin infant actors portraying his grandson, "Little Jack." Meet the Fockers (2004) goes awry in a third act that shoehorns a pointless chase sequence and a star cameo into the mix, but it's over painlessly quickly and strikes the only false chords in what is otherwise a hysterically funny follow-up. -- Karl Williams
An overheard conversation leads a woman into a dark world of deadly intrigue in this political thriller. Silvia Broome (Nicole Kidman) is an African émigré who works as an interpreter at the United Nations. One of the languages she understands is Ku, a dialect spoken in her home country of Matobo. One day, as the General Assembly auditorium is being evacuated for a routine security sweep, Broome overhears a man speaking in Ku, who makes a cryptic statement that could be interpreted as a threat against the life of Zuwanie (Earl Cameron), Matobo's controversial ruler. Secret Service agent Tobin Keller (Sean Penn) is brought in to investigate Broome's story, and it isn't long before he's convinced that she knows more than she's willing to tell. As Keller and his partner, Dot Woods (Catherine Keener), dig deeper into Broome's story as well as her past, they discover a shocking tale of violence and corruption tied to Zuwanie's regime. The Interpreter was directed by Sydney Pollack, who also appears in a brief supporting role. -- Mark Deming
AMG REVIEW:
John Ford supposedly said the most compelling image you can put in a film is a human face. John Ford would have loved directing Sean Penn. As he moves into middle-age, Penn has not lost an ounce of his skill as an actor. He is unable to do anything that seems out of character. But now his face has developed lines that, along with the grey hairs at his temples, give him a lived-in-look that reinforces his ingrained authenticity. The scene that introduces his character makes no sense -- the viewer is given no information about why he is drinking alone, unplugging a jukebox, or listening to outgoing phone machine messages. But it is a compelling sequence thanks to Penn's talent and his look. You know the character is experiencing something deep and painful even if you have no idea what it is. Director Sydney Pollack knows how to use his actors well. Nicole Kidman's character is supposed to be more mysterious so she does not get to be as emotionally open as Penn, but she is his equal in their scenes together -- scenes that snap with sparkling multi-layered dialogue. Some might be understandably bothered by the use of African genocide as a backdrop for a glossy Hollywood thriller, but the film is about the characters more than the plot. The central relationship between the pair is so deftly played, written so note-perfectly, and directed with such respectful understatement that their give and take helps to keep the audience blind to the film's faults. A superb suspense sequence involving three different tailings that end up with all of the watchers and the watched on the same bus shows that Pollack still has a great deal of skill behind the camera. The Interpreter is slick Hollywood entertainment to be sure, but it works because Pollack understands the truism spoken by John Ford. -- Perry Seibert
AWARDS:
Best Supporting Actress (win) Catherine Keener - 2005 L.A. Film Critics Association
Best Supporting Actress (Runner-up) (win) Catherine Keener - 2005 National Society of Film Critics
Written and directed by Academy Award-nominee Mike Leigh and set in England during the 1950s, this movie revolves around Vera Drake (Imelda Staunton), whose unrelenting dedication to her family is well known throughout her blue-collar town. However, there are more people than her rapidly aging mother and ill neighbor who depend on Vera's care. Though abortion was illegal and, of course, widely frowned upon in the '50s, Vera sees women going through unwanted pregnancies the same as she would anyone else -- human beings deserving of treatment. With this in mind, she regularly induces miscarriages for those who need them, and her patients are consistently grateful for her gentleness and understanding. Unfortunately for Vera, the law doesn't see her as aiding those in need; they interpret the abortions as murder, as do most of the other people in her life. When Vera's activities are revealed, her family life and relationships with those around her -- including the ones she helped nurse back to health -- are put in jeopardy. Vera Drake also features performances from Jim Broadbent, Heather Craney, and Philip Davis. -- Tracie Cooper
AMG REVIEW:
Filmmaker Mike Leigh generally creates such richly drawn characters and pays such attention to the intimate details of their lives that it's hard to imagine one of his films focusing on a single issue, especially not in a pedantic way. While he often engages social issues in his work, characterizations of such depth and vibrancy wouldn't seem to allow for didacticism. On the surface, Vera Drake, with its ennobling portrait of a saintly woman who performs abortions, would seem to break with this longstanding tradition in the filmmaker's work. Despite its typically strong performances, the film can easily be dismissed as feminist propaganda by those who don't share Leigh's political bent, or dismissed as a "movie of the week" by those who continually underestimate his gifts as a visual stylist, because, like John Cassavetes, he focuses so intensely on the work of his actors. One almost wishes that Vera, as magnificently portrayed by Imelda Staunton, was less angelic, and more like the brittle, deeply flawed heroines of other Leigh films, like Cynthia (Brenda Blethyn) in Secrets & Lies. But when one looks more deeply at the work, it's clear that Vera, for all her charity, is a naïve woman, completely unsuited to dealing with the negative consequences of her good intentions. Along with the complex reactions of her close-knit family, the terrified Vera's inability to defend her actions gives the film a tragic resonance. Leigh's postwar London, meanwhile, brims with life that goes on beyond the frame. The set and costume design wonderfully evoke the characters' subsistence living, and each woman Vera tends to has an individual trauma etched in her face and movements. Leigh's ability to relay that each character has his or her own unspoken narrative is powerfully cinematic, and Vera Drake easily stands alongside his best work. -- Josh Ralske
AWARDS:
Best Actress (nom) Imelda Staunton - 2004 Academy
Best Director (nom) Mike Leigh - 2004 Academy
Best Original Screenplay (nom) Mike Leigh - 2004 Academy
Best Actress (win) Imelda Staunton - 2004 British Academy Awards
Best British Film (nom) - 2004 British Academy Awards
Best Costume Design (win) Jacqueline Durran - 2004 British Academy Awards
Best Director (win) Mike Leigh - 2004 British Academy Awards
Best Editing (nom) Jim Clark - 2004 British Academy Awards
Best Make-up and Hair (nom) Christine Blundell - 2004 British Academy Awards
Best Original Screenplay (nom) Mike Leigh - 2004 British Academy Awards
Best Picture (nom) - 2004 British Academy Awards
Best Production Design (nom) Eve Stewart - 2004 British Academy Awards
Best Supporting Actor (nom) Phil Davis - 2004 British Academy Awards
Best Supporting Actress (nom) Heather Craney - 2004 British Academy Awards
Best Actress (nom) Imelda Staunton - 2004 Broadcast Film Critics Association
Best Actress (win) Imelda Staunton - 2004 Chicago Film Critics Association
Best Actress - Drama (nom) Imelda Staunton - 2004 Golden Globe
Best Actress (win) Imelda Staunton - 2004 L.A. Film Critics Association
Best Picture (nom) - 2004 National Board of Review
Best Actress (win) Imelda Staunton - 2004 National Society of Film Critics
Best Actress (win) Imelda Staunton - 2004 New York Film Critics Circle
Best Actress (nom) Imelda Staunton - 2004 Screen Actors Guild
Best Actress (win) Imelda Staunton - 2004 Toronto Film Critics Association
Best Actress (win) Imelda Staunton - 2004 Venice Film Festival
Best Film (win) - 2004 Venice Film Festival