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![]() Brilliance has never been more exquisitely appreciated than in Amadeus, with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s genius obsessively observed by Antonio Salieri, his lesser rival. Profound jealousy makes for such sweet sorrow, especially as snottily delivered by F. Murray Abraham in a stupendously juicy r…
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Sexy Opera, Very Sexy Opera
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![]() A superbly crafted film about a sympathetic sociopath, Monster deserves to be appreciated for much more than Charlize Theron’s Oscar-winning performance as serial killer Aileen Wuornos. For instance, it deftly shows a seamy side of American society, the confounding and sometimes tragic forces …
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Fully Committed: Theron's Wuornos all In
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![]() Audrey Hepburn is the spoon-full-of-sugar who makes the cultural imperialism go down in Funny Face. Stanley Donen’s musical – done Broadway style – is an intoxicating Vogue-tini, a Size 0 fashion fantasy. Richard Avedon famously created the opening titles, which are perfectly high fashion. …
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Avedon's timeless portrait of Hepburn
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![]() Burton and O’Toole grandly declaim in Becket, a big historical drama and big hit from 1964. Two leading-men of the old school variety, with big voices, they’re more than capable of extreme declamation in a love story between two men – unrequited. The bromance ended badly after Burton’s great ma…
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King & Wingman, before it all went bad
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![]() Small Soldiers looms large two decades after its premier. Spielberg inspired and produced, Joe Dante’s masterpiece is classic Hollywood fantasy, with a great cast featuring Frank Langella & Tommy Lee Jones. The classic Hollywood part includes being left-wing and anti-American. The villains …
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Don't hate me because I'm beautiful.
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![]() Charlton Heston makes Michelangelo as operatic as Moses in The Ten Commandments. Facing off with Rex Harrison’s Warrior Pope in 1500s Rome makes The Agony and the Ecstasy a spectacle extraordinaire. The 2¼ hour runtime wisely starts with a 12 min. intro that covers Michelangelo’s highlight…
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Charlton Heston with the Contessina
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![]() Young Mr. Lincoln happily Hollywoodizes our future greatest President. It’s a funny and frequently illuminating movie. Young Henry Fonda played upstanding young men especially well, while John Ford remains one of Hollywood’s greatest directors, with Young Mr. Lincoln in the second tier of his…
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SPOILER: Don't mess with Abe.
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![]() Restoration refers to Britain’s casting off of Puritanism, a liberated time of royal hedonism and bawdy theater, from which a much lauded historical novel was derived. Add in Robert Downey Jr., Meg Ryan, Sam Neill and the stunning Polly Walker for cinematic firepower. Restoration is the resul…
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Polly Walker's stunning Royal Mistress
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![]() Message-movies that dramatize real world events start with two strikes against them. The message they promote likely doesn’t resonate with everyone. And they have to hew to an often humdrum storyline. Thus Made in Dagenham is a pleasant surprise, quirky instead of humdrum, not heavy-handed… |
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![]() Women rule The Help. They rule the Junior League, they rule their roosts and they rule each other. Some are white and privileged, most of whom behave in ugly ways. Others are black and disenfranchised. Their world seems far away, yet existed a mere 50 years ago in the Jim Crow South. Vie…
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Someone get this woman an Oscar!
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