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Changeling
Really Great 83 Points 2008

Polish up the acceptance speeches. Changeling deserves a passel of trophies, though Best Picture isn’t one of them. The difficult story – while expertly told – ends up a mildly exhausting slog, one not worth enduring for anyone not wanting to visualize the most elemental of maternal nightmare…

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The Wind That S...
OK 88 Points 2006

A story of brothers ripped apart by revolution should be better than the formulaic The Wind That Shakes the Barley. Cloaked in the emerald charm of Ireland, yet curiously unengaging, it’s more socialist screed about the Irish republican revolution than ripping good yarn.

The Irish revolutio…

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WikChip Image Brothers, close as can be, ripped apart
The Newton Boys
Very Good 83 Points 1998

Unlike Bonnie and Clyde, the Newton Boys were successful bank robbers, so it’s an injustice that they’re not as famous – nor their biopic as celebrated – as that of those other early 20th century Texas outlaws. Especially because The Newton Boys is a slick, rollicking and interesting movie, on…

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A River Runs Th...
Really Great 83 Points 1992

Male bonding, tragic beauty and fly fishing merge into one – and exceptional writing runs through it. With apologies to Norman Maclean, that takeoff from his lauded autobiographical novella describes this treasured movie of the same name. Beautifully constructed by director and narrator Robert …

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WikChip Video Even the trailer brings a lump to the...
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Miller's Crossing
Really Great 79 Points 1990

This highly stylized production by the Brothers Coen has great fun with the cinematic staples of old time gangster movies. Certainly one of the best movies the Brothers C have made, Miller’s Crossing features scene stealing performances by Jon Polito and others.

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Johnny Dangerously
OK 66 Points 1984

Michael Keaton and a WTF cast couldn’t rescue Amy Heckerling’s mob parody Johnny Dangerously. About that cast, guys like Dick Butkus, Alan Hale Jr. and Ray Walston pop up in like three scenes each. What The Fuck?

Unfortunately the bad screenplay falls flat, with nary a joke that works.
*…

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WikChip Image They were cast for height.
The Secret of N...
Great 66 Points 1980

Tesla stands alone: the most mystical, the most gifted, the most freaky of the great industrial magnates, e.g., Edison, Westinghouse & J.P. Morgan, who also appear in this biopic of the Serbian-American inventor. From Zagreb, it presents as a bizarre movie where people’s mouths don’t match what’…

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WikChip Video Tesla meets J.P. Morgan. Edison fumes.
Doctor Zhivago
Great 66 Points 1965

A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down. The sugar: a terrific love story. The medicine: the wanton cruelty and dehumanization endemic to the nascent Soviet Union. Director David Lean – King of the Epics – reunited with Omar Sharif and several essential crew members from "Lawrence of Ar…

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WikChip Video They don't make 'em like they used to.
Some Like It Hot
Perfect 66 Points 1959

Some Like It Hot kicked off the Sixties with a bang. Released in ‘59, it was nominated for six Oscars at the 1960 Academy Awards, winning only for Orry-Kelly’s dresses for Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and most especially Marilyn Monroe. Speaking of Monroe, she won the 1960 Golden Globe for Best A…

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WikChip Video Curtis does Grant, Monroe does Monroe
Giant
Great 66 Points 1956

A deserved classic, this aptly titled movie features giant stars, a ginormous mansion incongruously stuck in the heart of the giant state of Texas, a running time that exceeds three hours and giant story elements. It all works amazingly well, never seeming drawn-out or boring, notwithstanding a …

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WikChip Image Legendary stars in a provocative pose.