![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() Some hamminess and a novelty title slightly sully Francis Ford Coppola’s sexy-sweet Sixties comedy. Otherwise, it’s a lock for most likely to succeed – LOL, saucy, smart, sophisticated and star-powered. A brilliant high school movie, told looking backwards, its conceit is to send Kathleen Tu…
WikChip Video
Star Power: Turner, Cage, Carrey, Allen
|
||||||
![]() Deeply, floridly Italian, Malèna is a sumptuous WWII find, a Sicilian movie extraordinaire and a devastating depiction of Italian machismo reacting to the hottest signorina since Sophia Loren. Monica Belluci plays the title character, a gorgeous war bride living in a small Sicilian town, bro…
WikChip Image
where Malèna went, the town followed
|
||||||
![]() The Last of the Mohicans was a benchmark in ’92. It still packs an action wallop, delivers a romantic jolt and provides a lens into the development of the American character, notwithstanding its historical liberties. This cinematically big movie features a perfect man who engages in a perfe…
WikChip Image
Last Mohican: Russell Means' Chingach...
|
||||||
![]() King of the Hill is a real life Little Rascals, what with pipsqueak brothers living alone during the Great Depression. Amazingly, it’s the truthy autobiography of A.E. Hotchner, Paul Newman’s pal and business partner. Even if fictional, it would still charm and enlighten, as it’s a perfect fi…
WikChip Video
Charming and Enlightening
|
||||||
![]() A glamorous take on the gangster who gave us modern Las Vegas, Bugsy was Hollywood legend Warren Beatty’s last great role, complemented in no small measure by the potent chemistry he achieved with future wife Annette Bening. Though a commercial disappointment, the movie has aged well, full of … |
||||||
![]() Elizabeth is a smashingly good movie – presented with great aplomb – about worldshaping events, centered on arguably the greatest queen of all time. All that and the great Cate Blanchett’s first ever motion picture role – for which she was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar. Politically t… |
||||||
![]() Your Highness dons the trappings of Ye Olde English knights and damsels, mixes in sorcerers and pagan mythology, then filters the unholy brew through a 21st century slacker’s sensibility. Such low brow humor in high brow settings makes for a fun movie if you don’t mind tongue-deeply-in-cheek c…
WikChip Video
Low Brow Humor in High Brow Settings
|
||||||
Visually scintillating, musically avant-garde, dramatically turgid: This biopic of two cultural giants goes down like Brussels sprouts instead of foie gras. IOW, it takes effort to work through the two hour running time, when it should feel like savoring a rich delicacy. Pity, since Coco & Igor…
WikChip Image
Great design barely trumps turgid drama.
|
||||||
![]() 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…
WikChip Image
Polly Walker's stunning Royal Mistress
|
||||||
![]() This paean to lost licentiousness in the face of fascism won eight (8!) Oscars, losing out only on Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay (both to The Godfather for Pete’s sake). The movie that made Liza more famous for her talent than her…
WikChip Image
Sexy Brilliance.
|