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.Malta Story City Travel Guides > VHS > Drama February 27, 1996 >>See More Reviews & Details on Malta Story |
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.Desiree City Travel Guides > VHS > Drama starring: Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Merle Oberon, Michael Rennie, Cameron Mitchell directed by: Henry Koster April 26, 1990 Hard to believe that anyone could take this overly romantic nonsense seriously. It has little to do with history, even less with cinema. Most of the budget seems to have gone on the stars - the scenery looks cardboard, the costumes are probably left over from previous films, there is no sense of the era, much of the acting is way beyond being merely wooden. Lots of stiff, unconvincing dialogue - little spectacle (flags moving across the screen represent a battle). Of course, the film is based on a best-selling novel of the 50's and, by rights, should have focused on Desiree as played (uncertainly) by Jean Simmons. But the casting of Marlon Brando as Napoleon throws everything off balance. I have read a fair amount about Napoleonic history but ... Read More: >>See More Reviews & Details on Desiree |
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.All My Sons City Travel Guides > VHS > Drama starring: Edward G. Robinson, Burt Lancaster, Mady Christians, Louisa Horton, Howard Duff directed by: Irving Reis June 30, 1998 "All My Sons" would seem to have all the ingredients of a classic---superb Arthur Miller source material along with top-flight stars (Edward G. Robinson, Burt Lancaster) in the leads. And this adaptation is, in fact, impressively true to the Miller original. The cuts that have been made are reasonable, and the "opening out" (i.e., setting scenes in locales different from those indicated in the playscript to give visual verisimilitude)is tasteful and unobtrusive. Why, then, has this film languished in such relative obscurity? Alas, the reason is simple: the performances of the two leads. I did not fully grasp this problem until I saw, in a Washington-area theater, "All My Sons" produced live with the wonderful ... Read More: >>See More Reviews & Details on All My Sons |
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.From Here to Eternity City Travel Guides > VHS > Drama starring: Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed, Frank Sinatra directed by: Fred Zinnemann October 23, 2001 The Godfather got Sinatra the part of Maggio, but I think the producer was right; Sinatra stinks in that part. Talk about over acting; Sinatra has no subtlety at all. Now Lancaster is terrific, a soldier's soldier and Deborah Kerr slips into the part of a lonely wife of a louse effortlessly. The script of the James Jones book is a mess. The Lancaster-Kerr romance works almost, but the Cliff-Donna Reed love story is hurried and unbelievable. She's a dance hostess my a**. The mores of the 1950's did this interesting story wrong. These people are seething with sexuality, but somehow, Hollywood squeezed the juice out of em. >>See More Reviews & Details on From Here to Eternity |
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.Land and Freedom City Travel Guides > VHS > Drama starring: Ian Hart, Rosana Pastor, Icíar Bollaín, Tom Gilroy, Marc Martínez directed by: Ken Loach April 20, 1999 The acting in the film is exceptional, especially the female protagonist. The problem with the film is that it doesn't adequately develop its two principal concerns: the Stalinist/Marxist betrayal of the Spanish Civil War and the developing romantic relationship between the protagonists. Lesser concerns are left undeveloped as well, such as David Hart's life after his return from the revolution. All we know is that his granddaughter reads Hart's old letters and newspaper clippings after his death. The lifetime effect of the revolution on Hart is anyone's guess. The film's virtue is its historical accuracy. The significance of the Spanish Civil War can hardly be explored in 109 minutes. The film needed to be much longer. >>See More Reviews & Details on Land and Freedom |
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.Memphis Belle City Travel Guides > VHS > Drama starring: Matthew Modine, Eric Stoltz, Tate Donovan, D.B. Sweeney, Billy Zane directed by: Michael Caton-Jones February 04, 1997 This is the first of a line of movies depicting shear guts in the face of a real enemy. Afterwards came the likes of Platoon, Saving Private Ryan, Thin Red Line, The Windtalkers, Blackhawk Down and We Were Soldiers. Memphis Belle gets a bit schmaltzy in the beginning, focusing on the crew and not the reality, but the scenes of flying into the fire makes you respect the guts that generation displayed. I really thought that using the actors (all around 21 to 25) was a great touch, and made me sit back and think about what I was doing at that age (Nam) and what my dad was doing (WWII). Whew, take a bunch of amped up young men and throw them into harms way. I wonder if older, more comfortable men would have done that? And I thought flyboys had ... Read More: >>See More Reviews & Details on Memphis Belle |
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.Iron Triangle City Travel Guides > VHS > Drama September 29, 1993 This is the first of a line of movies depicting shear guts in the face of a real enemy. Afterwards came the likes of Platoon, Saving Private Ryan, Thin Red Line, The Windtalkers, Blackhawk Down and We Were Soldiers. Memphis Belle gets a bit schmaltzy in the beginning, focusing on the crew and not the reality, but the scenes of flying into the fire makes you respect the guts that generation displayed. I really thought that using the actors (all around 21 to 25) was a great touch, and made me sit back and think about what I was doing at that age (Nam) and what my dad was doing (WWII). Whew, take a bunch of amped up young men and throw them into harms way. I wonder if older, more comfortable men would have done that? And I thought flyboys had ... Read More: >>See More Reviews & Details on Iron Triangle |
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.They Came to Cordura City Travel Guides > VHS > Drama starring: Gary Cooper, Rita Hayworth, Van Heflin, Tab Hunter, Richard Conte directed by: Robert Rossen September 29, 1997 THEY CAME TO CORDURA was originally 148 minutes. It was hailed by critics who saw this version, including the NY Times, which gave it a rave. But Columbia grew nervous, it was dark, grim, downbeat. The army looked like it was filled with cowards, rapists, murderers. Columbia took the film away from director Robert Rossen and lopped off 35 minutes, then added back in several minutes of exposition. The resulting film is maddening. At times brilliant, at times clumsy; it's pacing is awkward, the editing downright amateurish. The minions at Comubia hadn't a clue what they were doing whgen they butchered and re-editied the film. Even so, it is still a fine, fine film. The writing is spot-on, some of the dialogue scalding; the acting is flawless, and many of the sequences take your breath ... Read More: >>See More Reviews & Details on They Came to Cordura |
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.Hanussen City Travel Guides > VHS > Drama starring: Klaus Maria Brandauer, Erland Josephson, Ildikó Bánsági, Walter Schmidinger, Károly Eperjes directed by: István Szabó February 21, 1995 Klaus-Maria Brandauer gives a riveting and mezmerising performance as "Hanussen", a clairvoyant in pre-war and Nazi Germany. Seeing the future though is not pleasant and Hanussen pays a price for it. He doesn't warn of terrible things to come; he just reveals it as truth. Based on a true story, the film presents a rare glimpse of post WWI Mittel-Europe too. No hard-core Nazi atrocities here, but the hints, revelations and decadent sideshows plus Branauer's hypnotic performance reveal all that's needed for a very good film. >>See More Reviews & Details on Hanussen |
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.The Dawn Patrol City Travel Guides > VHS > Drama starring: Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone, David Niven, Donald Crisp, Melville Cooper directed by: Edmund Goulding December 07, 1994 THE DAWN PATROL, Errol Flynn's final film of his busiest year as an actor (1938), is a fascinating counterpoint to his usual swashbuckling and light comic roles. A remake of Howard Hawks' 1930 classic, this is a tale of war-weary WWI aviators, called upon to risk their lives daily, in broken-down aircraft, on missions they consider impossible (a timeless war theme that would reappear in such WWII classics as COMMAND DECISION and TWELVE O'CLOCK HIGH). Directed by WWI veteran Edmund Goulding, best known for his big-budget romances (GRAND HOTEL), the film counterpoints the gritty, harsh realities on the ground with the nearly surreal quality of early air battles, as bi-planes with open cockpits whirl and swoop like insects, and enemy airmen would occasionally drop out possessions of dead ... Read More: >>See More Reviews & Details on The Dawn Patrol |