Horror Rated NR
“The definitive zombie picture.”
Drama Rated NR
Along with 1951’s A Streetcar Named Desire, also directed by Elia Kazan, this announced Brando as the new paragon of screen acting. His was a raw, unpredictable talent, one of guttural bursts, not crisp line readings. Here he plays Terry Malloy, a former boxer and current longshoreman caught between a corrupt union and his conscience.
Comedy Rated PG-13
Match Point marked a surprising return to vital filmmaking form for Woody Allen, but that movie had the distinct advantage of not being a comedy. Scoop, in which Allen reteams with Match Point star Scarlett Johansson, ostensibly is, and therein lies the problem. Johansson plays a bumbling journalism student who gets a tip that could
Youth, beauty, love, fame – all of these fade, as La Dolce Vita so poignantly reveals, but thankfully the movies never do. Director Federico Fellini’s epic account of our endless chase of “the sweet life” looks as shimmering and feels as vital as ever – even though its ironic message is that the party always
Comedy Rated NR
Alec Guinness minces through The Ladykillers as if it were his own personal playground, as well it should be. As the toothy, grinning leader of a gang of bumbling crooks – he only looks like a half-wit because the rest of them have no wits at all – he’s a loony treat, a comic bright
Drama Rated NC-17
Watching Bernardo Bertolucci’s erotic drama now, it’s not the graphic sex scenes that startle – these days they would pass for R-rated material. Instead, the jarring intensity of Marlon Brando in full fury keeps you off-balance. His portrayal of Paul, a recent widower who tries to exorcise his rage by having callous sex in a
Family Rated PG
“Pure, undiluted Steven Spielberg.”
Thriller Rated NR
Another exercise in stoicism and crime from legendary French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Melville (Le Samourai), in which hard men spend a lot of time giving each other hard stares. Over the course of 140 minutes, an escaped criminal (Gian Maria Volonte) and a newly released ex-con (Melville regular Alain Delon) fatefully meet, save each other’s life
Family Rated G
“…Oswalt babbles away with the mania of a true obsessive. He’s like Julia Child after too much wine.
Action/Adventure Rated PG
A remake of Japanese master Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, this plays like a Reader’s Digest version of that great epic, in which a small farming village terrorized by a pack of bandits seeks out seven hired killers for protection. The pleasure of the remake lies in the casting. Yul Brynner may make for a strange
