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I get all the Mike Leigh films. They can be hard to take but they tend to be a slice or real life and the acting is always wonderful. These characters seem part of the family. I agree 100% with Bret Fetzer's review. Its an eye-opener if you haven't seen how few options and how miserable life is for many people. But no matter what your station in life, there is much you can do to improve or worsen it. :
Writer-director Mike Leigh, after a brief detour into the period drama of Topsy-Turvy, returns to the lives of contemporary working-class Brits. Phil (longtime Leigh collaborator Timothy Spall, Secrets and Lies) is a quiet taxi driver whose marriage to Penny (Lesley Manville) has gone dry, though neither has quite realized it. They bicker with each other and their children and try to find some pleasure in going out with friends, but their friends have their own struggles--even Penny's coworker Maureen (Ruth Sheen), whose naturally buoyant personality is colliding with her resentful daughter's pregnancy. All or Nothing is among Leigh's bleakest films; the relentless misery of these characters' lives is hard to take. But thanks to the incredibly committed acting, when moments of tenderness come, they have a devastating impact.
set against the backdrop of the 1971 India-Pakistan war. Roshan Seth is a bank clerk and family man whose life begins to slowly fall apart despite his best efforts.
Sandra Bullock as a detective who tracks down two teens who murder a woman to prove they can get away with it. Bullock is very convincing as a driven detective; driven by her own victimization in the past.
standard modern war movie. Good for what it is which is a pure action movie with no real depth. Don't expect more that what it is. Its a shoot em up with Cage acting as a guilt ridden marine who can't live with death of his first command. IF it had been about the codetalkers, ... Sadly the DVD does not even have info or interviews with real codetalkers. Compare it with Band of Brothers.
follows a company of airborne infantry from boot camp through the end of the WWII. Stories based from interviews with survivors of Easy Company, as well as soldiers' journals and letters, Band of Brothers chronicles the experiences of these men who knew extraordinary bravery and extraordinary fear.
focuses on a sniper-to-sniper view of the battle and siege of Stalingrad. Ed Harris is tremendous as the best German sniper brought in to hunt down the best Russian sniper. To get a feel of the battle from the German 6th army perspective, consider
Minnie Driver stars as 4th generation in a family trying to find family diamonds lost in desert. Lust. Greed. Betrayal. Great acting. Dramatic. Two escaped convicts find them first. Who is going to get out of the desert with the diamonds? Certainly Minnie's best part to date.
De Niro as Walt a retired cop who has a stroke and is paralyzed on his right side and had trouble speaking. He is extremely homophobic.
a message of hope
Edge of the chair suspense. Eight kidnapped women. All beautiful. All talented. 3 found dead. Ashley Judd stars as the latest kidnap victim who got away. Morgan Freeman stars as Alex Cross the black detective trying to save his niece who was also kidnapped. Every movie I see with Morgan Freeman impresses me more and more. He is really talented:
Robert Sean Leonard plays a gay man in his early 20s who returns to the home of his affluent parents in upstate New York, dying from AIDS and wishing to spend his final months with his family. While his mother (Glenn Close) responds with care and compassion with the help of a live-in nurse (Whoopi Goldberg), his father (David Strathairn) is unable to accept his son's sexual orientation, much less his inevitable death. His sister (Bridget Fonda) is equally confused and detached from the family. If you can handle the sadness, this is a movie well worth viewing. Its basically a Glenn Close and Robert Leonard dialogue as mother and son get closer and closer until death separates them. A story being played out in its many variations all too frequently and will continue into the forseeable future. The movie was directed by Christopher Reeve after his accident.
About the Tuskegee Study where the US Public Health Service withheld treatment from a group of African-American men with syphilis. Uninformed consent, treatment withheld til death. Woodard plays a nurse and co-conspirator who breaks the story to a Senate subcommittee. I am a little cynical about the nurse but the basics of the Nazi-like experiment are undeniable. One can hardly blame African-americans from being cynical and distrustful of the government. The consequences will be LONG term and detrimental. It goes without saying that the acting was wonderful.
Best Picture, winner of 9 Academy Awards. A tragic romance where the lovers are caught up in the winds of WWII in North Africa and Italy. Not an action flick (war movie) but a drama. Stars Ralph Fiennes (bad guy in ).
If you haven't read the Easy Rawlins series, you have missed a bet. Denzel Washington is Easy Rawlins.
Amazon review which I agree with 100%.:
Despite rave reviews as one of the most stylish and intelligent detective pictures in a number of years, this never found a mass audience. Too bad, because Carl Franklin's film is nearly perfect in every way, from its rich, shadowy look to its depiction of life in post-World War II black America (L.A.-style) to the acting of Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, and others. Washington plays Easy Rawlins, an aircraft factory worker who is laid off only to find his true calling: as a private eye, albeit an unlicensed one. Hired to find a missing woman, he becomes entangled in a complex but satisfying case involving sex, corruption, racism, and of course money. Top-notch from top to bottom--and Cheadle is dangerously funny as Easy's best friend, a killer named Mouse.
Harvey Keitel plays a dreamer, schemer, hustler who is raising two daughters. One step away from total failure. The father has only dreams which he can not realize so the eldest daughter (high-school age) must. Told from oldest daughter's perspective from about age 5 until high school graduation. Acting is excellent by the "daughters" but Keitel makes you want to punch out the father.
The following is one of the Amazon reviews but I agree totally:
Joan Plowright is the matriarchal ruler of an Irish village just after WWI that is populated by war widows. Plowright's character keeps a tight reign on the inhabitants of the village by her sharp tongue, potential character assassignations (reputations), and telescopic spying from her Victorian home set atop the highest point of the village. Mia Farrow is a "pitiful" middle-aged never-married, who has a secret and is kept in despair by Plowright. The village dentist would like to "truly" court Ms. Farrow, but that is frowned on by Plowright. In the midst of this peculiar village, Natasha Richardon arrives. Wealthy, beautiful, and stylish, she takes possession of a large, beautiful cottage and drives her auto around the town, causing quite a stir among the villagers. Mia Farrow is convinced that Richardson is evil and sets about trying to expose her, while Plowight's grandam takes a liking to Richardson and attempts to squash Farrow. The story, which is hilarious from the opening scene, really starts flying at this point. Escapades of spying intensify. Accusations result in sinister developments, and Plowright charges ahead to "punish" wrongdoers with her mighty pen and loud, opinioned mouth. The hysteria of the village had me laughing and out of breath from beginning to end. What a fun romp with an old battle axe!
The Holocaust up close and personal. Real story. Read the book years ago. I recommend the book. The movie is true to the book. Very unusual. Huge emotional impact. A must see film that may be hard to find. It has not been converted to DVD yet (Nov 2002). Why? One of the best films of all time.
Her father fled Poland just before Hitler's invasion. her mother and sister went into the camps. 15 years later, she works for Macy's and has changed her name. Then her long lost sister shows up and she has to confront the past.
Kenneth Branagh ( and ) and Emma Thompson ( and ) play dual roles, as lovers now and in a prior life. In the past life, one was murdered and the other executed. Will history repeat itself? Well acted! Well written. I loved Branagh in
Glenn Close and John Malkovich as real shits re: betrayal and sexual intrigue as depraved 18th-century French aristocrats. Michelle Pfeiffer as victim. There is a young Keanu Reeves and Uma Thurman.
absolutely gripping. Just outside NY subway's Pelham Station a gang of armed men hijack a train, threatening to kill one hostage per minute if their ransom demand is not delivered on time. Walter Matthau stars as Lt. Garber who must negotiate with the gang leader Robert Shaw. Also starring Martin Balsam.
Jack Nicholson and Bruce Dern as bothers. Amazingly well acted. I see where Nicholson got his early reputation. Highly recommended!