Combined All My Movies
List activity
1.1K views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
461 titles
- DirectorMike NicholsStarsEmma ThompsonChristopher LloydEileen AtkinsA renowned professor is forced to reassess her life when she is diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer.
- DirectorCharles MatthauStarsPiper LaurieSissy SpacekWalter MatthauBecoming an orphan in 1935, Collin moves to his dad's cousins Verena and Dolly. Verena is a rich, bossy businesswoman. Dolly, Collin and the maid revolt, moving to a tree house.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsJohn CusackDianne WiestJennifer TillyIn New York in 1928, a struggling playwright is forced to cast a mobster's talentless girlfriend in his latest drama in order to get it produced.don't talk
- DirectorPedro AlmodóvarStarsCarmen MauraAntonio BanderasJulieta SerranoA television actress encounters a variety of eccentric characters after embarking on a journey to discover why her lover abruptly left her.Women on the Verge of A Nervous Breakdown: Beautiful colors of Barcelona.
Rossi de Palma is the talented large nosed member of the Almodoar company. Also in Ready to Wear. - DirectorMike NicholsStarsMeryl StreepJack NicholsonJeff DanielsShe's a magazine writer who gives up her career for love and family. He's a playboy newspaper columnist who can't quite give up his old tricks. And if that combination doesn't give a relationship Heartburn, nothing will.Incredible cast (Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, Stockard Channing, Maureen Stapleton, Milos Forman, Kevin Spacey, Mercedes Ruehl, Joanna Gleason, Yakov Smirnoff) author (Nora Ephron), director (Mike Nichols).
DATE: 2003-05-16 - DirectorHerbert RossStarsWhoopi GoldbergMary-Louise ParkerDrew BarrymoreRobin shares a ride in her car with Jane from New York to Los Angeles. They stop at Jane's friend Holly's place in Pittsburgh and take her with them west, making a long stop in Tucson. The three very different women become close friends.
- DirectorLasse HallströmStarsJuliette BinocheJohnny DeppJudi DenchA French woman and her young daughter open up a chocolate shop in a small remote village that shakes up the rigid morality of the community.This is not "Like Water for Chocolate." It's good, but not as good as I remember "Like Water" to be.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsWoody AllenGoldie HawnJulia RobertsA New York girl sets her father up with a beautiful woman in a troubled marriage while her stepsister gets engaged.
- DirectorSanaa HamriStarsSanaa LathanSimon BakerGolden BrooksKenya McQueen, an accountant finds love in the most unexpected place when she agrees to go on a blind date with Brian Kelly, a sexy and free-spirited landscaper.Upscale - think Pasadena - black woman has difficulty accepting white landscape gardener into her race- and class- conscious society, which unconsciously imitates white high society to which blacks and Jews were once denied entry.
- DirectorLiev SchreiberStarsElijah WoodEugene HutzBoris LyoskinA young Jewish American man, with the help of an eccentric local, endeavors to find the woman who saved his grandfather during World War II in a Ukrainian village that was ultimately razed by the Nazis.
- DirectorAnand TuckerStarsSteve MartinClaire DanesJason SchwartzmanA film adaptation of Steve Martin's novel about a complex love triangle between a bored salesgirl, a wealthy businessman and an aimless young man.Perhaps best thing Steve Martin has done. A serious film. Screenplay by Steve Martin based on his Novella.
- DirectorTim RobbinsStarsHank AzariaRubén BladesJoan CusackA true story of politics and art in the 1930s U.S., focusing on a leftist musical drama and attempts to stop its production.Better than rated, but should have cut the ending.
DATE: 2008-02-11 - DirectorSarah WattStarsMary KostakidisJustine ClarkeDaniela FarinacciDuring one unusually hot and tragic weekend, four people struggle after hearing some life-changing news. This, in turn, brings them together.Doesn't do meaning of life as well as Shakespeare' "signifying nothing" does, but is interesting, and upbeat. I wonder what death caused Sarah Watt to write and draw this movie.
DATE: 2008-03-24 - DirectorDouglas McGrathStarsToby JonesDaniel CraigSandra BullockWhile researching his novel "In Cold Blood", Truman Capote develops a close relationship with convicted murderers Dick Hickock and Perry Smith.Powerful character study about Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood." Sandra Bullock as author Harper Lee (To Kill a Mocking Bird) gives an Oscar deserving performance. Toby as Capote is also first rate. Gwyneth Paltro has a great singing voice (opening nightclub scene)
DATE: 2008-03-31 - DirectorMarc ForsterStarsWill FerrellEmma ThompsonDustin HoffmanI.R.S. auditor Harold Crick suddenly finds his mundane Chicago life to be the subject of narration only he can hear: narration that begins to affect his entire existence, from his work to his love life to his death.Most original script/plot, made me think of "Being John Malkovich." But in this one there is a point in the film where it departs from its initial premise that everything he is doing is what the author writes he is doing. She does not write, for example, that her character comes to see his "author." Although Will Farrell is the lead, it is anything but broad comedy/farce. Also stars Emma Thompson as the author, Dustin Hoffman as the literature professor who serves as Will's analyst, Maggie Gyllenhaal, with Linda Hunt cameo.
- DirectorKevin SpaceyStarsKevin SpaceyKate BosworthJohn GoodmanA swooning study of "Mack the Knife" singer Bobby Darin and specifically his relationship with wife Sandra Dee.Kevin Spacey's tribute to Bobby Darren. I knew Spacey was a great actor, but who knew he could sing and dance? He could have been a major singing star if he had wanted.
DATE: 2008-06-20 - DirectorWoody AllenStarsMia FarrowWilliam HurtJoe MantegnaA spoiled Manhattan housewife re-evaluates her life after visiting a Chinatown healer.Woody Allen wrote and directed Mia Farell in this tangled love affairs film with fantasy herb doctor.
DATE: 2008-07-22 - DirectorAlfonso ArauStarsMarco LeonardiLumi CavazosRegina TornéWhen tradition prevents her from marrying the man she loves, a young woman discovers she has a unique talent for cooking.Like Water for Chocolate
- DirectorR. KellyJim SwaffieldStarsR. KellyCat WilsonRolando BoyceThe first twelve chapters of R. Kelly's rap opera in which a one-night stand triggers a series of revelations about the sexual deceits of its characters.
- DirectorR. KellyVictor MignattiJim SwaffieldStarsR. KellyEric LaneLeShay N. TomlinsonThe second ten chapters of R. Kelly's rap opera in which a one-night stand triggers a series of revelations about the sexual deceits of its characters.Fascinating, novel production about a form of black "gangsta" life. Vignettes that all tie together in unexpected ways. Besides the zero degrees of separation, the other common thread is someone hiding in a closet. I had no idea R. Kelley was anything but a hip hop or something music person.
- DirectorMike NicholsStarsTom HanksJulia RobertsPhilip Seymour HoffmanA drama based on a Texas congressman Charlie Wilson's covert dealings in Afghanistan, where his efforts to assist rebels in their war with the Soviets have some unforeseen and long-reaching effects.Terrific film about covert war against USSR in Afghanistan. Mike Nichols, Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts
DATE: 2008-12-05 - DirectorMartin McDonaghStarsColin FarrellBrendan GleesonCiarán HindsAfter a job gone wrong, hitman Ray and his partner await orders from their ruthless boss in Bruges, Belgium, the last place in the world Ray wants to be.We visited Bruge once. Its memorable spiral staircase bell tower is featured in this film noir comic tragedy. There is even a glimpse of the rope that substitutes for a banister. Some of the action also takes place on its canals.
The film's story about Irish hit men (Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrel) brought to mind Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) in "Pulp Fiction." But Bruge is a darker movie.
DATE: 2008-12-14 - DirectorChris WeitzStarsNicole KidmanDaniel CraigDakota Blue RichardsIn a parallel universe, young Lyra Belacqua journeys to the far North to save her best friend and other kidnapped children from terrible experiments by a mysterious organization.Fantasy with a little science fiction about a parallel universe where humans have daemons in the forms of animals. Good story really well done.
DATE: 2009-01-09 - DirectorShari Springer BermanRobert PulciniStarsPaul GiamattiShari Springer BermanHarvey PekarAn original mix of fiction and reality illuminates the life of comic book hero everyman Harvey Pekar.Intelligent but depressed guy with mundane clerical job and lousy life in general begins an underground comic strip about his life and the people in it, including his best wife, Joyce. Independent documentary film makers Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman won awards for their novel script which included actors portraying the characters (Paul Giamatti plays Pekar) as well as some of the actual people.
DATE: 2009-01-13 - DirectorChristopher Warre SmetsStarsJoe MantegnaElizabeth WhitmereRomano OrzariAgeing hit man, Harry, has just botched a job and is now the target. His daughter is also in the assassin trade and is now a target too. A young hit man called Billy is sent to take Harry out but they form an uneasy alliance...Small cast very well done.
DATE: 2009-02-20 - DirectorAlan ParkerStarsDennis QuaidTamlyn TomitaSab ShimonoThe passionate romance between an Irish-American man and a Japanese-American woman is threatened when the Pearl Harbor attacks happen and the woman is forced into a prison camp because of her ethnicity.About WW II internment of Japanese Americans and labor movement. Dennis Quaid
DATE: 2009-02-24 - DirectorPhilip Frank MessinaStarsRobert CostanzoDavid StrathairnAdam ArkinFour small-time two-bit character actors, all close friends, are competing for same important part in the next Martin Scorsese mob film.comedy about 4 friends competing for the same part.
DATE: 2009-03-19 - DirectorBob BalabanStarsArmin Mueller-StahlOlivia d'AboLionel StanderJoseph, a former professional musician who has withdrawn into a quiet life after the death of his wife. Remaining mostly isolated, he stays at home, playing his violin in the evenings for entertainment. This routine is disrupted, however, when he witnesses a violent fight between his neighbor, Eddie, and his girlfriend Charlotte. He takes an interest in her, eventually taking her in when he learns that she has no place to stay. The gentle Kopple possesses a traditional, European restraint, while she is tough and jaded. Nevertheless, the two soon become close companions, sharing their pain and finding unexpected solace in each other.Not what I'd usually pick. Bittersweet story of retired violinist living in a cheap Brooklyn apartment on a small pension. He is German, tall, fit, and old fashioned. He has an older friend he visits daily in a nursing home. A young couple in the apartment above his have a violent fight about some key the husband is desperate to find and the wife says she doesn't know where it is.
DATE: 2009-03-20 - DirectorBarry LevinsonStarsAdrien BrodyBebe NeuwirthJoe MantegnaBaltimore, Fall 1954: Schools implement the new integration law. Ben finds the "colored" girl in his class cute - upsetting his Jewish mom and granny. Ben talks to her while his brother looks for his WASP dream girl.Barry Levinson coming of age film. Jewish teens in 1950s Baltimore interact with a Gentile girl and a Black girl.
DATE: 2009-03-24 - DirectorJonathan LynnStarsBruce WillisMatthew PerryRosanna ArquetteA struggling dentist's life is turned upside down when a famous gangster moves in next door, and his wife convinces him to inform a notorious mob boss about the gangster's whereabouts.Mathew Perry is a dentist in Canada trapped in a horrible marriage. The dentist is originally from Chicago. He gets a new next door neighbor, Jimmy Jones (Bruce Willis). The dentist recognizes the neighbor is really Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski, a hit man who ratted on a Chicago mobster, whose gang wants to kill him. The dentist's unloving wife, deliciously played by Rosanna Arquette, is trying to have her husband killed for his life insurance. Amanda Peete is the dentists assistant, who turns out to be a Jimmy "The Tulip" groupie.
DATE: 2009-03-26 - DirectorBilly CrystalStarsBilly CrystalDebra WingerJoe MantegnaMickey, an NBA referee, meets Ellen, an American airline official, in Paris. It develops into a relationship of ups and downs.Billy Crytal's and Debra Winger's basketball referee comedy.
DATE: 2009-05-19 - DirectorJason AlexanderStarsRichard V. LicataMarcell RosenblattRyan MerrimanFinishing 8th grade in 1955 Bronx, sex-obsessed Lenny aims to see "the act of love" that summer at his aunt's in Queens where he makes friends, meets cute nurse Hedy, and learns a few things.Cute coming of age story. Bronx Jewish boy spends summer with pregnant aunt and her Italian husband in Queens. Becomes friends with a local boy and two girls who have a "club" to learn (talk only) about sex. ecomes infatuated with young nurse who also is a lingerie model. His ambition for the summer is to watch two people have sex. Jason Alexander directed.
DATE: 2009-06-02 - DirectorTony GilroyStarsGeorge ClooneyTilda SwintonTom WilkinsonA law firm brings in its "fixer" to remedy the situation after a lawyer has a breakdown while representing a chemical company that he knows is guilty in a multibillion-dollar class action suit.Well done detective/lawyer suspense story. Clooney stars as law firm "janitor" and is an exec. producer. Sydney Pollack produces and is CEO of law firm. Beginning confusing but (at least part of it) turns out to be a flashback but feels as if it fits in sequence with what follows.
DATE: 2009-07-12 - DirectorAdam BrooksStarsRyan ReynoldsRachel WeiszAbigail BreslinA political consultant tries to explain his impending divorce and past relationships to his 11-year-old daughter.Dad who is about to be divorced picks up his daughter (played by Abigail Breslin) from school only to find a commotion because that day the school had covered sex education with more information than parents thought their children were ready for. His 11 year daughter asks the Dad about how he met her mother. He tells her it is complicated. She gets him to agree to tell about it, but he will do it in story from and that he will change the names of women he had been involved with before he got married. His daughter is going to try to guess which one is her mother.
DATE: 2009-07-13 - DirectorJohn CrowleyStarsCillian MurphyKelly MacdonaldColin FarrellA variety of losers in Dublin have harrowingly farcical intersecting stories of love, greed and violence.By same Irish film company that did "In Bruges." Colin Farrell is bad guy. Funny but violent.
A raucous story of the interweaving lives and loves of small-town delinquents, shady cops, pretty good girls and very bad boys. With Irish guts and grit, lives collide, preconceptions shatter and romance is tested to the extreme. An ill-timed and poorly executed couple's break-up sets off a chain of events affecting everyone in town. There's the hapless romantic and his sex-starved best friend, the hotshot detective and the crook he's after, a young girl on the rebound with an older married man -- not to mention his deserted wife, an ambitious TV producer, an abandoned fiancée, a preteen trouble-maker -- all of whom are unaware of how their choices are profoundly intertwined. Add a botched robbery, some brown sauce, a woman's moustache, flying rocks and dancing single seniors and you have "Intermission." - DirectorGuillermo del ToroStarsIvana BaqueroAriadna GilSergi LópezIn the Falangist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world.
- DirectorEthan CoenJoel CoenStarsBrad PittFrances McDormandGeorge ClooneyA disk containing mysterious information from a CIA agent ends up in the hands of two unscrupulous and daft gym employees who attempt to sell it.Coen Bros. Fun movie. CIA, Secret Service, etc. George Clooney - philandering secret service body guard married to successful children's books author; Frances McDormand - gym person who wants cosmetic surgery to attract non-loser men; Brad Pitt - perfect as idiot gym instructor; John Malkovich - intelligence analyst who doesn't suffer fools well; Tilda Swinton - brilliant as red headed snooty ball breaker married to Malkovich.
DATE: 2009-10-09
Watched anew onMay 7, 2016. Throughout the film, I didn’t remember seeing it before! No recollection at all! Thought it great and hilarious. I only learned that I had seen it 7 years before on planning to enter into into my lists. - DirectorSergio LeoneStarsRod SteigerJames CoburnRomolo ValliA low-life bandit and an I.R.A. explosives expert rebel against the government and become heroes of the Mexican Revolution.English version is "A Fistful of Dynamite" or"Duck You Sucker". Rod Steiger, James Coburn, directed by Sergio Leone.
DATE: 2009-12-01 - DirectorStephen FrearsStarsAnjelica HustonJohn CusackAnnette BeningA small-time conman has torn loyalties between his estranged mother and new girlfriend, both of whom are high-stakes grifters with their own angles to play.on artists and hit men. Good script, great acting: Anjelica Huston, Annette Bening. Also starred John Cusack as Anjelica Huston's son. This note written long after viewing the film,his performance is not in my memory.
DATE: 2009-12-13 - DirectorGillian ArmstrongStarsRalph FiennesCate BlanchettCiarán HindsIn mid-1800s England, Oscar is a young Anglican priest, a misfit and an outcast, but with the soul of an angel. As a boy, even though from a strict Pentecostal family, he felt God told him through a sign to leave his father and his faith and join the Church of England. Lucinda is a teen-aged Australian heiress who has an almost desperate desire to liberate her sex from the confines of the male-dominated culture of the Australia of that time. She buys a glass factory and has a dream of building a church made almost entirely of glass, and then transporting it to Bellingen, a remote settlement on the north coast. Oscar and Lucinda meet on a ship going to Australia; once there, they are for different reasons ostracized from society, and as a result "join forces" together. Oscar and Lucinda are both passionate gamblers, and Lucinda bets Oscar her entire inheritance that he cannot transport the glass church to the Outback safely. Oscar accepts her wager, and this leads to the events that will change both their lives forever.In mid-1800's England, Oscar (Ralph Fiennes) is a young Anglican priest, a misfit and an outcast, but with the soul of an angel. As a boy, even though from a strict Pentecostal family, he felt God told him through a sign to leave his father and his faith and join the Church of England. Lucinda (Cate Blanchett) is a teen-aged Australian heiress who has an almost desperate desire to liberate her sex from the confines of the male-dominated culture of the Australia of that time. She buys a glass factory and has a dream of building a church made almost entirely of glass, and then transporting it to the Australian Outback. Oscar and Lucinda meet on a ship going to Australia; once there, they are for different reasons ostracized from society, and as a result "join forces" together. Oscar and Lucinda are both passionate gamblers, and Lucinda bets Oscar her entire inheritance that he cannot transport the glass church to the Outback safely. Oscar accepts her wager, and this leads to the events that will change both their lives forever.
Interesting historical setting and engrossing story, dramatic and tragic.
DATE: 2010-01-08 - DirectorTim Blake NelsonStarsMekhi PhiferJulia StilesMartin SheenAn update of Shakespeare's 'Othello' with a young cast, set in an upper class prep school, & centered around basketball player Odin.Tragedy based on Othello plot. Basketball phenom Odin [Othello] is only black in his prep school. Envious teammate Hugo [Iago] hatches plot to get popular Odin in trouble (lie to him about Odin's girlfriend, Desi Brable [Desdemona] (Julia Stiles), cheating with another teammate.)
DATE: 2010-01-10 - DirectorAng LeeStarsSihung LungKuei-Mei YangWang Yu-wenA senior chef lives with his three grown daughters; the middle one finds her future plans affected by unexpected events and the life changes of the other household members."Eat, Drink, Man, Woman" Ang Lee movie about daughters of a master chef and the family dinners he insits they attend.
- DirectorJon AvnetStarsKathy BatesJessica TandyMary Stuart MastersonEvelyn, an ordinary housewife, visits a nursing home and befriends the old lady Ninny. Together, they bond over stories from the past about two intrepid women of Whistle Stop Cafe.Jessica Tandy, Kathy Bates, Mary-Louise Parker, Mary Stuart Masterson.
DATE: 2010-03-01 - DirectorMichael AptedStarsSissy SpacekTommy Lee JonesLevon HelmThe fictionalized life of singer Loretta Lynn, a girl who rose from humble beginnings to become a country music star in the 1960s/70s.Sissy Spacek (Oscar role) sings all Loretta Lynn's songs.
Beverly D'Angelo sings Patsy Cline's songs. Both are great.
Tommy Lee Jones is great as Dolittle (Mooney) Lynn
DATE: 2010-03-06 - DirectorBruce BeresfordStarsGlenn CloseFrances McDormandPauline CollinsA group of women who are imprisoned on the island of Sumatra by the Japanese during World War II use music to relieve their misery.Fact-based recounting of a group of women who are imprisoned on the island of Sumatra by the Japanese during World War II and used music as a relief to their misery. Glen Close gives strong performance. Frances McDormand is Dr. Verstak.
DATE: 2010-03-09 - DirectorPaul HaggisStarsDon CheadleSandra BullockThandiwe NewtonLos Angeles citizens with vastly separate lives collide in interweaving stories of race, loss and redemption.Oscar winning script (Paul Haggis) and best movie. About racial conflict/misunderstanding. Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle
DATE: 2010-03-14 - DirectorJohn KortyStarsCicely TysonEric BrownRichard DysartStory of a black woman in the South who was born into slavery in the 1850s and lives to become a part of the civil rights movement in the 1960s.Cicely Tyson, Odetta (Big Laura)
Great aging makeup by Rick Baker and Stan Winston
DATE: 2010-03-30 - DirectorStanley KramerStarsSpencer TracyMilton BerleEthel MermanA group of motorists witnesses a car crash in the California desert, and after the driver's dying words indicate the location of a hidden stash of loot, they turn against each in a race across the state to get to it.Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, Ethel Merman, Mickey Rooney, Dick Shawn, Phil Silvers, Paul Ford, Terry-Thomas, Jonathan Winters, Eddie (Rochester) Anderson, Jim Backus, Ben Blue, Joe E. Brown, Andy Devine, Selma Diamond, Peter Falk, Stan Freberg, Leo Gorcey, Sterling Holloway, Edward Everett Horton, Buster Keaton, Don Knotts, Zasu Pitts, Carl Reiner, Arnold Stang, The Three Stooges, Jimmy Durante, Jack Benny, Jerry Lewis,
DATE: 2010-04-17 - DirectorLuc BessonStarsRie RasmussenJamel DebbouzeGilbert MelkiA beautiful woman helps an inept scam artist get his game together.French w subtitles; 2nd class citizen in Paris in debt to criminals tries to kill himself, but is saved by an angel (Angela).
DATE: 2010-04-19 - DirectorSam MendesStarsTom HanksTyler HoechlinPaul NewmanA mob enforcer's son in 1930s Illinois witnesses a murder, forcing him and his father to take to the road, and his father down a path of redemption and revenge.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsAnjelica HustonDonal McCannHelena CarrollGabriel Conroy and wife Gretta attend an early January dinner with friends at the home of his spinster aunts, an evening which results in an epiphany for both of them.1905 Ireland Xmas dinner party with relatives and a few close friends. Angelica Huston and other fine actors. Based on James Joyce short story. Tony Huston Oscar nomination for screenplay. JohnHuston directed.
DATE: 2010-06-02 - DirectorJames MangoldStarsJoaquin PhoenixReese WitherspoonGinnifer GoodwinA chronicle of country music legend Johnny Cash's life, from his early days on an Arkansas cotton farm to his rise to fame with Sun Records in Memphis, where he recorded alongside Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins.
- DirectorStan DragotiStarsTom HanksLori SingerDabney ColemanA man picked randomly out of a crowd is made the target of CIA survelliance and pursuit.Funny black comedy with a young Tom Hanks as the innocent naif classical violinist, Jim Belushi, and with sexy sultry Lori Singer as Maddy, a CIA agent. Also Dabney Coleman, Charles Durning, and Edward Herrmann as CIA Chief and wannabes. Based on 1972 French film, "Tall Blond Man With One Red Shoe." In that one the violinist composes chromatic modern music influenced by Stravinsky.
DATE: 2010-06-18 - DirectorCharles WaltersStarsLeslie CaronMel FerrerJean-Pierre AumontAn orphaned young woman becomes part of a puppet act and forms a relationship with the anti-social puppeteer.
- DirectorMichel LangStarsPierre MondyClaudia CardinaleClio GoldsmithGregoire is retiring after many years with the same bank, and his collegues surprise him with the gift of a beautiful call girl, Barbara. Thinking she is a conquest, he impersonates the bank president, leading to a comedy of mistaken identities.Clio Goldsmith - The Gift
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsJune AllysonPeter LawfordMargaret O'BrienThe four daughters of a New England family fight for happiness during and after the Civil War.This 1949 version has Margaret O'Brien (12) as frail Beth; Elizabeth Taylor (17) as pretty, vain Amy; Janet Leigh (22) as Meg, the eldest; and June Alyson (32) as the next-oldest tom-boy and writer, Jo.
DATE: 2010-08-15 - DirectorSean McGinlyStarsColin HanksJohn MalkovichTom HanksA young man, much to the chagrin of his father, becomes the new assistant to an illusionist in decline.John Malkovitch has the title role in this film. The film is told from the viewpoint of Troy Gable (Colin Hanks), a young man trying to find a way to earn a living while still enjoying the work he does. His father (played by Tom Hanks, Colin's actual father) pressured him to be a lawyer. Troy is in law school and realizes that he hates it. He drops out with the idea of trying to earn a living as a writer, but realizes he needs a paying job while struggling to become a successful writer. He gets a job as an aid to a has- been mentalist, Buck Howard, who travels to small town venues to perform one man shows.
DATE: 2010-09-04 - DirectorPeter JacksonStarsRachel WeiszMark WahlbergSaoirse RonanCenters on a young girl who has been murdered and watches over her family - and her killer - from purgatory. She must weigh her desire for vengeance against her desire for her family to heal.About a serial pedophile/murderer (Stanley Tucci, nominated for 2009 Best
Supporting Oscar) told by his latest victim, 13 year old Susie Salmon (15 year old Saoirse Ronan, an American who made her start in Irish TV). Susan Sarandon is grandma drunk.
Saoirse Ronan reminded me of Sissie Spacek in "Carrie."
DATE: 2010-11-10 - DirectorBrad SilberlingStarsJake GyllenhaalDustin HoffmanSusan SarandonAs he copes with the death of his fiancée, a young man befriends her parents and must figure out what he wants out of life.In New England town, the fiancee, Joe (Jake Gyllenhaal), and parents (Susan Sarandon, Dustin Hoffman) of murdered girl cope with her funeral (inane comments from guests) and canceling wedding arrangements. Joe meets outgoing postal worker Bertie (Ellen Pompeo - Meridith Grey from "Grey's Anatomy") when he retrieves wedding invitations to prevent their delivery. Holly Hunter is prosecutor of the murderer. Great script. Hoffman is powerful. Susan Sarandon was Exec. Producer!
DATE: 2010-12-11 - DirectorSpike JonzeStarsJohn CusackCameron DiazCatherine KeenerA puppeteer discovers a portal that leads literally into the head of movie star John Malkovich.Best SciFi picture ever! Written for screen by Charlie Kaufman. John Cusack as puppeteer. Cameron Diaz is taller than she looks. She really acts in this one! Orson Bean is Dr. Lester. Catherine Keener gives award winning performance as sexy bitch. Mary Kay Place is Floris, the receptionist.
- DirectorFred SchepisiStarsMichael CaineBob HoskinsTom CourtenayA group of old friends reminisce about their lives over the years after the death of one of their crew.Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren: Ashes to Margate.
DATE: 2010-12-25 - DirectorRobert SchwentkeStarsBruce WillisHelen MirrenMorgan FreemanWhen his peaceful life is threatened by a high-tech assassin, former black-ops agent Frank Moses reassembles his old team in a last-ditch effort to survive and uncover his assailants.John Malkovich as a retired CIA field agent (who still exhibits symptoms of hallucinogens used on him), and Helen Mirren as a semi-retired British assassin. Bruce Willis in his usual humorous tough guy character and Mary-Louise Parker uses the same character she uses in Showtime's "Weeds." Morgan Freeman has a cameo as another old CIA. Richard Dreyfuss is very good as a mob leader. Best line, during fight, Moses (Willis) says to his younger opponent, "Were you trained by so and so", "yes", "I trained so and so."
DATE: 2011-02-13 - DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsLeonardo DiCaprioTom HanksChristopher WalkenBarely 17 yet, Frank is a skilled forger who has passed as a doctor, lawyer and pilot. FBI agent Carl becomes obsessed with tracking down the con man, who only revels in the pursuit.Tom Hanks, Leonardo di Caprio
True story about Frank Abagnale Jr. who, before his 19th birthday, successfully conned millions of dollars worth of checks as a Pan Am pilot, doctor, and legal prosecutor.
DATE: 2011-03-16 - DirectorEthan CoenJoel CoenStarsJeff BridgesMatt DamonHailee SteinfeldA stubborn teenager enlists the help of a tough U.S. Marshal to track down her father's murderer.Jeff Bridges (Rooster Cogburn) version. Hailee Steinfeld nominated Best Actress for portrayal of girl, Mattie Ross, who hires Cogburn to get her parent's murderers. Joel & Ethan Coen wrote screenplay and directed. Nominated for 10 Oscars but won none.
DATE: 2011-03-17 - DirectorStuart TownsendStarsAndré 3000Jennifer CarpenterIsaach De BankoléActivists arrive in Seattle, Washington en masse to protest a meeting of the World Trade Organization. Riots and chaos ensue as demonstrators successfully stop the WTO meetings.Powerful story about the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle that was disrupted by protests.
DATE: 2011-04-02 - DirectorChristopher GuestStarsChristopher GuestEugene LevyMichael McKeanMockumentary captures the reunion of 1960s folk trio the Folksmen as they prepare for a show at The Town Hall to memorialize a recently deceased concert promoter.Christopher Guest, Eugene Levey (Mitch), Catherine O'Hara (Mickey), Jane Lynch: folk music parody like Nashville was country parody.
DATE: 2011-04-13 - DirectorMike NicholsStarsMelanie GriffithHarrison FordSigourney WeaverWhen a secretary's idea is stolen by her boss, she seizes an opportunity to steal it back by pretending she has her boss' job.Film about secretary moving up in Wall Street firm. Great cast.: Harrison Ford, Melanie Griffith, Sigourney Weaver, Joan Cusack [Best Supporting Oscar]. Bit parts: Oliver Platt, Kevin Spacey, Olympia Dukakis, David Duchovny, Ricki Lake.
DATE: 2011-05-10 - DirectorOlivier DahanStarsRenée ZellwegerMadeline ZimaForest WhitakerA wheelchair-bound former singer and her best friend embark on a road trip from Kansas to New Orleans, Louisiana.Renée Zellweger, Forest Whitaker star, supported by Nick Nolte (crazed New Orleans guitar player) and Madeline Zima (waif-like traveller whose husband disappeared without a trace a month ago. Zellweger plays a paraplegic former recorded singer whose child was given to foster parents after her accident and stay in a psychiatric hospital. Whitaker is a psychiatric patient who sees and talks to angels, sometimes is destructive, and does not want to be committed again. He convinces the singer to go with him to a lecture by an author who writes about the reality of angels. He also wants to take her to see her son who invited her to his communion.
I liked the overlay of ethereal images and voice-over that remain unaddressed in the background.
Saw it on Lifetime, with commercial interruptions and possible abridgment. - DirectorRobert AltmanStarsKeith CarradineKaren BlackRonee BlakleyOver the course of a few hectic days, numerous interrelated people prepare for a political convention.
- DirectorCharles JarrottStarsVanessa RedgraveGlenda JacksonPatrick McGoohanDuring the sixteenth century, the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots engages in over two decades of religious and political conflict with her cousin, the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I of England, amidst political intrigue in her native land.Vanessa Redgrave and Glenda Jackson are wonderful as Mary and Elizabeth I. The story is true but incredibly complicated with all the plots and
mary going from a monarch to a prisoner several times, and other times being somewhat both atthe same time.
Comcast TV lists this as only a 2 star movie! Ridiculous. - DirectorDenzel WashingtonStarsDenzel WashingtonDerek LukeJoy BryantAntwone Fisher, a young navy man, is forced to see a psychiatrist after a violent outburst against a fellow crewman. During the course of treatment a painful past is revealed and a new hope begins.Born in a women's penitentiary a couple of months after his father was murdered by a girlfriend, Antwone (Derek Luke plays the adult Antwone) grows up in a foster home run by a sadistic mother and her older daughter who sexually abuses the boys. He is kicked out when he gets old enough to fight back, ends up homeless, and joins the Navy. His traumas display via violent outburst against other sailors and superiors in response to perceived insults . Denzel Washington plays a Navy psychiatrist.
Derek Luke is superb as Antwone.
The film was written by the real Antwone Fisher. It is a partially fictionalized autobiography. Antwone is a poet and author. - DirectorEric BlakeneyStarsLiam NeesonSandra BullockOliver PlattAn undercover agent relies on the support of an unstable therapy group while working a sting operation.Liam Neeson and Oliver Platt have lead roles, and Sandra Bullock (who produced it) has a supporting role. It had horrible reviews but I found it made me chuckle. The understated comedy style reminded me of the old Alec Guinness comedies like "The Ladykillers" and "The Lavender Hill Mob," although the cinematic styles are completely different and the endings of the Guiness comedies made sense while this ending is funny but doesn't fit the story line.
- DirectorRobert AltmanStarsGlenn CloseJulianne MooreLiv TylerConflict arises in the small town of Holly Springs when an old woman's death causes a variety of reactions among family and friends.
- DirectorGary WinickStarsSigourney WeaverAaron StanfordKate MaraComing-of-age story about a suave 15-year-old prep school student who falls in love with his stepmother. When her best friend responds to his advances, he suddenly finds himself in way over his head.Fun! Bebe Neuwirth is great as 40+ friend of Sigourney Weaver who plays the 40+ stepmother of the suave 15 year old Oscar (Aaron Stanford) See my IMdB review for more.
- DirectorGus Van SantStarsNicole KidmanMatt DillonJoaquin PhoenixA beautiful but naïve aspiring television personality films a documentary on teenagers with a darker ulterior motive."All she wanted was a little attention." Nicole Kidman, Joaquin Phoenix Matt Dillon, Casey Affleck, Wayne Knight (Seinfeld's"Newman"). Illeana Douglas excellent as dead man's (Dillon) skating sister.
- CreatorBill GallagherStarsOlivia HallinanSarah LancashireJulia SawalhaAn adaptation of Flora Thompson's autobiographical novel "Lark Rise To Candleford", set in 19 century Oxfordshire, in which a young girl moves to the local market town to begin an apprenticeship as a postmistress.Cast includes Brendan Coyle (Downton Abby's Mr. Bates) as stonemason Robert Timmons, the father of Laura Timmins, the girl from the hamlet of Lark Rise who goes to the small village of Candleford as an assistant to Dorcas (Julia Sawalha), the postmistress.
- DirectorRichard QuineStarsJudy HollidayJohn WilliamsPaul DouglasA minority stockholder takes on the crooked board of directors at a billion dollar corporation.Small shareholders revolt comedy. Laura Partridge (Judy Holliday) is a very enthusiastic small stockholder of 10 shares in International Projects, a large corporation based in New York. She attends her first stockholder meeting ready to question the board of directors from their salaries to their operations. These are not the questions which the board expected to be asked of them, especially since they are all crooked, except for Edward McKeever (Paul Douglas [not to be confused with Melvyn Douglas]), the current CEO who has resigned in order to take an advisory position at the Pentagon. George Burns is narrator. Fred Clark plays his type cast role as a supercilious executive. Abe Burrows wrote the screen play based on play by George S. Kaufman.
DATE: 2010-07-03 - DirectorJean-Pierre JeunetStarsAudrey TautouMathieu KassovitzRufusDespite being caught in her imaginative world, Amelie, a young waitress, decides to help people find happiness. Her quest to spread joy leads her on a journey where she finds true love.Cute narrative style. Shy girl grows up and does secret good deeds then finds a man. Audrey Tautou is Amelie. Subtitles.
DATE: 2011-03-22 - DirectorSusanna StyronStarsMartin SheenJohn Franklin SawyerScott TerraIn 1935, ninety-nine-year-old former slave Shadrach asks to be buried on the soil where he was born to slavery, and that land is owned by the large Dabney family, consisting of Vernon, Trixie, and their seven children, and to bury a black man on that land is a violation of strict Virginia law.Based on William Styron short story. Summer 1935, FDR depression era, rural Virginia: a very old Negro walks from Alabama to the home of the family whose ancestors owned him when he was young. He wants to be buried on their land.
Not a big film but done excellently. Script, acting, and setting are all top notch. Andie MacDowell shows she really is a very good actress. Martin Sheen narrates. Harvey Keitel has surprisingly muscular physique. - DirectorJohn MaddenStarsJudi DenchBill NighyMaggie SmithBritish retirees travel to India to take up residence in what they believe is a newly restored hotel. Less luxurious than advertised, the Marigold Hotel nevertheless slowly begins to charm in unexpected ways.British film on limited income seniors moving to the title hotel in India which has been advertised as an inexpensive retirement home. Dame Judy Dench - widow whose late husband had protected her but didn't share career news; Dame Maggie Smith - another outstanding performance, but her transition from nasty, self-centered bigot awaiting a hip replacement to kindly sage seemed to me too abrupt; Penelope Wilton (Isobel Crawley of Downton Abbey) - domineering and disparaging wife who doesn't try to adjust; Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire and Newsroom TV series) as hotelier; Tom Wilkinson - gay judge; Bill Nighy - plays suffering husband. Point of film: never too late to take risks or don't live life.
- CreatorHeidi ThomasStarsVanessa RedgraveLaura MainJenny AgutterChronicles the lives of a group of midwives living in East London in the late 1950s to late 1960s.
- DirectorDavid WainStarsJennifer AnistonPaul RuddMalin AkermanRattled by sudden unemployment, a Manhattan couple surveys alternative living options, ultimately deciding to experiment with living on a rural commune where free love rules.Reminded me of Sandstone and So. Cal.'s Elyseum.
- DirectorAng LeeStarsSuraj SharmaIrrfan KhanAdil HussainA young man who survives a disaster at sea is hurtled into an epic journey of adventure and discovery. While cast away, he forms an unexpected connection with another survivor: a fearsome Bengal tiger.
- DirectorDuncan TuckerStarsFelicity HuffmanKevin ZegersFionnula FlanaganA transgender woman takes an unexpected journey when she learns that she had a son, now a teenage runaway hustling on the streets of New York.Felicity Huffman as transgendered woman who has saved the money for the final surgery only to discover a troubled son he hadn't known he fathered. In that many fathers never even acknowledge children they have sired, the premise that she would go to so much trouble to help the boy (without revealing that she is his father) seems far fetched. So does the boy's failure to recognize that the woman with whom he is driving across America is his father even after all the information he learns at the home of his father's parents. Nevertheless, the film is great.
- DirectorRené ClairStarsFredric MarchVeronica LakeRobert BenchleyA beautiful 17th-century witch returns to life to plague politician Wallace Wooley, descendant of her persecutor.
- DirectorJocelyn MoorhouseStarsWinona RyderEllen BurstynAnne BancroftBride-to-be Finn Dodd hears tales of romance and sorrow from her elders as they construct a quilt.Great cast! Ann Bancroft, Ellen Burstyn, Alfre Woodard,
Maya Angelou, Jean Simmons, Winona Ryder. Uneven pacing.
DATE: 2001-03-04 - DirectorNancy MeyersStarsJack NicholsonDiane KeatonKeanu ReevesA swinger on the cusp of being a senior citizen with a taste for young women falls in love with an accomplished woman closer to his age.Comedy. Interesting performances by Diane K. and Jack N. Amanda Pete is young and beautiful, as are several model types in the early scenes. Songs include performances by Paul Simon, Eartha Kitt, Louie Armstrong and Jack N. Jack reprieves Louis' "La Vie En Rose" very capably.
DATE: 2005-08-25 - DirectorJoseph SargentStarsCliff McMullenYasiin BeyLuray CooperA dramatization of the relationship between heart surgery pioneers Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas.
- DirectorClint EastwoodStarsClint EastwoodJeff FaheyCharlotte CornwellA thinly fictionalized account of a legendary movie director, whose desire to hunt down an animal turns into a grim situation with his movie crew in Africa.
- DirectorEdward BurnsStarsJack MulcahyMichael McGloneEdward BurnsThree Irish Catholic brothers from Long Island struggle to deal with love, marriage, and infidelity.
- DirectorWayne KramerStarsWilliam H. MacyMaria BelloAlec BaldwinIn an old school Las Vegas casino, its top gambling jinx breaks his curse when he falls in love, much to his boss' consternation.Fantasy about a guy with the "loser" touch. Really well done except maybe too many endings, i.e., there are several places where I would have been satisfied to have the film end.
- DirectorJane AndersonStarsJulianne MooreWoody HarrelsonLaura DernIn order to support her ten children, Evelyn Ryan enters a commercial jingle-writing contest.Bitter sweet biography of the mother of the author.
DATE: 2008-07-02 - DirectorJohn CarpenterStarsJeff BridgesKaren AllenCharles Martin SmithAn alien takes the form of a young Wisconsin widow's husband and makes her drive him to his departure point in Arizona. Distrustful government agents, along with a more ambivalent scientist, give pursuit in hopes of intercepting them.24 years after it was issued this sci/fi film still seems current. A minor scientific flaw: baby grows into man without nourishment to build cells or exercise to make muscles strong.
DATE: 2008-07-08 - DirectorDanny HustonStarsAnthony EdwardsRobert MitchumLauren BacallAfter gaining a reputation as a mysterious healer, a charming Yale graduate must defend his honor before his unique talent lands him in jail.Based on Thornton Wilder novel, could be family film but for one scene of unnecessary fondling. Has both stars of old (Lauren Bacall, Robert Mitchum), new Hollywood (Anjelica Huston, Mary Stuart Masterson, TV actor Anthony Edwards) and in between (Tammy Grimes of "On a Clear Day"). Takes place in fictional version of 1920s Newport RI.
DATE: 2008-07-31 - DirectorBarry LevinsonStarsBruce WillisBilly Bob ThorntonCate BlanchettTwo bank robbers fall in love with the girl they've kidnapped.Very enjoyable well crafted film about unlikely pair of escaped convicts (Bruce Willis, Billy-Bob Thornton) who rob banks to get money to live well in Mexico. Along the way, they hook up with disgruntled house wife Cate Blanchett.
DATE: 2008-08-05 - DirectorHenry JaglomStarsVictoria FoytViveca LindforsJon Robin BaitzThis moving story was the swan song of actress Viveca Lindfors, who died unexpectedly soon after completing it. It's a fitting tribute, as the film explores the last performance in the ancestral home of a large family of actors.New comer Victoria Foyt is just terrific as a Hollywood star made famous by her title role in one-dimensional Wonder Woman type super hero films who is attending a workshop for legitimate theater actors. The workshop is run by a Grand Dame of serious theater played by Grand Dame of serious theater Viveca Lindfors in her last role before her death.
- DirectorMira NairStarsKal PennIrrfan KhanTabuAmerican-born Gogol, the son of Indian immigrants, wants to fit in among his fellow New Yorkers, despite his family's unwillingness to let go of their traditional ways.Ashimi, Gogol, Bengali, NYC
- DirectorJohn SwanbeckStarsKevin SpaceyDanny DeVitoPeter FacinelliTwo veteran salesmen dissect a sales pitch to a particular client, through their young protégé.Danny DeVito, Kevin Spacey, and 25 year old pretty boy actor, Peter Facinelli. Drama about sales vs religious philosophies. Well paced and acted.
DATE: 2009-02-03 - DirectorPaul VerhoevenStarsCarice van HoutenSebastian KochThom HoffmanIn the Nazi-occupied Netherlands during World War II, a Jewish singer infiltrates the regional Gestapo headquarters for the Dutch resistance.About the trials and tribulations of a Dutch resistance fighter (Rachel Stein / Ellis de Vries, played by Carice van Houten) near the end of WWII.
DATE: 2009-02-11 - DirectorNorman RenéStarsMeg RyanAlec BaldwinKathy BatesA couple fall in love despite the girl's pessimistic outlook. As they struggle to come to terms with their relationship, something supernatural happens that tests it.Body swap between new bride (Meg Ryan) and old man (Sydney Walker). Also stars Alec Baldwin and has Kathy Bates and Patty Duke in minor roles.
DATE: 2009-02-23