60’S, THE (NR)

“American Graffiti” asked the question, “Where were you in ’62?” The NBC miniseries “The ’60’s” wants you to recall the whole decade. Josh Hamilton, Julia Stiles and Jerry O’Connell star as three children of a family who don’t just cruise through the sixties, they live it with a vengeance. Read the rest of this entry »

I loved “The Big Chill” so much that I swear I must have seen it four or five times in one week. I kept taking back a different group of friends so I could enjoy it through them. My friends and I even went to see ‘The Big Chill” in Hawaii while we were on vacation, even though we had seen it numerous times. That’s quite a testament when you consider that I was willing to spend two hours watching a movie I had already seen numerous times than getting some rays on Waikiki Beach. Read the rest of this entry »

If one is to believe everything they see, then somewhere in a New York building on the 7½ floor is an office that has a small passageway into the mind of actor John Malkovich. Those who enter the passageway find themselves inside Malkovich for fifteen minutes before they are deposited on the shoulder of the New Jersey turnpike. Read the rest of this entry »

This winning Merchant-Ivory production proves that the filmmaking team is capable of bringing their trademark sensibilities to something more contemporary. Longtime screenwriting collaborator Ruth Prawer Jhanvala and director James Ivory have transformed Kaylie Jones’ autobiographical novel into an absorbing, thoughtful novel about the time she spent with her father, famed writer James Jones (From Here to Eternity, The Thin Red Line). Set in Paris during the turbulent 1960’s and early 1970’s, the film explores the relationship between Kaylie (Leelee Sobieski, absolutely brilliant) and her father (Kris Kristofferson) and free spirited mother (Barbara Hershey). Read the rest of this entry »

While I’m writing this review of “Titanica” on DVD, I’m listening to one of those flashback CD’s. The song currently playing is “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” by Paul Simon. Great song, but what if the CD label decided to chop the song in half. No real reason. Just “Slip out the back Jack” and then nada. Read the rest of this entry »

It is a common practice in Hollywood to save Oscar-worthy films and release them at the end of the year, where they will be fresh in the minds of voting members of the Academy. That’s why there is always a proliferation of personal dramas and epic undertakings crowding theaters the last two weeks of December. Read the rest of this entry »

Alfred Hitchcock was such a great director that whenever he put his stamp on a property, it became his own. Which is why a lot of people forget that Hitchcock’s 1954 thriller “Dial M For Murder” was a successful stage play before he brought it to the screen. Some say it’s sacrilege to tamper with Hitchcock’s masterpieces, which explains the uproar that followed the announcement that director Gus Van Sant was working on a shot-by-shot remake of “Psycho.” Christopher Reeve received less flack for his remake of “Rear Window,” while Danny DeVito got more laughs than thrown tomatoes for turning “Strangers on a Train” into “Throw Momma From the Train.
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DEAD HUSBANDS (PG-13)

Better-than-average made-for-cable comedy stars John Ritter as a husband who suspects that his wife is trying to kill him. Well, that’s not exactly the truth. True, Dr. Carter Elston’s (Ritter) wife Alex (Nicollette Sheridan) wants out of the marriage, but she never figured that murder would be an option. Read the rest of this entry »

Paul Vitti (Robert De Niro) is going through a mid-life crisis, and like most men his age, he’s having a tough time dealing with the stress. Under normal circumstances, Vitti would turns to a professional therapist for help. That’s the rub.
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HI-LO COUNTRY, THE (R)

Set in New Mexico just after the end of World War II, director Stephen Frears’ western is pleasant mix of drama and romance. Although it is never entirely successful in its delivery, “The Hi-Lo Country” emerges as an excellent platform for such artists as Woody Harrelson, Billy Crudup and Patricia Arquette to stretch their collective acting muscle. Read the rest of this entry »