Category: movies

      Most of the time in 12 Angry Men (1957, rated “approved,” 96 minutes) the jurors aren’t angry. They’re sullen, confused, afraid—they’re strangers in the defendant’s world. Some […]...

      It’s not a feel-good movie because it’s an all-too-believable incarnation of Edward Albee’s play, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which is not a feel-good play. After you […]...

      There is some decent, even thought-provoking dialogue in Thief, a 1981 semi-action production that has James Caan’s name all over it. He’s a tough guy, he’s a […]...

      Red Dawn is more than a shoot ‘em up movie. Red Dawn (1984, rated PG-13, 114 minutes) is all-American stuff—the mountaineering teenage heroes, with Boy Scout gear […]...

      Sure, you can figure out real quick how Pretty Woman is going to end, but Edward (Richard Gere) and Vivian (Julia Roberts) don’t figure it out until […]...

    Medicine Man (1992, rated PG-13, 106 minutes) is a completely predictable story about a man and a woman chasing each other as they close in on finding a […]...

    Maybe you’ve never heard of this movie (or the 1954 book by William Golding). Try the book first. Its sustained drama shames the movie. Half of the movie […]...

    Charlotte Gray (2001, rated PG-13, 121 minutes) is a pedestrian World War II tale based on Sabastian Faulks’ eponymous novel that completes his war trilogy (see The Girl […]...

    There is an utterly familiar plot line in To Serve Them All My Days (TV mini series, 1980-1981, 11 hours, 13 minutes): a Welsh coal miner’s son survives […]...

    The Words (2012, rated PG, 102 minutes) is vigorous drama (but no guns, no car chase!) with some heart throbs and some lachrymose moments. There are two morals […]...