It seems inevitable that director Jean-Jacques Annaud’s large-scale WWII drama would be compared to "Saving Private Ryan." On the surface, "Enemy at the Gates" appears to mimic its predecessor yet, given a closer look, the latter [...]
Since "The Storm Riders" has conquered the Hong Kong box office some time ago, it has not only revived theatrical revenues in Hong Kong in general, as expected – and hoped for – it has also brought forth a number of films that put [...]
Say what you want about Miramax, they have been a competitor for the checkered flag of movies consistently for the last few years. They maybe haven’t won the race each time, but the company has certainly had films represented. Last year’s Academy [...]
For the last week, I have tried on four separate occasions to sit through "Gormenghast, " the epic four-hour television production produced by the BBC. Life, in various forms, interrupted my attempts. I had requested the title for review, [...]
If ever you wanted incriminating evidence that Hollywood would sink so low as to eat its own in favor of filling a movie house, "Mommie Dearest" is the incontestable proof, hands down. Loosely adapted from adoptive daughter Christina [...]
We have come to know Ed Harris as a prolific character actor who is able to tackle even the most difficult parts with seemingly natural ease. After years in front of the camera, the actor has recently also produced and directed his first movie, while also [...]
"Mephisto" won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1982 and marked the first of three creative collaborations between the acclaimed Hungarian director István Szabó and the great Austrian actor Klaus Maria Brandauer. On the [...]
After directing only three films, I don’t know if Sean Penn can qualify as an auteur, but his movies certainly have a signature style. Penn tends to make films featuring realistic characters, which have a fatal flaw and find themselves facing [...]
In keeping with the peculiar trend for well-titled movies to be renamed and dumbed down for American television audiences, this fine wartime drama may be better known to stateside late night TV fans as "Suicide Run." Written and directed by the [...]
Nobody likes to be the butt of a joke. This especially holds true for people or entities who take themselves very seriously and feel superior to others, such as Hollywood. This fact makes David Mamet’s skewering of the film industry in his latest film [...]