An estranged family gathers together in New York City for an event celebrating the artistic work of their father.
Excellent observant drama of a more privileged family of eccentric characters is both witty and sad - and entertaining, due to a smart script and a magnificent cast.
Ted Kramer's wife leaves him, allowing for a lost bond to be
rediscovered between Ted and his son, Billy, but a heated custody battle
ensues over the divorced couple's son, deepening the wounds left by the
separation.
From memory: Top-notch courtroom melodrama, excellently directed and extraordinary performances by both leads leaves a bitter aftertaste concerning its dubious message concerning gender roles.
Halliwell***: "New-fashioned tearjerker, as slick as a colour supplement and catnip to the emotion-starved masses."
As he copes with the death of his fiancée, a young man befriends her parents and must figure out what he wants out of life.
Saccharine melodrama has a good cast and is well made, but the multiple stories of love and loss have all been told better before.
Halliwell*: "Over-sweet account of how various individuals cope with loss; it has its moments, though they are not as many as one would hope."
Maltin**1/2: "Delicate material is handled with skill and good humor, until the young hero meets a woman who's too good to be true, and the story's credibility is derailed. Salvaged, to a great degree, by superior acting from Hoffman and Sarandon."
An unsuccessful actor, disguises himself as a woman in order to get a role on a trashy hospital soap.
Highly entertaining gender comedy with a great cast (Dustin Hoffman in the title role is spectacular), intelligent direction and an excellent script.
Halliwell****: "As with Genevieve and Whisky Galore, an unlikely comedy subject makes an instant classic. It's all in the handling."
Maltin****: "Smashing comedy...Farcical premise becomes totally credible thanks to razor-sharp script..., fine direction, and superlative performances all around..."
Long-repressed feelings of bitterness and betrayal explode when three
inner-city losers plot the robbery of a valuable coin in a seedy
second-hand junk shop.
A feast for the actors, but the movie itself is very stagebound and nerve–rackingly talkative.
Halliwell**: "A conversation piece that shows its theatrical origins, but survives the transition to the screen thanks to Mamet's demotic dialogue and the expert performances it receives."
A man befriends a fellow criminal as the two of them begin serving their
sentence on a dreadful prison island, which inspires the man to plot
his escape.
A fictional account of the real life, eleven day, never explained 1926 disappearance of famed murder mystery writer Agatha Christie.
What could have been an interesting mystery with a great cast turns out to be a not too exciting romance.
Halliwell*: "Lushly recreated but still imaginary and unconvincing solution to a real-life disappearance, complete with romantic encounter with an American newspaperman."
Maltin***: "...Redgrave is superb in this absorbing yarn, Hoffman miscast as smooth American reporter who tracks her down."
