A British woman recalls coming of age during World War I - a story of
young love, the futility of war, and how to make sense of the darkest
times.
Based on writer, feminist, and pacifist Vera Brittain's autobiography, this well-produced and well-cast movie is more melodrama than an illustration of the development of Brittain's convictions.
A young English boy struggles to survive under Japanese occupation during World War II.
Grandiose epic of a child's coming-of-age amidst the horrors as war, both adventure and affecting drama, full of detail and made with cinematic expertise; and Christian Bale's performance is sensational.
Halliwell***: "Intelligent and thought-provoking movie about the loss of childhood innocence through the horrors of war. Bale, as the boy, gives an extraordinarily believable performance."
Maltin**: "Strawling, ambitious, but emotionally distant and loaded with cinematic crescendos (replete with crane camera shots and overbearing music by John Williams) that simply don't have the emotional content to warrant all that fuss."
A hate crime on the campus of a New England college puts the school's
dean in a position where she has to examine her own feelings about race
and prejudice, while maintaining her administration's politically
correct policies.
Well-intended drama dealing with racism is nicely made with a good cast, but has no bite to it and fails to stir a reaction.
Maltin**: "Well-intentioned film means to examine race relations, politics, and bureaucracy within the walls of academia, but the result is flat and deeply flawed."
