Sean Penn's second effort behind the cameras, after the narrowly released Indian Runner, is an effort indeed. It shows the writer-director at full stretch and on tiptoes, even though in artistic terms he is not yet a mature and well-developed adult. A heavy dependence on slow-motion for extra emotional and …
Fred Zinnemann directs Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, and some kid named Sinatra in this WWII melodrama.
You do not have to be a great admirer of a film director in order to take an interest in a film about him. But a shared admiration will be a great help in getting you through those stretches of hot air, whitewash, looking the other way, putting the best …
The thinking man's Western by Carl Foreman, writer, and Fred Zinnemann, director, rounds up a basic unit of stereotypes — the legendary aging lawman, his pale-skinned pacifist wife, the dark-complexioned shady lady from his past, and a band of desperadoes with a score to settle — and nearly paralyzes them …
There's a sense of strain about elongating this wispy tale -- one of Lillian Hellman's many published memories -- to two hours' length; but in that strain, this movie shows its "heart." The gravest problems here are structural -- specifically, the flashbacks, which impart no useful information, which introduce two …
Heavy robes, stone palaces, esteemed actors, and melodious voices — all in the service of some facile debates on the subject of justice and personal integrity. Paul Scofield is a too saintly Thomas More, Robert Shaw is a too noisy Henry VIII, and the issue is too settled to stir …
In spite of the forced, bully-boy shipboard comedy and mismatched attempts to stitch sumptuous location shots with obvious studio replicas, countless childhood viewings of a center-scan print of Mister Roberts on The Best of CBS render this title beyond criticism. It was far from Hollywood’s first service comedy, but Mister …
A beautifully rooted film with a spiritual grip. Charlotte Gainsbourg is the French-born wife of an Aussie man who suddenly dies, leaving her with several kids in a ramshackle house near a grand Moreton Bay fig tree. She and the daughter (played as a bright dreamer by very fine Morgana …