Pious Hollywood Biblical epic -- not one of Nicholas (Rebel without a Cause) Ray's more "personal" projects. Visually quite grand, and musically even more so (Miklos Rozsa, almost inevitably), but Jeffrey Hunter left a lot to be desired as brother Frank in Ray's The True Story of Jesse James, and …
A father tells his son the greatest story ever told, and what begins as a bedtime tale becomes a life-changing journey. Through vivid imagination, the boy walks alongside Jesus, witnessing His miracles, facing His trials, and understanding His ultimate sacrifice.
Frigid, monotoned sadsack-comedy about big dreams and their abortions. Quite serious, but so unvaried that your attention wanders. Located appealingly in Atlantic City, of which more should have been made. Directed by Bob Rafelson of Five Easy Pieces and written by Jacob Brackman, who, while film critic for Esquire, was …
The title character is the custodian of "a rare art indeed," an open-air magic act in which painted paper masks appear and disappear on the magician's face as quick as a blink. The secret, according to Chinese custom, can only be passed to a male heir, and with his biological …
Abel Ferrera (Ms. 45, China Girl) is a free-swinging, heavy-fisted pictorialist till he gets tied up in dialogues, where he can't (or won't even try) to maneuver. This -- the tying-up -- doesn't happen often, but because the movie is so overloaded toward violent action, the irony of the gangster-slash-philanthropist …
The real Scott Davidson, Pete’s father, was a New York firefighter and first-responder who died in 2001 when the World Trade Center collapsed around him. Anyone familiar with his son’s Comedy Central appearances knows how many dark laughs Pete has milked out of being left fatherless at age seven. Those …
Low-key, life-sized little indie, adapted from Gerald Shapiro's Bad Jews and Other Stories, marks the feature directing debut of Peter Riegert, the likable leading man (if more often a supporting man) of such cherishables as Local Hero and Crossing Delancey. He is the leading man here as well, and still …
The recurring motif of an anonymous fiddler and dancer, who remain perpetually spry throughout the thirty years of this family saga, is supposed to make you think you are getting the essence of gypsy life. But the irritatingly dark photography and nearly inaudible narration are truer tips to how coy …
At heart -- and you will not need to probe deep to find that body part -- this account of the hardships and humiliations of growing up poor in St. Louis during the Great Depression is conventional, unadventurous, conservatively "well-made," a period piece of fussy and impeccable production, with an …
No-holds-barred lowbrow comedy, with unusual levels of nerve and endurance, especially on the fun-poking possibilities of a prosthetic appendage and bald-spot comb-overs. It goes soft at the end, although later than you might expect. And the bowling ambience, in which a one-handed has-been is preparing an Amish bumpkin for a …
Wouldn't it be a riot if an American rube were installed on the English throne? Well, maybe if the moviemaker had any skill at fomenting a riot. Had, for a start, a plausible premise for one. What this moviemaker has is simply the Pygmalion story with an unprecedentedly thick pupil. …
Potential sponsors looked upon Richard Williams (Will Smith) as just another tennis-father, a man whose pride and determination blinded him to the likelihood his daughters Venus (Saniyya Sidney) and Serena (Demi Singleton) had a better chance of managing a Dick’s Sporting Goods than they did becoming the reigning Queens of …
A detailed, compelling timeline of Operation Weserübung — the German takeover of Denmark and Norway in 1940 — largely seen from the perspective of Norway’s King Haakon VII. (It’s less a war movie than a story about politicians in wartime, and the few battle scenes are made all the more …
Unaware of her noble lineage, our titular princess is plucked from the convent in which her father placed her and called into service as the royal composer. Her first assignment: a dirge to celebrate the slaughter of the castle mermaid, who just so happens to be her BFF. (The sacrifice …