"Worn to perfection" is the tag line promoting this crafted character study. It describes Paul Newman, the resourceful 70-year-old lead actor, but not his character, Sully, a North Bath, New York, loner who totally emulates the negative definition of the title. Newman gives a brilliant performance (Oscar-nominated and winner of two critics circle awards) relying on his well-honed subtleties. The ...
This obligatory girls' version of Stand by Me begins with actors Melanie Griffith, Rita Wilson, Demi Moore, and Rosie O'Donnell doing a lousy job of playing adult versions of the film's youthful protagonists. The idea is that this quartet of characters is having a reunion, which serves as a preface to the main story about school chums who make a pact to stay close and supportive through ...
Uncomfortably close to Ben Hecht and Alfred Hitchcock's film Notorious, this World War II drama (based on a novel by Susan Isaacs) concerns a love affair between a spy (Michael Douglas) and a secretary (Melanie Griffith) that goes south when duty turns him cold and pushes her into dangerous, behind-the-lines intelligence work. Liam Neeson plays the gentleman Nazi unwittingly providing ...
Ever a had neighbor from hell? You know, the one who never cleans, makes too much noise at night with his jigsaw, and breeds cockroaches and pumps them into your apartment? Never have? Well, pump up your paranoia with this outlandish if mildly enjoyable thriller starring Melanie Griffith and Matthew Modine as San Francisco yuppies-cum-landlords who rent out an apartment in their Pacific Heights ...
This vastly underrated Arthur Penn film from the mid-1970s ranks as one of the era's nastiest and most fascinating pieces of business, a detective story that shuttles back and forth between Hollywood and the Florida Keys, with a plot nearly as complex as Chinatown. Gene Hackman stars as a tired, aging private eye who, as a favor to a friend, agrees to track down a runaway teen. But the case ...