ALL ABOUT EVE (1950)

Starring: Bette Davis, Ann Baxter, George Sanders & Celeste

Holm

Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Mankiewicz's jaundiced look at the show biz battle zone better known as Broadway is probably the summit of Hollywood movie-making; it's as finely crafted an entertainment as we're likely to see. Eve, a female Uriah Heep, insinuates herself into the good graces of some theater folk whose generosity does not prepare them for this cunning steamroller out to eliminate years of hard knocks at their expense. What gives this cynical high comedy its emotional resonance and depth, however, is poignance with thick Davis plays Margo Channing, the just-turned-forty actress who's a living monument to enormous talent and volcanic temperament.

Witty dialogue to spare, especially great when spoken by Sanders and Thelma Ritter. 6 Oscars include Best Picture, director, screenplay, and Supporting Actor (Sanders). Later musicalized on Broadway as Applause. (138 mins.)

My Rating; ****

ALIVE (1993)

Starring: Ethan Hawke & Vincent Spano

Director: Frank Marshall

Queasy movie about the rugby team that survived 72 days in the Andes Mountains when their plane crashed on its way from Uruguay to Chile. A half-good movie encumbered by clunky dialogue for its delivery) - but physically impressive beyond the astonishing particulars of its story (which involves cannibalism). Unquestionably the most chilling portrayal of a plane crash in movie history. Scripted by John Patrick Stanley, from the book by Piers Paul Read. John Malkovich appears unbilled. Same story previously filmed as SURVIVE! (125 mins.)

My Rating: ***

THE GODFATHER, PART III (1990)

Starring: Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Andy Garcia, Eli

Wallach, Joe Mantegna, George Hamilton, Bridget

Fonda, & Sofia Coppola

Director: Francis Ford Coppola

Only a filmmaker like Coppola (teamed with writer Mario Puzo) could extend his history-making Mafioso saga and make it work so well. Absorbing story of Pacino's attempt to remove himself from the world of crime, and how fate and circumstance draw him back in, with his trigger-happy nephew (Garcia) and the rest of his family in tow. Longish, but masterfully told, with one almost-fatal flaw: the casting of Coppola's daughter Sofia (an amateur) in the pivotal role of Pacino's daughter.

From the first frame of this operatic, Shakespeare-influenced final chapter in the screen's finest gangster epic, we are thrust back into the larger-than-life world of the Corleone family. It is two decades after the "modern-day" events in Part II, and Michael (a brilliant performance by Al Pacino) has managed to move his family interests out of crime and into legitimate enterprises. But sinister forces lurking within his empire compel Michael to revert to the old, violent ways - with tragic consequences. (163 mins.)

My Rating: ***1/2

THE GODFATHER (1972)

Starring: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Talia Shire,

Diane Keaton & Robert Duvall

Director: Francis Ford Coppola

The 1970s' answer to GONE WITH THE WIND, from Mario Puzo's novel on the violent life and times of Mafia patriarch Don Corleone (Brando). Pulp fiction raised to the highest level, masterfully done, and set to Nino Rota's memorable score. Absolutely irresistible. Academy Award winner for Best Picture, Actor (Brando), and Screenplay (Coppola and Puzo). Baby in baptism scene is actually Coppola's infant daughter Sofia - who later costarred in THE GODFATHER, PART III. Followed by two sequels.

Mario Puzo's popular novel comes to life in artful fashion. Film in foreboding tones, the movie takes us into the lurid world of the Mafia. Marlon Brando won an Oscar for his performance, but it's Al Pacino who grabs your attention with an unnerving intensity. (175 mins.)

My Rating: ****

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962)

Starring: Gregory Peck

Director: Robert Mulligan

Excellent production of Harper Lee's sensitive book about an Alabama lawyer bringing up his two motherless children. Peck was never been better, and the two children are most affecting. Superb script (Horton Foote) and direction (Robert Mulligan) make this, in its own quiet way, one of the best movies dealing with race relations that the Americasn film industry has ever made.

Peck won an Oscar as a Southern lawyer who defends a black man accused of rape, and tries to explain proceedings to his children and their friend. Leisurely paced, flavorful adaptation of the best-selling novel; Foote's screenplay also earned an Oscar. Robert Duvall's film debut. (129 mins.)

My Rating: ****

STRANGE DAYS (1995)

Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett & Juliette Lewis

Director: Kathryn Bigelow

     The drug of choice in 1999 is a virtual-reality setup that allows people to relive their own or someone else's experiences. During the last 48 hours of the 20th century, a seedy former vice cop gets involved with two such "wiretrips"- one a grisly sex murder, the other the backstreet killing of a rap star by racist cops. 

     This feverish audiovisual orgy leers inot the future of virtual reality and greases it with sleaze. Rated R for graphic violence, sex, nudity and language. 145 mins.

My Rating: ***