In the theater it is possible to weigh arguments–to present two sides of a debate and let the audience come to its own conclusions. In the movies, and almost always on TV, what you usually get is propaganda. Occasionally, a great film will come along that is open-ended enough to…
Civil liberties remain in short supply for the beleaguered Catholics of Northern Ireland, but filmmaker Jim Sheridan has taken the liberty of vividly dramatizing one of the most notorious instances of recent British tyranny. Let’s hope Prime Minister John Major and Parliament are watching–red-faced and thoughtful. With a passion reminiscent…
In the seniors division of the Buddy Movie Sweepstakes, you could scarcely ask for a classier pair of contenders than Robert Duvall and Richard Harris. Their resumes would daunt Moses, their pride in craft has never been more evident and in Wrestling Ernest Hemingway they both look like they’ve been…
Viola loves Orsino who loves Olivia who loves Viola (thinking her Cesario). The eternal triangle. Love does not come easy in Shakespeare’s plays: There’s always some piper or other to be paid, some complicated journey laid on the innocent by fate. But in the comedies, of course, fate’s jests always…
They sport red ribbons from the costume department and pass the hat at parties, but Hollywood’s glitterati know where their bread is buttered, and otherwise avoid the explosive AIDS issue. Even the studio advertising campaign for Jonathan Demme’s Philadelphia is discreet and noncommital: You must read between the lines to…
Despite a director with a case of the shouts and a hopelessly miscast leading lady, that prince of players, Anthony Hopkins, can still make magic. Richard Attenborough’s Shadowlands, a well-mannered tearjerker set at well-mannered Oxford in 1952, aspires to romantic tragedy and to the kind of Merchant/Ivory polish that keeps…
Everybody knows about instant photos–aim, shoot, and sixty seconds later a small square of photographic paper pops out and develops itself into an image of Aunt Rosie. Because there’s no negative, reprints, retouching and other arty effects aren’t possible: What you see is what you get. Even so, a number…
The intense love triangle at the heart of Chen Kaige’s sumptuous epic Farewell My Concubine could be the least of its concerns, but it’s not. As Rick Blaine told us, “the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world,” and it’s difficult…
Ever ready with a new theory, the social psychologists are saying that Western movies are making their current comeback because beleaguered Americans have a revived desire for law and order. Pin a star on an upright, fearless sheriff, let him clean the bad guys out of the local saloons, and…
When the second annual Celebrate Colorado Artists Festival returns to the Denver Performing Arts Complex this weekend, expect a few new artists, a few improvements — and a lot more of the same. If the success of last year’s event, which drew about 45,000 people, is any indication, that means…
In 1991, author Jane Smiley presented A Thousand Acres, a modernization of King Lear that became a national bestseller and earned a Pulitzer Prize. Given the two-tiered success of this highbrow opus (nothing says “important” like Shakespeare), it would seem that Smiley’s natural inclination would have been to get even…
The show’s title implies that the art history we were taught in school — in which every stylistic phase appears in a neat chronological order — has fallen by the wayside. Now anything goes, as tight representational imagery is hung side by side with non-objective compositions, abstract sculptures are paired…
Ethan Hunt complains to his boss about his new assignment: “It’s going to be difficult.” “It’s not mission difficult, Mr. Hunt,” the boss icily replies, “It’s mission impossible. ‘Difficult’ should be a walk…”
