Hobson’s Choice
In the 1880s, the daughter (Brenda de Banzie) of a bootmaker decides the time has come to defy her father (Charles Laughton) and find a husband before it’s too late.…
La Notte
The second film in a trilogy that began with L’Avventura (1960) starts out with a couple (Marcello Mastroianni, Jeanne Moreau) visiting a dying friend at a hospital in Milan; over…
Who Saw Him Die?
In Malmö, teacher Sören Mårtensson (Per Oscarsson) is struggling in the classroom and at home, failing to gain the respect and confidence that he needs. Jan Troell’s second film was…
12 Angry Men: Choosing Life or Death
Photo: United Artists The most famous episode of the CBS anthology series Studio One (1947-1958) is from 1954 and features a teleplay by Reginald Rose. Depicting a process where one…
Wages of Fear: Road to Hell
Photo: Cinédis When this film was made, Yves Montand carried enough clout to reportedly make director Henri-Georges Clouzot change his mind on where to shoot it. Clouzot's original plans were…
Rain Man: Escaping a Bubble
Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman. Photo: MGM 1988 and 1989 were awkward years for the Academy Awards. It's not like there weren't any brilliant movies released, it's just that the…
Music Box
When Michael Laszlo (Armin Mueller-Stahl) is accused of having committed war crimes in Hungary 40 years earlier, his daughter, attorney Ann Talbot (Jessica Lange), decides to represent him. Another politically…
Spirited Away: Never Forget Your Name
Photo: Ghibli After making Princess Mononoke (1997), director Hayao Miyazaki, one of Japan’s most celebrated artists, looked forward to retiring after a prosperous career. But a guy who’s only pushing…