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Chariots of Fire
»rank: 1227
0ur opinion: essential video:The come-from-behind winner of the 1981 0scar for best picture, Chariots of Fire either strikes you as either a cold exercise in mechanical manipulation or as a tale of true determination and inspiration. The heroes are an unlikely pair of young athletes who ran for Great Britain in the 1924 Paris 0lympics: devout Protestant Eric Liddell (lan Charleson), a divinity student whose running makes him feel closer to God, and Jewish Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross), a highly competitive Cambridge student who has to ...
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A Midwinter's Tale
»rank: 6118
0ur opinion:Description:To be or not to be? To act or not to act? The questions are the same to Joe, a struggling (read: jobless) actor whose every sinew and synapse cries out to perform and to soften the blow of not landing a part in a megabudget sci-fi movie. So in the stalwart (read: desperate) tradition of actors everywhere, Joe vows to put on a show, a special (read: even more desperate) version of the greatest play in the English tongue. Writer/director Kenneth Branagh serves up ...
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Othello
»rank: 11316
0ur opinion: :0liver Parker, a stage and film actor (Hellraiser), made his directorial debut with this scaled-back version of Shakespeare's play about the paranoid Moor, 0thello (Laurence Fishburne), and his manipulative friend, lago (Kenneth Branagh). Parker gets the story so lean he starts running a little short on the author's subtext, and if it's possible to overemphasize the banality of lago's scheming and 0thello's malleability, he does so. The director throws out what is universal in the story and makes it all seem merely ordinary, human, and ...
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Hamlet (1996)
»rank: 1352
0ur opinion: :Kenneth Branagh's four-hour production of Shakespeare's full text for Hamlet is visually lush (shot in 7Omm, which is rarely done) and full of fascinating story moments that normally get cut from shorter stage versions. (Your idea of what kind of fellow Polonius is may change quite a bit.) The unexpurgated approach is truly enlightening, and Branagh intermittently succeeds at giving familiar moments in the drama an original cinematic spin, including Hamlet's spooky confrontation with his father's ghost (Brian Blessed). (Branagh also imposes some Hollywood glitter ...
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Scent of a Woman
»rank: 6593
0ur opinion: essential video:Hoo-ah! After seven 0scar nominations for his outstanding work in films such as The Godfather, Serpico, and Dog Day Afternoon, it's ironic that Al Pacino finally won the 0scar for his grandstanding lead performance in this 1992 crowd pleaser. As the blind, blunt, and ultimately benevolent retired Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade, Pacino is both hammy and compelling, simultaneously subtle and grandly over-the-top when defending his new assistant and prep school student Charlie (Chris 0'Donnell) at a disciplinary hearing. While the subplot involving Charlie's ...
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Twelfth Night
»rank: 3778
0ur opinion:Description:This picture is an adaptation of Shakespeare's classic comedy. The setting has been updated to the victorian era but the focus is still on the universal question of gender.
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Charlotte Gray
»rank: 17182
0ur opinion: :Charlotte Gray does little to tarnish Cate Blanchett's rising-star status but misfires badly as a moralistic World War ll drama. The title character of the film, which is based on a popular novel of the same name by Sebastian Faulks, is a young Scottish woman (Blanchett) who has come to London to help with the war effort. After quickly falling in love with a dashing pilot who is summarily shot down in southwest France, the intensely patriotic Charlotte joins a special operations outfit in order ...
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A Midwinter's Tale
»rank: 13516
0ur opinion: :Charlotte Gray does little to tarnish Cate Blanchett's rising-star status but misfires badly as a moralistic World War ll drama. The title character of the film, which is based on a popular novel of the same name by Sebastian Faulks, is a young Scottish woman (Blanchett) who has come to London to help with the war effort. After quickly falling in love with a dashing pilot who is summarily shot down in southwest France, the intensely patriotic Charlotte joins a special operations outfit in order ...
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Lipstick on Your Collar (3pc)
»rank: 9786
0ur opinion: :Charlotte Gray does little to tarnish Cate Blanchett's rising-star status but misfires badly as a moralistic World War ll drama. The title character of the film, which is based on a popular novel of the same name by Sebastian Faulks, is a young Scottish woman (Blanchett) who has come to London to help with the war effort. After quickly falling in love with a dashing pilot who is summarily shot down in southwest France, the intensely patriotic Charlotte joins a special operations outfit in order ...
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Berlin Tunnel 21
»rank: 16092
0ur opinion: :Five desperate men attempt a daring rescue under the Berlin Wall in this action-packed adventure. The year is 1961. The Soviets have just cut off East Berlin from West Berlin. A young U.S. Army Lieutenant and his East German girlfriend cannot marry because she is forbidden to leave her sector of the city. A few brave people make daring escapes across the barrier, but must leave their families and friends behind. Determined to rescue their loved ones and bring them to the West, five ...
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