Frank and Ava movie interview: Frank Sinatra portrayer Rico Simonini discusses the indie drama about singer’s turbulent marriage with Ava Gardner.
Real-Life-Based Movies
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Barack Obama and me: Vikram Gandhi’s Barry movie brings to mind the various things the author has in common with the former American president.
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Right-wing filmmaker Clint Eastwood’s Sully movie is a tribute to ‘old-fashioned all-American heroism.’ Tom Hanks plays US Airways pilot Chesley Sullenberger.
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As 60 Minutes’ Mary Mapes, Cate Blanchett delivers a great performance in the engrossing but less than objective Truth. Robert Redford costars.
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Paul Greengrass’ less than satisfying political thriller Captain Phillips places its focus on the less intriguing character. Tom Hanks stars.
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Bill Condon’s The Fifth Estate fails to create a three-dimensional portrait of WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange. Benedict Cumberbatch and Daniel Brühl star.
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Warren Beatty in Dick Tracy with Madonna. June 22 update: Warren Beatty used to be known as a Ladies’ Man. Before Annette Bening, there were stories about Natalie Wood, Leslie…
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The Fighter movie (2010): ‘Smart’ (as in Marketable) Hollywood product with impressive Oscar winners Melissa Leo and Christian Bale.
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Contemplative Woody Allen comedy Stardust Memories is 1 of the most profound films ever. Marie-Christine Barrault and Charlotte Rampling costar.
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Leonard Kastle’s The Honeymoon Killers rivals better-known fare partly thanks to Shirley Stoler and Tony Lo Bianco’s charismatic performances.
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Ryan Murphy’s Running with Scissors movie version of Augusten Burroughs’ memoirs is a dramatic mess. Annette Bening is its sole redeeming feature.
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Hotel Rwanda movie: Facts vs. fiction. Like Steven Spielberg’s 1993 Best Picture Academy Award winner and international box office hit Schindler’s List – about German businessman Oskar Schindler, who is…
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The Sea Inside movie: Javier Bardem is an inadequate lead in Alejandro Amenábar’s pro-euthanasia melodrama. But the supporting cast is first-rate.
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Johnny Depp is a lifeless, Disneyfied version of Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie in Marc Forster’s feel-good family tragedy Finding Neverland.
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Meryl Streep is an ‘inspirational’ presence in Wes Craven’s unusually sentimental and gore-free real-life-based drama Music of the Heart. Angela Bassett costars.
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Featuring a superficial Denzel Washington as jailed U.S. boxer Rubin Carter, Norman Jewison’s contrived biopic The Hurricane is probably his worst film.
In his Jersey Boys movie, Clint Eastwood prosaically tracks the humdrum rise and fall of Frankie Valli (John Lloyd Young) and the Four Seasons.
The King’s Speech with Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter I can’t imagine what it must be like to be born into royalty. That kind of life, for all the material…
Ryan Phillippe and Chris Cooper deliver first-rate performances in Billy Ray’s mature spy thriller Breach, based on the FBI’s infamous Robert Hanssen case.
J.M. Barrie and Peter Pan origins: Marc Forster’s Finding Neverland opts for crowd-pleasing myths instead of a depiction of a darker, more complex reality.