REVIEWS IN A HURRY for 2004 - G More Movies that begin with G. Previous (2004 - F) Next (2004 - H) Back to First Page & 2004 Alphabetical Index
			The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (1966, 180 min, R) **** - Directed & co-written by Sergio Leone, starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach.  Spaghetti Westerns are never about being big, but about being the biggest.  The great Sergio Leone, son of an opera director, goes deliciously and wickedly over-the-top in this impossibly cool tale of three outlaws battling over stolen gold while remaining indifferent to the American Civil War going on around them.  “Good” (Eastwood) is laconic and imperturbable, “Bad” (Van Cleef) is merciless yet fair, and “Ugly” (Wallach) is a groveling, backstabbing chattermouth; they form and break alliances at the drop of the hat.  Cynical and hyper-real—with weather-beaten, almost grotesque faces, dripping sweat, buzzing flies, and thoughtless cruelty from both man and nature—and at the same time delighting in the improbable clichés of the genre, including hats being shot off heads and dead men going stiff as boards to fall forward through second-story railings.  Filmed in the harsh, unforgiving Spanish countryside, perfectly scored by Ennio Morricone, and filled with one bold, grand gesture after another.  A worthy candidate for the best Western of all time. The Good Thief (2002, 108 min, R) ***1/2 – Directed by Neil Jordan, starring Nick Nolte and Tcheky Karyo.  Super-glossy, super-cool heist caper for grown-ups stars Nolte as Bob, a thief and gambler out to resurrect himself with a casino robbery in Monte Carlo.  Director and screenwriter Neil Jordan (“The Crying Game”) pumps the style way up, but never loses sight of the human elements of Bob’s relationship with his ever-suffering police counterpart (Karyo) and the flirty waif who wishes she could win his heart. Gosford Park (2001, 137 min, PG13) ***1/2 – Directed by Robert Altman, starring Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Stephen Frye, Emily Watson, Clive Owen, Jeremy Northam, Charles Dance, Derek Jacobi, and Michael Gambon.  So subtle you might not even know it’s there.  Wealthy English snobs in the 1930s refuse to let class warfare, infidelity, American visitors, or even murder spoil their perfectly joyless time in the country.  Masterfully directed by Altman so that we gracefully glide in and out of so many conversations, and casual about its period décor.  Oscar winner for Best Original Screenplay and nominations include Picture, Director, and Supporting Actresses Mirren and Smith. The Great Escape (1963, 172 min, PG) **** - Directed by John Sturges, starring Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Richard Attenborough.  Another terrific old-school World War II movie, this one about a daring attempt by 250 Allied POWS to tunnel their way out of a German prison camp.  A likeable all-star cast takes us step-by-step through all the ingenuity of tunneling, forging documents, and making civilian clothes.  The movie’s now-vaguely campy tone encourages the feeling more of boys up to clever mischief than a serious story about war.  McQueen’s performance as a slack-jawed American pilot is only one of many good ones in the film, but he also does some cool motorcycle chases. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967, 108 min, PG) *** - Directed by Stanley Kramer, starring Spencer Tracy, Katherine Hepburn, and Sidney Poitier.  Well-meaning and easygoing, if dated, comedy-drama about an upper-middle class couple of white liberals (Tracy and Hepburn, in their final collaboration) who get a chance to put their money where their mouth is when their daughter wants to marry a young black professional (Poitier).  Poitier’s proposal that the couple basically decide whether or not to give its blessing in a single afternoon is preposterous (in a delightful, movie kind of way); the fact that the white couple is the movie’s dynamic characters while the black guy reminds basically static is typical of the socially-minded films of the ‘50s and ‘60s.  The movie works because the leads are convincing and sympathetic, and play their roles as individuals and not as racial archetypes.  But, really, who the hell wouldn’t want his daughter to marry Sidney Poitier? Gulliver’s Travels (1996, 187 min, NR, TV) *** - Directed by Charles Sturridge, starring Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen.  Cheerful, extravagant, and accessible television adaptation of Swift’s classic that doesn’t shy away from the satire and social commentary.  An 18th-century physician travels to lands of giants, little people, blind fortune-tellers, and geniuses who live on a flying island.  Danson plays Gulliver in a straightforward, slightly joking fashion, with a silly wig.
The Governess (1997, 105 min, R) **1/2 – Directed & written by Sandra Goldbacher, starring Minnie Driver, Tom Wilkinson, and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. Delicately-made but intermittently drab melodrama in the vein of Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters, injected with a lot of the things they couldn’t write about at the time. A headstrong young woman (Driver) left destitute by the death of her father takes a position as a governess to a wealthy dysfunctional family in the country. The distant husband (Wilkinson) is attracted to her because of her instinctive understanding of his interest in photography. Her fascination with photography as capturing reality is juxtaposed with her staying there under false pretenses. Vulgarities are snuck in, sexual tension is often replaced with sex, and, in addition to being poor and out-of-place, Driver’s governess is also Jewish in a time and place not fond of the Hebrews. The Godfather (1972, 171 min, R) **** - Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, starring Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, and Diane Keaton.  Tragic saga of a Mafia don (Brando) who thinks that evil means can achieve good things for his family, and his eventual, quiet disillusionment as his youngest son (Pacino) succeeds him.  Beautifully shot, perfectly directed, wonderfully acted by the best and most sympathetic cast ever assembled, and often called the dark side of the American dream and the immigrant experience.  Picked by “Entertainment Weekly” and the voters at the Internet Movie Database as the best film ever, prominent on the AFI’s Top 100 American Films (#3) and “Sight & Sound’s” 2002 Top Ten Films of All Time, and Oscar winner for Picture, Actor, and Adapted Screenplay. The Godfather Part II (1974, 200 min, R) **** - Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, starring Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, and Jon Cazale.  Routinely called the best sequel ever made, “Part II” follows the new don of the Corleone family (Pacino) as he wages war on those who want to keep the Italian Mafia out of Las Vegas and Havana.  At the same time we watch flashbacks of his father (De Niro) bringing the family to America (or are we watching the family’s sainted myth of who its father was?).  The film follows the same theme of the original film, of how we can do evil in the public sphere for the good of our private families and then vainly expect our children to not be poisoned.  Oscars for Picture, Director, Supporting Actor De Niro, Adapted Screenplay, etc.  Featured highly on the AFI’s Top 100 American Films (#32), the Internet Movie Database’s user voted Top 250 (often #3), “Sight & Sound’s” 2002 Top Ten Films of All Time, and once picked by “TV Guide” as the best movie of all time. Goodfellas (1990, 145 min, R) **** - Directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Ray Liotta.  Aggressive and athletic depiction of three decades in the New York Mafia, from the viewpoint of a half-Irish hood (Liotta) who works his way up from the very bottom.  Liotta is joined by two friends, one who means well (De Niro) and one who means trouble (Pesci, in an Oscar-winning role).  Scorsese’s direction is highlighted by a complete comfort with his characters and settings, period costumes and music, spurts of violence and rage, and his ever-present ability to jump around in time and space.  Oscar nominations include Picture and Director.