REVIEWS IN A HURRY Back to First Page & Alphabetical Index
				The Rules of the Game (1938, 106 min, B&W, NR) **** - Directed & co-written by Jean Renoir.  Brilliant social criticism of both the lazy French upper-upper-upper middle class between World Wars, and of morally complacent cultures and individuals who value the appearance of propriety more than true morality.  “Rules of the Game” uses the form of the continental farce, in which romantic escapades—both in and out of marriage and involving all social classes—scurry from room-to-room in a big country manor, complete with a portly, classless, Barber of Seville-style matchmaker (Renoir himself).  But the wrong people end up together, the matchmaker fails, and the comedy ends tragically.  The Marquis and his mistress are sophisticated and know the rules of the game, while his Austrian wife and the pilot who adores her are ignorant of how high society conducts these things.  Their exploits are contrasted to a hapless gamekeeper who simply wants to shoot the poacher that’s wooing his wife.  Renoir handles the enormous cast effortlessly and his camera moves agilely through the large house.  Long-time place holder on “Sight & Sound’s” Top Ten Movies of All-Time and the direct ancestor of Robert Altman’s “Gosford Park.” Russian Ark (2002, 96 min, NR) **** - Directed & co-wrtten by Alexander Sokurov.  “Russian Ark’s” chief claim to fame is director Sokurov’s daring decision to film the entire 96-minute feature in one continuous take, with no editing or cutting.  Anyone with the slightest knowledge of film can appreciate this feat in a dry, detached manner, but the film’s lasting appeal is almost completely right-brain.  It’s an experience like a dream or a symphony, in which we glide through the stunning splendor of the Hermitage in Moscow alongside ghostly figures from Russia’s past, including tsars, courtiers, diplomats, and numerous servants.  Listen closely and you might get a history lesson—that is, if you can pull yourself from the movie’s dream-state.
	Radio Days (1987, 88 min, PG13) ***1/2 – Directed & written by Woody Allen, starring Mia Farrow, Julie Kavner, Diane Wiest, and Seth Green.  Sort of Woody Allen’s version of “A Christmas Story” (although Christmas is obviously not celebrated) in which Woody uses the forgotten art of old radio shows to illustrate sentimental episodes from his childhood.  His spinster aunt’s attempts to find love, the burdens of his working class parents, and his troubles at school are contrasted to beautiful celebrities, German U-boats, and cowboys and Indians on the radio.  The movie is nostalgic and melancholy, as all recollections ought to be. (’04.) Ran (1985, 160 min, R) **** - Directed by Akira Kurosawa.  Breathtaking epic set in medieval Japan combines Japanese legends with perhaps the definitive screen adaptation of Shakespeare’s “King Lear.”  Aging King Higetora divides his kingdom among his three sons and settles into retirement, but only his son Saburo predicts the devastation this will cause.  No one stages battles like Kurosawa, his use of color is magical, and he is fearless when it comes to powerful images, no matter how improbable they might be.  Oscar nominations include Best Director. The Reckoning (2004, 112 min, R) *** - Directed by Paul McGuigan, starring Willem Dafoe and Paul Bettany.  A medieval morality play combined with a whodunit follows a disgraced priest (Bettany) and a group of actors (led by Dafoe) who stir up controversy when they stage a play about a local murder.  “The Reckoning” demonstrates how art can challenge authority as well as our preconceptions.  Visually, the movie is a kind of anti-“Lord of the Rings,” in which beautiful and clean nobles having a good time are replaced with dirty and dirt-poor peasants slogging through the cold and having to reach into empty pockets for every petty little thing, even a friend’s burial. (’04.) Ripley’s Game (2003, 110 min, R) *** - Directed by Liliana Cavini, starring John Malkovich and Dougray Scott.  Low-key sequel to “The Talented Mr. Ripley” finds Tom Ripley living the high-life in Italy, completely at home with splendor and an absolute lack of conscience.  When an old associate comes looking for him as an assassin, Ripley instead sends a dying young neighbor (Scott) to do his dirty work.  Lacking the scope and power of its predecessor, “Ripley’s Game” is still a worthwhile examination of a fascinating, if abhorrent man. The Rock (1996, 136, R) ** - Directed by Michael Bay, starring Sean Connery, Nicholas Cage, and Ed Harris.  Loud, dumb, overlong, and not even particularly exciting action movie that manages to render both Connery and Cage kind of irritating and unlikeable.  Rogue crack commandoes (led by Harris) holding hostages on Alcatraz sounds like a good idea, and sending a wisecracking FBI agent (Cage) and a wisecracking convict (Connery) to save the day sounds like a good idea too.  More’s the pity.  As in all Jerry Bruckheimer movies, authority figures are constantly made to look ridiculous compared to “all us working stiffs down here in the trenches.”  A couple of good one-liners though. Ronin (1998, 121 min, R) *** - Directed by John Frankenheimer, starring Robert De Niro and Jean Reno.  Slightly tongue-in-cheek action film about a gang of grizzled, veteran, and obsolete spies (including De Niro and Reno) hired to retrieve a silver briefcase from some bad dudes in France and Italy.  Doublecrosses, gunfire, and squealing tires ensue; “Ronin’s” allure is that the spies are so professional that they never have to explain anything or have anything explained, and we’re treated to clipped, laconic dialogue.  Brilliant car chases and Oscar-nominated photography. Rope (1948, 80 min, NR) ***1/2 – Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring James Stewart and Farley Granger.  Hitchcock’s first color film is also a stunt in creating the illusion of one, continuous unbroken shot, a trick not truly pulled in a feature film until decades later in “Russian Ark.”  Two unbalanced young men murder a fellow student just to prove that they can get away with it, then invite friends over for a party that night.  Hitchcock has fun with the boys using the corpse cabinet as a buffet table, but the core of the movie is the boys’ professor (Stewart) and his theories about how the vastly intelligent should be allowed to get away with murder.