Highly influential, When Harry Met Sally revitalised (in 1988) the moribund romantic comedy genre, made a superstar of Meg Ryan, and in two minutes of heavy breathing gave cinema one of its most memorable scenes. Set over 12 years in New York, young professionals Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Ryan) go from meeting to becoming friends to, well--this is a romantic comedy. Benefiting from ...
Manufacturer: MGM EntertainmentStarring: Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher, Bruno Kirby, Steven FordDirected By: Rob Reiner
The first thing you need to know about Sleepers is that it's based on a novel by Lorenzo Carcaterra that was allegedly based on a true story. The movie repeats this bogus claim, which was attacked and determined by a wide majority to be misleading. Knowing this, Sleepers becomes problematic because it's too neat, too clean, too manipulative in terms of legal justice and ...
Manufacturer: Universal Pictures UKStarring: Robert De Niro, Kevin Bacon, Brad Pitt, Jason Patric, Billy CrudupDirected By: Barry Levinson
Based on a memoir by former undercover cop Joe Pistone (whose daring and unprecedented infiltration of the New York Mob scene earned him a place in the federal witness protection program), Donnie Brasco is like a de-romanticised, de-mythologised version of The Godfather. It offers an uncommonly detailed, privileged glimpse inside the world of organised crime from the perspective of ...
Manufacturer: Entertainment in VideoStarring: Al Pacino, Johnny Depp, Michael Madsen, Bruno Kirby, James RussoDirected By: Mike Newell
Good Morning Vietnam is a more than usually human take on America's most controversial war, an often poignant and always entertaining fictionalisation of the Vietnam years of DJ Adrian Cronauer (Robin Williams). Cronauer is employed as the voice of the US Armed Forces radio in South East Asia, but it soon emerges that his idea of entertaining the troops and the Army's are poles apart. This ...
Manufacturer: Walt Disney Studios Home EntertainmentStarring: Robin Williams, Forest Whitaker, Tung Thanh Tran, Chintara Sukapatana, Bruno KirbyDirected By: Barry Levinson
This live-action version of EB White's novel doesn't have quite the magic of, say, Toy Story. Stuart Little is squarely aimed, and successfully so, at the 4- to 10-year-old viewer. Does this make it a bad family film? Not in the slightest. The gee-whiz visual effects (created by original Star Wars wizard John Dykstra) and the film's ebullient wholesomeness make this a welcome ...
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures Home EntertainmentStarring: Michael J. Fox, Geena Davis, Hugh Laurie, Jonathan Lipnicki, Nathan LaneDirected By: Rob Minkoff
Manufacturer: First Independent VideoStarring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Lorraine Bracco, Marilyn Sokol, James Madio, Patrick McGawDirected By: Scott Kalvert
Manufacturer: MGM EntertainmentStarring: Daniel Stern, Billy Crystal, Bruno Kirby, Patricia Wettig, Helen SlaterDirected By: Ron Underwood
Manufacturer: Touchstone Home VideoStarring: Richard Dreyfuss, Danny DeVito, Barbara Hershey, John Mahoney, Jackie GayleDirected By: Barry Levinson
The comedic genius of This Is Spinal Tap is confirmed by the fact that a majority of studio executives were utterly clueless about its brilliance. As a first-time director and cowriter, Rob Reiner must have felt simultaneously frustrated and elated, knowing that the obtuseness of movie executives was a clue to his debut project's potential greatness. Now, of course, the clarity of hindsight ...
Manufacturer: Bmg VideoStarring: Rob Reiner, Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, Kimberly Stringer, Chazz DominguezDirected By: Rob Reiner
Based on William Wharton's transcendent novel of the same name, this film is about many things: friendship, war, and, of course, birds. The framing device is an effort by a horribly scarred combat soldier (Nicolas Cage) to break through to his best friend, Birdy (Matthew Modine), hospitalised after seemingly being driven mad by fighting in the Vietnam War. Cage then flashes back to their boyhood, ...
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures Home EntertainmentStarring: Matthew Modine, Nicolas Cage, John Harkins, Sandy Baron, Karen YoungDirected By: Alan Parker
