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Saving Grace
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The Haunting of Julia
: :After the tragic death of her child, a woman moves to an old gothic house to recover. In the house, mysterious things begin to happen and the woman is confronted with the ghost of a child who was murdered there 30 years earlier. Based on the novel by Peter Straub.
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Shirley Valentine
: :British actress Pauline Collins repeats her stage success as the character Shirley Valentine, a married woman who decides in her middle years that she wants more out of life. Leaving her spouse behind, she heads to Greece, where she grows close to a low-key, local bloke (Tom Conti). Collins and director Lewis Gilbert (Educating Rita) choose to let the character, as she did in the play, speak directly to the audience at times, and the gamble works in terms of creating a gentle, intimate atmosphere. Conti is a bonus, a warm ...
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The Norman Conquests Boxed Set
: :Rejoice that this is not your family. Based on Alan Ayckbourn's painfully comical plays, many will remember this 1970s production from PBS. This hilarious trilogy of plays is as memorable for its narrative technique as for its biting portrayal of a disastrous family weekend in the British countryside. Each of the three plays is set in a different part of the same house during one three-day weekend--Table Manners is set in the dining room; Living Together is in the living room; and Round and Round the Garden, is, naturally, outside--and they ...
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Reuben, Reuben
: :Rejoice that this is not your family. Based on Alan Ayckbourn's painfully comical plays, many will remember this 1970s production from PBS. This hilarious trilogy of plays is as memorable for its narrative technique as for its biting portrayal of a disastrous family weekend in the British countryside. Each of the three plays is set in a different part of the same house during one three-day weekend--Table Manners is set in the dining room; Living Together is in the living room; and Round and Round the Garden, is, naturally, outside--and they ...
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American Dreamer (1984)
: :JoBeth Williams plays an unfulfilled housewife who wins a trip to Paris after entering a short-story contest. Once there, she is hit by a car and wakes up believing she is the ingenious and brave heroine from her story. A series of misadventures leads her on a merry chase with fellow bumbler Tom Conti. The casting is a little dubious, but the ever adorable Conti gives this charm. It may rip off Romancing the Stone--without emulating that flick's witty dialogue or sexuality--but this appealing fluff remains a pleasant, if slight, diversion. ...
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Don't Go Breaking My Heart
: :JoBeth Williams plays an unfulfilled housewife who wins a trip to Paris after entering a short-story contest. Once there, she is hit by a car and wakes up believing she is the ingenious and brave heroine from her story. A series of misadventures leads her on a merry chase with fellow bumbler Tom Conti. The casting is a little dubious, but the ever adorable Conti gives this charm. It may rip off Romancing the Stone--without emulating that flick's witty dialogue or sexuality--but this appealing fluff remains a pleasant, if slight, diversion. ...
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Shirley Valentine
: :As movie midlife crises go, Shirley Valentine's is a doozy. A bored Northern England housewife, wondering what her life is about and how to navigate around her clueless husband, Shirley would be at her wits' end--except that she knows how to dream big. As played by the incomparable Pauline Collins (who created the role on Broadway, and won a Tony for it), Shirley embraces not only her own constricted life, but the dreams of the big, beautiful world beyond it. Directed by Lewis Gilbert (Educating Rita), Shirley Valentine is an anthem ...
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That Summer of White Roses
: :As movie midlife crises go, Shirley Valentine's is a doozy. A bored Northern England housewife, wondering what her life is about and how to navigate around her clueless husband, Shirley would be at her wits' end--except that she knows how to dream big. As played by the incomparable Pauline Collins (who created the role on Broadway, and won a Tony for it), Shirley embraces not only her own constricted life, but the dreams of the big, beautiful world beyond it. Directed by Lewis Gilbert (Educating Rita), Shirley Valentine is an anthem ...
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Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
: :A highly unusual war movie with as many detractors as fans, this English-language feature directed by Nagisa Oshima (In the Realm of the Senses) stars David Bowie as a silent, ethereal POW in a Japanese camp. Protesting--via his own enigmatic rebellion--the camp's brutal conditions and treatment of prisoners, Bowie's character earns the respect of the camp commandant (Ryuichi Sakamoto). While the two seem locked in an unspoken, spiritual understanding, another prisoner (Tom Conti) engages in a more conventional resistance against a monstrous sergeant (Takeshi). The film has a way of evoking ...
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