The Last Samurai (2003)
Set in Japan during the 1870s, "The Last Samurai" tells the story of Capt. Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise), a respected American military officer hired by the Emperor of Japan to train the country's first army in the art of modern warfare. As the Emperor attempts to eradicate the ancient Imperial Samurai warriors in preparation for more Westernized and trade-friendly government policies, Algren finds himself unexpectedly impressed and influenced by his encounters with the Samurai, which places him at the center of a struggle between two eras and two worlds, with only his own sense of honor to guide him.
The Phantom of the Opera(2004)
This romantic musical epic is about a mysterious masked figure, Erik (Butler), who roams the undergrounds of 19th century Paris, centering his activity around (or under) the Opera Populaire, where he tutors a beautiful young soprano, Christine (Rossum), who goes on to upstage the city's most famous opera singer, Carlotta (Driver). The Phantom thinks he's found love, until Christine's childhood boyfriend, Vicomte de Chagny (Wilson) shows up.
Those who thought that smoke machines and cobwebbed candelabras were the stuff of Halloween parties and dance clubs need to think again. In Joel Schumacher's film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Broadway musical THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, these moody set devices--and countless others--make every scene an atmospheric vision of souped-up 19th-century Gothic bliss. Christine Daee (a luminescent Emmy Rossum) is a tortured young star who is haunted by the voice of the phantom (Gerard Butler--who also played the lead in DRACULA 2000), a musician who hides in the shadows to hide a facial disfigurement, yet sings to her obsessively. Dwelling in the dark, damp chambers beneath the Paris opera house, the phantom lords over the cast and management with artistic autocracy--he writes the shows, casts them, and threatens all who disobey his plans with dramatically violent outbursts. But when his young student Christine falls for the rich and dapper Raoul (Patrick Wilson), the phantom descends into madness. Webber's memorable songs are performed with aplomb by Rossum, whose background includes singing with the Metropolitan Opera, and Wilson and Butler provide ample accompaniment. One of the treats of the proceedings is Minnie Driver's deeply exaggerated portrayal of the jealous diva, giving this PHANTOM a very appropriate dose of comic relief.
Unforgiven (1992)
"Unforgiven" is a modern classic that "summarizes everything I feel about the Western," director/star Clint Eastwood told the Los Angeles Times. This American Film Institute Top-100 American Movies selection rode off with four 1992 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Director (Eastwood), Supporting Actor (Gene Hackman), and Editing (Joel Cox).
Eastwood and Morgan Freeman play retired outlaws who pick up their guns one last time to collect a bounty. Richard Harris is an ill-fated killer for hire. And Hackman is a lawman of sly charm… and chilling brutality. Unforgiven is "a Western for the ages" (Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times).
The Fugitive (1993)
Harrison Ford is prison escapee Dr. Richard Kimble, a Chicago surgeon falsely convicted of killing his wife and determined to prove his innocence by leading his pursuers to the one-armed man who actually committed the crime. Tommy Lee Jones is Sam Gerard, an unrelenting bloodhound of a U.S. Marshal. They are hunter and hunted. And as directed by Andrew Davis (Under Siege), their nonstop chase has one exhilarating speed: all-out. |
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