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Maria Full of Grace
What stands out first about Maria Full of Grace is the confidence with which Joshua Marston establishes its crime drama identity. Rather than relying on premise alone, Maria Full of Grace asks Catalina Sandino Moreno and Guilied Lopez to supply personality from the opening stretch. The premise of Maria Full of Grace is established with useful clarity: A pregnant Colombian teenager becomes a drug mule to make some desperately needed money for her family. That direct approach l
Aug 153 min read
Millions
What stands out first about Millions is the confidence with which Danny Boyle establishes its comedy identity. Rather than relying on premise alone, Millions asks Alex Etel and James Nesbitt to supply personality from the opening stretch. The premise of Millions is established with useful clarity: Ethics, being human and the soul come to the fore when a 7 year old finds a bag of Pounds just days before the currency is switched to Euros and learns what we are really made of. T
Aug 153 min read
Bride & Prejudice
What stands out first about Bride & Prejudice is the confidence with which Gurinder Chadha establishes its comedy identity. Rather than relying on premise alone, Bride & Prejudice asks Martin Henderson and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan to supply personality from the opening stretch. The premise of Bride & Prejudice is established with useful clarity: A modern adaptation of Jane Austen's classic novel, Pride and Prejudice, that features the lives of four unmarried daughters in an Ind
Aug 153 min read
Ladies in Lavender
What stands out first about Ladies in Lavender is the confidence with which Charles Dance establishes its romance identity. Rather than relying on premise alone, Ladies in Lavender asks Judi Dench and Maggie Smith to supply personality from the opening stretch. The premise of Ladies in Lavender is established with useful clarity: Two sisters befriend a mysterious foreigner who washes up on the beach of their 1930s Cornish seaside village. That direct approach lets Ladies in L
Aug 153 min read
Woman Thou Art Loosed
What stands out first about Woman Thou Art Loosed is the confidence with which Michael Schultz establishes its drama identity. Rather than relying on premise alone, Woman Thou Art Loosed asks Kimberly Elise and T.D. Jakes to supply personality from the opening stretch. The premise of Woman Thou Art Loosed is established with useful clarity: An adaptation of Bishop T.D. Jakes' self help novel, chronicling a woman's struggle to come to terms with her legacy of abuse, addiction
Aug 153 min read
Thunderbirds
What stands out first about Thunderbirds is the confidence with which Jonathan Frakes establishes its comedy identity. Rather than relying on premise alone, Thunderbirds asks Bill Paxton and Anthony Edwards to supply personality from the opening stretch. The premise of Thunderbirds is established with useful clarity: When The Hood finds and invades International Rescue's secret base and traps most of the Tracy family, only young Alan Tracy and his friends can save the day. Th
Aug 153 min read
Being Julia
What stands out first about Being Julia is the confidence with which István Szabó establishes its comedy identity. Rather than relying on premise alone, Being Julia asks Annette Bening and Michael Gambon to supply personality from the opening stretch. The premise of Being Julia is established with useful clarity: Set in 1930s London, this movie involves stage actors and actresses and their experiences with love and revenge. That direct approach lets Being Julia use its 1h 44m
Aug 153 min read
Connie and Carla
What stands out first about Connie and Carla is the confidence with which Michael Lembeck establishes its comedy identity. Rather than relying on premise alone, Connie and Carla asks Nia Vardalos and Toni Collette to supply personality from the opening stretch. The premise of Connie and Carla is established with useful clarity: A mob mix up in Chicago sends two chanteuses screaming for L.A., where they score a perfect gig: posing as drag queens on the dinner theater/cabaret c
Aug 153 min read
Suspect Zero
What stands out first about Suspect Zero is the confidence with which E. Elias Merhige establishes its horror film identity. Rather than relying on premise alone, Suspect Zero asks Aaron Eckhart and Ben Kingsley to supply personality from the opening stretch. The premise of Suspect Zero is established with useful clarity: A mysterious serial killer is preying on other serial killers and one FBI agent suspects there may be more to the vigilante than the obvious characteristics
Aug 153 min read
Saved!
What stands out first about Saved! is the confidence with which Brian Dannelly establishes its comedy identity. Rather than relying on premise alone, Saved! asks Jena Malone and Mandy Moore to supply personality from the opening stretch. The premise of Saved! is established with useful clarity: When a girl attending a Christian high school becomes pregnant, all of her former friends turn on her and she is ostracized and demonized. That direct approach lets Saved! use its 1h 3
Aug 153 min read
First Daughter
What stands out first about First Daughter is the confidence with which Forest Whitaker establishes its comedy identity. Rather than relying on premise alone, First Daughter asks Katie Holmes and Marc Blucas to supply personality from the opening stretch. The premise of First Daughter is established with useful clarity: The daughter of the U.S. President heads off to college where she falls for a graduate student with a secret. That direct approach lets First Daughter use its
Aug 153 min read
Howl's Moving Castle
What stands out first about Howl's Moving Castle is the confidence with which Hayao Miyazaki establishes its animated adventure identity. Rather than relying on premise alone, Howl's Moving Castle asks Chieko Baishô and Takuya Kimura to supply personality from the opening stretch. The premise of Howl's Moving Castle is established with useful clarity: When an unconfident young woman is cursed with an old body by a spiteful witch, her only chance of breaking the spell lies wit
Aug 153 min read
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