Film #114: Vanya on 42nd Street

It's Anton Chekov's naked sadness that finally makes Louis Malle's Vanya on 42nd Street so superlative. However, the trouble with doing the play on film is that with the excitement of a live performance absent, the picture might seem dull to audience members who aren't in step with this pure-bred brand of Russian fatalism. That's why Malle's choice to record one of Andre Gregory's many

Film #57: The Verdict

Paul Newman delivers a career-best performance in this comeback film from director Sidney Lumet (12 Angry Men, Prince of the City, Network). In it, he plays Frank Galvin, an alcoholic, ambulance-chasing lawyer whose recent string of lost cases has put him in a desperate situation. He's given one last chance at a moneymaker by a working class family who're suing a powerful, Catholic-run hospital