Author Archives: Joel E. Siegel

PRESUMED INNOCENT * (Has redeeming facet) Directed by Alan J. Pakula Written by Frank Pierson and Pakula With Harrison Ford, Bonnie Bedelia, Greta Scacchi, Brian Dennehy, and Raul Julia. Perhaps my expectations for Presumed Innocent were unrealistically high. Amid the summer’s mob of brain-bashing rabble-rousers, this movie promised to be grown-up fare, the work of […]

STRAPLESS Directed and written by David Hare With Blair Brown, Bruno Ganz, Bridget Fonda, Alan Howard, and Hugh Laurie. With his third feature–his second, Paris by Night, has yet to be released in this country–British playwright-turned-filmmaker David Hare consolidates his reputation as one of the most tiresome and pretentious contemporary directors. He combines musty dramaturgy, […]

MOONSTRUCK ** (Worth seeing) Directed by Norman Jewison Written by John Patrick Shanley With Cher, Nicolas Cage, Olympia Dukakis, and Danny Aiello. Moonstruck, Norman Jewison’s pleasant, warmhearted movie, draws upon two dramatic traditions–the celebration of liberated passion (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Smiles of a Summer Night, Cousin, Cousine) and ethnic domestic comedy-drama. The setting is […]

NADINE No stars (Worthless) Directed and written by Robert Benton With Jeff Bridges, Kim Basinger, and Rip Torn. In 15 years and six films, writer-director Robert Benton has steadily descended from the promising heights of Bad Company into the barren abyss of his new comedy-mystery, Nadine. In the early 50s, Benton arrived in New York […]

WITHNAIL AND I ** (Worth seeing) Directed and written by Bruce Robinson With Richard E. Grant, Paul McGann, Richard Griffiths, and. Ralph Brown. Bruce Robinson, the British screenwriter of The Killing Fields and writer-director of the new comedy Withnail and I, strikes me as an artistic tease. He comes up with fresh, invigorating ideas for […]