Word: great
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...suddenness of Poland's great leap may create new problems, even as it seeks to solve old ones. The country lacks economic institutions that took centuries to develop in the West: it has no stock exchange, no commercial banks, little experience in the rough-and-tumble of a free market. Barry Sullivan, chairman of the First National Bank of Chicago, wondered whether the Poles' eagerness will prove to have been "monumental courage or sheer folly." While none of the Americans doubted the commitment to reform at the top of the Polish government, some questioned how it would be received once...
...film ends with a great shot. Blaze walks out of the state house where Earl's corpse lies, and the camera ascends to take in Long's old domain. Randy Newman's poignant song Louisiana 1927 -- a cracker's lament about a devastating flood -- reaches its apogee of symphonic paranoia with the line "They're tryin' to wash us away." Just then, the camera discovers the Mississippi roaring past, washing away Earl and his wily, wild, pre-TV tradition of Southern politics. What has happened down there is that the wind has changed, and for its last three minutes Blaze...
...affair made in tabloid heaven: stripteaser Blaze Starr ("Miss Spontaneous Combustion, and I do mean bustion!") and Earl K. Long, fine Governor of the great state of Louisiana. Long was too full of his princely power to be discreet about his indiscretions. Blaze could have told him -- and in this lengthy, clever, depressing film she does -- that "your political instincts are clouded by the aroma of my perfume." By 1959, when Long's campaign slogan was the forthright "I ain't crazy," his liaison with the stripper was as controversial as his tax evasion and support for Negro voting rights...
...season when movies are ablaze with self-importance, urging us to contemplate, through various fictive metaphors, the great issues of our time. And, by the way, to spare some kindly thoughts for the high-mindedness of their makers and their worthiness for Oscar nominations...
...cannot speak too highly of the subtlety that two great actors, Freeman and Tandy, bring to their roles. Or of the faith that Beresford places in their ability to convey large emotions through an exchange of glances in a rearview mirror. Or of his trust in a script that speaks most eloquently through silences and indirection. All, finally, have placed their faith in the audience's ability to read their delicately stated work with the responsiveness it deserves. It would be a shame to fail them...