Kathleen Keane Movies
Many literary historians and bibliophiles regard James Joyce's 1922 Ulysses as the single most vital novel published in the English language; a cornerstone of college courses everywhere and a subject of continual analysis, it even inspired a perennial holiday named after the iconic main character, Leopold Bloom: Bloomsday, June 16th (the day on which the story unfolds). But what specifically accounts for the novel's peerless status and literary reputation - peerless enough that it would prompt fans to drink a pint and dress up like their favorite characters in its honor? Fritzi Horstman's documentary Joyce to the World sets out to provide exhaustive answers to these questions, initially by examining the chronology of Joyce's life itself (from his childhood in Dublin to his eventual exile with his wife in such locales as Zurich and Pula) and then by interviewing celebrities from various disciplines who comment on the impact that Ulysses has made on them, including Brian Dennehy, Frank McCourt and Fionnula Flanagan. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kenneth O'Malley
The acclaimed graphic novel from crime writer Max Allan Collins becomes this big budget Dreamworks drama from director Sam Mendes and screenwriter David Self. Tom Hanks stars as Michael Sullivan, a morally conflicted Depression-era hit man committing murder in the name of his employer, John Rooney (Paul Newman). A kindly, aging Irish crime boss who raised Sullivan as his surrogate son, Rooney is affiliated with Al Capone in Chicago and thus wields great power in the "Tri-Cities" of Moline, IL; Rock Island, IL; and Davenport, IA. Curious about his father's mysterious profession, Sullivan's son, Michael Jr. (Tyler Hoechlin), stows away in his father's automobile one night and witnesses the execution of a man at the hands of Sullivan and Rooney's biological son, Connor (Daniel Craig). Although Michael keeps his promise to remain silent about what he's seen, the paranoid and unstable Connor tries to wipe out the entire Sullivan clan anyway, succeeding only in killing Sullivan's wife, Annie (Jennifer Jason Leigh), and youngest son, Peter (Liam Aiken). Enraged at this and another surprise betrayal by the Rooneys, Sullivan embarks on a path of bloody retribution, Michael in tow. Although he intends to leave his boy with relatives in the rural town of Perdition once the coast is clear, he ends up exposing Michael to the goriest aspects of his talents, slaughtering former associates as he dodges contract assassin Maguire (Jude Law) and cripples the cash flow of the Rooney and Capone organizations through a series of bank robberies, attempting to force either mob family to offer up the sequestered Connor as a sacrifice. Inspired by the popular Japanese comic book series Lone Wolf and Cub and based loosely on an episode from the life and career of notorious real-life crime figures John and Connor Looney, Road to Perdition co-stars Stanley Tucci as legendary Chicago mobster Frank Nitti. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, (more)
