Mattia Sbragia Movies
The story of the would-be Portuguese nobleman who rejected a life of materialism to become a Franciscan monk and stand up for the poor and oppressed comes to the big screen in this lavish hagiography starring Jordi Molla, Joe Capalbo, and Matt Patresti. Had he wanted, St. Anthony (Molla) could have lived a life of leisure. Though born to Portuguese nobles, the pious St. Anthony left it all behind in order to become a symbol of hope for the downtrodden and disadvantaged. His mind was sound, but his body was fragile, and as St. Anthony began his tireless campaign against injustice, Folco (Paolo De Vita) became his most trusted disciple. When greedy money lender Ronaldo (Damir Todorovic) used his wealth to enslave the desperate people of Padua, the revolutionary saint made a vow to defend the common people even if it meant taking the fight to the highest levels of society and the church. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jordi Mollà, Paolo DeVita, (more)
Mel Gibson's well-publicized production The Passion of the Christ concerns the last 12 hours in the life of Jesus of Nazareth. The dialogue is spoken in the ancient Aramaic language, along with Latin and Hebrew. In the Garden of Gethsemane near the Mount of Olives, Jesus (James Caviezel) is betrayed by Judas Iscariot (Luca Lionello). Jesus is condemned to death for blasphemy and brought before Pontius Pilate (Hristo Naumov Shopov), the Roman governor of Judea, for sentencing. The roaring crowd demand his death, so Pilate orders his crucifixion. Jesus is severely beaten and made to carry his cross up to Golgotha, the hill outside Jerusalem, where he is nailed to the cross. Romanian theatrical actress Maia Morgenstern plays Mary, Mother of God, and Italian superstar Monica Bellucci plays Mary Magdalene. Amid much controversy involving Gibson and various religious organizations, The Passion of the Christ received an international theatrical release in February of 2004. In March 2005, Gibson released an unrated version of the film, dubbed The Passion Recut, that eliminated five to six minutes of the more graphic scenes of flogging and crucifixion. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Caviezel, Monica Bellucci, (more)
After pulling off the heist of their lives, Danny Ocean and his pals unexpectedly find themselves back in harness in this sequel to 2001's blockbuster hit Ocean's Eleven. After robbing a cool $160 million from the Bellaggio Hotel Casino and winning back his former wife, Tess (Julia Roberts), from Bellagio owner Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia), Danny Ocean (George Clooney) is living quietly on the lam in Connecticut when he's unexpectedly approached by Benedict. It seems Benedict has tracked down Danny and the ten men who helped him pull off the seemingly impossible robbery, and Benedict offers them a proposal -- if they can repay the $160 million in two weeks, he won't have them killed. As it turns out, both Danny and his best friend, Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt), haven't been doing so well in terms of money management and could use some cash, so they set out to plan a robbery to recover the loot, with the same crew helping out -- Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon), Frank Catton (Bernie Mac), Basher Tarr (Don Cheadle), Saul Bloom (Carl Reiner), Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould), Livingston Dell (Eddie Jemison), Yen (Shaobo Qin), Virgil Malloy (Casey Affleck), and his brother Turk (Scott Caan). Danny and Rusty discover that an incredibly rare Fabergé egg is being displayed at a museum in Rome which would fetch the price they need, but they soon discover a notorious cat burglar, François Toulour (Vincent Cassel), is also after the egg, and it turns into a race to see who can claim it first. Adding to the intrigue is Isabel Lahiri (Catherine Zeta-Jones), a woman Rusty used to be involved with who is now a top agent with Interpol and is after both Toulour and Ocean's crew. Shot on location in both the United States and Europe, Ocean's Twelve was, like its precursor, directed by the stylish Steven Soderbergh, who also photographed the picture under his nom de lens, Peter Andrews. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Clooney, Brad Pitt, (more)
- 2000
Recalling François Girard's The Red Violin, Canone Inverso - Making Love is a multi-layered, multi-generational tale of music, fate, and passion. Based on the novel by Paolo Maurensig, the film opens in pre-WWII Europe, where Jeno, a half-Jewish boy, lives in relative poverty with his mother. His father, who abandoned his wife and son, left them with only a rare violin and a canone inverso, a traditional composition written for two instruments. During Jeno's (Hans Matheson) adolescence, his mother dies, and in the wake of her death, he is drawn to Sophie Levy (Melanie Thierry), a married, French Jewish pianist with whom he develops a close relationship. At Sophie's encouragement, Jeno applies for a scholarship to a music conservatory; there, he meets David Blau (Lee Williams), an aristocratic cad who becomes a great influence in Jeno's life. When Jeno is expelled from the school for being Jewish, David quits in protest and takes his friend back to his father's estate. It is at the estate that Jeno discovers a piece of music written by David's father that sparks a revelation about his family heritage -- and his connections to David and Sophie. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gabriel Byrne, Domiziana Giordano, (more)
- 1995
Based on a short story from Giuseppe Pontiggia's popular Italian book Vite di uomini non illustri (Lives of Non-Illustrious Men), this comedy chronicles the many lively phases in the life of Claudia Bertelli, who lived between 1949 and 2011. Born to former radicals turned conservative middle-class Milanese, Claudia realizes that her parents can never consciously decide whether they find her behavior shocking or tolerable. During the 1960s, Claudia gets involved with protesting and falls in love for the first time with an idealistic, angry reactionary who subsequently disappears "underground" for many years. By the time he finally emerges he has become a corrupt devotee of the Socialist Party leader Bettino Craxi. By the 1970s, Claudia's protests have taken a feminist bent. She shocks her parents when she gives birth to a black baby from an unknown father and then later marries a Jewish philosopher. It doesn't last, but Claudia continues to be socially conscious for the rest of her life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
A woman throws caution to the wind in the pursuit of the man of her dreams -- whom she's never met -- in this romantic comedy. Eleven-year-old Faith (Tammy Minoff) and her cousin Kate (Jessica Hertel) are playing with a Ouiji Board when Faith asks who she will marry -- the magic oracle answers "DAMON BRADLEY," and Faith is convinced that she will one day meet this ideal love. Fifteen years later, Faith (Marisa Tomei) has yet to meet her perfect man and has settled for Dwayne (John Benjamin Hickey), a sweet but boring foot doctor whom she's engaged to marry, with Kate (Bonnie Hunt) helping her plan the festivities. The day before the ceremony, Faith gets a call from one of the groom's friends, who won't be able to attend because he's travelling to Italy instead -- and his name is Damon Bradley. Convinced that fate is trying to tell her something, Faith hops on the next flight to Venice, where she searches for the elusive Damon, and along the way meets the charming Peter Wright (Robert Downey, Jr.). This was Tomei and Downey's second romantic pairing, following their roles in the biopic Chaplin. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marisa Tomei, Robert Downey, Jr., (more)
- 1994
This Italian psychological thriller is based on as novel by Georges Simenon. Delon is an immoral, gynecologist who frequently cheats on his wife. He is also very successful and has a richly appointed office in Brussels. His good life begins to change when he finds himself receiving death threats and a mysterious teddy bear. After he finds himself responsible for two deaths, he relinquishes his womanizing ways and goes back home. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alain Delon, Francesca Dellera, (more)
- 1993
Marco and Arturo (Massimiliano Franciosa and Angelo Sorino) are stars among the young people in their small Italian town. The two friends are hosts of a radio show for other young people in the area, and even though it only comes on late at night, they have become celebrities of a sort. However, when the station owner tries to cash in on their celebrity, the two quit. That's when the reality of their situation hits: they are fairly ordinary guys in an ordinary town and there's nothing else in the way of a career which is near to home and which is likely to excite or challenge them. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Federica Mastroianni
- 1992
During World War II, the powerful and influential Italian Communist Party actively supported the anti-fascist resistance. Now the Germans have surrendered, and Hitler and Mussolini are both dead. However, in this story, one group of partisans can't resist the opportunity to complete some of the assassinations they had planned. The new Italian Republic is calling for ex-Nazis to be tried under the new legal system, and the Communist Party is echoing that sentiment. When the die-hard partisans finally pull off the hit, they manage to kill not only the high-ranking Nazi they were aiming at, but two not-so-innocent bystanders, members of the Italian mafia. The civilian authorities are seeking the killers, and the communists are trying to retain the legitimacy they have so precariously attained. They search out one of the gang, now on the run from both the civil authorities and the mafia, and persuade him to turn state's evidence. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ennio Fantastichini, Giuseppe Cederna, (more)
- 1991
- NR
Originally Vielle qui Marchait dans la Mer, this elegiac French comedy is also known as The Old Lady Who Wades in the Sea. Based on a novel by San-Antonio (Frederic Dard), the film stars Jeanne Moreau as an ageing beauty, living with her travelling companion (and ex-lover) Michel Serrault in Guadeloupe. Though forced to hobble about with a cane, Moreau's infirmities do not slow her down in her chosen profession: con artist. She and Serrault have been responsible for some of the most ingenious swindles and extortion schemes in recent memory. While taking her morning walk on the seashore, Moreau is robbed by handsome young Luc Thullier. Not in the least outraged, she senses great potential in the boy, and begins training him for major robbery-while Serrault seethes in comic jealousy. The W.C. Fields-like terms of endearment bandied about between Moreau and Serrault will either charm or annoy you; we liked it. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeanne Moreau, Michel Serrault, (more)
In this thriller, American novelist David Raybourne (Andrew McCarthy) accidentally becomes entangled in the Red Brigade's terrorist plan to kidnap Italian Premier Aldo Moro during a research trip to Rome. As the terrorists attempt to kill David, he and his photojournalist friend (Sharon Stone) must struggle to stay alive. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andrew McCarthy, Valeria Golino, (more)
- 1990
In this romantic story, a couple (Michel Serrault and Virna Lisi) who have been married for over forty years are forced to separate, one to each of their two children's families, when they can no longer pay the rent on their longtime apartment. Absence, in this case, refreshes their memory of the love they have shared, and they take to meeting one another furtively in hotel rooms for sex and affection. One summer, as each of their daughters families takes them on separate vacations, they have had enough, and elope, finding contentment as lighthouse keepers off the coast of Sicily. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Serrault, Virna Lisi, (more)
- 1990
Andrea (Leonardo Trame) has always loved his eccentric old aunt Gianna (Pamela Villoresi). After she suffers the loss of her husband, she asks his parents if he could stay with her in her Rome apartment over December, undoubtedly to help her through the difficulties of the holiday period. They agree to this arrangement. She is a delightful companion for the boy, sharing his love of movies and fairy tales. The situation becomes more difficult when she confides to him that she feels sure she is being followed and observed. What could have been the fantasy of a slightly demented older woman is shown to have been real, and the boy does yoeman service in rescuing her from (and capturing) a burglar. This drama is told entirely from the point of view of the young boy, and he can only partly understand the events which unfold around him. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pamela Villoresi, Alessandro Haber, (more)
- 1989
- NR
The Story of Boys and Girls is about a rural Italian girl who invites the family of her rich Bolognese fiance over for a 20-course banquet at her home. Over the course of the meal, both families talk about many different topics, revealing a number of secrets along the way. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lucrezia Lante Della Rovere, Felice Andreasi, (more)
- 1988
- R
This Italian production is the story of a young model who fears for her life after a series of prank phone calls. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlotte Lewis, William Berger, (more)
- 1987
In this light comedy and mystery film, Mary is a waitress living in New York. She is also a newlywed, blonde, and none too bright into the bargain. One day, she gets a call from her husband, who instructs her to take the next plane to Florence because he's struck it rich. However, when she lands in Italy, her husband is nowhere to be found. She throws herself on the mercy of a crusty lawyer whom she meets, and he grudgingly allows himself to become her ally and protector while the two of them search for her missing spouse. Using a coded map, they track down the promised treasure, which seems to have come from a bank robbery Mary's husband participated in. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adriano Celentano, Debra Feuer, (more)
- 1986
In 1978, Italian politics were thrown into turmoil when the Christian Democratic president Aldo Moro was executed. This gripping political drama is based on American journalist Robert Katz's non-fiction book Days of Wrath and documents the convoluted chain of events that lead to Moro's death. Moro was the first politico to bring his country's political factions together in 40 years. His ordeal begins shortly after he is elected. He is en route to church with his five body guards when they are ambushed by radical communist terrorists, the Red Brigade. They quickly execute the body guards and spirit Moro to a hidden "people's prison' where he is interrogated. Neither Moro's Christian Democrats nor the newly reinstated Communists will deal or in any way acknowledge the Red Brigade. They do however engage in a massive search for the missing Moro. But the search is poorly organized and ineffectual. Meanwhile Moro is allowed to send letters to the government. He suggests that the Vatican be called in to negotiate a prisoner exchange with the terrorists, but the Vatican refuses. Instead, they make a formal plea for Moro's unconditional freedom. The government does little or nothing to help the president and Moro realizes that the organization he helped create has abandoned him. In desperation, he becomes sharply critical of the government that continues to stall while the Red Brigade becomes increasingly frustrated and impatient. Eventually they decide to kill Moro and later stuff his body in a red Renault which they parked between the Christian Democrat and the Communist headquarters. The Moro Affair or Il Caso Moro as it was known in Italy, was extremely popular in it's native country, but it also sparked considerable controversy for as the case unfolds, nagging doubts and holes arise that infer that perhaps the government had more of a hand in the assassination than the Red Brigade. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gian Maria Volontè, Margarita Lozano, (more)
- 1985
The tragic life of Italian poet Dino Campana (1885-1931) is the subject of this award-winning docudrama by Luigi Faccini. Born in Tuscany in 1885, Campana was already showing signs of mental illness at the age of 15 when he had his first breakdown. Intermittent visits and stays in mental institutions followed for several years, before he was permanently institutionalized in 1918. In this story the hospitalized Campana (Bruno Zanin) is visited regularly by a psychiatrist who clearly covets any writing the poet may have produced that has not yet come to light. He is already famous for his Canti Orifici published in 1914. Campana, who has no illusions when it comes to literary parasites, finds a clever way to put this doctor-cum-literary vulture in his place. In the meantime, the embittered poet remembers his brief love affair with the writer Sibilla Aleramo (Olga Karlatos) in flashbacks. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruno Zanin, Olga Karlatos, (more)
- 1983
In this tragic story that has an unrealized potential to tug at the emotions, a woman in mourning for her two sons lost in World War I is the only one in her village determined to financially support a war memorial. The village poor have too little money, and the richer are tight-fisted. She has given a whole 15 years of savings -- yet the good priest, for whom she works as a maid, is not enthusiastic about her action because he is worried that the memorial will not remind the villagers of past horrors and suffering but disguise the human cost of war in rhetoric. As the memorial's advocates begin to sustain the day, flashbacks show how the woman's youngest son shot his captain, deserted the army, and came to die of fever while in his mother's care. The priest helped her as much as possible, yet he feels compelled to tell the authorities that her son was a deserter. Whether or not the woman's secret (and the location of the son's grave is kept a secret as well) will remain with her will depend on the villagers' reactions to the inauguration of the war memorial and the fascists who seem to be gaining in ascendancy ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Irene Papas, Omero Antonutti, (more)
- 1981
In the original story of Camille by Alexandre Dumas, Jr. La Dame aux Camelias, a beautiful Parisian courtesan, Marguerite Gautier, (called "Camille" because of her love for camelias) is supported by a series of aristocratic lovers, but does not fall in love until she meets Armand Duval. Armand's father lets it be known that Camille would ruin Armand because of her "low" past, and she leaves to save his reputation, saying she does not love him anymore. She soon contracts tuberculosis, and Armand hears that she is dying. He rushes to her side, finds out she has loved him all along, and she dies knowing he has always loved her. The True Story of Camille uses the ploy of Alexandre Dumas, Jr. doing his version of "Camille" at the turn of the 20th century, as a means of introducing a flashback to the "real" story behind the "real" Camille, Alphonsine Plessis. In the film, Alphonsine (Isabelle Huppert) - a country girl - was sold by her father to a wealthy neighbor, which starts her off on a round of living in expansive palaces and keeping company with wealthy aristocrats and eventually, Alexandre Dumas, Jr. himself. But that trajectory did not happen all at once. Alphonsine first survives, barely, as a seamstress in Paris. Then she becomes a prostitute, after which a Count Peregaunts (Bruno Ganz) marries her, then more or less disappears, leaving her to become a high-class courtesan. As she makes her way from one handsome, aristocratic client to the next, a noble protector, Count Stechelberg (Fernando Rey) keeps her out of harm's way. By the time she and Dumas meet, she has become infected with tuberculosis - and she has created the inspiration for Dumas' story of Camille. Her father comes along at this point, however, ready to trounce Dumas for romanticizing his daughter's wretched life - the same father that sold her off in the first place. If the viewer can remember that the characters of Marguerite Gautier (Carla Fracci) and Armand Duval from Dumas' story of Camille have been given their "real" personas as Alphonsine Plessis and Dumas in this film, then the story within a story make more sense. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Isabelle Huppert, Gian Maria Volontè, (more)
- 1977
- R
In this dramatic romance, a piano teacher seduces one of her son's friends, who proceeds to fall in love with one of the teacher's students, causing tremendous jealousy. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ornella Muti, Senta Berger, (more)
