Up-and-coming young lawyer Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks) has just been fired by his prestigious law firm. They say he hasn't got what it takes. Andrew knows it's because he's got AIDS. Determined to defend his professional reputation Andrew hires fierce brilliant personal-injury attorney Joe Miller (Denzel Washington) to sue his former employers for wrongful dismissal. Joe is initially reluctant to take on the case. Although he as grown up knowing the pain of prejudice he's never
Philadelphia wasn't the first movie about AIDS (it followed such worthy independent films as Parting Glances and Longtime Companion), but it was the first Hollywood studio picture to take AIDS as its primary subject. In that sense, Philadelphia is a historically important film. As such, it's worth remembering that director Jonathan Demme (Melvin and Howard, Something Wild, The Silence of the Lambs) wasn't interested in preaching to the converted; he set out to make a film that would connect with a mainstream audience. And he succeeded. Philadelphia was not only a hit, it also won Oscars for Bruce Springsteen's haunting "The Streets of Philadelphia," and for Tom Hanks as the gay lawyer Andrew Beckett who is unjustly fired by his firm because he has AIDS. Denzel Washington is another lawyer (functioning as the mainstream-audience surrogate) who reluctantly takes Beckett's case and learns to overcome his misconceptions about the disease, about those who contract it, and about gay people in general. The combined warmth and humanism of Hanks and Demme were absolutely essential to making this picture a success. The cast also features Jason Robards, Antonio Banderas (as Beckett's lover), Joanne Woodward, and Robert Ridgely, and, of course, those Demme regulars Charles Napier, Tracey Walter and Roger Corman. --Jim Emerson
While visiting a good friend in a trendy Hollywood cafe Harold (Jeremy Piven) a tour bus driver spots his favourite actress Amanda Clark (Sherilyn Fenn) and introduces himself. She mistakingly assumes he is a writer and to Harold's amazement proposes a date to discuss her next movie. As their relationship grows so must Harold's charade to keep Amanda from discovering he is a Beverly Hills tour guide and not a hot-shot writer. With a rewrite deadline looming an actress swooning and his whole world rocking Harold must choose what to write as well as do what is right. He could win her heart if he would 'Just Write'.
Murder mystery and suspense are rife when the son of a Japanese billionaire and his beautiful wife arrive in a small town in Pennsylvania with plans to convert an old steel mill into a huge money-making amusement park. When he is found seriously wounded no-one's surprised. None more so than former steel worker Barry who confesses to the crime. But this is no open and shut case. As the police investigate a succession of intimate lies and hidden truths unfold that exposes a bitter love triangle and leaves the town's fate in the balance. What really happened? The answer lies deep in the 'Iron Maze'. A maze of emotional deception industrial destruction and small-town prejudice.
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