Philadelphia (1993)

John Chard

9.0

Nov 11, 2019

What do you love about the law, Andrew? Andrew Beckett is a gay lawyer infected with AIDS, who in spite of being his law firm's rising star, is fired on a trumped up charge of negligence. Refusing to accept defeat, Andrew manages to enlist the help of homophobic lawyer Joe Miller, whom it's hoped, can prove that the firm acted disgracefully out of fear of Andrew's illness. But can Joe throw off his own prejudice? Can Andrew keep it together as AIDS starts to take a hold? Philadelphia was the film to really bring the horrors of AIDS to the masses. Though certainly not the first film to d…

Peter McGinn

7.0

May 8, 2021

Yet another of those movies I watched close to when it came out umpteen years ago, and only recently watched again. For entertainment value, it hasn’t aged particularly well for me. I am not sure I can even describe why, except that it seemed to lack energy. There are a lot of good small moments, but its big moments struggle to live up to their potential. The courtroom scenes slow the story down in places, and the climactic scene that decided the case wasn’t convincing to me. Still, this was an important movie addressing the AIDS when it came out, and the two low lead actors, even thoug…

Compelling performances by both Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington. And to think I almost didn't watch this because the poster doesn't look like Hanks...