A controlling mother tries to save her son from a manslaughter charge when he accidentally hits a young teen in the Romanian film Child’s Pose. Everyone’s met a mother who seems a bit overprotective when it comes to their children. In some cases, that overbearing approach leads to major developmental issues for the child. They’re unable […]
A veteran general manager, under intense pressure to deliver, prepares to build the team’s future in Draft Day. One of the biggest events in professional sports is draft day in the National Football League (NFL). It literally redefines every team in the league. Over the last few decades, the NFL has built the event into […]
It’s like the feeling you get when you wake up from a realistic dream and need a moment to get your bearings.
A couple of young, white-trash lovers from Queens hatch a plot to solve their financial woes by targeting the mafia in Rob the Mob. Here we have one of those true stories that, as the saying goes, you couldn’t make up for fear of being laughed out of town. The story of Thomas Uva (Michael Pitt) […]
Had Noah stuck to an extended version of the classic tale, it would have been a powerful, dramatic film instead of the mixed bag that results
A melancholy office worker builds a curious relationship with the wife of a man whose lunch he’s mistakenly receiving in The Lunchbox. One of the local traditions to be found in Mumbai are the “dabbawalas,” or the men who deliver round, canister-like lunchboxes that most workers have delivered either from home or from a local […]
A 40-year-old wordsmith enters a national spelling bee by exploiting a loophole in its rules in Bad Words. Guy Trilby (Jason Bateman), an editor with savant-like memory, decides to enroll in the latest Golden Quill spelling bee. Of course, it’s a contest meant for eighth graders, and Guy’s nearly three decades older than the other […]
A ragtag group of Russian soldiers defend a key position against an onslaught of determined German invaders during the battle for Stalingrad. One of the most chilling statistics of World War II is the sheer number of casualties suffered by Soviet forces. A classic case in point is the epic struggle that took place in the […]
A humble prophet builds a following and, with it, the ire of religious leaders in Son of God. This latest retelling of the Savior’s classic story is an extension of a 10-hour TV miniseries — The Bible — that aired on The History Channel last year. Director Christopher Spencer was at the helm for three segments […]
A young, talented engineer dreams of the perfect airplane at the dawn of aviation in The Wind Rises. Famed Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki knows how to stir the imagination with lavishly creative animated films like his most famous examples — Spirited Away and Ponyo. However, this film is a bit different in that it’ôs a tribute to an actual […]
Each year brings minor trends in movies, whether it’s a cluster of films with the same actor — like Benedict Cumberbatch in the last months of 2013 — or a series of flicks based on young adult novels. The spring and summer of 2014 may just include a trend of disaster movies. First up is Pompeii, with […]
A group of Palestinian friends are turned against each other while one searches for a path out in Omar. The West Bank wall creates not only a divide between people but also a demarcation point between perceptions and choices. Those on the Israeli side see the wall as a barrier against terrorism, while Palestinians on […]