A vampire, disillusioned by the monotony of an endless existence, finds solace in the arms of his estranged partner in Only Lovers Left Alive. To live forever. It’s a universal dream of nearly every human to have walked the Earth. Vampires, by virtue of their undead immortality, no longer need to concern themselves with such […]
Artificial intelligence has been a source of fear in the movies ever since some human being imagined a plot in which a smart computer might not like its subservience to humanity. There are many examples of this theme, notably 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Trek: The Motion Picture and WarGames. Despite all of the modern […]
A rural town’s faith is put to the test when one of their own returns from the hospital with an extraordinary tale in Heaven Is for Real. In 2003, four-year-old Colton Burpo (Connor Corum) is rushed into surgery for a burst appendix. His parents, local Christian minister Todd (Greg Kinnear) and Sonja (Kelly Reilly), agonize […]
An alien from unknown origins uses an attractive human form to lure prey to their death in Under the Skin. There seems little doubt, at least in Hollywood, that if aliens ever did inhabit our planet, their ulterior motives would be anything but pleasant for the human race. Scarlett Johansson stars as an unnamed alien […]
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 […]