A successful big-city defense attorney returns home to help his embattled father in The Judge. Hank Palmer (Robert Downey Jr.) is the kind of defense attorney whom every guilty defendant hopes that he can afford. He knows every nook and cranny of the law and loses no sleep over bending it to his client’s will at every possible […]
When I was a boy, I had a statue of the Virgin Mary in my bedroom as placed there by my mother. It’s a Catholic thing, I guess. The light above my bed cast some pretty creepy shadows in the room, and if I looked at this statue just the right way, I thought that […]
A mild-mannered husband copes with his wife’s disappearance and police who are increasingly skeptical of his innocence in Gone Girl. Beloved children’s book author Amy Elliot (Rosamund Pike) could have anyone. She’s bright, beautiful, wealthy and cultured. Into her life comes an unassuming, soft-spoken, but disarmingly suave man named Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck). His puppy dog-like adorableness and […]
A young woman sets her sights on completing a rigorous journey across 1,700 miles of Australian desert in Tracks. In 1975, Robyn Davidson (Mia Wasikowska) embarked on a two-year internship, learning firsthand everything she could about Australian camels. These notoriously ill-tempered and unpredictable creatures would literally provide the backing for a grand journey she was driven to […]
A disillusioned psychiatrist travels the world looking to unravel the mystery behind true happiness in Hector and the Search for Happiness. Day after mundane day, Hector (Simon Pegg) doles out fairly useless advice to his cadre of miserable psychiatric patients with no sense of ever bringing them any real escape from their problems. The stress […]
A nefarious villain plans to gain entry into elite society by exterminating the creatures dwelling underground in the town in The Boxtrolls. The town of Cheesebridge lives in fear of flesh-eating monsters called Boxtrolls who, as their name suggests, wear discarded boxes over their ghastly figures to more easily hide among the town’s refuse. Each night, […]
Liam Neeson has evolved into one of the most reliable tough guys in motion pictures. His career certainly didn’t start out that way with most of his memorable work taking place in dramas like Rob Roy and Schindler’s List. He convinced me that he could be a badass when he lengthened both his hair and […]
Four siblings reunite at their childhood home after the death of their father in This is Where I Leave You. Judd Altman (Jason Bateman) returns home for his father’s funeral, where he joins his mother Hillary (Jane Fonda), his sister Wendy (Tina Fey), his older brother Paul (Corey Stoll), his younger brother Phillip (Adam Driver) and the […]
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them is a very confused mixed bag.
A couple in counseling heads off for a hopefully introspective and romantic weekend but instead encounters a wholly unexpected challenge in The One I Love. Any couple that’s been together for an extended period knows the challenges of keeping a relationship fresh and rewarding. Most of us are fairly hardwired to return back to our […]
A confused teen finds himself trapped at the center of a massive maze with no memory of who he is or his life before in The Maze Runner. Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) is jolted awake from a foggy haze, unsure of everything he sees around him. He’s encircled by dozens of grizzled, suspicious boys who forcefully introduce him into […]
As America recovers from the shock of Watergate, the fragile peace in Far East Asia collapses and ushers in the Last Days in Vietnam. In 1963, President Lyndon Johnson took up the battle against Communism by escalating the fight against the North Vietnamese in Vietnam. American men were suddenly being whisked away from a world […]