A mother bear with two young cubs looks to protect and provide for them in their first year of life in the Disneynature film Bears. This is the seventh film in a series that started with 2007’s highly-regarded Earth. The most recent films haven’t come close to matching its success or quality. Looking to break the trend, this […]
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 […]
An insecure radio personality finds his world turned upside down with the buyout of the station and its unexpected consequences in Alan Partridge. Radio DJ Alan Partridge (Steve Coogan) is a fairly well-known character in England, created for various sketch pieces by Coogan and others a number of years ago. He is, however, virtually unknown to audiences […]
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 […]
Two siblings, scarred by strange circumstances that resulted in the death of their parents years earlier, return to the scene of the crime in Oculus. A decade ago, Kaylie Russell (Karen Gillan) and Tim Russell (Brenton Thwaites) endured the wrath of their increasingly unstable and dangerous parents (Katee Sackhoff and Rory Cochrane). One fateful evening, both […]
A narcissistic safe-cracker with a notoriously short fuse is released from prison and is determined to set things right in Dom Hemingway. Have you ever met someone who goes out of their way to consider everyone around them? Always careful to not say anything to put someone off or to make anyone feel uncomfortable? Well, that’s […]
A mismatched pair of blue macaws return for adventure in the Amazon with their new family in tow in the animated sequel Rio 2. When last we saw Blu (voiced by Jesse Eisenberg) and Jewel (Anne Hathaway), they were together and safe in their brand-new bird sanctuary in the jungles of Rio de Janeiro. With a […]
A onetime topflight salsa protégé is drawn back to the rigors of dance in Cuban Fury. In his early teens, Bruce Garrett (Nick Frost) was a salsa savant, ready to make his mark on the world by claiming a local major dance title. With his revered salsa coach, Ron (Ian McShane), awaiting his arrival, Bruce […]
People who go to flea markets dream of the day that they buy an innocuous painting for $5 that turns out to be a valuable work of art. You hear these stories every year, and other modern equivalents involve treasures found in the contents of houses in estate sales or in storage lockers as seen […]
An eccentric nanny leaves behind a legacy of priceless photographs and endless questions in Finding Vivian Maier. In April 2009, a very tall, 83-year-old woman quietly passed away. No one really knew all that much about her. Two years earlier, a 26-year-old real estate agent, John Maloof, looking for pictures of a local Chicago neighborhood, […]
It’s no secret that I’m underwhelmed by origin stories when it comes to superhero movies. I understand why they exist, and I tolerate them with every reboot of the Spider-Man and Batman franchises. I prefer the films where they assume that you already know something about the characters and just plop them in the middle […]