[5] Ethan Hawke stars as a true crime novelist who moves into a house where a family was mysteriously hanged from a tree in their back yard. He finds 8mm home movie reels in the attic, each a snuff film of various families in different locations over a period of forty years. With the help of a deputy (James Ransone) and a college professor knowledgeable …
[7] Daniel Day-Lewis (My Left Foot, There Will Be Blood) won his third Oscar for his convincing portrait of America’s 16th president during the final months of the Civil War. Lincoln is a decades-long pet project for director Steven Spielberg, who chose Angels in America scribe Tony Kushner to make Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln the foundation …
[7] In this movie set in the not-too-distant future, Frank Langella stars as an aging ex-burglar whose grown son (James Marsden) buys him a caretaker robot. At first Frank isn’t too fond of his mechanical companion, but when he learns he can get the robot (voiced by Peter Sarsgaard) to learn his old criminal behavior and help in a few local heists, an unlikely friendship …
[8] A six-year-old girl lives on a small island called “The Bathtub” in Louisiana, where she lives in squalor with her dying, tough-love father until flooding drives them into their makeshift boat to find food and stable shelter. They band together with other survivors and try to avoid government agencies who want them to vacate “The Bathtub” and submit to medical treatment at shelters on …
[8] Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence star in this tale of two clinically depressed people (he’s diagnosed bipolar) who strike up an unusual relationship. She teaches him to dance with her for an upcoming competition in exchange for delivering letters to his ex-wife, who has a restraining order against him. While he obsesses over the ex, Lawrence begins to pine for Cooper. Everything comes to …
[5] Tim Burton’s big-screen adaptation of Dan Curtis’ cult TV show Dark Shadows wants to be a comedy about a vampire transplanted from centuries past into the 1970s. That movie – one that focused on the vampire’s relationships with his surviving relatives, perhaps gaining their trust by helping them financially — could have been a good one. And thirty minutes into the movie, it looks …
[7] Lee Daniels (Precious, The Butler) directs this moody piece about a college dropout who helps his older brother investigate the murder of a police officer. The convicted killer’s girlfriend joins the investigation to help prove his innocence. Zac Efron and Matthew McConnaughey play the brothers and Nicole Kidman plays the girlfriend — each of them showing range and abilities you haven’t seen from them …
[7] Chris Pine, Tom Hardy, and Reese Witherspoon star in this McG-directed comedy-action flick about two CIA guys who find themselves competing for the same woman’s affections. The script is born of stale formula, but the plot is kept out of the way enough for the personalities to breathe free. The result is a good star vehicle for its two leading men, but not so …
[5] Dustin Hoffman directs this tepid comedy/drama based on Ronald Harwood’s play about geriatrics putting on a concert at a home for retired muscians. Maggie Smith stars as the facility’s newest resident. She’s nervous about seeing an old flame (Tom Courtenay) and former compadres (Billy Connolly and Pauline Collins), all of whom try to coax her out of retirement to sing once more at the concert. …
[6] Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill star in this big-screen adaptation of the Fox TV show, about two young cops who go undercover at a high school to help find the supplier for a new, deadly drug. Young directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (The Lego Movie) do well with Michael Bacall’s (Manic, Scott Pilgrim vs the World) screenplay, keeping things light, irreverent, and even …
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