Atonement (2007)

Atonement (2007)

[7] Thirteen-year-old aspiring writer Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan) accuses her older sister's lover of a crime he didn't commit, effectively condemning him to years of prison and compulsory military service. The lovers (Keira Knightley and James McAvoy) stay connected through…
Little Women (2019)

Little Women (2019)

[8] If someone is going to pick up Louisa May Alcott's much-loved literary classic, dust it off, and serve up a retelling, let it be the Oscar-nominated writer/director of Lady Bird. Greta Gerwig is respectably faithful to the material, but…
The Lovely Bones (2009)

The Lovely Bones (2009)

[3] Maybe Alice Sebold's novel is a different and more worthwhile experience. But not having read it, I'm pondering what the hell I'm supposed to take away from Peter Jackson's film adaptation of The Lovely Bones. The movie is about…
Lady Bird (2017)

Lady Bird (2017)

[7] Saoirse Ronan stars as the title character, an anxiety-ridden, pretentious, troubled -- well, normal, I guess -- teenager who does lots of teenagery things, like having sex for the first time and trying to get into college. Watching Lady…
Hanna (2011)

Hanna (2011)

[7] Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones) stars as a mysterious teenager raised in the wilderness by her ex-CIA father (Eric Bana) to be a lethal killing machine. Director Joe Wright steps out of his comfort zone (his previous films include…
The Way Back (2010)

The Way Back (2010)

[6] There's no director I admire more than Peter Weir (Fearless, Mosquito Coast), even if his latest film left me a tad underwhelmed. The Way Back is about a group of men who escape a Russian labor camp during WWII…
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

[7] I love movies. But unlike most other people who love movies, I don't love Wes Anderson movies. To me they're a case of too much style over too little substance. I never care about the story or the characters,…