Brian Selznick’s novel about two children from different eras who wish their lives were different has been turned into a film by Todd Haynes.
Ben longs for the father he has never known, while Rose dreams of a mysterious actress whose life she chronicles in a scrapbook. Each is spurred into action by a discovery and they set out on quests to learn what they are missing.
Wonderstruck will be in theaters on October 20th.
Jeff Baumann was at the 2013 Boston Marathon to try to win back his girlfriend, Erin Hurley, when he lost his legs in the Boston Marathon bombing.
Stronger is the story of how this ordinary working-class guy became a symbol of the city’s strength in the face of tragedy.
Stronger will be in theaters on September 22nd.
Lee Chandler is a quietly surly misanthrope who works as the handyman/building manager of four apartment blocks in Boston when his brother’s death brings him home to Manchester. His brother’s will names him guardian of son Patrick.
Continue reading Manchester By The Sea Is a Searing Tale of Grief!
Written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea is already racking up awards to go along with its critical acclaim.
In a new video, Matt Damon, Casey Affleck and others make the case for Lonergan being the voice of our generation. Check out the video after the break.
Continue reading Manchester by the Sea: Lonergan: The Voice of Our Generation!
James Schamus – frequent collaborator with Ang Lee and former head of Focus Features – has directed his first feature, Indignation.
Based on the novel by Philip Roth, Indignation follows Marcus Messner as he travels from New York to attend a small college in Ohio on a scholarship – exempting him from the Korean War. There he is faced with first love and anti-Semitism.
Check out the first trailer after the jump. Indignation open in New York and Los Angeles on July 29th before rolling out across the country.
Continue reading Understated But Impactful Trailer: Indignation!
Z for Zachariah is a gently disturbing end of the world movie that never moves beyond a leisurely pace but never ceases to be fascinating.
Continue reading Z for Zachariah: A Snake In Eden, Take Two!
Brian Wilson is a genius. The scope and quality of the music he’s composed over his lifetime is testament to that. For a long time, he was a tortured genius.
Love & Mercy is Brian Wilson’s story and, unlike a lot of biopics, it doesn’t gloss over anything – Wilson has described it as ‘factual’ in a number of interviews since it was made. It is an absorbing look at Wilson’s life – as much of a look as can be covered in a couple of hours – and it one of the best biopics movies in years.
Continue reading Love & Mercy: Brian Wilson – To Hell and Back!
Morning, and the NPR announcer is filling in the details of the day ahead – new outbreaks of something called the Necroambulist Virus are down 30%. A young girl is stopped by police for missing curfew. Later we see a man, Wade Vogel, driving an old truck into town and visiting a quarantine area.
We learn he’s spent the last two weeks looking for his daughter, Maggie, and has been told she’s there. With its eerie score and slightly slower than deliberate pacing, this movie doesn’t seem to fit its star – Vogel is played by Arnold Schwarzenegger – but this is not an Ah-nuld movie by any stretch of the imagination.
Continue reading Maggie – Tender-Hearted, Creepy Undead Movie!
Xavier Dolan’s fifth film, Mommy, tells a tale of tough love with some fresh ideas – like shifting aspect ratios to underscore mood, tone and point-of-view. It’s an ambitious, intense film that won this year’s Cannes Jury Prize, but may have been blessed with an underwhelming selection in competition.
Continue reading CIFF Review: Xavier Dolan’s Mommy Falls Just Short!
In real life, espionage is not glamorous. It’s like police work – mostly plodding detail work and following up and generally boring ninety-nine percent of the time. John le Carré worked in that field long enough that when he writes about it, he writes with a real understanding of mechanics of the spy game. His ability to make the mundane thrilling is without equal and the creative team behind A Most Wanted Man translate his work to the big screen faithfully. They, like le Carré know how to build the mundane to make that one percent that isn’t mundane harrowing.
Continue reading Le Carré’s A Most Wanted Man Makes the Mundane Matter!
An alcoholic English teacher faces off against a partially disabled artist in a challenge to discover which is more powerful – a piece of art, or a piece of prose or poetry. Clive Owen and Juliette Binoche play the agreeably disagreeable pair as they set out to win their students to their respective views.