Tag: drama
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Turtles All the Way Down: Germs and Infinite Regress Getting in the Way of Teen Love
MOVIE INFO: Turtles All the Way Down tackles anxiety through its 17-year-old protagonist, Aza Holmes. It’s not easy being Aza, but she’s trying… trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, and a good student, all while navigating an endless barrage of invasive, obsessive thoughts that she cannot control. When she reconnects with Davis,…
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The Fall Guy: Ryan Gosling Goes Splat in Full Body Glory.
MOVIE INFO: He’s a stuntman, and like everyone in the stunt community, he gets blown up, shot, crashed, thrown through windows and dropped from the highest of heights, all for our entertainment. And now, fresh off an almost career-ending accident, this working-class hero has to track down a missing movie star, solve a conspiracy and…
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The Idea of You: Being Swifty
MOVIE INFO: SynopsisBased on the acclaimed, contemporary love story of the same name, The Idea of You centers on Solène (Anne Hathaway), a 40-year-old single mom who begins an unexpected romance with 24-year-old Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine), the lead singer of August Moon, the hottest boy band on the planet. When Solène must step in…
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I Have Electric Dreams: Coming of Age in Costa Rica
MOVIE INFO: Eva is a strong-willed, restless 16-year-old girl who lives with her mother, her younger sister and their cat, but desperately wants to move in with her estranged father. Clinging onto him as he goes through a second adolescence, she balances between the tenderness and sensitivity of teenage life and the ruthlessness of the…
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The Five Devils: The Scent of the Past
MOVIE INFO: Eight-year-old Vicky has a mysterious gift: she can recreate any scent she comes across, even that of her beloved mother Joanne. When her estranged aunt suddenly returns to town, the invocation of her fragrance plunges the young girl back in time to unravel a past replete with family secrets and queer romance. REVIEW:…
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Challengers: Set, Match, Love Me or Love Me Not
MOVIE INFO: From visionary filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, Challengers stars Zendaya as Tashi Duncan, a former tennis prodigy turned coach and a force of nature who makes no apologies for her game on and off the court. Married to a champion on a losing streak (Mike Faist – West Side Story), Tashi’s strategy for her husband’s…
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Freud’s Last Session: Developing an Oedipal Complex with God and War and Death
MOVIE INFO: On the eve of the Second World War, two of the greatest minds on the twentieth century, C.S. LEWIS and SIGMUND FREUD converge for their own personal battle over the existence of God. FREUD’S LAST SESSION interweaves the lives of Freud and Lewis, past, present, and through fantasy, bursting from the confines of…
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The Ministry of Ungetlemanly Warfare: Black Ops with a Dash of Bond, but Not as Fun
MOVIE INFO: Based upon recently declassified files of the British War Department and inspired by true events, THE MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE is an action-comedy that tells the story of the first-ever special forces organization formed during WWII by UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill and a small group of military officials including author Ian Fleming.…
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The Greatest Hits: If She Could Only Just Begun to Turn, Turn, Turn Back Time
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: Harriet (Lucy Boynton) finds art imitating life when she discovers certain songs can transport her back in time — literally. While she relives the past through romantic memories of her former boyfriend (David Corenswet), her time traveling collides with a burgeoning new love interest in the present (Justin H. Min).…
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Civil War: Getting Through the Fog of the American Split
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: From filmmaker Alex Garland comes a journey across a dystopian future America, following a team of military-embedded journalists as they race against time to reach DC before rebel factions descend upon the White House. REVIEW: Civil War is a war movie where the political divisions are never defined. We never…
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Scoop: Catching Prince Andrew with his Pants Down
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: Inspired by real events, SCOOP is the inside account of the tenacious journalism that landed an earthshattering interview — Prince Andrew’s infamous BBC Newsnight appearance. From the tension of producer Sam McAlister’s high stakes negotiations with Buckingham Palace, all the way to Emily Maitlis’ jaw-dropping, forensic showdown with the Prince,…
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How to Have Sex: Trouble in Girl’s Paradise
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: Three British teenage girls go on a rites-of-passage holiday — drinking, clubbing and hooking up, in what should be the best summer of their lives. REVIEW: How to Have Sex is more about how not to than how to. It takes the usual girls on school holiday cliches and gives…
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Yannick: Holding the Viewer Hostage
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: In the middle of a performance of the play “Le Cocu,” Yannick interrupts the show to take the evening back in hand. He demands to be entertained but is rejected and ridiculed.Content collapsed. REVIEW: The French filmmaker, Quentin Dupieux has his own officially recognized film genre in his native country. …
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The Settlers: The Terror of Tierra del Fuego…
MOVIE INFO VIS ROTTEN TOMATOES: Chile, 1901. Three horsemen embark on an expedition, tasked with securing a wealthy landowner’s vast property. Accompanying a reckless British lieutenant and an American mercenary is mestizo marksman Segundo, who comes to realize their true mission is to violently “remove” the indigenous population. REVIEW: The Settlers is a grim violent…
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The Boys in the Boat: Manning the Oars
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: The Boys in the Boat is a sports drama based on the #1 New York Times bestselling non-fiction novel written by Daniel James Brown. The film, directed by George Clooney, is about the 1936 University of Washington rowing team that competed for gold at the Summer Olympics in Berlin. This…
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She Came to Me: In the Throws of that Silly Love Addiction
MOVE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: SHE CAME TO ME is a truly modern romantic comedy, a multi-generational love story set against the iconic backdrop of New York: A composer suffering from creative block finds inspiration after a chance encounter with an unusual woman, a couple of bright teenagers fight to prove to their parents that…
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The Beautiful Game: A Different Kind of World Cup Goal
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: Mal (Bill Nighy, Living, About Time) is the manager of England’s homeless football team, taking his players to Rome with the hope of being crowned champions of the Homeless World Cup, a global street soccer tournament. At the last minute he decides to bring with them a talented striker Vinny…
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Fitting In: All the Missing Female Pieces
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: A coming-of-age “traumedy” that follows 16-year-old Lindy (Maddie Ziegler) who is unexpectedly diagnosed with a reproductive condition, MRKH syndrome. The diagnosis upends her plans to have sex, her presumptions about womanhood and sexuality, her relationship with her mother (Emily Hampshire), and most importantly, herself. REVIEW: Fitting In is a coming…
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The Miracle Club: Brits Go to the Lourdes .
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: Set in 1967, THE MIRACLE CLUB is a heartwarming film that follows the story of three generations of close friends, Lily (Maggie Smith), Eileen (Kathy Bates), and Dolly (Agnes O’Casey) of Ballygar, a hard-knocks community in Dublin, who have one tantalizing dream: to win a pilgrimage to the sacred French…
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Shirley: Not Quite Capturing Her Multitudes
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: The story of the first Black congresswoman, Shirley Chisholm, and her trailblazing run for president of the United States. REVIEW: Shirley Chisholm was a mold breaking politician who challenged the standard narrative of her time and blazed a trail for every women after her. Shirley on Netflix, gives short shift…
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The Persian Version: The Road that Goes To and Away From Iran
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: Leila is an Iranian American woman who strives to find balance and embrace her opposing cultures. When her large family reunites in New York City for her father’s heart transplant, she keeps everyone at arm’s length — until a secret is revealed. REVIEW: “I dreamed of being the Iranian Martin…
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Road House: Not So Swayze
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: In this adrenaline-fueled reimagining of the 80s cult classic, ex-UFC fighter Dalton (Jake Gyllenhaal) takes a job as a bouncer at a Florida Keys roadhouse, only to discover that this paradise is not all it seems. REVIEW; The new Road House only outdoes the Patrick Swayze original in violence. The…
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Little Wing: Floating By on Wings and Prayers
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: LITTLE WING follows Kaitlyn, a teen who is reeling from her parents’ divorce and the pending loss of her home. She and her best friend hope to solve her mother’s financial woes by stealing a valuable bird, but Kaitlyn, instead, forms a bond with the owner, that leads her to…
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Dream Scenario: Getting Fully Inside Every One’s Head
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: Hapless family man Paul Matthews (Nicolas Cage) finds his life turned upside down when millions of strangers suddenly start seeing him in their dreams. But when his nighttime appearances take a nightmarish turn, Paul is forced to navigate his newfound stardom, in this wickedly entertaining comedy from writer-director Kristoffer Borgli…
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The Marsh King’s Daughter: Caught in the Boggy Mess
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: In the tense thriller The Marsh King’s Daughter, a woman with a secret past will venture into the wilderness she left behind to confront the most dangerous man she’s ever met: her father. In the film, Helena’s (Daisy Ridley) seemingly ordinary life hides a dark and dangerous truth: her estranged…
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Damsel: A Game of Thrones Style Princess Story
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: A dutiful damsel agrees to marry a handsome prince, only to find the royal family has recruited her as a sacrifice to repay an ancient debt. Thrown into a cave with a fire-breathing dragon, she must rely on her wits and will to survive. REVIEW: In Damsel, staring Millie Bobby…
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Ricky Stanicky; BFF With that Nonexistent Bud of Childhood
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: When three childhood best friends pull a prank gone wrong, they invent the imaginary Ricky Stanicky to get them out of trouble! Twenty years after creating this ‘friend,’ Dean, JT, and Wes (Zac Efron, Andrew Santino, and Jermaine Fowler) still use the nonexistent Ricky as a handy alibi for their…
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Raging Grace: Horror with a Socio-Political Soul
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: Joy (Max Eigenmann) is an undocumented Filipino immigrant struggling to do the best she can to support her daughter, Grace (Jaeden Boadilla). Soon she secures the perfect job: taking care of an extremely wealthy but terminal old man. The new position pays well and guarantees a roof over their heads,…
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Perfect Days: Hanging On to the Best of Him
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: Hirayama seems utterly content with his simple life as a cleaner of toilets in Tokyo. Outside of his very structured everyday routine he enjoys his passion for music and for books. And he loves trees and takes photos of them. A series of unexpected encounters gradually reveal more of his…
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The Teacher’s Lounge: A Microcosm of Cultural Fear in the Classroom.
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: Carla Nowak, a dedicated sports and math teacher, starts her first job at a high school. She stands out among the new staff because of her idealism. When a series of thefts occur at the school and one of her students is suspected, she decides to get to the bottom…
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Return to Seoul: Lost and Found in Mistranslation
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: On an impulse to reconnect with her origins, Freddie, 25, returns to South Korea for the first time, where she was born before being adopted and raised in France. The headstrong young woman starts looking for her biological parents in a country she knows so little about, taking her life…
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Spaceman: Adam Sandler Does Major Tom
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: Six months into a solitary research mission to the edge of the solar system, an astronaut, Jakub (Adam Sandler), realizes that the marriage he left behind might not be waiting for him when he returns to Earth. Desperate to fix things with his wife, Lenka (Carey Mulligan), he is helped…
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Dune Part 2: A Brilliant Conclusion to the Sand War
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: Dune: Part Two” will explore the mythic journey of Paul Atreides as he unites with Chani and the Fremen while on a warpath of revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the known universe, he endeavors…
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Ordinary Angels: Creating Extraordinary Acts of Kindness and Tenacity
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: Based on a remarkable true story, ORDINARY ANGELS centers on Sharon Steves (Hilary Swank), a fierce but struggling hairdresser in small-town Kentucky who discovers a renewed sense of purpose when she meets Ed Schmitt (Alan Ritchson), a widower working hard to make ends meet for his two daughters. With his…
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Freedom’s Path: The Defiant Ones of the Civil War
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: After a Union soldier flees from battle, rescue comes unexpectedly from a free black man operating a section of the Underground Railroad. But when a ruthless and desperate slave catcher discovers the secret network, he conspires to bring it burning to the ground. REVIEW: Sometimes, a movie will get shelved…
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Mea Culpa: Tyler Perry Does Housewives Stupid
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: When criminal defense attorney Mea Harper (Kelly Rowland) takes on the murder case of artist Zyair Malloy (Trevante Rhodes), the truth isn’t as obvious as it seems. While she tries to determine the innocence or guilt of her cagy-yet-seductive client, it is uncovered that everyone is guilty of something. Tyler…
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All of Us Strangers: Souls Longing for the Impossible
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: One night in his near-empty tower block in contemporary London, Adam (Andrew Scott) has a chance encounter with a mysterious neighbor Harry (Paul Mescal), which punctures the rhythm of his everyday life. As a relationship develops between them, Adam is preoccupied with memories of the past and finds himself drawn…
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The Zone of Interest: The Holocaust as Hidden Camera and Background Soundtrack
MOVIE INFO The commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, and his wife Hedwig, strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden next to the camp. REVIEW: The Zone of Interest a Holocaust film about Rudolf Hoss (Christian Friedel), the commandant of Auschwitz, opens in idyllic blackness— to the sounds of…
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Rotting in the Sun: Instagram Real like NC-17 Real and Just as Vapid
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: Writer-director Sebastián Silva’s Sundance hit ROTTING IN THE SUN is a darkly funny and refreshingly audacious meta-comedy that skewers the business of filmmaking and our self-obsessed culture. While unwinding at a Mexican gay beach town, depressed director Sebastián Silva meets gregarious Instagram influencer Jordan Firstman (both playing versions of themselves),…
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Other People’s Children: Feeling the True Romance
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: Rachel is 40 years old, with no children. She loves her life: her high school students, her friends, her ex, her guitar lessons. When she falls in love with Ali, she becomes attached to Leila, his 4-year-old daughter. She tucks her into bed, cares for her, loves her like her…
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Next Goal Wins: A Winning Strategy
MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES: Directed by Academy Award Winner Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit, Thor: Ragnarok), NEXT GOAL WINS follows the American Samoa soccer team, infamous for their brutal 31-0 FIFA loss in 2001. With the World Cup Qualifiers approaching, the team hires down-on-his-luck, maverick coach Thomas Rongen (Michael Fassbender) hoping he will turn the…
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And Then Comes the Nightjars: An Elegy to Hoof and Mouth and Mouth in Foot
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes : Adapted for the screen from Bea Roberts’ multi-award-winning stage play, And Then Come the Nightjars tells the story of an unlikely friendship between a Devon farmer and the vet who is assigned to cull his precious herd. Review: And Then Comes the Nightjars is a poignant film about male…
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American Fiction: Getting to the Inauthentic-Authentic Black Story
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: AMERICAN FICTION is Cord Jefferson’s hilarious directorial debut, which confronts our culture’s obsession with reducing people to outrageous stereotypes. Jeffrey Wright stars as Monk, a frustrated novelist who’s fed up with the establishment profiting from “Black” entertainment that relies on tired and offensive tropes. To prove his point, Monk uses…
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The Other Zoey: A Romcom Where You Wish for an Avalanche Before the First Kiss
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: Zoey Miller (Josephine Langford), a smart computer major who thinks she has love all figured out, has her life turned upside down when Zach (Drew Starkey), a popular college soccer player, gets amnesia and mistakes Zoey as his girlfriend. Before she can reveal the truth, she meets Zach’s cousin, Miles…
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You Hurt My Feeling: How She Deals With It
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: From acclaimed filmmaker Nicole Holofcener comes a sharply observed comedy about a novelist whose long standing marriage is suddenly upended when she overhears her husband give his honest reaction to her latest book. A film about trust, lies, and the things we say to the people we love most.Content collapsed.…
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Sundance Review: In the Summers: Estrangement and Maturity in the Reeling of the Years
Movie info via Sundance: On a journey that spans the formative years of their lives, two sisters navigate their loving but volatile father during their yearly summer visits to his home in Las Cruces, New Mexico. With grounded thoughtfulness, debut feature director Alessandra Lacorazza weaves a rich tapestry of memories in New Mexico as childhood…
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Sundance Review: Ponyboi: An Intersex Neon Noir
Movie info via Sundance: Unfolding over the course of Valentine’s Day in New Jersey, a young intersex sex worker must run from the mob after a drug deal goes sideways, forcing him to confront his past. Ponyboi bursts off the screen in this bombastic, edgy, and campy roller-coaster ride of a film. Flipping the script…
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Sundance Review: Exhibiting Forgiveness: All the Suns of Fathers and Sons Absolved in Heaven
Movie info via Sundance: Utilizing his paintings to find freedom from his past, a Black artist on the path to success is derailed by an unexpected visit from his estranged father, a recovering addict desperate to reconcile. Together, they learn that forgetting might be a greater challenge than forgiving. This soulful, sophisticated, and beautifully crafted…
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Sundance: Good One: Hiking with All the Flawed Dads
Movie info via Sundance: On a weekend backpacking trip in the Catskills, 17-year-old Sam contends with the competing egos of her father and his oldest friend. India Donaldson’s intimate feature debut deploys a deceptively simple narrative imbued with poetry and humor to wrestle with weighty truths about teenage girlhood. Capturing the pristine serenity of the…
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Sundance Review: Love Me: Human Constructs Falling in Love, Hurtling to Their Doom
Movie info via Sundance: Long after humanity’s extinction, a buoy and a satellite meet online and fall in love. As filmmakers Sam & Andy demonstrate in their wildly imaginative debut feature, telling the love story of a smart buoy and an orbiting satellite that spans a billion years and probes the mysteries of being and…
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Sundance Review: Didi: The Asian Invention to Being an American Teen
Movie info via Sundance: In 2008, during the last month of summer before high school begins, an impressionable 13-year-old Taiwanese American boy learns what his family can’t teach him: how to skate, how to flirt, and how to love your mom. In his striking directorial debut, Sean Wang takes us on a kinetic ride through…
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Sundance Review: Between the Temples: The Nice Jewish Girl Version of Harold and Maude
Movie info via Sundance: A cantor in a crisis of faith finds his world turned upside down when his grade school music teacher reenters his life as his new adult bat mitzvah student. Between the Temples is a rare, offbeat comedy buoyed by its cast’s lively yet heartfelt performances. Indie stalwart Nathan Silver reteams with…
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Sundance Review: Suncoast: Finding Grief, Friends and Freedom in a Coming of Age Story
Movie info via Sundance: A teenager who, while caring for her brother along with her audacious mother, strikes up an unlikely friendship with an eccentric activist who is protesting one of the most landmark medical cases of all time. Inspired by a semi-autobiographical story. Writer-director Laura Chinn makes an unforgettable debut with a script inspired…
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Sundance Review: A Real Pain: Reconciling the Eternal Pain of Jewish Existence
Movie info via Sundance Mismatched cousins David and Benji reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when the pair’s old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history. Writer-director Jesse Eisenberg (When You Finish Saving the World, 2022 Sundance Film Festival) returns to the Festival…
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Slamdance Review: The Complex Forms: All the Illusions of the Mind and Soul
Movie info via Slamdance: There is an ancient villa where desperate people have the opportunity to revive their fortunes by selling their bodies to mysterious entities in exchange of money. When huge and age-old creatures emerge from the deep woods surrounding the villa, a series of strange and sinister events prompt three unlikely guests to…
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Slamdance Review: African Giants: Reconnecting, Reconciling, the African, African American Experience and Their Brotherhood
Movie info via Slamdance: Alhaji (28), an aspiring actor living in Los Angeles, is visited for a weekend by his younger brother, Sheku (25), a law student. Unknown to Alhaji, Sheku has come with a specific intention: to reveal the secret that he will be dropping out of law school and moving to LA to…
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Slamdance Review: All I’ve Got & Then Some: A Comic Refines His Shtick and Finds His Voice
Movie info via Slamdance Based on a true story, All I’ve Got & Then Some follows a day in the life of Rasheed, a homeless stand-up comedian living out of his car in Los Angeles, giving everything he’s got to make his dreams come true. Having booked his first paid stand-up gig, this day is…
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Slamdance Review: The Accident: Trying to Tow the Line in an Italian Way
Movie info via Slamdance After being fired, Marcella, a gentle hearted mother going through separation, buys a tow truck; she gets trapped deeper and deeper in a cynical and aggressive world until a terrible opportunity shines in front of her. Review: Giuseppe Garau’s The Accident is shot strictly from the passenger side of the leading…
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Slamdance Review: Sam’s World: Non Binary Drama With Too Much Talk and Little Real Insight.
Movie info via Slamdance: Sam’s World follows the immersive subjectivity of its main character, Sam, as they grapple with a decision about their secret pregnancy, fantasize about a more supportive partner, and feel dissociated from their friend group. The film centers around a hyper-niche milieu but manages to evoke the universal themes of identity, jealousy…
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The Kitchen: Resisting the Gentrification of Hell’s Kitchen
MOVIE INFO- ROTTEN TOMATOES: London, 2040 — rising house prices, computerized labor and eradication of the Welfare State has turned the city into a billionaire’s playground, pushing the lower classes to provincial empty slum-like high rises like The Kitchen. Ex-Smash-and-Grabber Izi is desperate to go straight but when his young son contracts a devastating illness,…
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Revoir Paris: Salvaging the Gaps of a Shattered Memory
MOVIE INFO- ROTTEN TOMATOES: After an idyllic date night full of red wine and a late-night motorcycle ride home, Mia (Virginie Efira) stops at a Parisian bistro to take shelter from a downpour. Her reprieve is shattered when a gunman opens fire. Three months later, with a frustratingly hazy memory of the attack, Mia finds…
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Fremont: An Afghan Immigrant Looks for Her Right Place
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: Donya works for a Chinese fortune cookie factory in San Francisco. Formerly a translator for the U.S. military in Afghanistan, she struggles to put her life back in order. In a moment of sudden revelation, she decides to send out a special message in a cookie. Review: Fremont is a…
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Passages: A F-upped Menage a Trois
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: Celebrated filmmaker Ira Sachs (Love is Strange) makes a breathtaking return with PASSAGES, a fresh, honest and brutally funny take on messy, modern relationships, starring Franz Rogowski (Great Freedom), Ben Whishaw (Women Talking) and Adèle Exarchopoulos (Blue Is the Warmest Colour). Set in Paris, this seductive drama tells the story…
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Bank of Dave: The Small Fry Shakes Up the Big Banks
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: Based on the true-life experiences of Dave Fishwick; ‘Bank of Dave’ tells the story of how a working class Burnley man and self-made millionaire fought to set up a community bank. Dave Fishwick (Rory Kinnear) sells vans in Burnley, Lancashire. Once the world’s most productive and profitable mill town, Burnley…
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Good Grief: Getting to the Point that “Somehow Life Goes On”
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: Marc (Daniel Levy) was content living in the shadow of his larger-than-life husband, Oliver (Luke Evans). But when Oliver unexpectedly dies, Marc’s world shatters, sending him and his two best friends, Sophie (Ruth Negga) and Thomas (Himesh Patel), on a soul-searching trip to Paris that reveals some hard truths they…
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Society of the Snow: Getting Past Survival and Hunger to Know Life
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: In 1972, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, which had been chartered to fly a rugby team to Chile, crashed in the heart of the Andes. Only 29 of its 45 passengers survived the accident. Trapped in one of the most hostile and inaccessible environments on the planet, they have to…
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One Fine Morning: Living in the Joie De Vivre
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: Sandra, a young mother who raises her daughter alone, pays regular visits to her sick father. While she and her family fight tooth and nail to get him the care he requires, Sandra reconnects with Clément, a friend she hasn’t seen in a while. Although he is in a relationship,…
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Ferrari: Racing to Reclaim a Dead Soul
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: Ferrari is set during the summer of 1957. Behind the spectacle and danger of 1950’s Formula 1, ex-racer, Enzo Ferrari, is in crisis. Bankruptcy stalks the company he and his wife, Laura, built from nothing ten years earlier. Their tempestuous marriage struggles with the mourning for their one son. Ferrari…
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The Color Purple: Getting to an Awkwardly Joyous Being
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: A story of love and resilience based on the novel and the Broadway musical, THE COLOR PURPLE is a decades-spanning tale of one woman’s journey to independence. Celie faces many hardships in her life, but ultimately finds extraordinary strength and hope in the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood. Review: It’s hard…
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Sound of Freedom: Not exactly a QANON Clapback
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: Sound of Freedom, based on the incredible true story, shines a light on even the darkest of places. After rescuing a young boy from ruthless child traffickers, a federal agent learns the boy’s sister is still captive and decides to embark on a dangerous mission to save her. With time…
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Saltburn: Doing the Dirty Work a Fine Young Man Needs to Do
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: Academy Award winning filmmaker Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) brings us a beautifully wicked tale of privilege and desire. Struggling to find his place at Oxford University, student Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) finds himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), who invites him…
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Mr.Monk’s Last Case: A Proper Send Off
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: Monk returns to solve one last, very personal case involving his beloved step-daughter Molly, a journalist preparing for her wedding. Review: Mr Monks Last Case is a movie I could watch without feeling cringey and enjoy the feels I get from it. I’ve been a big Monk fan for its…
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May/December: Mirror, Camera, Persona
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: Twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, Gracie Atherton-Yu and her husband Joe (twenty-three years her junior) brace themselves for their twins to graduate from high school. When Hollywood actress Elizabeth Berry comes to spend time with the family to better understand Gracie, who she will be…
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Frybread Face and Me: A Navajo Summer Reservation
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: Frybread Face and Me follows two adolescent Navajo cousins from different worlds as they bond during a summer on their grandmother’s Arizona ranch, learning more about their family’s past and about themselves. Review: Frybread Face and Me historic and personal focus makes it seem almost that an autobiography of its…
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Master Gardener: Paul Schrader Rakes the Garden of Southern Weeds
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: Directed by Academy Award® nominee Paul Schrader based on his original screenplay, MASTER GARDENER follows Narvel Roth (award-winner Joel Edgerton), the meticulous horticulturist of Gracewood Gardens. He is as much devoted to tending the grounds of this beautiful and historic estate, to pandering to his employer, the wealthy dowager Mrs.…
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Rustin: Getting to the True Heart of the March on Washington
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: The architect of 1963’s momentous March on Washington, Bayard Rustin was one of the greatest activists and organizers the world has ever known. He challenged authority, never apologized for who he was, what he believed, or who he desired. And he did not back down. He made history, and in…
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Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe: Awakening to La Cultura de Corazon
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: Resentful at the world, 15-year-old Aristotle Mendoza wants to blend in and be left alone, but the summer he meets free spirit Dante Quintana at the local swimming pool, everything changes. Dante is everything Ari isn’t, and his wanderlust for life and artistic spirit shake something loose in Ari; finally,…
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The Holdovers: The Gifts of the Curmudgeonly Magi
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: From acclaimed director Alexander Payne, THE HOLDOVERS follows a curmudgeonly instructor (Paul Giamatti) at a New England prep school who is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go. Eventually he forms an unlikely bond with one of them —…
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Anatomy of a Fall: Putting the Author and Audience Response on Trial
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: For the past year, Sandra, her husband Samuel, and their eleven-year-old son Daniel have lived a secluded life in a remote town in the French Alps. When Samuel is found dead in the snow below their chalet, the police question whether he was murdered or committed suicide. Samuel’s suspicious death…
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Quiz Lady: Jeopardy Sisters for $81,000.00, Please
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: In Quiz Lady, a brilliant but tightly wound, gameshow-obsessed young woman, Anne (Awkwafina), and her estranged, train-wreck of a sister Jenny (Sandra Oh), must work together to help cover their mother’s gambling debts. When Anne’s beloved dog is kidnapped, they set out on a wild, cross-country trek to get the…
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Fingernails: Pulling Them Off to Know Love’s Agony and Ecstasy
Movie info via IMDB: Anna (Buckley) increasingly suspects that her relationship with her longtime partner may not actually be the real thing. In an attempt to improve things, she secretly embarks on a new assignment working at a mysterious institute designed to incite and test the presence of romantic love in increasingly desperate couples. Review:…
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Priscilla: All Shook Up in Heartbreak Hotel
Movie info via IMDB: When teenage Priscilla Beaulieu meets Elvis Presley at a party, the man who is already a meteoric rock-and-roll superstar becomes someone entirely unexpected in private moments: a thrilling crush, an ally in loneliness, a vulnerable best friend. Through Priscilla’s eyes, Sofia Coppola tells the unseen side of a great American myth…
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No Hard Feelings: Getting to Hot to Trot Via the Old Slow Hand
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: On the brink of losing her childhood home, Maddie (Jennifer Lawrence) discovers an intriguing job listing: wealthy helicopter parents looking for someone to “date” their introverted 19-year-old son, Percy, before he leaves for college. To her surprise, Maddie soon discovers the awkward Percy is no sure thing. Review: Jennifer Lawrence…
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Killers of the Flower: Scorsese Stays on the Reservation
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: Based on David Grann’s broadly lauded best-selling book, “Killers of the Flower Moon” is set in 1920s Oklahoma and depicts the serial murder of members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation, a string of brutal crimes that came to be known as the Reign of Terror Review: Killers of the Flower…
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Bottoms: Taking Relevance to an Irrelevant Extreme
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: BOTTOMS, a refreshingly unique raunchy comedy, focuses on two girls, PJ and Josie, who start a fight club as a way to lose their virginities to cheerleaders. Their bizarre plan works. The fight club gains traction and soon the most popular girls in school are beating each other up in…
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The Burial: Mississippi Unburning
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: Inspired by true events, when a handshake deal goes sour, funeral home owner Jeremiah O’Keefe (Academy Award® winner Tommy Lee Jones) enlists charismatic, smooth-talking attorney Willie E. Gary (Academy Award® winner Jamie Foxx) to save his family business. Tempers flare and laughter ensues as the unlikely pair bond while exposing…
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Blue Jean: Getting Pass the Girls Locker Room Perceptions of LGBTQ
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: England, 1988 — Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government is about to pass a law stigmatizing gays and lesbians, forcing Jean, a gym teacher, to live a double life. As pressure mounts from all sides, the arrival of a new girl at school catalyzes a crisis that will challenge Jean to her…
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Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret: Getting Beyond First Period to Full Teen Identity Crisis
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: For over fifty years, Judy Blume’s classic and groundbreaking novel Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. has impacted generations with its timeless coming of age story, insightful humor, and candid exploration of life’s biggest questions. In Lionsgate’s big-screen adaptation, 11-year-old Margaret (Abby Ryder Fortson) is uprooted from her life…
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The Caine Mutiny Court Martial: Righting the Ship
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: At the start of a naval court-martial, Barney Greenwald (Jason Clarke), a skeptical naval lawyer, reluctantly agrees to defend Lt. Steve Maryk (Jake Lacy), a first officer of the Navy who took control of the U.S.S. CAINE from its domineering captain Lt. Philip Francis Queeg (Kiefer Sutherland) during a violent…
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The Creator: Simulating Humanity Via Machine Language
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: From writer/director Gareth Edwards (“Rogue One,” “Godzilla“) comes an epic sci-fi action thriller set amidst a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence. Joshua (John David Washington, “Tenet“), a hardened ex-special forces agent grieving the disappearance of his wife (Gemma Chan, “Eternals“), is recruited to…
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Survive: Dashing Through the Snow
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: When their plane crashes on a remote snow-covered mountain, Jane and Paul have to fight for their lives as the only remaining survivors. Together they embark on a harrowing journey out of the wilderness. Review: In Survive, an adventure drama now streaming on STARZ, Sophie Turner not playing a bestie…
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Dumb Money: Not So Pretty Day Traders Try to Make Wall Street Look Dumb
Movie info via IMDB: Dumb Money does a good job of skewering the knowledge and experience of the Wall Street Elite. It’s a take back the power comedy with all kinds of take backs- the power of the struggling middle class mass to outsmart the rich betting on companies, essentially America, to fail. It shows…
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Flora and Son: A Frowzy Song Filled Fable for Today’s Anxious Soul
Movie Info via Wikipedia: Flora, a single mother living in Dublin, is having trouble with her estranged son Max, a rebellious teenage petty thief. Encouraged by the Gardaí to find Max a hobby, Flora rescues an old guitar from a dumpster and, with the help of a Los Angeles-based online guitar teacher, discovers that one…
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Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant: A masterfully manipulative war thriller
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant follows US Army Sergeant John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Afghan interpreter Ahmed (Dar Salim). After an ambush, Ahmed goes to Herculean lengths to save Kinley’s life. When Kinley learns that Ahmed and his family were not given safe passage to America as promised, he must repay…
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Sanctuary: Who’s Screwing With Whom?
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: Set over the course of one night in a single hotel room, “Sanctuary” tells the story of a dominatrix (Margaret Qualley) and Hal (Christopher Abbott), her wealthy client. About to inherit his late father’s position and fortune, Hal tries to end their relationship, but when his attempt to cut ties…
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Cassandro: Light as Liberace, With the Punch of the Rock
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: Saúl Armendáriz, a gay amateur wrestler from El Paso, rises to international stardom after he creates the character Cassandro, the “Liberace of Lucha Libre.” In the process, he upends not just the macho wrestling world, but also his own life. Review: Roger Ross Williams, the director of Cassandro, a biopic…
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A Million Miles Away: To Get to Infinity You Must Be Willing to Get Beyond the Earth
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: Inspired by the real-life story of NASA flight engineer José Hernández, A Million Miles Away follows him on a decades-long journey, from a rural village in Michoacán, Mexico, to more than 200 miles above the Earth in the International Space Station. With the support of his family, José’s drive &…
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Dreamin’ Wild: The Fate of Second Chances
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: Dreamin’ Wild, the true story of love and redemption, is about what happened to singer/songwriter Donnie Emerson and his family when the album he and his brother recorded as teens was rediscovered after thirty years of obscurity and was suddenly hailed by music critics as a lost masterpiece. While the…
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The End of Sex: Killing It Softly in Anxiety
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: The End of Sex tells the story of a married couple (Emily Hampshire and Jonas Chernick) who are feeling the pressures of parenting and adulthood. After they send their young kids to camp for the first time, they embark on a series of comic sexual adventures to reinvigorate their relationship.…
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A Haunting in Venice: Old School Haunts, Taunts and Hints With a Peppery Twist
Movie info via Rotten Tomatoes: A Haunting in Venice” is set in eerie, post-World War II Venice on All Hallows’ Eve and is a terrifying mystery featuring the return of the celebrated sleuth, Hercule Poirot. Now retired and living in self-imposed exile in the world’s most glamorous city, Poirot reluctantly attends a séance at a…