Written and Directed by Desiree Akhavan Produced by Cecilia Frugiuele Released by Gravitas Ventures USA. 90 min. Not rated With Scott Adsit, Desiree Akhavan, Anh Duong, Halley Feiffer, Rebecca Henderson, and Arian Moayed Films, TV shows, novels, even webcomics about urban 20somethings haltingly trying to make it are practically a genre unto themselves. With Appropriate […]
Directed by Andrea Pallaoro Produced by Jonathan Venguer, Gina Resnick, Kyle Heller, and Eleonora Granata Jenkinson Written by Andrea Pallaoro and Orlando Tirado Released by the Vladar Company USA. 97 min. Not rated With Catalina Sandino Moreno and Brían F. O’Byrne Medeas is the story of a rural family caught in the middle of a […]
Directed by Paolo Virzì Produced by Fabrizio Donvito, Marco Cohen, and Benedetto Habib Written by Francesco Bruni, Francesco Piccolo and Paolo Virzì, freely adapted from the novel by Stephen Amidon Released by Film Movement Italian with English subtitles Italy. 110. Not rated With Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Valeria Golino, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Fabrizio Gifuni, Matilde Gioli, Guglielmo […]
Directed by Ava DuVernay Produced by Christian Colson, Oprah Winfrey, Dede Gardner, and Jeremy Kleiner Written by Paul Webb Released by Paramount Pictures USA/UK. 127 min. Rated PG-13 With David Oyelowo, Tom Wilkinson, Carmen Ejogo, Giovanni Ribisi, Lorraine Toussaint, Common, Alessandro Nivola, Dylan Baker, Cuba Gooding Jr., Tim Roth, André Holland, Wendell Pierce, Corey Reynolds, […]
What went into the creation of this list? Mostly strong first impressions, followed by second (or third or fourth opinions) and a second viewing, confirming that there is some “there” there. Because this compilation is made right at the end of the year, it’s a judgment of its time made under at least condition since […]
Produced and Directed by Ben Cotner and Ryan White Released by HBO Documentary Films USA. 112 min. Not rated In comparison to some of the acute, trenchant social issues currently informing U.S. political discourse—racial injustice, police brutality, biased judicial systems, third-wave feminism—the dialogue concerning same-sex marriage may now seem, to some, to be a bit […]
Directed by Rob Marshall Produced by John DeLuca, Rob Marshall, Marc Platt, Callum McDougall Written by James Lapine, based on the musical by Stephen Sondheim and Lapine Released by Walt Disney Studios USA. 124 min. Rated PG With Anna Kendrick, Daniel Huttlestone, James Corden, Emily Blunt, Christine Baranski, Tammy Blanchard, Lucy Punch, Tracey Ullman, Lilla […]
Written and Directed by J.C. Chandor Produced by Neal Dodson, Anna Gerb, and Chandor Released by A24 USA. 124 min. Rated R With Oscar Isaac, Jessica Chastain, David Oyelowo, Alessandro Nivola, Elyes Gabel, Albert Brooks, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Peter Gerety, and Christopher Abbott A Most Violent Man is not particularly violent, and it only takes […]
Directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev Produced by Alexander Rodnyansky and Sergey Melkumov Written by Oleg Negin and Zvyagintsev Released by Sony Pictures Classics Russian with English subtitles Russia. 142 min Rated R With Alexey Serebryakov, Elena Lyadova, Vladimir Vdovitchenkov, Roman Madyanov, Anna Ukolova, Alexey Rozin, Sergey Pokhodaev How is it that, in the real world, the […]