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Top Picks

The Impossible

Directed by J. A. Bayona Produced by Belén Atienza, Álvaro Augustin, Enrique López-Lavigne & Ghislain Barrois Written by Sergio G. Sánchez Released by Summit Entertainment Spain. 114 min. Rated PG-13 With Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor & Tom Holland The Impossible is promoted as a true story of one family’s harrowing experience during the Indian Ocean […]

Beware of Mr. Baker

Directed & Written by Jay Bulger Produced by Andrew Karsch, Fisher Stevens, Erik H. Gordon & Bulger Released by SnagFilms/Insurgent Media USA. 92 min. Not Rated Beware of Mr. Baker has all the usual ingredients of a typical rock ‘n’ roll Behind the Music bio, though it has lots of surprises and unusual brio, too, […]

California Solo

Written & Directed by Marshall Lewy Produced by Ross Girard & Mynette Louie Released by Strand Releasing USA. 94 min. Rated R With Robert Carlyle, Alexia Rasmussen, Danny Masterson, William Russ, Kathleen Wilhoite, Michael Des Barnes & A. Martinez Lachlan MacAldonich lives on his own. He works in a farm field, tending the vegetables, and […]

The Central Park Five

Written, Produced, & Directed by Ken Burns, David McMahon & Sarah Burns Released by Sundance Selects USA. 119 min. Not rated Made by Ken Burns, along with his daughter Sarah and her husband David McMahon, The Central Park Five examines an infamous assault and the wrongful convictions of five teenage boys, while detailing what happens […]

Wagner & Me

Produced & Directed by Patrick McGrady Released by First Run Features UK. 89 min. Not rated Based on countless movies, the music of Richard Wagner (Hitler’s favorite composer) has a long road ahead to break away from its militaristic bombast and fascist taint. Lina Wertmüller used “Flight of the Valkyries” to accompany a Nazi death […]

Silver Linings Playbook

Written & Directed by David O. Russell, based on the book by Matthew Quick Produced by Donna Gigliotti, Jonathan Gordon & Bruce Cohen Released by the Weinstein Company USA. 120 min. Rated R With Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver, Shea Wigham, Anupam Kher, Julia Stiles & Chris Tucker After seeing the […]

Rust and Bone

Directed by Jacques Audiard Written by Audiard & Thomas Bidegain, based on the short-story collection Rust and Bone by Craig Davidson Released by Sony Pictures Classics French with English subtitles. France. 120 min. Rated R With Marion Cotillard, Matthias Schoenaerts, Armand Verdure, Céline Sallette, Corinne Masiero, Bouli Lanners & Jean-Michel Correia On first sight, the […]

Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God

Written & Directed by Alex Gibney Produced by Gibney, Alexandra Johnes, Kristen Vaurio, Jedd Wider & Todd Wider Released by HBO Documentary Films USA. 106 min. Not Rated Director/narrator Alex Gibney loudly amplifies several meanings of “silence” in Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House Of God. There’s the familiar stonewalling silence of pedophile priests, […]

The Law in These Parts

Written & Directed by Ra’anan Alexandrowicz Produced by Liran Atzmor Released by Cinema Guild Israel. 101 min. Not Rated In Hebrew with English subtitles Punctuated with pungent visual and narrative footnotes, The Law in These Parts comes close to being the Pentagon Papers of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories. Director Ra’anan Alexandrowicz incisively […]