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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
Directed by Sean Baker Produced by Blake Ashman Kipervaser Written by Baker & Chris Bergoch Released by Music Box Films USA. 104 Min. Not rated With Dree Hemingway, Besedka Johnson, Stella Maeve, James Ransone & Karren Karagulian The fringe of Hollywood’s Walk of Fame attracts all kinds of get-rich-quick dreamers and schemers, now and in […]
Directed by Steven Spielberg Produced by Spielberg & Kathleen Kennedy Written by Tony Kushner, based on the book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin Released by DreamWorks Pictures/20th Century Fox USA. 145 min. Rated PG-13 With Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Gulliver McGrath, James Spader, […]
Directed by Paolo Sorrentino Produced by Nicola Giuliano, Francesca Cima & Andrea Occhipinti Written by Sorrentino & Umberto Contarello Released by The Weinstein Company Italy/France/Ireland. 111 min. Rated R With Sean Penn, Frances McDormand, Judd Hirsch, Eve Hewson, Olwen Fouéré, Simon Delaney, David Byrne & Kerry Condon The old country comes to the New World […]