Film-Forward

War

American Sniper

Directed by Clint Eastwood Produced by Eastwood, Robert Lorenz, Andrew Lazar, Peter Morgan, and Bradley Cooper Written by Jason Hall, from the book by Chris Kyle, Scott McEwen, and Jim DeFelice Released by Warner Brothers Pictures USA. 134 min. Rated R With Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Luke Grimes, Jake McDorman, Kevin Lacz, and Cory Hardrict […]

Watchers of the Sky

Directed by Edet Belzberg Produced by Belzberg, Amelia Green-Dove and Kerry Propper Based on A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide by Samantha Power Released by Music Box Films English and Zaghawa, Spanish, French with English subtitles USA. 121 min. Not rated Just weeks before Watchers Of the Sky opened in theaters, […]

Death Metal Angola

Directed by Jeremy Xido Produced by Xido, Joseph Castelo Portuguese, with English subtitles Released by the Vladar Company USA/Angola. 84 min. Rare is the region with no sound of its own. For the Dominican Republic: merengue and bachata. For Lebanon: dabke. For Angola: death metal? In Jeremy Xido’s docu—dare I say-rock-you—mentary Death Metal Angola, we […]

Point and Shoot

Edited, Written, and Directed and edited by Marshall Curry Produced by Curry, Mr. Matthew VanDyke and Elizabeth Martin Released by the Orchard USA. 82 min. Not rated Most of us have moments when we are not comfortable in our own skin and not sure of who we are. Most of us might switch jobs or […]

Diplomacy

Directed by Volker Schlöndorff Produced by Marc de Bayser, Frank Le Wita, Sidonie Dumas, and Francis Boespflug Written by Cyril Gely and Schlöndorff, based on the play Diplomatie by Gely Released by Zeitgeist Films Release French and German with English subtitles France. 88 min. Not rated With André Dussollier, Niels Arestrup, Burghart Klaussner and Robert […]

1,000 Times Good Night

Directed by Erik Poppe Written by Harald Rosenlow Eeg Produced by Finn Gjerdrum and Stein B. Kvae Released by Film Movement Norway/Ireland/Sweden. 117 min. Not rated With Juliette Binoche, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Lauryn Canny, Adrianna Cramer Curtis, Maria Doyle Kennedy, and Larry Mullen Jr Through 1,000 Times Good Night, Norwegian co-writer and director Erik Poppe dramatizes […]

Camp X-Ray

Written and Directed by Peter Sattler Produced by Gina Kwon Released by IFC Films USA. 117 min. Not rated With Kristen Stewart, Payman Maadi, Lane Garrison, Joseph Julian Soria, Ser’Darius Blain, Cory Michael Smith, Julia Duffy, and John Carroll Lynch Private First Class Officer Cole (Kristen Stewart) remarks about halfway through Camp X-Ray that it’s […]

Fury

Written and Directed by David Ayer Produced by Bill Block, Ayer, Ethan Smith and John Lesher Released by Columbia Pictures UK/USA. 134 min. Rated R With Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Michael Peña, Jon Bernthal, Jason Isaacs, Brad William Henke, Jim Parrack, Xavier Samuel, Scott Eastwood, Kevin Vance, Anamaria Marinca, and Alicia von Rittberg […]

Toronto Highs & Lows | TIFF

After more than a week seeing 41 movies (in addition to the 21 seen earlier), I found few obvious outstanding discoveries at the Toronto International Film Festival compared with last year, whose standouts included the beautifully made Ida, the raucous We Are the Best!, and a stronger sampling of art films. Overall, the best selections […]