Berlin Alexanderplatz originated as an epic 1929 novel by Alfred Döblin; it’s the story of a man who sinks into an underworld of crime as he tries to create a […]
Based on the novel by Walter Dean Myers, Monster delves into the scary reality of a young Black man caught up in a murder trial, accused of being a part of […]
It’s not that I don’t understand some people’s knee-jerk negative reactions to the films of Guy Ritchie, but I remain a fan of his crime dramas—from Lock, Stock and Two […]
There are probably things that actor/director Sean Penn regrets doing in his life. His affiliations with the likes of former Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and Mexican drug lord Joaquín Archivaldo […]
In Grímur Hákonarson’s The County, a woman confronts not only the unexpected death of her spouse but the corrupt company that holds a monopoly over the small family farm they’d managed […]
For as identifiable as some animation studios tend to make their films (Pixar’s refined CGI, Laika’s signature stop-motion, Disney’s doe-eyed princesses, etc.), Sony Pictures Animation has never quite settled on […]
In an early scene of Roy Andersson’s About Endlessness, a couple sits on a bench in a park on a hill, overlooking the city below. We only see their backs; they, […]
Not every heartbreak comedy has to be wacky and over the top. Sometimes, it’s okay to play it low key and focus on character. Taking on a rare lead role, […]
In William Brent Bell’s Separation, there’s a Brooklyn couple who fights constantly in front of their 8-year-old daughter Jenny (Violet McGraw). One day, when Jenny is hurt playing in the attic while […]
In Limbo, Omar (Amir El-Masry) is an oud player (it’s a stringed instrument; look it up) born in Syria and currently living on a remote Scottish island where he waits […]
This is an odd, although not entirely unpleasant, one. Anson Mount plays a professional assassin known only as The Virtuoso (in the credits, at least; I don’t think he’s ever […]
There could easily be a sub-genre in the field of the dramatic arts devoted exclusively to stories about drug addiction. In recent years, especially in the era of an opioid […]