Your Sister's Sister is a charming, naturalistic story about relationships -- partially dysfunctional, but mostly humorous and endearing.
One 2.5-hour film can hardly do him justice but it's a start.
Writer/Director Wes Anderson is well-known for absurd comedies... a genre with a limited but loyal following. Mainstream audiences, however, often have difficulty caring about the characters when the humor is so offbeat. Moonrise Kingdom overcomes that hurdle.
Before the opening credits, we can already see why this film has been so phenomenally successful in Europe. It's hard to imagine a more joyful film.
In Victorian England, the vibrator was invented as a labor-saving device for doctors treating a female condition called "hysteria." The humor comes mostly from the fact that we see the absurdity of the concept from the Victorian point of view.
Based on the 1960s-era cult-classic TV soap opera, Dark Shadows has a whole basket of nutty plot details, punctuated at every turn by 200 years of wacky time-warp humor.
There are many details of small town Japanese life that Americans might not grasp, but the central story isn't hard to follow. And it's easy to enjoy the charm of the kids.
The film is excellent in showing us the issues surrounding water pollution, but it's painful to watch. But the film isn't just about bad news. It also talks about solutions -- assuming we start acting before it's too late.
Most of the kids in First Position have known since they were six or seven that they wanted to be professional dancers. So this isn't just a contest, it's their life.
As Sonny desperately struggles to build his dream by rebuilding the shambles of a hotel bequeathed to him by his father, the six retirees and one medical traveler all go their separate ways, each in search of something they may not know they're searching for.
Based on a true story, Bernie feels like a documentary. The interviews are so real that we're not quite sure at first if we're supposed to laugh. Hollywood luster is conspicuously absent on this film... and that's one of its most appealing qualities.
Monsieur Lazhar's theme -- new teacher stepping into a difficult situation -- certainly isn't uncommon, but nothing else about this film is what you'd expect.
Roger Brown is an art thief. He introduces himself to us in a voiceover: He's 5'6", he has a house he can't afford, a car he can't afford and a tall beautiful wife, Diana, who likes those things. She regularly attracts the attention of other men... all of them taller.
The beginning is quite cute, and the end has a fun musical finale, but the middle seems like an excruciatingly long hodge-podge of silliness.
If you're expecting this film to take on modern day controversies in the Catholic Church, it won't. But it does ask a serious question about humility and humanity in the Church hierarchy.
Bully is a documentary that not only follows bullying victims; it gives us a look at their whole environment -- parents, other kids, teachers and communities. We see there's no single cause of it, and that it can't be solved one kid at a time.
It's 1950, and we're watching Hester in a shabby London flat. She puts money into the gas meter, spreads out a quilt in front of the fireplace, puts the note on the mantle, turns on the gas and lies down to die.
"What will she order? Nothing humdrum like coffee..." François and Nathalie enjoy replaying their first meeting at Les Cailloux. Falling in love was so easy then.
The fundamental reason for a campus-wide ban on firearms is to keep as few firearms on campus as possible -- a preventative policy. Ultimately, the policy hasn't made the campus less safe, only less risky.
Adrien Brody gives an amazing performance as a substitute teacher whose own personal pain allows him to connect with the pain of his students.
Jonah Hill described 21 Jump Street "Bad Boys meets a John Hughes movie."
Except for a few bizarre musical choices, the Kid With a Bike is totally low key and unsentimental. It's a gentle movie with a big heart.
Despite the R-rating and the profanity and occasional violence to justify it, this is a truly warm and openly sweet movie about two unlikely friends and how their on-the-job crisis affects their relationship.
This tricky, clever spoof on family/community life in academia starts out with some great stylistic elements inspired by mid-20th century mystery movies.
Just because it follows a typical romantic comedy trajectory doesn't mean it isn't a fun ride. There are many cute moments, lots of clever dialogue and some real on-screen chemistry.
