In Before Dawn “c’est la guerre” constitutes defeatism because, more often than not, war cannot be helped by the grunts in the dirt holding or pushing a line. These young men who are uttering the phrase halfway around the world from their homes and families have learned the futility of their actions. They say it knowing they are trapped in what they thought would be a heroic quest and a patriotic cause.
Read MoreWe’re all Dewey Cox because a good bit of cocaine and its effects sound amazing! Without ingesting a gram of the real Mexican Percocet, Cocaine Bear will forcefully stimulate each of those buzzy symptoms in its audience. This madcap movie from director Elizabeth Banks operates with a constant herky-jerky energy between humor and horror that slaps a skeleton of funny bones, rapid blood vessels, and other delicate nether regions of weakened constitution.
Read MoreWith a family-friendly PG rating, “Hidden Figures” becomes an instant must-see film for both classrooms and living rooms. Boy or girl, man or woman, black or white, any audience member who has ever marveled at the Space Age of our national history will find much to love in Theodore Melfi’s follow-up to “St. Vincent” adapted from Margot Lee Shetterly’s nonfiction book.
Read MoreIn a tonal shift from the trumpeted and showy norm of Oscar bait, “Lion” is yet another performance-driven dramatic film of 2016 entering this holiday season favoring prudence over theatrics. The feature film debut of award-winning commercial director Garth Davis, is a love letter instead of a power ballad that delivers genuine emotional heft all on its own, without the need to manufacture it for the sake of a movie.
Read MoreThe quirk of the dark comedy genre comes from embracing absurdity and running with it. Small wrinkles of character traits and situational story elements get twisted for wry laughs and wicked surprises. One of Australia’s top films of 2015, “The Dressmaker” mixes high style in a setting of rubbish and romance with a cursed sense of revenge. Not all of the fits and starts of many, many dalliances of the film end up working, but the presence of Oscar winner Kate Winslet demands attention.
Read More"The Water Diviner" arrives as the directorial debut of Oscar-winning Australian actor Russell Crowe. Released last year in his home country, Crowe's film was the highest grossing film in Australia for 2014 and netted three Australian Academy Awards last year including Best Film. In an industry where everyone is constantly being compared and measured against their peers, most will to prognosticate Crowe already. Does he have it in him to be the next Robert De Niro behind the director's chair, the next Kevin Costner, or the next Clint Eastwood? Let's vote for "none of the above" and give him some time. Fashioned better than most directorial debuts, "The Water Diviner" isn't perfect, but it's a solid start from Russell Crowe climbing into a new chair.
Read MoreIn 1977, a single woman named Robyn Davidson, along with her dog and four camels, decided to trek on foot across that barren desert landscape from Alice Springs to the Indian Ocean. The route was over 1,700 miles and would be about the equivalent of walking from Omaha, Nebraska to the Pacific Ocean. In this country, that's a matter of following a few highways and crossing all sorts of populated areas. In Australia, that journey is unmarked, dangerous, isolated, and devoid of almost any human help or settlement.
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