Showing posts with label dramas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dramas. Show all posts
Oct 1, 2016
May 1, 2016
Dec 1, 2015
Far from the madding crowd (DVD)
"Carey Mulligan stars as a headstrong Victorian beauty in this sweeping romantic drama, based on the literary classic by Thomas Hardy. Mulligan plays Bathsheba Everdene, an independent woman who attracts three different suitors: a sheep farmer (Matthias Schoenaerts); a dashing soldier (Tom Sturridge); and a prosperous, older bachelor (Michael Sheen). This timeless story of Bathsheba’s passions explores the nature of relationships, love and resilience." - (Alert)
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Sep 23, 2015
The judge (DVD)
Summary: Big city lawyer Hank Palmer returns to his childhood home where his estranged father, the town's judge, is suspected of murder. He sets out to discover the truth and along the way reconnects with the family he walked away from years before.
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Boyhood (DVD)
Summary: A groundbreaking story of growing up as seen through the eyes of a boy named Mason, who ages from six to eighteen years old on screen.
Video Librarian Reviews
Director Richard Linklater filmed this extraordinary coming-of-age saga over 12 consecutive years, following his star—6-year-old Ellar Coltrane—to the age of 18. Mason (Coltrane) is first seen in East Texas, playing with neighborhood kids and squabbling with his older sister, Samantha (Linklater's daughter Lorelei). At the end of this segment, the family moves to Houston, which means a new home, new school, and new friends. Mason's dad (Ethan Hawke) and mom (Patricia Arquette) are divorced, but Mason hopes they will reunite. However, that's not going to happen, and their lovers come and go. Problem is: whenever mom finds a new man, she marries him—and one (Marco Perella) turns out to be an abusive alcoholic. By age 15, Coltrane the actor has become less stiff on-camera, delivering a wryly humorous and far more self-assured performance, as we watch him literally mature before our eyes. Linklater continues to epitomize the independent American filmmaker (regardless of his more mainstream entries such as School of Rock): from Dazed and Confused to his amazing Ethan Hawke/Julie Delpy trilogy (Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Before Midnight), he has consistently marched to his own drumbeat. Presented in a linear fashion, Boyhood is an episodic, naturalistic film, somewhat reminiscent of the groundbreaking Up documentary series from director Michael Apted, who has made eight films recording the lives of a group of Brits from the age of 7 to 56. Already picking up festival and film critics association awards for Best Picture, Boyhood has also been nominated for five Golden Globes and will very likely be a major Oscar contender. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (S. Granger) Copyright Video Librarian Reviews 2015.
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Sep 2, 2015
Hanna (DVD)
Summary: A 16-year-old who was raised by her father to be the perfect assassin is dispatched on a mission across Europe, tracked by a ruthless intelligence agent and her operatives.
Video Librarian Reviews
"Father knows best" takes on new meaning when a wily teenage warrior—played by ethereal-looking Saoirse Ronan—ventures out into the cold, cruel world. Spending her isolated childhood in a cabin located in the forests of northern Finland, Hanna has been trained as an assassin/spy by her rogue-CIA-agent father Erik (Eric Bana). Now 16, Hanna has strength, stamina, and determination, so father and daughter part ways, planning to meet up later in Germany. Both, however, are sought by ruthlessly malevolent CIA operative Marissa (Cate Blanchett), leading to Hanna's capture and interrogation in a bunker beneath the Moroccan desert. "Did she turn out as you'd hoped?" inquires one of Marissa's henchmen. "Better," she replies. Outwitting her abductors, Hanna escapes, joining a British hippie family on vacation while cleverly eluding all pursuers. In the meantime, much is revealed about Hanna's mysterious origin and lineage, culminating in an action-packed chase through a decaying Grimm Brothers–themed amusement park and a violent confrontation with menacing Marissa. Directed by Joe Wright, this is a humorless—albeit often gripping—pursuit thriller, backed by a striking score from the Chemical Brothers. Recommended, overall.
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Feb 4, 2014
Short term 12 (DVD)
Summary: A young woman experiences the highs and lows of being a supervisor at a foster care facility.
Video Librarian Reviews
Written and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, this poignant psychological drama about troubled teens earned accolades at film festivals worldwide. Twentysomething Grace (Brie Larson) is a group supervisor at a live-in foster-care facility for at-risk kids. Working with her supportive, longtime boyfriend, Mason (John Gallagher Jr.), and new employee, Nate (Rami Malek), Grace does her best to comfort troubled residents, such as nearly-18-year-old Marcus (Keith Stanfield), who is terrified about living on his own for the first time, and can only express his fear and fury in a rap song. But it's the arrival of violently angry Jayden (Kaitlyn Dever)—who writes and illustrates a revelatory fable about an octopus and a shark—that pressures Grace into not only acknowledging her own difficult past but also coming to terms with her unanticipated future. Grace, Mason, and Nate aren't therapists; as counselors, their job is to create a safe environment and keep the damaged adolescents under their protection from hurting themselves and others. But sometimes they perceive more than the mental health professionals, so tension naturally escalates when their evaluations and suggested treatments don't align with the observations of vigilant staffers. Basing the sensitive story on his own experience working at a similar institution, Cretton's direction is realistic and unsentimental. Recommended. (S. Granger)Copyright Video Librarian Reviews 2011.
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Feb 1, 2014
Upstream color (DVD)
Summary: Years after a thief slipped her a drug that gave him total control over her, Kris tries to put her life back together, but she discovers that her new boyfriend seems to have the same strange memory problems that she does.
Video Librarian Reviews
Shane Carruth's first film since his 2004 award-winning debut Primer is a somewhat freaky experimental feature. Kris (Amy Seimetz) is a young woman who is assaulted by a man identified only as Thief (Thiago Martins), who forces her to swallow a larva that somehow turns her into his brainwashed slave. Kris must do whatever Thief commands, culminating in the emptying of her bank account. After being abandoned by her captor, Kris realizes that the larva she ingested has grown into a living worm inside her. She is then picked up by someone identified as Sampler (Andrew Sensenig), who appears to be a combination of sound recording engineer, surgeon, and pig farmer. Sampler hypnotizes Kris via an electronic wave and surgically removes the worm for deposit into a pig. Carruth himself turns up as Jeff—a mysterious figure who may have survived a similar experience—seeking to bond with Kris in a series of weirdly elliptical conversations. Needless to say, Upstream Color will confuse and perhaps even irritate viewers with little or no patience for avant-garde work. But those eager to be challenged by provocative filmmaking will be amazed at Carruth's boldly idiosyncratic production design and his willingness to wrap multiple genres into a stylish and disturbing cinematic experience that looks and sounds like no other contemporary film. One of the year's most original works, this is highly recommended. (P. Hall)Copyright Video Librarian Reviews 2011.
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Jan 1, 2014
Much ado about nothing (DVD)
Much ado about nothing (DVD)
Summary: Joss Whedon's sexy and contemporary spin on Shakespeare's classic comedy about the story of sparring lovers Beatrice and Benedick offers a sensual, tragic and occasionally absurd view of the intricate game that is love.
Video Librarian Reviews
When writer-director-producer Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly) makes a home movie, it's much ado about something, given the filmmaker's high profile. Filmed in black-and-white at Whedon's sprawling Santa Monica home, this is a frothy, low-budget adaptation of Shakespeare's ribald, robust comedy about love and arranged marriages. While the setting has been moved from 16th-century Sicily to 21st-century SoCal, Whedon draws on the original Elizabethan text (somewhat trimmed and tailored), albeit in modern dress and eschewing iambic pentameter. Filled with lies, deception, and betrayal, the screwball plot revolves around the visit of Prince Don Pedro (Reed Diamond) and his villainous brother, Don John (Sean Maher), to the home of Messina's Governor Leonato (Clark Gregg) for a garden party weekend that is full of charming romantic intrigue. Alexis Denisof and Amy Acker play ex-lovers—marriage-averse Benedick and tart-tongued Beatrice—while Fran Kranz and Jillian Morgese costar as troubled younger couple Count Claudio and virtuous Hero. Nathan Fillion and Tom Lenk bring comic relief as the dimwit neighborhood constable Dogberry and his sidekick Verges. While Britain's Royal Shakespeare Company needn't consider this competition, it's an enjoyably amusing homespun effort that should appeal to fans of the Bard. Recommended. (S. Granger)Copyright Video Librarian Reviews 2011.
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Jul 1, 2013
Intouchables (DVD)
Summary: An irreverent, uplifting comedy about friendship, trust, and human possibility. Based on a true story of friendship between a handicapped millionaire and his street-smart ex-con caretaker, The Intouchables depicts an unlikely camaraderie rooted in honesty and humor between two individuals who, on the surface, would seem to have nothing in common.
Video Librarian Reviews
This charming odd-couple comedy begins with a black motorist careening through Paris in an expensive sports car with a white passenger as Kool & the Gang booms on the stereo. When he's stopped by the police, the driver claims that he is rushing a quadriplegic who is suffering a seizure to the hospital. After being sent on their way, the two men convulse in laugher and share a cigarette. Several months earlier, wealthy, worldly widower Philippe (François Cluzet) was paralyzed in a paragliding accident, and needed a caregiver. Just out of prison, troubled, pot-smoking Driss (Omar Sy) applies for the job, mainly so he can qualify for welfare benefits. Despite the misgivings of his staff, open-minded Philippe hires him—attracted to Driss's crass cockiness and unwavering candor. While Driss's caregiving skills may be lacking and the pair are worlds apart on the socioeconomic scale, Philippe senses that Driss's friendship is real. And both share an addiction to the adrenaline rush of risk-taking and an appreciation for women. Inspired by real events, directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano's The Intouchables benefits from an irresistibly subversive performance by Sy, who became the first black performer to win France's prestigious César award for Best Actor (beating The Artist's Jean Dujardin). Recommended. (S. Granger)Copyright Video Librarian Reviews 2011.
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