Terrence Malick’s hugely ambitious fifth film is also, amazingly, his best.  It focuses on a family in 1950s Texas and holds them as an embodiment of grace.  Their oldest son, Jack (played by an adult by Sean Penn), has to […]

Floria Sigismondi’s retelling of the tale of the all-female, all-adolescent rock band The Runaways covers their origin to the time that lead singer Cherie Curie (Dakota Fanning) quits due to…insubordination?  The uncertainty in that summary captures the lack of coherence […]

A belated sequel to Harper (1966), The Drowning Pool finds private eye Harper (Paul Newman) in New Orleans on another complex case instigated by a woman.  Initially, he is investigating infidelity, but soon there are murders and family problems that […]

A separated private detective, Harper (Paul Newman), is hired to find a missing millionaire who everyone seems happy to have lost.   The investigation reveals a probable kidnapping and numerous suspects.  In the end, Harper finds the missing man and the […]

This early effort from the German director Michael Haneke (who works in multiple languages, including English, and identifies most strongly with Austria) collects 71 sequences about a handful of characters who come together at the climax.  The first thing we […]