One of the most acclaimed movies of 2014 (so far) is Whiplash, a drama starring Miles Teller as a first-year student at a music conservatory, whose drumming attracts the notice of the conservatory’s most respected — and feared — instructor, […]

I confess that I had huge expectations for this movie.  Not because director Christopher Nolan is the darling of comic fans for his “Dark Knight” trilogy, but because it seemed to mark a return to hard science-fiction: the prime importance […]

Gone Girl is a complex character-driven mystery in which a woman disappears and her husband is eventually arrested for her murder.  But in this riveting tale from David Fincher — with a screenplay written by the original author, Gillian Flynn –secrets […]

Dan Gilroy’s Nightcrawler is a kind of social vampire scenario.  It deftly threads one sociopath’s blossoming into a social tapestry into which that character is particularly well suited.  As much as the film is about Louis Bloom, it is also about […]

Thrillers are supposed to thrill.  That is not the case with Rowan Joffe’s new movie Before I Go to Sleep, which is based on a book by S. J. Watson.  The plot blends elements of Memento and 50 First Dates, attempting […]

Actors are supposed to draw upon their own experiences while pretending to be someone else on stage or on screen.  This reinforces a script’s sincerity and verisimilitude, if the performer can plumb the depths of his or her own past […]

This mystery, based upon Patricia Highsmith’s book of the same name, reminded me of the movie made from another of her books, The Talented Mr. Ripley.  Indeed, the pedigree behind this new movie includes Max Minghella, son of director Anthony […]