Tag: Drama

Still Alice review

Director:
Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland
Cast:
Julianne Moore
Kate Bosworth
Alec Baldwin
Kristen Stewart
Rated: PG-13

Alice Howland (Moore) is a college professor who has just turned 50 and appears completely fine and healthy. Away from her career, she lives in a nice home and has a great family life. Her entire life begins to change, though, when she starts having small lapses in her memory.

After visiting a neurologist on a few occasions, she is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s Disease. From there, the film explores her struggle with the disease and the effect it has on her family.

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Boyhood review

Director:
Richard Linklater
Cast:
Ellar Coltrane
Patricia Arquette
Elijah Smith
Lorelei Linklater
Rated: R

The way this film was made was revolutionary, but I doubt many other filmmakers will jump on the bandwagon.

Richard Linklater, who has previously directed the films “Before Sunrise,” “Before Sunset,” “Before Midnight” and the hilarious comedy, “Bernie,” took on a tremendous task with “Boyhood.” Instead of setting up a certain period of time to complete filming over a year or two, Linklater decided to shoot the movie over a 12-year period.

The 12-year story shown in the movie is perfectly summed up by its title. “Boyhood” follows the adolescence of a boy named Mason, played by Ellar Coltrane, as he goes through life from ages 5-18.

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American Sniper review

Director:
Clint Eastwood
Cast:
Bradley Cooper
Sienna Miller
Kyle Gallner
Rated: R

After a few stumbles like “Jersey Boys” and “Hereafter,” Clint Eastwood has once again found his directing groove with “American Sniper.”

Real life Navy SEAL Sniper Chris Kyle’s life is explored in the film, which mainly focuses on Kyle’s four tours of service in the military during the Iraq War. While the movie gives a full look at what Kyle experiences in battle, there is also a view of how it affects him when he goes home.

The movie transitions back and forth between Kyle’s life overseas and how it affects him when he returns to his family in the states and has to deal with post traumatic stress disorder.

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Big Eyes review

Director:
Tim Burton
Cast:
Amy Adams
Christoph Waltz
Terence Stamp
Rated: PG-13

Tim Burton’s latest outing as a director is a bit different this time around. Instead of being a movie with fantasy elements, Burton’s “Big Eyes” closely follows the true story of Margaret Keane (Adams), an artist whose work was wrongly credited to her husband Walter Keane (Waltz).

The movie shows how the two met, how the false credit was created and how Walter took advantage of it for financial gain. The movie also shows how Margaret eventually took a stand for her own art work.

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Birdman review

Director:
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Cast:
Michael Keaton
Emma Stone
Zach Galifianakis
Naomi Watts
Edward Norton
Rated: R

“Birdman” was once a famous box-office powerhouse at the movie theaters but lately has fallen out of the public’s eyes in this new film from director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.

The man who played the superhero Birdman, Riggan (Keaton) has fallen out of the eyes of many, too, as he hasn’t made a hit movie in years. To get himself back on top he decides to direct and star in a play in New York City. Problems arise, though, as he has to deal with his daughter Sam (Stone) who has just gotten out of rehab and an actor (Norton) who does things his way or the highway.

Birdman is a film that has a lot of depth in both its story and characters, and both subjects are thoroughly explored. What makes the film great is that not only are the various characters and their subplots interesting, they also make statements on a number of topics.

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The Theory of Everything review

Director:
James Marsh
Cast:
Eddie Redmayne
Felicity Jones
David Thewlis
Harry Lloyd
Rated: PG-13

The life and relationship of world famous physicist Stephen Hawking is explored in “The Theory of Everything.”

The film begins with Hawking during his education career and follows through the discovery of his illness and eventually his well known life’s work.

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Exodus Gods and Kings review

Director:
Ridley Scott
Cast:
Christian Bale
Joel Edgerton
Aaron Paul
Ben Kingsley
Isaac Andrews
Rated: PG-13

Director Ridley Scott takes on the epic biblical tale of Moses in “Exodus: Gods and Kings.”

The story stays relatively true to the text, all of the plagues are there as well as the Hebrew slaves. What is a bit different is that Moses is portrayed as much more of an “action hero” type, having the skills of a warrior.

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Wild review

Director:
Jean-Marc Vallee
Cast:
Reese Witherspoon
Laura Dern
Thomas Sadoski
Rated: R

“Wild” follows the true story of Cheryl Strayed, who walked 1,000 miles on what is known as the Pacific Crest Trail and documented it in a book. Reese Witherspoon plays Strayed, who goes on the journey as a way of healing herself following multiple traumatic and tragic events in her life.

As she goes along her journey, Strayed meets a number of different characters and personalities and begins to recover as a person.

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Inherent Vice review

Director:
Paul Thomas Anderson
Cast:
Joaquin Phoenix
Katherine Waterston
Josh Brolin
Eric Roberts
Rated: R

The story of Inherent Vice is centered on Larry “Doc” Sportello (Phoenix), a detective who has less than orthodox methods and also happens to be a fairly heavy drug user. In the midst of one of his times of getting high, Doc is visited by a person who wants him to investigate the disappearance of a former girlfriend.

As Doc begins his investigation, he uncovers numerous things going on behind the scenes and runs into a variety of interesting characters along the way.

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The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 review

Director:
Francis Lawrence
Cast:
Jennifer Lawrence
Josh Hutcherson
Liam Hemsworth
Woody Harrelson
Donald Sutherland
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Julianne Moore
Rated: PG-13

The odds will certainly be in this movie’s favor at the box office this weekend.
“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1” is the first in a two-part finale for the whole book- based movie series. The film picks up not long after the events of the previous installment, “Catching Fire” with Katniss Everdeen, played by Jennifer Lawrence, taken to the mysterious District 13.

District 13 is the home of the rebellion against the oppressive rule of the Capitol of Panem. Upon her arrival, Katniss meets the President of District 13, Alma Coin, played by Julianne Moore. Katniss soon learns that the District wants her to be the face and symbol of the rebellion.

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