Tag: Drama

The Longest Ride review

Director
George Tillman Jr.
Cast:
Britt Robertson
Scott Eastwood
Alan Alda
Jack Huston
Oona Chaplin
Rated: PG-13

“The Longest Ride” follows a pair of young adults, Sophia (Robertson), a college student and Luke (Eastwood) a bull rider, who meet at an event and become a couple. After going on a date one night, the couple discover a crashed car and help an elderly man (Alda) get to a hospital.

At the hospital, Sophia learns that the man’s name is Ira and they begin to get to know each other. Through the relationship, Sophia begins to read Ira’s letters and she discovers a love story through them. While learning about Ira’s love story it helps her own relationship with Luke.

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Woman in Gold Review

Director
Simon Curtis
Cast:
Helen Mirren
Ryan Reynolds
Daniel Bruhl
Katie Holmes
Rated: PG-13

Helen Mirren stars as Maria Altmann in this film based on a true story. Altmann is a woman who escaped Austria in her youth due to the takeover by the Nazi-led German forces. However, left behind was a family heirloom in the form of a painting done of her aunt.

The film picks up decades later in the 1990s during a time where Austria opened up an opportunity for people to get back items that were unjustly taken. Altmann decides to hire a lawyer named Randol (Reynolds) to help her get back the art that was taken from her family, however, the task seems to become difficult as the attempt turns into a lengthy legal battle.

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Whiplash review

Director:
Damien Chazelle
Cast:
Miles Teller
J.K. Simmons
Paul Reiser
Rated: R

Miles Teller plays Andrew in “Whiplash,” a young college student with aspirations of being a highly successful musician, more specifically, a great drummer. Opportunity eventually comes knocking when he is brought into a skilled jazz band taught by a man named Fletcher (Simmons).

Andrew soon finds out, though, that Fletcher is one of the toughest instructors he has ever gone up against and it will take all of his will power and talent to meet the massive expectations placed upon him as a member of the band.

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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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