THE FAMILY (2013) review
written by: Luc Besson and Michael Caleo
produced by: Luc Besson, Ryan Kavanaugh and Tucker Tooley
directed by: Luc Besson
rating: R (for violence, language and brief sexuality)
runtime: 111 min.
U.S. release date: September 13, 2013
DVD/Blu-ray release date: December 17, 2014
If movies have taught me anything about the Mafia, one thing rises above all else. Don’t turn on the Family. They will get you for it and make you pay for it. What about those who do and get away with it? Well, kinda get away it. Let’s get going with “The Family”.
2014 Oscar-Nominated Shorts – Animation, Live-Action & Documentary
Each year the Academy nominates fifteen short films, five selected and placed in three categories – Animation, Live-Action and Documentary. The likelihood of anyone seeing these shorts before they receive an Oscar nomination is slim. It takes them getting the nomination for these creative, transportive and informative films, to earn the recognition they deserve. These three categories wind up being my favorite of all the Oscar nominees, because they open viewers up to new filmmakers, different styles and stories from parts of the world we may have only thought we knew about. So, let’s take a look at all the films in this year’s Shorts categories….
LABOR DAY (2013) review
written by: Jason Reitman
produced by: Lianna Helfon, Russell Smith, Jason Reitman & Helen Estabrook
directed by: Jason Reitman
rating: PG-13 (for thematic material, brief violence and sexuality)
runtime: 111 min.
U.S. release date: December 27, 2013 (limited) and January 31, 2013 (wide)
When he was making the rounds at the end of 2011 with his last film “Young Adult”, writer/director Jason Reitman had mentioned that his next project would find him in new territory, admitting that it would be different from anything he’s done before. All he had mentioned during a Q&A was that it’s a complex drama called “Labor Day” which will star Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin and that he had tried to get it going before “Young Adult”. After working the festival circuit last fall and managing a late December release date for award consideration, finally makes it to theaters, alas, in the month of January. It is indeed something new for the director, finding him tackling uneasy melodrama that thankfully rises above Lifetime Movie of the Week material.
NEBRASKA (2013) review
written by: Bob Nelson
produced by: Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa
directed by: Alexander Payne
rating: R (for some language)
runtime: 110 min.
U.S. release date: November 15, 2013
There are certain movies out there that are just hard not to appreciate. You don’t have to like it, don’t have to come away with a new appreciation for film. You just have to appreciate it. Appreciate a style, a story, a character, a storytelling technique, just something. I’d like to last year’s “Nebraska” in that category, but with an exception. I very much liked it, even if I’m still processing and/or digesting it.
WE’RE THE MILLERS (2013) review
written by: Bob Fisher, Steve Faber, Sean Anders & John Morris
produced by: Chris Bender, Vincent Newman, Tucker Tooley & Happy Walters
directed by: Rawson Marshall Thurber
rating: R (for crude sexual content, pervasive language, drug material and brief graphic nudity)
runtime: 110 min.
U.S. release date: August 7, 2013
DVD/Blu-ray release date: November 19, 2013
It’s hard to mess up a good road trip movie, thinking of a bunch anywhere from National Lampoon’s Vacation to Little Miss Sunshine and a whole lot in between. Anything can happen on the road, and these movies have surely illustrated that point. It can be difficult to come up with a new twist for a familiar story/genre so kudos to 2013’s “We’re the Millers” for trying something unique.
DRINKING BUDDIES (2013) review
written by: Joe Swanberg
produced by: Andrea Roa, Joe Swanberg, Alicia Van Couvering, Paul Bernon & Sam Slater
directed by: Joe Swanberg
rating: R (for language throughout)
runtime: 90 min.
U.S. release date: August 23, 2013
DVD/Blu-ray release date: December 03, 2013
I have a theory about movies and the critics who review them. Sometimes I think critics get together as a group, grab some lunch and collectively agree whether or not to give a positive or negative review to a specific film. That’s the biggest thing I took away from 2013’s “Drinking Buddies”, currently rocking an 82% from critics (that’s good) at Rotten Tomatoes but only a 56% from audiences (strictly mediocre) and 6.2 at IMDB (a “Meh” if there ever was). Which one is it? Critical darling or audience dud?
THE INVISIBLE WOMAN (2013) review
written by: Abi Morgan
produced by: Christian Baute, Carolyn Marks, Stewart Mackinnon & Gabrielle Tana
directed by: Ralph Fiennes
rating: R (for some sexual content)
runtime: 111 min.
U.S. release date: December 25, 2013 (limited) and January 24, 2014 (limited)
Actor Ralph Fiennes made his directorial debut in 2011 with “Coriolanus”, an intense reworking of a little-known Shakespeare play. Fiennes starred in the film, as the warmongering titular character who only felt at ease in the carnage of war. His follow-up as actor/director, “The Invisible Woman”, focuses on a little-known period in the life of literary celebrity, Charles Dickens. The period piece continues the visually rich palette of his last film and finds Fiennes once again playing an enigmatic character who is scrutinized and the subject of much controversy. With its stunning cinematography and exquisite art direction, “The Invisible Woman” is an absorbing examination of forbidden love and social isolation.
GENERATION WAR (2013) review
written by: Stefan Kolditz
produced by: Benjamin Benedict, Nico Hofmann and Jürgen Schuster
directed by: Phillip Kadelbach
rating: not rated
runtime: 148 min. (Part 1), 131 min. (Part 2)
U. S. release date: January 24, 2014 (limited release)
“We have to say farewell to the world as we know it.”
These haunting words of advice are offered to Lt. Wilhelm Winter by his superior officer as he struggles with the mounting atrocities and terrors on the Eastern Front of World War II in the excellent German television miniseries “Generation War”. Originally airing in Germany and Austria in March 2013 as a three-part series, Music Box Films has acquired the US distribution rights and will be screening the epic 279 minute film in two parts starting this weekend.
BLOOD BROTHER (2013) review
written by: Phineas Hodges, Steve Hoover and Tyson Hodges
produced by: Danny Yourd
directed by: Steve Hoover
rating: not rated
runtime: 92 min.
U.S. release date: January 20, 2013 (Sundance Film Festival), June 26, 2013 (New York) and January 20, 2014 (on PBS’ Independent Lens)
Exactly a year ago, “Blood Brother” won the Grand Jury Prize in Documentary and the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival. The documentary is the feature-length film debut from director Steve Hoover from Pittsburgh, focusing on his longtime friend, Rocky Braat, who’s been living in India for several years now, where he helps take care of children with AIDS. The film follows Rocky’s motivations, struggles and victories as he invests himself fully to the lives of those in need and it also offers a powerful look at a strong brotherly bond between two best friends. It turned out to be one of the most emotional and resonating movies I saw last year.
JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT (2014) review
written by: Adam Conrad and David Koepp
produced by: Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Mace Neufeld, David Barron & Mark Vahradian
directed by: Kenneth Branagh
rating: PG-13 (for sequences of violence and intense action, and brief strong language)
runtime: 105 min.
U.S. release date: January 17, 2014
Let’s be real. The reason this movie is called “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit” and not just “Shadow Recruit” is because “Jack Ryan” is a brand name. Paramount needs to make that obvious to all as they aim at rebooting Tom Clancy’s most popular character with a younger actor (both to connect with a younger generation and to give the franchise longer legs), even though the tried that in 2002’s “The Sum of All Fears” with Ben Affleck. Director Kenneth Branagh (coming off the success of 2011’s “Thor”) obliges by making an actioner that starts out promising, albeit with plenty of pauses for set-up, yet ends up suffering from feeling similar to other political/spy thrillers within the past twenty years and obviousness.
