Don't Read This on a Plane: Movie Review

Slow moving and bizarrely plotted, but Jovana has her charms.

Don’t Read This on a Plane borrows its title from the book at the center of the film. And yes, it is named that for a reason. The protagonist is Jovana (Sophie Desmerais) this is her third novel, but her publisher has abruptly gone bankrupt and left her stranded on her book tour. This is very slow, and very bizarrely plotted, but builds to a strangely satisfying story.		2020 Directed by: Stuart McBratney Screenplay by: Stuart McBratney Starring: Sophie Desmerais

Permission: Movie Review

Relationship drama with unrelatable characters.

Permission is a relationship movie that’s supposed to be about that crossroads when you know you’re in love but you don’t know if you’re in love with the person that you’re supposed to be in love with. I’m not convinced that that’s an actual crossroads that many people experience, regardless, the film really just spends the entire run time trying to convince us that having sex with strangers is sexy. It’s not.		2017 Directed by: Brian Crano Screenplay by: Brian Crano Starring: Rebecca Hall, Dan Stevens

Almost Adults: Movie Review

Funny, relatable and enjoyable.

On one hand, Almost Adults is a drama about accepting and voicing your sexuality. On the other hand, it’s a comedy about college-aged girls moving on in their life. The co-mingling of the two genres can bog down the film when it becomes too grand for itself, but it is still a sweet, funny drama about two best friends - one a novice lesbian, one heart-broken over her ex - and how that plays into their friendship.		2016 Directed by: Sarah Rotella Screenplay by: Adrianna DiLonardo Starring: Natasha Negovanlis, Elise Bauman

The Intervention: Movie Review

Comedy and drama in an ensemble about marriage and life.

The Intervention is the first feature film written and directed by actress Clea DuVall and she hits that sweet spot between comedy and drama. It’s an ensemble piece about four couples coming together for a weekend getaway at an old family estate in Savannah, Georgia. Although as the title suggests, it’s not a simple gathering, it’s an intervention.		2016 Directed by: Clea DuVall Screenplay by: Clea Duvall Starring: Melanie Lynskey, Cobie Smulders, Vincent Piazza, Ben Schwartz, Jason Ritter

Café Society: Movie Review

A clash of secrets and affairs in two different worlds.

Café Society presents a new style of Woody Allen film. Stylistically it’s perhaps similar to Magic in the Moonlight – romance in the air even if everything else isn’t quite clicking. Thematically it’s very similar to almost every Woody Allen movie – romantic idealism, romantic idealism within a comedy of errors, murder, and belief that another city or another time period is better than the one you’re currently living in. But narratively, it’s unlike any story Allen has told before.		2016 Directed by: Woody Allen Screenplay by: Woody Allen Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart

The End of the Tour: Movie Review

A battle of writers and a friendship with depth.

The End of the Tour is a conversation, a friendship, and a battle of intelligence and neuroses. David Foster Wallace (Jason Segel) has just emerged onto the literary scene with the publication of Infinite Jest, hailed as the best writer of his generation. David Lipsky (Jesse Eisenberg) is a new hire at Rolling Stone magazine and convinces his boss to let him cover the end of Wallace’s book tour, interview him and write an article.		2015 Directed by: James Ponsoldt Screenplay by: Donald Margulies Based on the book by David Lipsky Starring: Jason Segel and Jesse Eisenberg

Before We Go: Movie Review

A simple conversation becomes fun, funny and romantic with two great characters.

Before We Go is simple, romantic, talkative, conventional and it's great. It's exactly what you want in a character-based, dialogue-driven romantic drama where nothing happens other than two characters meet and get to know each other over one night in New York City. The characters are engagingly real, compassionate and yet cynical, and they beautifully evolve after knowing each other for just a few hours. The dialogue is witty and insightful and elevated to dynamic levels by the talented leads.		2014 Directed by: Chris Evans Screenplay by: Ron Bass, Jen Smolka, Chris Shafer and Paul Vicknair Starring: Chris Evans and Alice Eve

Digging for Fire: Movie Review

Lack of murder mystery still reveals a funny and insightful film.

Digging for Fire is both Joe Swanberg's funniest film and most mature film to date. It's another one of his indie films with mainstream accessibility, but it should be noted that it's not a murder mystery, or murder mystery comedy, as it easily could be with the excellent premise with such great potential.		2015 Directed by: Joe Swanberg Screenplay by: Joe Swanberg, Jake Johnson Starring: Jake Johnson, Rosemarie DeWitt

3 Nights in the Desert: Movie Review

A slow, mysterious piece of reflection in the desert.

Anna (Amber Tamblyn), Travis (Wes Bentley) and Barry (Vincent Piazza) are three thirty-something former friends, former band-mates and 10 years removed from when their band was up-and-coming and on the road to success. Now, Anna is still a singer, Barry is a lawyer and married, and, as the title suggests, are spending three nights in the desert at the urging of Travis who has not moved on as well as the others.		2014 Directed by: Gabriel Cowan Screenplay by: Adam Chanzit Starring: Amber Tamblyn, Wes Bentley and Vincent Piazza

The Last Five Years: Movie Review

The musical version of a dramatic love story.

The Last Five Years is the five years in a relationship, the deconstruction of a marriage, but still romantic in its own way. Based on the musical of the same name, the movie is entirely sung. Each song verbalizes where each character is at in their life and in the story of their love, and then transitions into the next song which gets us into the next chapter of their relationship.		2014 Directed by: Richard LaGravenese Screenplay by: Richard LaGravenese Based on the musical by Jason Robert Brown Starring: Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan

Foxcatcher: Movie Review

A cold atmosphere for a heartless act.

Murder is a dark and cold act, so the story that leads up to it might as well be as dark and cold as you can make it. Such seems to be the thought that goes into the crafting of Foxcatcher. It is meticulously crafted, but also as austere and void of warmth that most films would dare to be. This one goes further. It presents the true story of ornithologist, philatelist and philanthropist John E. du Pont (Steve Carell) who persuades wrestling champion Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) and brother David (Mark Ruffalo) to join his team.		2014 Directed by: Bennett Miller Screenplay by: E. Max Frye, Dan Futterman Starring: Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, and Mark Ruffalo

Birdman: Movie Review

Flying away from the weight of ego, success and celebrity with humour, intelligence and ambition.

Birdman the incredibly ambitious film about celebrity, fame, popularity, acting, creating, fatherhood, relationships, death, media and the overwhelming weight of ego is indeed about all of that. Micheal Keaton as Riggan Thomson is the titular Birdman, a popular fictional superhero in the vain of Batman, Spiderman or Iron Man, but that was decades ago and now Riggan is a washed up former superhero hanging onto to the last vestiges of celebrity and who he knows himself as.		2014 Directed by: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu Screenplay by: Alejandro Gonzales Inarrituo, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo Starring: Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, Zach Galifianakis and Emma Stone

The Heart Machine: Movie Review

Romantic drama that's running on empty.

The Heart Machine is a romantic drama thriller. One that is entirely driven by one thought; one part of a plot where characters are minimal and supporting characters and storylines are nonexistent. Cody (John Gallagher Jr.) is an awkward love-struck man in Brooklyn who’s in a long-distance relationship. Virginia (Kate Lyn Sheil) is his Skype girlfriend living in Berlin. Or so she says. She might be lying and Cody’s starting to suspect that she’s actually in New York.		2014 Directed by: Zachary Wigon Screenplay by: Zachary Wigon Starring: John Gallagher Jr., Kate Lyn Sheil

Men, Women & Children: Movie Review

A drama about the dangers of modern life failed to create engaging characters.

Men, Women & Children is Jason Reitman’s newest film and yet he has descended even further from the heights of Thank You for Smoking, Juno and Up in the Air. In this drama, he explores the effects the online world has on human relationships and sex in modern times. It’s a concept that has been covered and will be covered countless more times. But it’s a lackluster affair despite the star-studded cast because the characters are all so unappealing.		2014 Directed by: Jason Reitman Screenplay by: Jason Reitman, Erin Cressida Wilson; Based on the novel by Chad Kultgen Starring: Adam Sandler, Jennifer Garner, Judy Greer and Ansel Elgort

Happy Christmas: Movie Review

A look at the line between immaturity and maturity with charming characters.

Happy Christmas is an oddly mature look at immature people as they approach a happy time in people’s lives – Christmas. Kelly (Melanie Lynskey) and Jeff (Joe Swanberg) is a happily married couple with a young baby. Jeff’s younger sister, Jenny (Anna Kendrick), just went through a break-up and is coming to stay with them in Chicago. She isn’t particularly happy, but she does have a certain happy-go-lucky nature to her.		2014 Directed by: Joe Swanberg Screenplay by: Joe Swanberg Starring: Anna Kendrick, Melanie Lynskey

Molly Maxwell: Movie Review

Takes an inappropriate relationship and turns it into a naturally honest and realistic portrayal of two well-developed characters.

Molly Maxwell is a 16-year-old student at a private school. The simplistic view is that she’s one of those smarter-than-thou, wise-beyond-her-years teenagers who gets herself into an improper relationship with her teacher through maturity and manipulation. "Lolita" movies are rarely good, but “Molly Maxwell” is able to overcome all the negative expectancies because Molly is way more realistic and normal than the type of character she would normally be. Sympathy for Molly and Ben arise out of a natural honesty, and then the film starts toying with our sympathies.		2013 Directed by: Sara St. Onge Screenplay by: Sara St. Onge Starring: Lola Tash, Charlie Carrick

Enemy: Movie Review

An overly abstract psychological relationship drama that is not the thriller it’s supposed to be.

Presented as a psychological thriller, “Enemy” stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Adam Bell, a University professor of political history. Adam isn’t a particularly happy individual – he has hurtful sex with his girlfriend (Melanie Laurent) and avoids conversations with coworkers. But one unsuccessful avoidance leads him to an interesting discovery. When watching a recommended movie (even though he doesn’t like watching movies), he sees a small bit actor who is identical to himself.		2013 Directed by: Denis Villeneuve Screenplay by: Javier Gullon Based on the novel by Jose Saramago Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal

Best Man Down: Movie Review

Drama, comedy, a marriage, a death and brilliance all around.

“Best Man Down” is an independent film about a couple who gets married in Arizona but flies back to Minnesota for a funeral. It’s a comedy! No, scratch that. The funeral is for the best man who died at the wedding. It’s a dark comedy? Perhaps, or a drama. It’s also about the newlywed couple navigating their current relationship. It’s a relationship drama. And it’s also a light mystery as the real life of the best man is uncovered.		2012 Directed by: Ted Koland Screenplay by: Ted Koland Starring: Justin Long, Jess Weixler, Tyler Labine and Addison Timlin

That Awkward Moment: Movie Review

Funny moments and moments that just fall flat.

“That Awkward Moment” is a buddy comedy/romantic comedy which is about as predictable as they come. But just because you know crude jokes are coming, it doesn’t mean you won’t still laugh. And just because you know they’re going to fall in love, it doesn’t mean that you won’t want them to. It airs more on the side of comedy than anything else and delivers a lot of attempted jokes; some funny, some not very funny.		2014 Directed by: Tom Gormican Screenplay by: Tom Gormican Starring: Zac Efron, Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan

Prince Avalanche: Movie Review

Just a simple conversation between hilarious characters by great actors.

It's 1988. One year after wildfires destroyed much of central Texas. The explosive opening of raging fires gives way to destruction, and the isolation that destruction can cause, and the loneliness that isolation can cause. It's an appropriate setting for two men alone in the woods, working for the state repairing the roads.		2013 Directed by: David Gordon Green Screenplay by: David Gordon Green Starring: Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch