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Allegiant

Allegiant exemplifies what happens when a book or movie exists solely for the purposes of placating fans and maintaining a revenue stream. Craft and originality are swapped out for familiarity and sameness. Plot turns into a regurgitation of not only...

Run Time: 2:01
U.S. Release Date: 2016-03-18
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Violence, Profanity)
Genre: Science Fiction/Adventure
Director: Robert Schwentke
Cast: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Zoe Kravitz, ...
American Beauty

Over the years, many films have taken a dark look at the supposedly perfect ideal of a white picket fence, a little house, and a nuclear family. For many, the suburban life is the American dream. For others, however, it can turn into a twisted ni...

Run Time: 2:00
U.S. Release Date: 1999-09-15
MPAA Rating: "R" (Violence, Profanity, Sexual Situations, Nudity, Drugs)
Genre: COMEDY/DRAMA
Director: Sam Mendes
Cast: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, ...
Ballad of Buster Scruggs, The

Those wacky Coens are at it again. And those serious Coens. And those loquacious Coens. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, a paean to pre-revisionist Westerns, allows the Oscar-winning brothers to try out nearly every weapon in their considerable ...

Run Time: 2:12
U.S. Release Date: 2018-11-16
MPAA Rating: "R" (Violence, Sexual Content)
Genre: Western
Director: Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Cast: Tim Blake Nelson, James Franco, Stephen Root, ...
Ballad of Jack and Rose, The

The Ballad of Jack and Rose is a low-key character study about a father and daughter whose idyllic lifestyle is interrupted by the arrival of three newcomers. Not much happens in this film beyond the evolution of the characters and their relationshi...

Run Time: 1:51
U.S. Release Date: 2005-03-25
MPAA Rating: "R" (Profanity, Sexual Situations, Nudity)
Genre: DRAMA
Director: Rebecca Miller
Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Catherine Keener, Camilla Belle, ...
Ballad of Narayama, The

The Ballad of Narayama, a 1958 Japanese film from director Keisuke Kinoshita, is revered in some critical circles because of its extreme stylization – using the art of kabuki theater to form a template for the exploration of Shichiro Fukazaw...

Run Time: 1:38
U.S. Release Date: -
MPAA Rating: "NR"
Genre: Drama
Director: Keisuke Kinoshita, based on the novel by Shichiro Fukazawa
Cast: Kinuyo Tanaka, Teiji Takahashi, Yuko Mochizuki, ...
Ballerina

Apparently, Shay Hattan’s original screenplay for Ballerina was considerably different from the final version – a stand-alone action/revenge film with no John Wick connections. One could argue that the movie might have been better that way...

Run Time: 2:04
U.S. Release Date: 2025-06-06
MPAA Rating: "R" (Violence, Profanity)
Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Len Wiseman
Cast: Ana de Armas, Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, ...
Be Cool

Be Cool, the belated sequel to 1995's Get Shorty, has moments when we think it's going to work. It occasionally tantalizes with witty dialogue and sharp supporting performances. Alas, those are only teases - the film is priming us for something t...

Run Time: 1:58
U.S. Release Date: 2005-03-14
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Violence, Profanity, Nudity)
Genre: THRILLER/COMEDY
Director: F. Gary Gray
Cast: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Vince Vaughn, ...

Time once again for my annual act of self-flagellation: predicting the Oscar winners.

If you're playing along at home, here are my predictions...

Book Thief, The

I don't know whether Markus Zusak's young adult bestelling novel The Book Thief should be considered "unfilmable" but the adaptation, written by Michael Petroni and directed by Brian Percival, makes a compelling case that it shouldn't have been fil...

Run Time: 2:11
U.S. Release Date: 2013-11-08
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Violence, Disturbing Images)
Genre: DRAMA
Director: Brian Percival
Cast: Sophie Nelisse, Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson, ...