Movies in the Drama genre

Sound of Metal, a 2019 Belgian-American drama from director Darius Marder, achieves its life-affirming aim in such a way that it never feels cloying or preachy. Featuring a forceful central performance by Riz Ahmed (best-known as either one of...

Boxing movies are like romantic comedies: they come in neat packages, follow tried-and-true formulas, and rarely challenge conventions.  There are outliers, of course, like Martin Scorsese's brilliant Raging Bull, but those are rare. For the...

The Space between Us is what it looks like when a promising premise is betrayed by a dumbed-down, hackneyed screenplay. Instead of developing this movie as a coming-of-age story of the first Earth-conceived child born on another planet, the narrative...

"People ask if this film is autobiographical, and many of the circumstances in it are but I've pushed them farther than they really went. It's personal, but not completely autobiographical. It was common in my home and my friends' homes to s...

Spare Parts tries too hard to be a based-on-a-true-story, feel-good, crowd-pleasing, triumph-of-the-underdogs movie. Somewhere along the line, perhaps by never deviating a millimeter from the expected trajectory of the genre, it crosses the line fr...

Sparkle is a remake; the original was released theatrically in 1976. I have never seen that version, but that didn't stem a powerful sense of déjà vu while sitting through this one. That's because Sparkle is an assembly of parts and pieces from o...

Potential Spoilers: I reveal a little more about the plot than I normally do in reviews, primarily because I want to discuss the way the film progresses during its second half. There are no big "reveals" in the review - it's not the kind of movie t...

One of the great benefits of a strong worldwide communication web is the ability to explore corners of the cinematic universe previously unavailable. Despite having a recognizable international cast, a well-known director, and a story that wou...

Spotlight is a Valentine to investigative journalism and a stark reminder of where we’re headed now that this brand of writing has become an endangered species. The film is unique in that it focuses almost entirely on the process. The character...

When one considers the phenomenon of "Spring Break," images of bikini-clad young women, bronzed guys, and inhibition-shedding parties fill the mind's eye. In general, Hollywood has used Spring Break as a jumping-off point for comedies - some romant...