The Theory of Everything (2014)

The Theory of Everything (2014)

The Theory of Everything is, above all, a marvelous love story. Based upon Jane Hawking’s account of her 30-year marriage to famed astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, director James Marsh has crafted an emotional, affectionate tribute to the man, love, and life itself. It does get stuck in the biopic genre gears here… Continue reading

Force Majeure (2014)

Force Majeure (2014)

Force Majeure examines how one split-second decision can shake up the trust between a married couple and the family unit as a whole. That decision also results in what may be the worst family vacation ever. An export from Sweden, the film is an exquisitely filmed, awkward, and challenging drama… Continue reading

Happy Christmas (2014)

Happy Christmas (2014)

Happy Christmas is a solidly-acted, meandering effort that doesn’t really amount to much. It contains some thoughtful passages on the challenges of everyday life with a toddler and the yearning to take care of a family member that is struggling to find his/her way in life, but the film isn’t very engrossing… Continue reading

Birdman (2014)

Birdman (2014)

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) is a true original; a work of technical wizardry, virtuoso acting, and compelling storytelling unlike anything we’ve seen before. Featuring only a few locations and long, single takes of dialogue-driven material, the film never lets up for an instant and always keeps the viewer on… Continue reading

Dear White People (2014)

Dear White People (2014)

Tackling a topic as complex, difficult, and at times downright uncomfortable as race relations in the United States is never easy. Dear White People, the feature film debut from writer/director Justin Simien, stares it right in the face with a combination of biting satire, understated anger, and a whole lot of… Continue reading

Gone Girl (2014)

Gone Girl (2014)

Gone Girl is basically two movies in one; a serious, realistic missing persons boiler followed by a laughably over-the-top second half that comes dangerously close to unraveling the whole works. The film does not depend upon the audience buying wholesale into the numerous twists, but rather the shifting character motivations and completely… Continue reading

Dracula Untold (2014)

Dracula Untold (2014)

The allure of the prequel, from the studio’s standpoint, makes a whole lot of sense. After all, something can always occur before something else and you can pretty much make up your own rules. Dracula Untold, the latest in the Dracula saga that has served Universal well for decades, is a… Continue reading

If I Stay (2014)

If I Stay (2014)

If I Stay is an above-average tear-jerker that hits all the notes one would expect. Bumping it up a few pegs is a splendid lead performance from Chloe Grace Moretz and one of the more convincing teenage romances of recent memory. Moretz stars as Mia, a cello prodigy who’s well on… Continue reading

Need for Speed (2014)

Need for Speed (2014)

It’s really amazing that it’s taken this long for Need for Speed, a popular and never-ending video game series, to get the big-screen treatment. On the heels of the mega-popular The Fast and the Furious and its sequels, there is a built-in audience for this kind of vehicular anarchy. And… Continue reading