A victim of British anti-gay bigotry, the title character in the movie Lord Montagu became a successful businessman and popular jet-setter.
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Christopher McQuarrie’s thrilling Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation shows that Tom Cruise continues to outrun it - and them - all.
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Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man movie is a ‘just okay’ entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As the title character, Paul Rudd is both genial and superficial.
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The sharp and well-acted romantic comedy In Stereo feels like a throwback to edgy American indies of years past. Micah Hauptman stars.
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Abandoned in post-production and long-forgotten, Bert Williams: Lime Kiln Club Field Day is a rare early movie about the lives of black people anywhere.
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Long thought lost Chinese blockbuster The Cave of the Silken Web
remains intriguing due to its focus on fierce women with supernatural powers. -
Frank Capra’s first all-talkie, The Donovan Affair is now a silent once again. In-house actors were thus needed to voice Jack Holt, Agnes Ayres et al.
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Melissa McCarthy rises to the occasion in Paul Feig’s transgressively feminist Spy movie comedy. Jason Statham and Miranda Hart costar.
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Jason Strouse’s indie comedy Teacher of the Year makes its views on education known in a clever and humorous manner. Matt Letscher stars.
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Featuring its title character as a mere sidekick, George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road places women on top. Cast: Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy.
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Ava DuVernay’s Martin Luther King Jr.-focused drama Selma is a reminder that Civil Rights events of the mid-1960s remain disturbingly relevant.
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Though it fails to fulfill its thematic promise, Christopher Nolan’s ambitious sci-fier Interstellar is an undeniably grandiose achievement.
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Ivor Novello and Fay Compton star in Basil Dean’s romantic drama Autumn Crocus, featuring a wistful glimpse into middle-aged longing.
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Ira Sachs’ moving gay romantic drama Love Is Strange makes great use of cinema’s various crafts. Cast: John Lithgow, Alfred Molina and Marisa Tomei.
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Richard Linklater’s Boyhood movie brilliantly tackles the effects of the passage of time. Cast: Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette and Ellar Coltrane.
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Michael Bay’s Transformers: Age of Extinction - the latest entry in his mega-budget, mega-loud, mega-dumb franchise - is the least irksome of the lot.
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Tom Cruise - Hollywood’s last film star - single-handedly brings to gripping life Doug Liman’s otherwise absurd sci-fi actioner Edge of Tomorrow.
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1 hour of pure fluff, Midnight Madness doesn’t in any way whatsoever do justice to its titillating title. Clive Brook and Jacqueline Logan star.
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Karin Swanström and Hjalmar Bergman’s The Girl in Tails shows that women must fight and scandalize in order to remove the weight of social oppression.
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Featuring elements from a few ‘dystopian future prevention’ thrillers, Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past is a superhero film for adults.
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Sony Pictures’ mundane The Amazing Spider-Man 2 reeks of corporate expectations. Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Dane DeHaan star.
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Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac: Vol. II (2013) is more daring and philosophical than Vol. I. Charlotte Gainsbourg and Stellan Skarsgård star.
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The starkly funny Nymphomaniac: Vol. I provides further evidence that Lars von Trier is a cinematic genius. Cast: Shia LaBeouf and Stacy Martin.
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The Grand Budapest Hotel expands Wes Anderson’s cinematic horizons both visually and thematically. A memorable Ralph Fiennes stars.
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Ritesh Batra’s Mumbai-set debut feature The Lunchbox weaves a ‘socio-romantic’ narrative connecting a married woman and an unhappy widower.
Directed by Asif Kapadia, the Amy Winehouse nonfiction movie Amy is an all-around remarkable achievement. Oscar winner.
SFSFF’s ‘Avant-Garde Paris’ movies Ménilmontant and the wholly abstract Emak-Bakia were offered to those willing to take a chance.
Joss Whedon’s Avengers: Age of Ultron works well as a ‘stand alone’ movie, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe is starting to feel stale.
Damien Chazelle’s visually and aurally accomplished Whiplash provides J.K. Simmons with a devil of a role. Also in cast: Miles Teller.
In his Jersey Boys movie, Clint Eastwood prosaically tracks the humdrum rise and fall of Frankie Valli (John Lloyd Young) and the Four Seasons.
In the social/family drama Song of the Fishermen, filmmaker Cai Chusheng portrays the dehumanizing results of China’s stratified class system.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier continues the remarkable collaboration between Marvel and Disney. Chris Evans and Robert Redford star.