Directed By: David Zellner Written By: David Zellner & Nathan Zellner Cinematography By: Sean Porter Editor: Melba Jodorosky
Cast: Rinko Kikuchi, Nobuyuki Katsube, Shirley Venard, David Zellner, Nathan Zellner
A lonely Japanese woman becomes convinced that a satchel of money buried and lost in a fictional film, is in fact, real. With a crudely drawn treasure map and limited preparation, she escapes her structured life in Tokyo and embarks on a foolhardy quest across the tundra of Minnesota in search of her mythical fortune.
Directed By: Morton Tyldum. Written By: Graham Moore. Based On A Book By: Andrew Hodges Cinematography: Oscar Faura Editor: William Goldenberg Music score: Alexandre Desplat
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightly, Mark Strong, Matthew Goode, Rory Kinnear, Allen Leech, Matthew Beard, Charles Dance
Based on the real life story of legendary cryptanalyst Alan Turing, the film portrays the nail-biting race against time by Turing and his brilliant team of code-breakers at Britain’s top-secret Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, during the darkest days of World War II.
Just like when the film is set. The film plays like a spy film Filled with espionage and thriller elements. For what the film might lack in action for some. It leaves the audience with a more devastating aftermath of emotions.
The thrills are given in a much more intelligent battlefield as the action is more a meeting of the minds and trying to outsmart one another.
Throw in a story of a great inventor and his everlasting invention. That was itself a journey to build with plenty of naysayers and challenges.
There is also a kind of love story at it’s heart but maybe not the one you are expecting. Not to mention a focus on the injustice and prejudice of homophobia and anti-gay rights.
So this film has it all, likely Oscar bait but for once. One with some bite and thrills that come out of nowhere and could have been a simple period drama, but comes out and is actually exciting though some might find it to be a little like a British version of the movie A BEAUTIFUL MIND. Though much is going on all the parts for precisely together.
The performances are off the charts. Keira knightly as the Love interest and top code breaker still has to deal with sexism and domesticity as her parents expect her to be a good wife and find a husband before she can use her skills and brilliance.
Mark strong as the mysterious Mi6 agent and liaison is devious and powerful.
Benedict cumberbatch really shows his range as he can be the awkward outsider o e minute, the pretentious snob and know it all but also the heartbroken and doomed. That you want to save him, but can’t
A film that is built like a drama but plays more like a thriller, with room enough for drama. As on one point he works to get his invention to work and then on another keeping his sexuality a secret. Even though he seems rarely to find interest in others. Even though a romance or more partnership does develop.
Even when he is black mailed on all sides and slowly starts to make friends as others finally get used to him and his polarizing personality that one could easily label it as partially inspired by BIG BANG THEORY with the character Sheldon from that show.
We get to see what makes him tick or inspires him to imagine. as the project keeps something alive in him a kind of hope, love and memories.
How it can be greater Than anything in life. Including your own. The object takes the place of a lost love that could never be. So he builds something his great creation as a kind of loving memory.
How all this history is revealed from just a breaking and entering case. Leaving the detectives in the hunt for supposed treason and spies turns into a heartbreaking story that destroys his whole life because of a detectives insistence over being dismissed and talked down to by him and who has no idea what he will cause and never meant to.
How our actions can have deeper ramifications then expected and can’t be taken back.
The title seems to come from code breaking, imitating the enemies code system to read and understand their messages. It would also be used for the main character who always knew he was different.
So he tried calling initiate others to fit in to a point that no one would really notice and if he couldn’t replicate her would keep people away. More like push, so they never really got to know him.
Directed By: Alex Sitchel Written By: Sylvia Sitchel Cinematography: Joe DeSalvo Editor: Sabine Hoffman
Cast: Allison Folland, Tara Subkoff, Cole Hauser, Shawn Hasoty, Vincent Pastore, Wilson Cruz, Leisha Hailey
Claude and Ellen are best friends who live in a not-so-nice area of New York. They’re involved in the subculture of 90s youth, complete with drugs, live music, and homophobia. All is changed one night when a violent and meaningless death rocks their lives.
Written & Directed By: Prentice Penny
Cinematography: Eliiot Davis
Editor: Sandra Montiel
Cast: Mamoudou Athie, Courtney B. Vance, Niecy Nash, Sasha Compere, Matt McGory
Elijah must balance his dream of becoming a master sommelier with his father’s expectations that he carry on the family’s Memphis BBQ joint. Seeing African american characters as successful business owners and treated as classy. Is rare in modern cinema. So it is a Welcome change and sight.
Directed By: Craig Brewer Written By: Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski Cinematography: Eric Steelberg Editor: Billy Fox Costume Design: Ruth E. Carter
Cast: Eddie Murphy, Snoop Dogg, Craig Robinson, Wesley Snipes, Keegan Michael Key, Mike Epps, Tituss Burgess, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Kodi-Smitt McPhee, Ron Cephas Jones, Chris Rock, Barry Shabaka Henley, Tip T.I. Harris, Leunell, Tasha Smith
Eddie Murphy portrays real-life legend Rudy Ray Moore, a comedy and rap pioneer who proved naysayers wrong when his hilarious, obscene, kung-fu fighting alter ego, Dolemite, became a 1970s Blaxploitation phenomenon.
Directed By: Mick Jackson Written By: Barry Hines Cinematography: Andrew Dunn & Paul Morris Editor: Donna Bickerstaff & Jim Latham
Cast: Karen Meagher, Reece Dinsdale, David Brierley, Rita May, Nicholas Lane, Jane Hazlegrove, Harry Beety
Documentary style account of a nuclear holocaust and its effect on the working class city of Sheffield, England; and the eventual long running effects of nuclear war on civilization.
Directed By: Abdellatif Kechiche
Written By: Abdellatif Kechiche & Ghalia Lacroix
Adapted from: the comic book “Le Bleu est une couleur chaude” by: Julie Maroh Cinematography By: Sofian El Fani
Editor: Sophie Brunet, Ghalia Lacroix, Albertine Lastera, Jean-Marie Lengelle & Camille Toubkis
Cast: Lea Seydoux, Adele Exarchopoulus, Salim Kechiouche, Aurellen Recoing, Catherine Salee, Benjamin Siksou, Alma Jodorosky
*Please note that some trivia and facts have been republished from imdb among other sources In this review
Adèle is a high school student who is beginning to explore herself as a woman. She dates men but finds no satisfaction with them sexually, and is rejected by a female friend who she does desire. She dreams of something more. She meets Emma who is a free spirited girl whom Adèle’s friends reject due to her sexuality, and by association most begin to reject Adèle. Her relationship with Emma grows into more than just friends as she is the only person with whom she can express herself openly. Together, Adèle and Emma explore social acceptance, sexuality, and the emotional spectrum of their maturing relationship
Written & Directed By: Chris Kelly Cinematography By: Brian Burgoyne Editor: Patrick Colman
Cast: Jesse Plemmons, Molly Shannon, Bradley Whitford, Maude Apatow, June Sqibb, Paula Pell, Matt Walsh, Paul Dooley, Kerri Kenney, Zach Woods, Mike Mitchell, Lynne Marie Stewart, Nicole Byer, Lennon Parham
Follows David as he moves back home to be with his mother for the year between her giving up her fight against cancer and slowly dying. David’s relationship with his family is, at best, strained (especially in regard to his father) because of an apparent difficulty in accepting his homosexuality. Although the subject matter is genuinely distressing, his mothers death ultimately helps restore his familial bonds and become an integrated part of the family unit again.
Written & Directed By: Tayarisha Poe
Cinematography: Jomo Fray
Editor: Kate Abernathy
Cast: Lovie Simone, Jharrel Jerome, Celeste O’Connor, Ana Mulvoy Ten, Jesse Williams, Gina Torres, Nekhebet Kum Juch, Evan Roe, Francesca Noel, Henry Hunter Hall
Five factions run the underground life of the prestigious Haldwell boarding school. At the head of the most powerful faction – The Spades – sits Selah Summers. By turns charming and callous, she chooses whom to keep close and whom to cut loose, walking the fine line between being feared and loved.
Written & Directed By: Numa Perrier Cinematography: Brent Johnson Editor: Brittany Lyles
Cast: Tiffany Tenille, Numa Perrier, Stephen Barrington, Bobby Field, Zoe Tyson, Rockwelle Dortch, Charlie Taylor
In the last days of her mother’s life, 19 year old Tiffany crashes with five family members in a Las Vegas studio apartment. In order to make ends meet, her older sister, a phone sex operator, introduces her to the world of internet fetish cam girls. Tiffany becomes popular as the only “live black model” at the new adult site and soon becomes too close to one of her frequent callers. Dynamics shift in the sister relationship as each woman explores and exploits their sexuality, using their created fantasy worlds as an escape from the realities of their challenging real life circumstances. This bizarre coming of age story depicts sisterhood in a most unusual way.