Movie Nation

Documentary filmmaker Andrew Rossi spent “a year inside The New York Times” for his film, “Page One,” capturing one of the world’s great newspapers as it struggled, along with every other newspaper, to stay relevant and profitable in a media landscape utterly upended by lightning-fast change. What he got for his effort was a colorful “how the news is made” movie capturing some very smart, very committed reporters and editors adapting to the changing rules in our brave new online news world.

Continue reading →

Another version of Earth appears in the heavens, close enough to us for the human race to ponder the possibilities of a world that is “a mirror to our own” in “Another Earth.”

But this quiet, intimate drama is science fiction in name only. The wildly improbable set-up is merely the jumping off point for an exploration of grief, guilt and redemption that plays out almost entirely between two people thrown together by circumstance.

Continue reading →

Bradley Cooper graduates from supporting roles in ensemble pictures to leading man and handles the transition with skill, if not a lot of charisma, in “Limitless.” Cooper (“The Hangover,” “The A-Team”) has to be convincingly dull and believably brilliant in this sci-fi tale of a writer who gets hooked on pills that make him a lot smarter.

Continue reading →

Not a lot of love affairs, real or cinematic, can have it said of them that they end better than they begin.  But “One Day” ends with a heartfelt flourish that was sorely missing from its first 90 minutes. This episodic romance works in fits and starts, and captures a bittersweet faux British turn by Anne Hathaway, plainly mismatched in being paired with real-life Brit Jim Sturgess.

Continue reading →

Daniel Craig carries a Steve McQueen cool — a man of few words toughness — in his latest film. And had McQueen ever taken on a Western that also involves bug-eyed aliens kidnapping the locals, he’d have played it a lot like the Once and Future James Bond.

Though maybe he’d have picked a different hat.

Continue reading →

Jenna Fischer talks directly to the camera in early scenes in “A Little Help.” She lets us see the life that’s overwhelming her, the bitterness that threatens to swallow her whole and the irritation she’s trying her darnedest to hide.

Continue reading →

Ryan Gosling is ripped, randy and risible in “Crazy, Stupid Love,” an ensemble romantic farce that has the “serious” actor let his funny flag fly.

Yeah, it’s a Steve Carell comedy, sort of the dark, divorcing sequel to “Date Night.” But Gosling, Emma Stone and Marisa Tomei make this film from the directing duo who gave us “I Love You Phillip Morris” work. Most of the time.

Continue reading →