New Movies
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Bobby Fischer Against the World
International Chess Grandmaster Bobby Fischer was, at the time of his much politicized world championship match against the Soviet Boris Spassky, the most famous person on the planet. This gripping documentary charts his meteoric rise as a child prodigy, his heroic triumph on one of the biggest stages of the Cold War, his infamous years in exile. Heartbreaking.
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Drive
Ryan Gosling and Danish writer/director Nicholas Winding Refn are a perfect match in the best action movie of the year. Ryan Gosling was nominated for two Golden Globes this year (Ides of March and Crazy Stupid Love), but this was his best performance of 2011.
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Martha Marcy May Marlene
Little sister to Mary Kate and Ashley, Elizabeth Olsen astonishes in a star-making performance as a young woman who has escaped from a cult. Sean Durkin won the Directing Award for Drama at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival for this psychological thriller. Roger Ebert called Martha Marcy May Marlene, "ambitious and effective, introducing a gifted young actress and a director whose work I'll anticipate."
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Outrage - Way of the Yakuza
Takeshi Kitano is to Yakuza movies what Pixar is to animation: their names are synonymous with the crème de la genre. Outrage follows the intricate ins and outs of Yakuza politics as several clans vie for power in Tokyo's underworld. Kitano's trademark style features long scenes of mundane detail punctuated by sudden flourishes of violence.
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Take Shelter
Michael Shannon (Boardwalk Empire, The Runaways) and Jessica Chastain (Tree of Life, The Help) give two powerhouse performances in this unsettling psychological thriller. Shannon plays a man whose apocalyptic visions might or might not be schizophrenia and Jessica Chastain plays his confused, frightened wife. In his review of Take Shelter , Roger Ebert opined that "an Oscar nomination for best actor would be well-deserved" for Shannon. High praise.
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The Guard
Don Cheadle and Brendan Gleeson are a match made in who'd-have-thunk-it heaven. The Guard is funny, yes, but guess what - it's also a good police procedural. Not many movies are even one, let alone both. Gleeson was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role. Highly recommended.
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The Man From London
Hungarian superdirector Bela Tarr's (Werckmeister Harmonies) latest stars Tilda Swinton as she continues her world tour of art cinema. The plot has something to do with a witnessed murder and a briefcase full of money, but as with all Tarr's films, plot isn't really the point.
