Joneses, The (2010)

Drama Rated R

A missed opportunity from 2010 that could have been so timely and brilliant that it’s almost painful to watch. Cowriter and director Derrick Borte takes a zinger of a conceit – the perfect family moves into an upscale subdivision, only they’re actually hired product pushers engaged in stealth, real-world marketing – and what does he

Dogtooth (2010)

Drama Rated NR

Want to feel good about your family? Watch Dogtooth. This Greek import centers on a mother and father who have raised their three children in perverse seclusion. Now approaching adulthood, the two sisters and brother have their own arbitrary vocabulary (“telephone” stands for “salt”), engage in daily contests in order to earn stickers and are

Fair Game (2010)

Drama Rated PG-13

“It takes awhile, but Sean Penn eventually manages to turn Fair Game into a political tract.

It’s Kind of a Funny Story (2010)

Drama Rated PG-13

“…able to honestly juggle mental illness and a sense of hope.

Of Gods and Men (2011)

Drama Rated R

"…quiet, unassuming and honest about the very difficult decision of putting your spiritual principles before your physical life."

King’s Speech, The (2010)

Drama Rated R

The main accomplishment of The King’s Speech is that it takes Grade A Oscar fodder – the true story of England’s King George VI and his struggle to overcome a speech impediment – and makes it not only tolerable, but enjoyable. It’s a shock that it took the Oscarmongers at The Weinstein Company this long

Nowhere Boy (2010)

Drama Rated R

“…depicts the bittersweet birth of musical genius.

Fahrenheit 451 (1966)

Drama Rated NR

Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is a book made for the movies, yet Francois Truffaut failed it. Intellectual science fiction isn’t the French New Wave director’s milieu, of course, so maybe the project was doomed from the start. Even so, the movie is awkward, stilted and sabotaged by Oskar Werner’s bizarre lead performance (Julie Christie, in

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

Drama Rated NR

One of those books at whose feet the movies should cower, Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” is too astute, too well-observed and to sure of its own voice to ever be sufficiently translated to the screen. Even so, this stuffy effort by director Robert Mulligan is a disappointment. So much of the novel’s reckless

Somewhere (2010)

Drama Rated R

“Coppola manages to capture the unique bond – the precious, platonic romance – that can exist between girls and their dads.