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No deficit of love: Dorval and Pilon.

Arts & Culture

Some movies want to wear you down—an approach that seems logical for,

Some movies want to wear you down—an approach that seems logical for, say, a World War II tank…

Knudsen (left) and D'Anna as mistress and servant.IFC Midnight

Arts & Culture

Tough call if you’re a movie marketer: Do you sell The Duke

Tough call if you’re a movie marketer: Do you sell The Duke of Burgundy as a story of…

Who's directing whom? Dumitrache and Avramut.Cinema Guild

Arts & Culture

Movies about moviemaking don’t come much drier than this new one from

Movies about moviemaking don’t come much drier than this new one from Romania. It has the usual elements…

Cotillard as desperate factory worker.Christine Plenus/Sundance Selects

Arts & Culture

There is only one situation in Two Days, One Night—no subplots, no

There is only one situation in Two Days, One Night—no subplots, no vast canvas. But filmmaking brothers Jean-Pierre…

Hathaway's Franny on a musical quest.Cindigm/Film Arcade

Arts & Culture

People who don’t like musicals always fall back on the Realism Argument,

People who don’t like musicals always fall back on the Realism Argument, contending that in real life we…

Chastain and Isaac as stylish fuel-oil merchants.

Arts & Culture

In the wintry air of A Most Violent Year, a would-be business

In the wintry air of A Most Violent Year, a would-be business magnate named Abel Morales (Oscar Isaac)…

Shirin (Akhavan) on the rebound.Parkville Pictures/Gravitas Ventures

Arts & Culture

Because Desiree Akhavan has been cast in a recurring role on the

Because Desiree Akhavan has been cast in a recurring role on the new season of Girls, her visibility…

Kyle (Cooper) takes aim.

Arts & Culture

There was a time when American Sniper would’ve been an ideal Oliver

There was a time when American Sniper would’ve been an ideal Oliver Stone project—a story of the battlefield…

Oyelowo and Ejogo enact the politics of marriage.Atsushi Nishijima/Paramount

Arts & Culture

The most suspenseful scene in Ava DuVernay’s Selma does not depict the

The most suspenseful scene in Ava DuVernay’s Selma does not depict the dramatic 1965 march from Selma to…

TV veterans Brody and Jacobs.Magnolia Pictures

Arts & Culture

Whatever else it achieves in offering observations about friendship and love in

Whatever else it achieves in offering observations about friendship and love in the modern age, Life Partners is…

Vand as nocturnal heroine.

Arts & Culture

It sounds like something that fell from a branch of the Tarantino

It sounds like something that fell from a branch of the Tarantino tree: Surely a movie promoting itself…

Aydin (Bilginer) as idle landlord.Adopt Films

Arts & Culture

The rustic hotel at the heart of Winter Sleep is a strikingly

The rustic hotel at the heart of Winter Sleep is a strikingly unfamiliar place: Located somewhere in Turkey’s…

Rocks in My Pockets: Depression is like lifting a whale?

Arts & Culture

The first minutes of Rocks in My Pockets unfold in standard-issue animation

The first minutes of Rocks in My Pockets unfold in standard-issue animation of the European variety: cutesy (yet…

Fiennes as the dapper Gustave in Grand Budapest Hotel.Fox Searchlight

Film

Writing a year-end movie wrap-up is a useful way of acknowledging quality,

Writing a year-end movie wrap-up is a useful way of acknowledging quality, but it’s also a handy method…

The debtor (Wahlberg) faces down his lender (Williams).Claire Folger/Paramount

Film

Movie stars come from the unlikeliest places. Take the case of one

Movie stars come from the unlikeliest places. Take the case of one Mark Wahlberg, for example. In youth,…

Corden’s baker runs afoul of Streep’s witch.

Film

The crucial masterstroke of Into the Woods is that the fairy-tale happy

The crucial masterstroke of Into the Woods is that the fairy-tale happy ending comes halfway through the action.…

Turing and his proto-PC.

Film

The Imitation Game proves that a ripping true story can survive even

The Imitation Game proves that a ripping true story can survive even the Oscar-bait effect. This is a…

Azog is back to meet his just dessert on the battlefield.

Arts & Culture

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Opens Wed., Dec. 17

The Hobbit: 
The Battle of the Five Armies Opens Wed., Dec. 17 at Cinerama and other theaters. Rated…

Final fountain? Plummer and MacLaine.Michele K. Short/Millennium Ent.

Arts & Culture

Elsa & Fred Opens Fri., Dec. 19 at Sundance Cinemas. Rated PG-13.

Elsa & Fred Opens Fri., Dec. 19 at Sundance Cinemas. Rated PG-13. 97 minutes. Fifty years ago Shirley…

Oh no! Is Miss Hannigan (Diaz) drunk again? Annie (Wallis, with Nicolette Pierini) has to wonder.Barry Wetcher/Sony/Columbia

Arts & Culture

Annie Opens Fri., Dec. 19 at Meridian and other theaters. Rated

Annie Opens Fri., Dec. 19 at Meridian and 
other theaters. Rated PG. 119 minutes. Musical-theater purists can be…