The Book Thief (Brian Percival, 2013) The best thing about this film are the young leads, Sophie Nélisse (Monsieur Lazhar), … More

Philomena (Stephen Frears, 2013) Philomena manages to both attack the hypocrisy of organized religion and affirm the power of faith. It’s … More

Nebraska (Alexander Payne, 2013) I’ve always loved Alexander Payne’s uniquely quirky (but never twee, unlike Wes Anderson) sensibility, from films … More

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Francis Lawrence, 2013) I did not like the first Hunger Games. As I wrote in … More

Kill Your Darlings (John Krokidas, 2013) We’ve seen a number of films about the 1950s “Beat Generation” recently, among them Howl (about the … More

The Best Man Holiday (Malcolm Lee, 2013) I must confess that I never saw The Best Man, back in 1999. Did … More

Dallas Buyers Club (Jean-Marc Vallée, 2013) Dallas Buyers Club, the new film by French Canadian director Jean-Marc Vallée (The Young … More

Blue Is the Warmest Color (Abdellatif Kechiche, 2013) From 1895 to the 1910s, the early film pioneers wrestled with the storytelling … More

Thor: The Dark World (Alan Taylor, 2013) I have a problem with Thor. Not the Norse god, whom I never … More

Today, in Baltimore, three new films open, all of which tackle existential crises, and none of which are alike. In … More