Year: 2016

Reviews of “Race” and “The Physics of the Soul,” along with previews of three Oscar prediction radio shows, are now all available in the latest edition of Movies with Meaning on the web site of The Good Radio Network, available by clicking here ...

“45 Years” (2015). Cast: Charlotte Rampling, Tom Courtenay, Geraldine James, Dolly Wells, David Sibley, Sam Alexander. Director: Andrew Haigh. Screenplay: Andrew Haigh. Story: David Constantine, In Another Country. Web site. Trailer. What does it mean to love someone? Can that love stand the test of time? And can it withstand some potentially devastating news rooted in the past that only now makes its presence felt? Those are among the questions addressed in the taut new romantic drama, “45 Years.” A week before Kate Mercer (Charlotte Rampling) and her husband, Geoff (Tom Courtenay), are about to celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary at a grand party in their honor, they receive a letter revealing some upsetting news about one of Geoff’s former loves, a woman he knew before he married Kate. This news truly troubles Geoff, reminding him of a devastating loss from long ago. But the effect of this development is compounded when it becomes apparent just how much this decades-old tragedy has impacted Geoff throughout the years, particularly when it comes to the nature of his relationship with Kate, both now and throughout the course of their marriage. The news severely depresses Geoff, prompting him to spend much of his ...

It’s that time of year again – time for my predictions of the winners at the annual Academy Awards. Many of the major honors appear fairly clear-cut at this point, but, even with that said, here are my picks for who will take home statues this year: Best Actor The Field: Bryan Cranston, “Trumbo”; Matt Damon, “The Martian”; Leonardo DiCaprio, “The Revenant”; Michael Fassbender, “Steve Jobs”; Eddie Redmayne, “The Danish Girl”Who Will Likely Win: Leonardo DiCaprio. This appears to finally be DiCaprio’s year after numerous previous nominations. He has won virtually every major award leading up to this year’s Oscars, including the Golden Globe Award, the Critics Choice Award, the Screen Actors Guild Award and the BAFTA Award. I see no reason for this trend not to hold on Oscar night. Unfortunately, however, while DiCaprio’s portrayal here is indeed capable, I don’t believe it’s his best work nor the best lead actor performance this year. Rather, this is one of those “oversight Oscars” being bestowed upon someone who has been summarily overlooked many times before. I would much rather have seen DiCaprio win for several of his other previous efforts, including “The Wolf of Wall Street” (2013), “Blood Diamond” (2006) ...

Reviews of “45 Years” and “Where to Invade Next,” along with news about a very special Chicago film festival, are all available in the latest edition of Movies with Meaning on The Good Radio Network web site by clicking here. Photo by Brent Marchant ...

“Son of Saul” (“Saul fia”) (2015). Cast: Géza Röhrig, Levente Molnár, Urs Rechn, Gergö Farkas, Balázs Farkas, Sándor Zsótér, Kamil Dobrowolski, Uwe Lauer, Christian Harting, Márton Ágh, Juli Jakab, László Somojai. Director: László Nemes. Screenplay: László Nemes and Clara Royer. Web site. Trailer. When hell descends on earth, preserving anything that even hints at our innate humanity may seem like an impossible task. Just staying alive under such conditions may require everything we have, rendering the act of saving anything morally worthy a virtually unattainable luxury. But the value of engaging in an act like this may also prove to be the only thing that allows someone to persevere under such trying circumstances, a scenario pointedly depicted in the gripping new Hungarian feature, “Son of Saul” (“Saul fia”). Saul Ausländer (Géza Röhrig) leads a sickeningly ghastly life. As a Sonderkommando in the Auschwitz concentration camp, he’s been consigned to a special prison work crew charged with aiding his Nazi captors in the gruesome task of exterminating his fellow Jews. While he’s comparatively fortunate, having successfully evaded an otherwise-automatic death sentence, Saul must nevertheless face the day-to-day horrors of having to corral his peers into the camp’s gas chamber, scrub down ...

Reviews of “Youth,” “Son of Saul” and “Time is Art” are all now available in the latest Movies with Meaning post on the blog page of The Good Radio Network, available by clicking here. Photo courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures. Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics ...