Okay, here's the good news: Baz Luhrmann's adaptation of "The Great Gatsby" is not an embarrassment to F. Scott Fitzgerald. This is a glorious looking and very well-acted visualization of a story that generations have been forced to read in high school, yet it never boring nor does it ever feel like homework. The bad news is that Luhrmann can't find a tone to get to the heart of the story – he mixes and odd combination of musical elements…

A Bit of Fresh Air

At a time when most screenplays are running on empty, Derek Cianfrance's "The Place Beyond the Pines" is a breath of fresh air, a three-act play about the strange course of destiny that connects a small group of people and how their actions affect the lives and decisions of others who cross their path. The script is so sharply written that it has the kind of poetic narrative that is easily found in great book…

Spirited Away is likely the very best from Miyazaki, from this stupendous film you can tell he is a master storyteller. A hallmark of a good storyteller is making the audience empathise or pull them into the shoes of the central character. Miyazaki does this brilliantly in Spirited Away. During the first fifteen minutes we have no idea what is going on. Neither does the main character Chihiro. We discover the world as Chihiro does and it's truly amazing to…

The film chronicles the true story of Aron Ralston (James Franco), a recklessly arrogant mountain climber whose arm gets crushed under a boulder during a trip through Utah canyon country. With no one coming to save him, he must decide whether he will die or fight for survival.

The logline and description may not sound like much, but 127 Hours delivers one of the most riveting and incredibly emotional experiences I have had in a theatre in some time. I…