A poet and his wife are hired by a carnival owner to make up stories based around a group of wax figures that includes a Caliph of Baghdad, Ivan the Terrible and Spring-Heeled Jack/Jack the Ripper. When I started this, I thought it was a horror film. But it's really an anthology film where only the third sequence is true horror. While it's a visually arresting example of German expressionism throughout, only the third story and the shortest story of…

A father searches for his missing 16 year old daughter by tracking her social media activity. This is a film that's pretty much told entirely from smart phones and computer screens. Yes, it's a gimmick and yes, it's been done before but this film has done it the most effectively so far. From the opening montage which, quite frankly, rivals Up in its emotional impact does a good job of setting up the characters and making us invested in them…

Whoah. This is an intense, exhilarating (just like the blurb in the posters say) film. An ambitious young jazz drummer gets tormented both physically, psychologically and emotionally by a brutal teacher who pushes him beyond his limits in order to realize his full potential and achieve greatness. What follows is not an emotional, feel-good inspiring tale (well, not-so-much) but a brutally honest examination of what it means to achieve one's ambitions. The buzz around JK Simmons' performance is well-earned, IMO…