Compassionate Jordan Turner (Halle Berry) is a veteran Los Angeles 911 dispatcher who’s still recovering from a traumatic incident – six months ago – when she was unable to save a teenage girl from the clutches of a psychopathic murderer. Working as an instructor, she shows new recruits around the vast, high-tech Emergency Call Center that’s known as The Hive, as the same “911: what is your emergency?” greeting is methodically repeated at every desk. Read the rest of this entry »

Set in 1945 in the Bavarian countryside just after Germany has surrendered near the end of W.W. II, this is the coming-of-age/survival story of teenage Hannalore Dressler (Saskia Rosendahl), nicknamed Lore, who is left in charge when her parents are taken into custody for war crimes during the Third Reich. Just before her mother (Ursina Lardi) departs, she instructs stolid, responsible Lore to take her four younger siblings – ranging in age from an infant to pre-teen – to their grandmother’s house, some 500 miles to the north, near Hamburg. Read the rest of this entry »

Disney is betting $325 million that audiences, worldwide, are going to flock to see this prequel to Victor Fleming’s classic “Wizard of Oz,” which catapulted Judy Garland to stardom and made L. Frank Baum’s fantasy fable an integral part of American folklore. While Baum wrote 14 Land of Oz novels, he never delved into the wizard’s background. So this is the charlatan-behind-the-curtain’s ‘origin’ story. Read the rest of this entry »

Oscar-nominated as Best Documentary, Dror Moreh’s astonishing glimpse inside Shin Bet, the agency that took over Israel’s internal security service, offers an illuminating, insider’s view of the Arab-Israeli conflict since the Six-Day War in 1967, when one million Palestinians came under Israeli control in the West Bank, Gaza and the old city of Jerusalem. Read the rest of this entry »

There are certain predictable elements to movies like “The Notebook,” “Dear John,” “Message in a Bottle,” based on Nicholas Sparks’ novels: death, danger and disaster, ultimately leading to romance, and punctuated by idyllic, seaside interludes, rainstorms, Spanish moss and a seasonal celebration. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week, it was Jason Statham in “Parker.” Before that, Arnold Schwazenegger’s “The Last Stand.” Now it’s Sylvester Stallone’s turn, as the aging action stars of “The Expendables” try solo turns again. Read the rest of this entry »

Over the decades, Shakespeare’s classic “Romeo and Juliet” tale has been adapted to many genres, and this new twist transposes the tortured love story into the realm of the undead. Read the rest of this entry »

This wannabe political thriller falls far short of its mark as it unravels the dense web of criminal conspiracies enveloping longtime incumbent New York City Mayor Nicholas Hosteler (Russell Crowe), who is vying for re-election with a younger, richer city councilman, Jack Valliant (Barry Pepper). Read the rest of this entry »

Christian Petzold’s Cold War drama boasts memorable performances and an engrossing emotional payoff, which justifies its winning the prestigious Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. Read the rest of this entry »

Notorious Los Angeles gangster Mickey Cohen has been portrayed by several actors over the years, including Harvey Keitel, who copped an Oscar-nomination for “Bugsy.” Now Sean Penn plays the former boxer-turned-mobster who became the prime West Coast promoter of drugs, gaming and prostitution as a cold, ruthless psychopath. Read the rest of this entry »