I’ve been a sucker for soul band creation tales ever since The Commitments wailed its way into my heart, so I was already predisposed to love The Sapphires. The film, by director Wayne Blair, tells the very-close-to-true story of four young Australian Aboriginal women with killer pipes and big dreams. Sisters Gail (Deborah Mailman), Julie (Jessica Mauboy), and Cynthia (Miranda Tapsell) were raised on a reserve, and grew up singing ... Read More

Rebecca Thomas’s debut feature Electrick Children is a crackling, captivating film that’s equal parts allegory and acid trip. At the center of the story is Rachel (Julia Garner), an inquisitive and rebellious teenager living in the mid-nineties. Julia has been raised by a fundamentalist Mormon family, living on a compound in Utah. On the occasion of her fifteenth birthday, Rachel is asked by her father and church leader (Billy ... Read More

It’s the perfect time for Jack Kerouac’s iconic autobio- graphical novel On the Road to come to the big screen, despite skepticism that this singular staple of beat liter- ature has finally been sold out. Today we find ourselves in an era of uncertain futures populated by emasculated, cigarette-smoking young men with thick-framed glasses and the women who love them—not unlike the late ’40s. Screenwriter Jose ... Read More

From the opening sequence of cutesy doodles set to Wilco’s “Heavy Metal Drummer,” it’s clear that Save the Date is a certain genre of rom com: the indie rom-com dramedy. Think 500 Days of Summer, Juno, Garden State, or anything Michael Cera has been in. I usually love these movies, but I didn't love Save the Date. Despite its indie soundtrack, likeable stars, and an adorable cat, Save the Date is never anything more ... Read More

Things are not good for Sweetness O’Hara. A shy, studious girl in a rough neighborhood, Sweetness (the captivating Zöe Kravitz) is bullied at school and alternately abused and ignored by her alcoholic father and mentally ill mother. When she finally hits her breaking point, things get even worse—if you can believe it. Director Victoria Mahoney has cast a talented ensemble, featuring Precious star Gabourey Sidibe, Tim Blake ... Read More

When I grow up, I want to be Estelle Craig.   Estelle “Stella” Craig is 95 and one of the most fascinating women I’ve come across in a long time. She is the subject of a documentary aptly titled STELLA IS 95, directed by her daughter, Robin Baker Leacock. The film follows her around in her daily activities in her Toronto retirement community and allows her to candidly talk about her life as an event planner, ... Read More

  It’s hard to pin down a woman with a gun (in more ways than one). Cathryne Czubek’s new documentary, A Girl and a Gun, takes on the historically complex relationship between American women and firearms—and the portrait that emerges may surprise those who expect another Bowling for Columbine. Czubek captures some shockingly incongruous images—the mom with a baby in one arm and a shotgun in the other, the Tai ... Read More

“Blondes make the best victims,” Alfred Hitchcock once said. “They’re like virgin snow that shows up the bloody footprints.” So begins The Girl, HBO’s deeply (and rightly) gnarly exploration of the fraught relationship between Hitchcock and arguably the most legendary of his blonde ingénues, Tippi Hedren (Sienna Miller). Having happened upon the lovely Hedren in a TV commercial, “Hitch” ... Read More

Hunted, starring Melissa George’s gigantic, pouting upper lip, premiers on Cinemax on October 19. If you’re into spy flicks, but tired of all that messy, fast-paced action and drama, this is the show for you. There are lots of plot twists throughout this eight-part miniseries about a badass female spy named Sam Hunter (George), who, after an attempt on her life in the first episode, spends the rest of the series unsure who she ... Read More

Do you love American Beauty, but wish it had a lighter touch and a happier ending — and starred Hugh "Dr. House" Laurie? Okay, me neither really. Just checking.  But in case you do fit this particular niche, The Oranges is the suburban dysfunction film for you. Like a certain rose-petal-covered movie we know, The Oranges is a meditation on American life and American happiness directed by a British dude.  It also uses ... Read More