Family drama Written by Nick Drake, from the memoir by Raimond Gaita Directed by Richard Roxburgh Nothing’s worse than a serious, character-driven drama that fails. A bad comedy will probably provide some laughs, and a bad action movie some thrills. But if a drama doesn’t work as a whole, the parts don’t amount to much, … Continue reading Romulus, My Father

[B] Comedy Written and directed by Eran Kolirin Kurt Vonnegut called unusual travel suggestions "dancing lessons from God." A small Egyptian police orchestra does quite a rumba when they accidentally arrive in the wrong Israeli town in Kolirin’s gentle comedy. There’s nothing political about this Arabs-meet-Jews movie. Neither politics nor religion ever come up. No … Continue reading The Band’s Visit

 A Family drama Written and directed by Alejandro Adams Sparse and utilitarian, Alejandro Adams' low-key drama gets right to the point, then tells its dysfunctional family story without pyrotechnics. Single dad Wyatt (Steve Voldseth) is so remote and disconnected from his five-year-old son (Connor Maselli) t hat he leaves the child home alone--and that's in … Continue reading Around the Bay

Family Fantasy Written by: Karey Kirkpatrick, David Berenbaum, and John Sayles, from the books by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black Directed by Mark Waters Basically a horror movie for pre-teens (and all ages above), The Spiderwick Chronicles hits almost every note right. It starts off with a family in crisis--a nice, normal crisis of the … Continue reading The Spiderwick Chronicles