For a nation that proudly declared it would leave no child behind, America continues to do so at alarming rates. Despite increased spending and politicians’ promises, our buckling public-education system, once the best in the world, routinely forsakes the education of millions of children. Filmmaker Davis Guggenheim reminds us that education “statistics” have names: Anthony, [...]

Yaniv Schulman is a 24-yr-old photographer. After having one of his pictures published in a magazine, he receives a painting in the mail from an 8-yr-old girl in Michigan named Abby. After finding each other through Facebook, the two start a relationship and, soon enough, Nev becomes a close friend, not only with Abby but [...]

Going defiantly against the grain of a hyperbolic movie culture, “Never Let Me Go” is passionate about deliberation and restraint. Starring Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield and Keira Knightley, the A Team of young British acting talent, this is a moving and provocative film that initially unsettles, then disturbs and finally haunts you well into the [...]

Cairo Time is an exquisite feast for the eyes, ears and eventually, the heart. Ruba Nadda takes us on a tour of Cairo which flows so well because it appears complete even down to such minute details such as showing street children selling bobby pins, a wild motorcycle driver nearly hitting the film’s heroine, and [...]

Violent and brash, as befits its subject , France’s media-baiting criminal Jacques Mesrine, Mesrine: Killer Instinct is the first part of Jean-François Richet’s two-feature bio-pic about the bank robber who electrified the public with his daring prison breaks. The provocative opening finds Mesrine, as a young soldier in the Algerian War, being ordered to participate [...]

In “The Concert”, the new comedy from Radu Mihaileanu (Live and Become), Alexei Guskov stars as Andrei Filipov, a once celebrated Russian conductor of the Bolshoi who has hit rock bottom, working as a depressed custodian and drinking too much. But when he intercepts an invitation meant for a former orchestra to perform in Paris, [...]

A modern day romantic fairytale set amidst a pitiless city backdrop, “Kisses” is the story of 13-year-old Dylan and 11-year-old Kylie who have always been close, bonding over the harsh treatment dished out by their respective families. After narrowly escaping his father’s fists one day, Dylan and Kylie hop on a canal barge and sail [...]

The movie opens with a journey through the idyllic snow covered streets of Milan that lead us to a stunning bourgeois mansion; home of the wealthy Recchi family. Emma Recchi (Tilda Swinton) is a pale-gold Russian who has married into this wealthy Milanese clan. She watches as her husband and son are named as joint [...]

“Agora” is a historical epic that depicts the eternal struggle between science and ideology.The central storied figure driving the drama is the celebrated mathematician and astronomer Hypatia ( Rachel Weisz); an isosceles love triangle forms as one of her students (later a high official) and one of her slaves (later a religious extremist) pine for [...]

Zac Efron’s bid to move from teen idol to adult movie star continues with “Charlie St. Cloud,” the story of a college-bound golden boy whose life is upended by a car accident that kills his younger brother. It’s not the kind of movie that will allow Efron to coast on his good looks; the role [...]