The Erwin brothers bring another faith-based story inspired by a genuine movement on the screen.
Jon Erwin and Brent McCorkle co-directed Jesus Revolution. The film tells the story of a young Greg Laurie, played by Joel Courtney, being raised by his struggling mother, Charlene, played by Kimberly Williams-Paisley, in the 1970s.
Jonathan Roumie as Lonnie Frisbee and Kelsey Grammer as Chuck Smith in Jesus Revolution. Photo Credit: Dan Anderson.
Laurie and a sea of young people descend on sunny Southern California to redefine truth through all means of liberation. Everything changes when Laurie meets Lonnie Frisbee, played by Jonathan Roumie. Frisbee is a charismatic hippie street preacher, and Pastor Chuck Smith, played by Kelsey Grammer, has thrown open the doors of Smith’s languishing church to a stream of wandering youth.
Jonathan Roumie as Lonnie Frisbee and Kelsey Grammer as Chuck Smith in Jesus Revolution. Photo Credit: Dan Anderson.
What unfolds becomes the most significant spiritual awakening in American history. Rock and roll, radical love, and newfound faith lead to a “Jesus Revolution.”
Grammer nails the role of Pastor Smith. He brings humor to an otherwise strict faith-based opportunity to spread the word of Jesus.
Here, the movie tells the story of how one culture turns one counterculture movement into a revival that changes the world.
Phyllis Nagy directed Call Jane, a married woman, played by Elizabeth Banks, with an unwanted pregnancy. She lives in a time in America when she can’t get a legal abortion and works with a group of suburban women to find help.
Nagy wrote the screenplay for Carol, directed by Todd Haynes, starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara.
Sigourney Weaver, Kate Mara and Rupert Friend also star in Call Jane.
Based upon the book by Miriam Toews and screenplay by Sarah Polley and directed by Polley, the Women Talking took place in 2010. The women of an isolated religious community grapple with reconciling their reality with their faith.
According to Polley, the women disagree on essential things and have a conversation to figure out how they might move forward together to build a better world for themselves and their children.
“Though the backstory behind the events in Women Talking is violent, the film is not. We never see the violence that the women have experienced. We see only short glimpses of the aftermath. Instead, we watch a community of women come together as they must decide, in a very short space of time, what their collective response will be.
“When I read Miriam Toews’ book, it sunk deep into me, raising questions and thoughts about the world I live in that I had never articulated. Questions about forgiveness, faith, systems of power, trauma, healing, culpability, community, and self-determination. It also left me bewilderingly hopeful.”
Toews’s book was The New York Times book of the year, so naturally, it should become a film. However, according to producer Dede Gardner from Plan B, Brad Pitt’s production studio, the film departs from the book on many levels.
From the book to the screen, the movie became much bigger. “The book is extraordinary and full of life and humor and wickedness and pithiness,” Gardner said. “Yet, two families of women in a hayloft making a decision for the duration is not an obvious idea for a film. At the same time, I could see its cinematic structure. The thing that the book and the movie really share is that despite all the things that they discuss, there’s a real sense of movement and a victory at the end of it.”
David O. Russell directs an all-star cast about a story in the 1930s. Three friends witness a murder and are framed for doing it. While trying to clear themselves, they stumble upon an unbelievable plot in American history.
Watch the trailer, and you’ll see a beautifully crafted story of forbidden love and changing social conventions.
Based on the book by Bethan Roberts, Michael Grandage directs My Policeman. The story follows three young people: policeman Tom, played by Harry Styles, teacher Marion, played by Emma Corrin, and museum curator Patrick, played by David Dawson.
They embark on an emotional journey during the 1950s in Britain. Flashing forward to the 1990s, Tom, now played by Linus Roache, Marion, played by Gina McKee, and Patrick, played by Rupert Everett, are still reeling with longing and regret.
But now they have one last chance to repair the damage of the past.
Grandage sculpts a visually transporting, heart-stopping depiction of three people caught up in the shifting tides of history, liberty and forgiveness.
Damien Chazelle, who directed Whiplash, La La Land, now brings us another side of Hollywood, Babylon.
Margot Robbie plays Nellie LaRoy in Babylon from Paramount Pictures.
It’s an original epic set in 1920s Los Angeles led by Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie and Diego Calva, including an ensemble cast: Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li and Jean Smart.
Jovan Adepo plays Sidney Palmer in Babylon from Paramount Pictures.
A tale of outsized ambition and outrageous excess traces the rise and fall of multiple characters during an era of unbridled decadence and depravity in early Hollywood.
Set on a fictional, remote island off the west coast of Ireland, The Banshees of Inisherin follows lifelong friends Pádraic, played by Colin Farrell and Colm, played by Brendan Gleeson.
They find themselves at an impasse when Colm unexpectedly ends their long-term friendship. A stunned Pádraic, aided by his sister Siobhán, played by Kerry Condon, and troubled young islander Dominic, played by Barry Keoghan, endeavors to repair the relationship, refusing to take no for an answer.
But Pádraic’s repeated efforts only strengthen his former friend’s resolve, and when Colm delivers a desperate request, events swiftly escalate, with shocking consequences.
Written and directed by Martin McDonagh, who has worked with Farrell and Gleeson several times, he is a well-known Irish playwright and screenwriter.
“One of the things I love about Martin’s writing is that it lacks malice,” continues Farrell. “Some of the characters he presents to the audience can be incredibly malicious and cruel, and some of the events can be beyond the pale in regards to the macabre, but I never detect any maliciousness from the writer, the voice, the creator of it.”
Farrell and Gleeson worked together in the film In Bruges, which McDonagh wrote and directed. The movie permitted Farrell and Gleeson to develop a shorthand, and McDonagh wanted to bring them back together again.
Along came The Banshees of Inisherin, written especially in mind for Farrell and Gleeson to star. “As an actor, you’re looking for someone who has a unique voice, an original way of articulating thoughts and feelings and creating characters and whole worlds. It’s lovely when you come across a writer that establishes a world that has its own kind of order and sense of aesthetic (sic). Martin’s voice can be extraordinary.” Gleeson describes McDonagh as fearless. “He goes into these awful places finally, armed with compassion and empathy.”
Steven Spielberg directed this coming-of-age drama from a screenplay he co-wrote with Tony Kushner. The semi-autobiographical story follows Sammy Fabelmen, played by Gabriel LaBelle. Sammy is a yearning filmmaker based on Spielberg himself.
Michelle Williams plays the mother, and Paul Dano plays the father.
Acclaimed filmmaker James Gray directed Armageddon Time, a deeply personal story of the strength of family.
Like most of Gray’s films, the movie is about the complexity of friendship and the generational pursuit of the American Dream.
Jaylin Webb stars as Johnny Crocker, and Michael Banks Repeta stars as Paul Graff in director James Gray’s ARMAGEDDON TIME. A Focus Features release. Courtesy of Focus Features.
The film presents a strong cast, including Anthony Hopkins, Anne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong.
