There Be Dragons (2011) Watch Full Movie

It's the kind of simplistic movie that features a benevolent chocolate maker and desk drawers containing both crucifixes and pistols. Which to choose?. Even actor's actor Derek Jacobi, as a Jewish factory owner, is wasted in this international muddle of a movie.. Joffe is out of depth when it comes to Escriva's religious experiences. It's clear he wants the film to show how faith works within us,...

Read more »

Beasts of No Nation (2015) Watch Streaming

Director/writer Cary Joji Fukunaga hasn't made a film that's quite as revolutionary as either its distribution model or casting. But it's still an involving and searing tale of a boy surviving the horrors of being a child soldier.. Fukunaga's hurtling camera and taut cutting keep Beasts of No Nation only just this side of hallucinatory, and Elba is the kind of titanic actor to kick it to a near-mythic...

Read more »

Battle For Haditha (2007) Online Streaming

Flawed but unmistakably moving, Amen shines a flashlight on the darkest chapter in modern history.. While Amen works as a history lesson, it's less effective as a thriller, since the outcome is sadly all too well-known.. An engaging Iraqudrama that straddles the line between blistering expose and Spielbergian heart-tugger.. . An unusually riveting experience for a story with an inevitable, dismal...

Read more »

Merry Christmas (2005) Online Streaming

Unfolding slowly, then building in momentum like the hymns themselves, this entire sequence is tremendously affecting.. For all their friendship and yuletide charity, the men must return to battle, and the miracle of Christmas does little to alter the course of war. By the end of it, they must decide if they've witnessed their own grand illusion.. A poignant and rousing carol for peace.. An elegantly...

Read more »

Windtalkers (2002) Watch Streaming

A delightful, curious film that indulges in both the personal and the political and provides a potted history of modern Iran through one woman's experience.. A film as personal and eccentric as Satrapi's original book, a black-and-white, hand-drawn memoir of growing up and away from Iran.. Feels slightly off-key, out of focus.. Although too simplistic, overly melodramatic and psychologically underdeveloped...

Read more »

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008) Full Movie Streaming

The result isn't a deep film, but rather a profound one.. With superficial sleekness, it flattens the intricate story to excessive simplicity.. Given the tough-minded tone of many young adult books turned to films, "The Book Thief's" frolicsome tone feels dated and inappropriate.. And so another awards season brings another film (adapted from another international bestseller) offering up the unrelated...

Read more »

Act of Valor (2012) Full Movie Streaming

A mechanically efficient yet soulless dramatization of the U.S. Navy SEALs in action.. These guys ... are the real deal. And any hero worship given them - badly done or not - is still deserved.. While subtleties and pacing are MIA, the filmmakers know how to shoot action and they make the most of it in Act of Valor.. I don't know what to make of Act of Valor. It's like reviewing a recruiting poster.....

Read more »