Actor Ansel Elgort (1994)

West Side Story (2021) is a an erican musical romantic drama film directed and co-produced by Steven Spielberg, based on the 1957 stage musical of the same name. The story centers around two rival gangs, the Jets and Sharks, who battle for control of San Juan Hill in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. As tensions rise between the groups, NYPD Sergeant Krupke and Lieutenant Schrank intervene and remind them that their conflict is pointless as the neighborhood will soon be demolished for the Lincoln Center. Despite this warning, Jet leader Riff remains determined to settle things with a rumble and enlists his friend ...

Directed by John Crowley, the American drama film The Goldfinch (2019) showcases Peter Straughan’s adaptation of Donna Tartt’s 2013 novel of the same name. Following the tragedy at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art where thirteen-year-old Theodore Decker’s mother is killed in a bombing, Theo is urged by a dying man to take a painting—The Goldfinch—and his engraved ring. He is then placed into foster care with the Barbours, the family of his best friend Andy, and forms a close bond with Mrs. ...

Baby Driver (2017) is an action-packed film written and directed by Edgar Wright. The main character, Baby, is a skilled getaway driver in Atlanta who works for criminal mastermind Doc. His job involves driving robbers to their heists, as payment for stealing a car filled with Doc’s illegal merchandise. Due to a childhood car accident that resulted in the death of his parents, Baby suffers from tinnitus and finds comfort in music. He often uses his iPods to drown out the ringing, which doesn’t sit well with some of the robbers he works with. When not working as a driver, Baby enjoys creating remixes of ...

Allegiant (2016) is the third and final film in The Divergent Series, directed by Robert Schwentke and written by Bill Collage, Adam Cooper, and Noah Oppenheim. In this American dystopian science fiction action film, Evelyn takes charge of Chicago and puts Jeanine’s followers on trial for their actions. Johanna disagrees with this approach and is joined by many new Allegiants. Tris, Four, Caleb, Tori, Christina, and Peter escape over the wall while being ...

Insurgent (2015) is an American dystopian science fiction action film directed by Robert Schwentke, based on the 2012 novel of the same name by Veronica Roth. It is the sequel to the 2014 film Divergent and the second installment in The Divergent Series. Five days after Jeanine and her mind-controlled Dauntless soldiers attacked the Abnegation faction, she has declared martial law and labeled all Divergents and their allies as enemies. In the debris of Abnegation, Max and Eric find a box with all five faction symbols on it. Jeanine believes it contains ...

Divergent (2014), an American film directed by Neil Burger, is based on Veronica Roth’s novel of the same name. Set in a dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions: Abnegation, Amity, Candor, Dauntless, and Erudite. The Factionless make up the rest of the population but hold no status or privileges. At sixteen years old, children undergo a serum-induced psychological aptitude test to determine their best-suited faction. They can then choose any faction at the Choosing Ceremony. Beatrice Prior was born and raised in Abnegation, which controls the ...

The Fault in Our Stars (2014), directed by Josh Boone and written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, is an American coming-of-age romance film based on John Green’s 2012 novel of the same name. Hazel Grace Lancaster, an Indianapolis teenager with thyroid cancer that has spread to her lungs, attends a weekly cancer patient support group at the urging of her mother who believes she may be depressed. There she meets Augustus ‘Gus’ Waters, who is there to ...

Men, Women & Children (2014) is an American comedy-drama film directed by Jason Reitman and co-written with Erin Cressida Wilson. It is based on the novel of the same name by Chad Kultgen, and focuses on online addiction. The movie follows a group of high school teenagers and their parents as they navigate the ways in which the internet has affected their relationships, communication, self-image, and love lives. Social issues such as video game culture, anorexia, infidelity, fame hunting, and access to inappropriate content are explored. As each character’s ...

Carrie (2013) is an American supernatural horror film, directed by Kimberly Peirce. It’s the third adaptation and a remake of Stephen King’s novel from 1974, also titled Carrie. The main character, Carrie White, is a shy and unpopular girl at Ewen High School in Maine. One day while showering after gym class, she experiences her first menstrual period. Fearing she is dying, she calls out for help but instead is mocked by her classmates who throw tampons and pads at her. Chris Hargensen, the school bully, films this on her phone and uploads it to ...