Actress Frances McDormand (1957)

An historical thriller film, The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021), was written, directed and produced by Joel Coen. It is based on William Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth. After leading King Duncan’s army to victory against the traitorous Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth and Banquo are approached by three witches on the battlefield. They predict that Macbeth will become the Thane of Cawdor (already holding the title of Glamis) and eventually be king. Meanwhile, Banquo’s descendants will also rule as kings. In response to the prophecy, King Duncan orders the execution of ...

The French Dispatch (2021) is an American comedy drama film. Written, directed, and produced by Wes Anderson from a story he co-created with Roman Coppola, Hugo Guinness, and Jason Schwartzman, it boasts a sprawling cast and tells three unique tales set within the fictional French foreign bureau of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun newspaper’s concluding edition. In the fictional French town of Ennui-sur-Blasé (translated as “boredom on jaded”), Arthur ...

Nomadland (2020), an American drama, showcases Chloé Zhao’s talents as writer, producer, editor and director. Jessica Bruder’s book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century inspired the film. In 2011, Fern loses her job at the US Gypsum plant in Empire, Nevada after it shuts down. She had been working there for years with her husband who recently passed away. To embark on a new journey, Fern sells most of her belongings and buys a van to travel the country in search of work. Eventually, she lands a seasonal job at an Amazon fulfillment ...

Isle of Dogs (2018) is a stop-motion animated comedy film written, produced, and directed by Wes Anderson, narrated by Courtney B. Vance. In the year 2038, a canine flu outbreak hits Japan, affecting the fictional city of Megasaki. The virus poses a threat to humans as well. In response, Mayor Kenji Kobayashi implements a decree banishing all dogs to Trash Island. This decision is made despite Professor Watanabe’s pleas for more time to find a cure. The first dog to be deported is Spots Kobayashi, a white and black-spotted canine who happens to be the bodyguard of ...

The crime drama film, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), written, directed, and co-produced by Martin McDonagh, follows Mildred Hayes in the fictional town of Ebbing. Seven months after her teenage daughter Angela was raped and murdered, Mildred is still grieving and frustrated with the lack of progress in the investigation. To draw attention to the case, she rents three abandoned billboards near her home and displays provocative messages: ‘Raped While Dying’, ‘And Still No Arrests?’, ‘How Come, Chief Willoughby?’. Her actions catch the attention of Bill Willoughby, the ...

Hail, Caesar! (2016) is a period black comedy film that takes place in 1951 Hollywood. Eddie Mannix, head of property protection at Capitol Pictures, has the crucial job of shielding the studio’s stars from scandal and upholding their desired public image. Unfortunately, this responsibility leads him to frequent visits to the Catholic church confessional, much to the chagrin of the clergy. Despite his wife’s urgent requests, Eddie struggles to quit smoking on a day that’s even worse than usual – and ‘usual’ is already pretty bad for him. To add to his troubles, DeeAnna Moran, the wholesome and unmarried ‘mermaid’ of the ...

An animated adventure film The Good Dinosaur (2015), created by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, presents an alternate history in which the asteroid that would have wiped out the dinosaurs passes harmlessly by Earth. In present day, Apatosaurus farmers Henry and Ida are raising their three children: Libby, Buck, and Arlo. While his siblings thrive in their tasks of leaving a mark on the family’s corn silo, Arlo struggles due to his timid nature. In an attempt to give him purpose, Henry entrusts Arlo with guarding the silo and helps him set a trap. Despite capturing a feral caveboy, Arlo cannot bring himself to harm ...

Based on Elizabeth Strout’s 2008 novel, Olive Kitteridge (2014) is an American TV miniseries set in Maine. Starring Frances McDormand as the title character and Richard Jenkins as her husband Henry Kitteridge, with Zoe Kazan as Denise Thibodeau and Bill Murray as Jack Kennison. The show is divided into four parts, each depicting a different point in the story. Premiering on HBO on November 2, 2014, the first two episodes ...

Gus Van Sant’s drama, Promised Land (2012), follows the journey of Steve Butler as he climbs the ranks at Global Crosspower Solutions, an energy company focused on fracking for natural gas. With a proven record of efficiently and cost-effectively securing mineral rights leases from land owners, Butler catches the attention of top management. Teaming up with his partner Sue Thomason, Butler travels to a struggling farming community in Pennsylvania where residents take great pride in their long-standing family farms. Having grown up in a town similar to this one, Butler is determined to win over the locals on behalf ...

Moonrise Kingdom (2012) is an American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Wes Anderson and co-written with Roman Coppola. Set on the New England island of New Penzance, 12-year-olds Sam Shakusky and Suzy Bishop cross paths at Camp Ivanhoe, a Khaki Scout summer camp run by Scout Master Randy Ward. While Sam is an orphan, Suzy lives with her parents Walt and Laura, both lawyers, and her younger brothers in their home named Summer’s End. Despite their similar introverted nature and intelligence beyond their years, they first meet during a church performance of ...

Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (2012) is a comedy film from DreamWorks Animation SKG and PDI/DreamWorks, distributed by Paramount Pictures. The penguins and chimpanzees take off for Monte Carlo in a modified airplane. However, when they fail to return, Alex, Marty, Melman, Gloria, King Julien, Maurice, and Mort decide to track them down and bring them back to their home at the Central Park Zoo in New York City. They eventually locate them at the Monte Carlo Casino, but things quickly escalate as an argument erupts between Alex, Marty, Melman and Gloria. In the chaos that follows, the animals manage to escape from Captain Chantel DuBois of Monaco’s ...

Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) is an American science fiction action film inspired by Hasbro’s popular toy line. Decades earlier, a Cybertronian spaceship known as the Ark crashes on the dark side of the Moon and is discovered by NASA. In order to investigate, President John F. Kennedy approves a mission to land on the Moon, which takes place in 1969 with Apollo 11. Unbeknownst to the public, the astronauts also explore the crashed spaceship before returning to Earth. In present day, the Autobots work alongside humans to prevent major conflicts. During a mission to investigate possible alien technology at Chernobyl, they are attacked by Decepticon ...

This Must Be the Place (2011), an Italian-French-Irish drama directed and written by Paolo Sorrentino and Umberto Contarello respectively, tells the story of Cheyenne. The former wealthy rock star has been living a mundane and uninspired life in Dublin for the past two decades. His retirement was prompted by the tragic suicides of two of his teenage fans. Seeking some sort of redemption, he makes the journey to New York to make amends with his dying father, only to arrive too late. His justification for not being in contact for 30 years was due to his father’s rejection when he began experimenting with goth ...

Burn After Reading (2008) is a black comedy film created by the Coen brothers. When Osbourne Cox gets demoted for drinking, he quits his job as a CIA analyst and decides to write a memoir. His wife Katie secretly files for divorce and resumes her affair with U.S. Marshal Harry Pfarrer, who is prone to paranoia. Katie gives her lawyer a copy of Osbourne’s digital records and other personal files, which include an early draft of his memoir. The lawyer’s assistant copies the files onto a CD-R and accidentally leaves it at Hardbodies gym. Personal trainer Chad Feldheimer and coworker Linda Litzke come across the ...

Æon Flux (2005), an American science fiction action film, is based on the animated TV series of the same name created by Peter Chung. In 2011, a deadly pathogenic virus wiped out 99% of humanity, forcing the survivors to scatter and regroup across Earth. Eventually, five million humans settled in Bregna, a walled futuristic city ruled by scientists. Though Bregna may seem like an idyllic place compared to the destroyed Earth, people still go missing and suffer from nightmares. Æon Flux is a skilled warrior and part of the Monicans, an underground rebel group led by the Handler that uses telepathy technology to ...

North Country (2005), directed by Niki Caro, is an American drama film. In 1989, Josey Aimes flees her abusive husband and returns to her hometown in northern Minnesota with her children Sammy and Karen. She moves in with her parents, Alice and Hank, where tensions rise due to Hank’s beliefs that Josey is promiscuous and disapproves of her having Sammy as a teenager. While working at a hair salon, Josey reconnects with an old acquaintance named Glory Dodge, who suggests she apply for a job at the local iron mine. Despite Hank’s disapproval of women working there, Josey takes the job due to its higher pay. ...

Something’s Gotta Give (2003) is an American romantic comedy-drama film written, produced and directed by Nancy Meyers. The story follows Harry Sanborn, a wealthy New York record company owner whose preference for dating younger women is put to the test when he meets Marin Klein. As they head to her mother’s beach house in the Hamptons, little do they know that they will be joined by Erica Barry, a playwright and Marin’s mother, as well as Erica’s sister Zoe. After an awkward dinner, things take a turn for the worse when Harry suffers a heart attack during foreplay with Marin and is rushed to the ...

Laurel Canyon (2002), an American drama film written and directed by Lisa Cholodenko, follows the story of newly engaged couple Sam and Alex as they embark on a move to Los Angeles in pursuit of career opportunities. Sam, a recently graduated medical student, is starting his residency in psychiatry, while Alex is nearing completion of her Ph.D. dissertation on genomics. The plan was for the couple to stay at Sam’s mother Jane’s vacant home in the eccentric Laurel Canyon area of the city. However, their plans are thrown off when they arrive to find Jane still there, caught up in a passionate love affair with ...

In the film Wonder Boys (2000), director Curtis Hanson and writer Steve Kloves showcase the life of Grady Tripp, a creative writing professor at an unnamed Pennsylvania university. Grady is in a relationship with Sara Gaskell, the university chancellor. However, her husband Walter is also involved in their professional lives as chairman of the English department where Grady teaches. Recently, Grady’s third wife Emily has left him and he struggles to replicate the success of his first novel. Currently, he is diligently working on his second novel but cannot seem to ...

The mystery thriller film Johnny Skidmarks (1998) was directed by John Raffo. The main character, Johnny Scardino, is a crime scene photographer who regularly works with police detectives Larry Skovik and Woody Warshawski. Due to the nature of his job, he is often called ‘Johnny Skidmarks’ by the detectives. To cope with the horrors he sees, Johnny has built a wall of detachment around himself, which has only been reinforced by the recent death of his wife Ruth. He leads a solitary life, with his only companions being Ruth’s brother Jerry, who is always in need of attention and conversation, and their ...