The Weinstein Company (USA): 27

Directed by John Lee Hancock and written by Robert Siegel, The Founder (2016) is a biographical drama about Ray Kroc. In 1954, Kroc had spent most of his adult life as a salesman, becoming known for his hustle. This has garnered him both admiration and disdain as he peddles products that some consider more novelty than useful. Despite this, his hard work has provided him and his wife Ethel with a comfortable home in Arlington Heights, Illinois. However, Ethel longs for Kroc to devote more time to their relationship instead of constantly being on the road selling ...

Carol (2015) is a touching romantic drama set in the past and directed by Todd Haynes. The film, based on acclaimed author Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Price of Salt, features a screenplay written by Phyllis Nagy. It takes place during the holiday season of 1952 and follows the story of Therese Belivet, an aspiring photographer who works at Frankenberg’s department store in New York City. One day, while working at the store, Therese meets Carol Aird – a strikingly beautiful woman in search of a ...

Paddington (2014), a live-action animated comedy film, was written and directed by Paul King. Based on Michael Bond’s beloved character Paddington Bear, the story was developed by King and Hamish McColl. In the depths of the Peruvian jungle, a British explorer comes across a group of bears with a love for marmalade. He dubs them Lucy and Pastuzo before bidding them farewell with an invitation to London. Forty years later, after their home is destroyed in an ...

Big Eyes (2014), a biographical drama film directed by Tim Burton and written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, stars Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz. In 1958, Margaret Ulbrich moves with her daughter Jane to North Beach in San Francisco, where she finds employment painting illustrations at a furniture factory. At an outdoor art show, she meets Walter Keane, who sells paintings of Parisian street scenes but earns his ...

August: Osage County (2013), a film directed by John Wells, is a tragicomedy based on Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play. Set in the scorching month of August in rural Pawhuska, Oklahoma, the story centers around Beverly Weston, a once-famous poet struggling with alcoholism. He hires Johnna, a young Cheyenne woman, to work as a live-in cook and caregiver for his wife Violet. Violet is battling oral cancer and a narcotic addiction. After Beverly disappears, Violet turns to her sister and daughters for help. Along with her husband Charles Aiken, Violet’s ...

Django Unchained (2012), a Quentin Tarantino production, takes us to 1858 Texas where two brothers, Ace and Dicky Speck, are seen driving enslaved men and women. One of these slaves is Django, who has been torn apart from his wife Broomhilda von Shaft – an English and German-speaking house slave. The group is stopped by Dr. King Schultz, a former dentist turned bounty hunter, who is looking to buy Django for his knowledge on the notorious Brittle brothers. When Ace refuses to cooperate, Schultz takes matters into his own hands by killing him and using Dicky’s horse as leverage. He then advises the rest of ...

Scream 4 (2011) is an American slasher film helmed by director Wes Craven and penned by Kevin Williamson. The movie, which serves as a follow-up to 2000’s Scream 3, is produced by Outerbanks Entertainment and distributed by Dimension Films. During the week of the original Woodsboro murders’ 15th anniversary, high school students Jenny Randall and Marnie Cooper fall victim to Ghostface’s killing spree. In the midst of these events, Sidney Prescott returns to Woodsboro with her publicist Rebecca Walters to promote her self-help book. However, when ...

Directed by David O. Russell, The Fighter (2010) is a biographical sports drama depicting the story of Micky Ward, an American welterweight boxer from Lowell, Massachusetts. Despite being managed by his mother, Alice Ward, and trained by his older half-brother, Dicky Eklund, Micky often finds himself being used as a ‘stepping stone’ for other boxers to defeat on their way up. Unfortunately, Dicky’s former success in the ring against Sugar Ray Leonard in 1978 has been overshadowed by his addiction to crack cocaine. Unaware that the documentary he is being filmed for is not about his ...

The Company Men (2010), an American drama film written and directed by John Wells, follows the story of Bobby Walker. When his employer, the publicly held shipbuilding corporation GTX, undergoes downsizing during the recession, Walker finds himself among the many employees who are let go. As a white-collar worker with a high salary and family to support, he struggles to maintain his lavish lifestyle after losing his job. Despite receiving outplacement services from GTX, Walker is unable to secure another corporate position and gradually has to give up luxuries like his country club membership and Porsche. Eventually, he ...

Inglourious Basterds (2009) is an alternative history war film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. The plot centers around two intersecting plans to assassinate the leaders of Nazi Germany at a Paris cinema. One operation is carried out by a team of Jewish American soldiers under the command of First Lieutenant Aldo Raine, while the other is led by French Jewish cinema owner Shosanna Dreyfus, seeking revenge for her family’s murder. Both are up against SS colonel Hans Landa, infamous for his brutal persecution of Jews. The title was inspired by a 1978 Euro War film called The Inglorious Bastards, ...

The American comedy film, Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008), was written, directed and edited by Kevin Smith. The two protagonists, Zack Brown and Miriam ‘Miri’ Linky, have been best friends since the first grade and live together in Monroeville, Pennsylvania. Despite their jobs at the local mall and coffee shop, they struggle to pay their utility bills, leading to their water being shut off the night before Thanksgiving. At their high school reunion, Miri tries to seduce her former classmate Bobby Long while Zack chats with Brandon St. Randy, a porn star who happens to be Bobby’s boyfriend. When they ...

Rambo (2008) is an American action film directed and co-written by Sylvester Stallone, featuring the iconic character John Rambo created by author David Morrell for his novel First Blood. Set during the Saffron Revolution in Burma, the story follows a brutal SPDC officer named Major Pa Tee Tint as he spreads terror through ruthless tactics. Meanwhile, John Rambo has been living in Thailand for 20 years since his time in Afghanistan and Vietnam. He works as a snake catcher and boat driver, but his peaceful life is soon disrupted when missionary doctor Michael Burnett asks for his help in transporting a group on a ...

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), a rom-com written and directed by Woody Allen, follows the story of two friends as they spend their summer in Barcelona. They stay with Vicky’s relatives, Judy and Mark. While Vicky and Cristina are close, they have different outlooks on love. Vicky is more traditional and practical, engaged to her dependable fiancé Doug. Cristina, on the other hand, sees herself as a free-spirited nonconformist who is unsure of what she wants from life or love. While visiting an art exhibition, Cristina is captivated by the artist Juan Antonio, whom Judy reveals had a tumultuous relationship with ...

The American caper comedy-drama film, The Brothers Bloom (2008), written and directed by Rian Johnson, set in America. Orphaned as children, the brothers spent their youth moving between foster homes. When they were thirteen, Stephen came up with an elaborate plan to help Bloom overcome his shyness and talk to a girl; it also happened to be their first con job. As adults, the brothers are successful con men and are joined by their accomplice and explosives expert, Bang Bang, for a celebration in Berlin after completing a job. However, Bloom begins to yearn for a life beyond Stephen’s schemes and eventually goes ...

Directed by Todd Haynes and co-written by Haynes and Oren Moverman, I’m Not There (2007) is a musical drama film that utilizes a nonlinear narrative, interweaving the stories of six characters who each represent a different aspect of Bob Dylan’s public persona. These personas include poet (Arthur Rimbaud), prophet (Jack Rollins/Father John), outlaw (Billy McCarty), fake (Woody Guthrie), ‘rock and roll martyr’ (Jude Quinn), and ‘star of electricity’ (Robbie Clark). According to production ...

1408 (2007) is an American psychological horror film based on Stephen King’s 1999 short story of the same name. Mike Enslin, a cynical and skeptical author known for his niche books about supernatural events, receives an anonymous postcard while promoting his latest book in Hermosa Beach, California. The postcard features The Dolphin, a hotel located on Lexington Avenue in New York City, with one simple message: ‘Don’t enter 1408’. Seeing this as a personal challenge, Mike decides to visit The Dolphin and specifically requests room 1408. However, the hotel manager Gerald Olin tries to dissuade ...

The Great Debaters (2007), an American historical drama film directed by Denzel Washington, tells the story of debate coach Melvin B. Tolson’s efforts to overcome racial barriers in the Jim Crow-era American South. Based on a true story and inspired by a 1997 article for American Legacy by Tony Scherman, the film follows Tolson as he leads his team at Wiley College, a historically black institution affiliated with The United Methodist Church. Despite facing discrimination and violence, the Wiley debaters defy expectations and eventually earn the opportunity to challenge Harvard University in a debate competition. ...

Awake (2007) is an American conspiracy thriller film written and directed by Joby Harold. Clay Beresford, Jr., a young billionaire, has fallen for his mother’s personal assistant, Samantha ‘Sam’ Lockwood. In need of a heart transplant, Clay turns to his friend and heart surgeon, Dr. Jack Harper. He also asks Dr. Harper to help him elope with Sam, and the two exchange vows privately in the middle of the night before Clay heads to the hospital for his operation. However, something unexpected happens during surgery – Clay experiences anesthesia awareness. Despite the intense pain, he has a moment of ...

The Mist (2007) is an American science-fiction horror film adaptation of Stephen King’s 1980 novella. A severe thunderstorm hits Bridgton, Maine, causing a tree to crash into the lakeside home of artist David Drayton, his wife Stephanie and their eight-year-old son Billy. The next morning, as they assess the damage, they spot a thick mist rolling over the lake. To prepare for potential power outages, David and Billy head to town with their neighbor Brent Norton to purchase supplies. While inside the supermarket, they witness police cars speeding through the streets. A terrified local named Dan Miller rushes into ...

Death Proof (2007) is an American slasher film penned and directed by Quentin Tarantino. While cruising down Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas to celebrate Julia’s birthday, three friends – Arlene, Shanna, and radio personality ‘Jungle’ Julia Lucai – make a pit stop at a local bar. During their visit, Julia entices customers with the promise of a free lap dance from Arlene, under the condition that they call her ‘Butterfly’, buy her a drink, and recite a verse from ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’. The women are joined by another friend named Lanna as they ...