Los Angeles Times Movie Reviews

Fascinating and frequently compelling, “The Mustang” is a hybrid, the unlikely combination of genres you wouldn’t think go together but are able to coexist thanks to an exceptional leading performance.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

It's a rare phenomenon for a director to remake their own movie, but this year, there are already two instances of filmmakers retrofitting their foreign-language darlings for American audiences. Hans Petter Moland turned his Scandinavian thriller “In Order of Disappearance” into the Liam Neeson...

The idea that death may not exactly be “the end” for those who meet their maker — particularly in untimely ways — is certainly a hopeful thought. But the muddled, unevenly performed fantasy-drama “We Are Boats” (are we really?) doesn’t make a very convincing case for it.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

There’s much to explore and dissect about the intriguing world that directors Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher spotlight in their documentary “The Gospel of Eureka,” but the film, strangely flabby at just 73 minutes, leaves us wanting.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

“Triple Frontier” is a solid, engrossing genre item with designs on being something more. It doesn’t quite get there but it does well enough along the way to make the journey worth taking.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

'Stray' Anchored by a compelling performance by Christine Woods as Murphy, a haunted cop (is there any other kind?) investigating a pair of supernatural-oriented murders, “Stray” falters in the narrative department but looks good and holds interest.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

“Cliffs of Freedom” is a bit rocky, but takes its leap in earnest. “Cliffs,” directed and co-written by Van Ling, is a low-budget, nationalistic, historical epic set during the 19th century Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

Timely headlines can either augment a truth-based movie’s effect or ironically act as the real-world prism through which we say about a lesser film, “Why am I not as moved as I should be?” The latter is, sadly, the case with “Saint Judy,” a well-meaning but cliché-ridden fictionalized account of...

The rule of law. Crimes against humanity. Bringing justice to an unjust world. Worthy topics all, but would you actually want to see a film about them? If the work in question is “Prosecuting Evil: The Extraordinary World of Ben Ferencz,” the answer is an unequivocal yes.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

Not unlike William Kamkwamba, the resourceful Malawi student who, in 2001, built a windmill to bring water to his struggling family’s thirsty land, Oscar-nominated actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, in writing and directing William’s story — “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” — feeds our hunger for inspiring...