Jessica Chastain

The embryonic stages of J.C. Chandor’s career have given us a director methodical in his approach to weaving tales of fallible men, drowning as the world about them collapses.

In his exciting first three films, writer-director J.C. Chandor, the son of a Merrill Lynch investment banker, has proven to be a canny, clear-eyed studier of capitalism, sensitive to its strivers and alert to its ethical storms.

Director J.C. Chandor’s latest feature, “A Most Violent Year,” might sound like just another gun-happy action pic, but the slow-burning drama was actually born out of a staunch reluctance to continue presenting violence as entertainment. And it might never have happened if Chandor hadn’t needed a job.

Couple years ago, James Franco taught a film class at NYU and had 12 of his students write and direct fictional scripts, based on the life of poet C.K. Williams, as a graduation project.

For some reason, theater companies are constantly enticed by the dramatic possibilities of August Strindberg’s “Miss Julie,” but they often feel the need to re-conceptualize and modernize the play for contemporary audiences. For instance, there have been the Mississippi Freedom Summer production, several Apartheid South Africa resettings, and Neil LaBute’s Gatsby-esque take.

You’d probably need three viewings to make sense of the physics, mathematics, philosophy.

In “Interstellar,” Christopher Nolan isn’t just taking audiences to outer space. He’s also sending a couple of robots along for the ride—and they’re just not on board to sweep the floors.

Next on the Big Screen in November 2014...