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...

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...