Paralyzed from the neck down by a childhood bout of polio, a 38-year-old journalist and poet (John Hawkes) engages the services of a so-called sex surrogate (Helen Hunt) to help him lose his virginity, an undertaking in which he gains the misguided support of his sympathetic but irresolute parish priest (William H. Macy). Writer-director Ben […]

Daniel Day-Lewis’ bravura performance in the title role is the highlight — but by no means the only asset — of director Steven Spielberg’s splendid historical drama. The plot focuses on the Civil War president’s passionate yet wily struggle, during the closing days of that conflict, to steer a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery through Congress. […]

This clever 3-D animated adventure, directed by Rich Moore, ponders the meaning of life inside a video arcade machine once the “Game Over” message appears. The perennial bad guy (voice of John C. Reilly) of the title wants to be just like his good-guy opponent (voice of Jack McBrayer). So he abandons his game for […]

Filmmaker Linda Goldstein Knowlton’s documentary offers an unvarnished look at the awkwardness involved when Chinese-born adoptees in the U.S. seek to reconnect with their original culture and birth families, and as they struggle to forge an identity for themselves as adults. Knowlton, herself the mother of a child adopted from China, follows the lives of […]

A rousing return for British Agent 007 and a much-needed injection of vitality into the 50-year-old James Bond film franchise, this 23rd outing for the iconic spy is directed by Sam Mendes. Bond (Daniel Craig) and a field operative (Naomie Harris) are on the trail of a villain (Javier Bardem) who has stolen a computer […]

Repulsively violent martial-arts fantasy in which a blacksmith – played by rapper RZA, who also directed and co-wrote the script – a secret agent for the emperor of China (Russell Crowe) and the heir of an assassinated warlord (Rick Yune) join forces to battle a variety of villains (principally Byron Mann and David Bautista), all […]