The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
2018, 132 mins, R
Cast: Tim Blake Nelson, Bill Heck, James Franco, Liam Neeson
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is a six-part Western anthology film, a series of tales about the American frontier told through the unique and incomparable voice of Joel and Ethan Coen. Each chapter tells a distinct story about the American West.
Green Book
Director: Peter Farrelly
2018, 130 mins, PG-13
Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Mahershala Ali
When Tony Lip (Mortensen), a bouncer from an Italian-American neighborhood in the Bronx, is hired to drive Dr. Don Shirley (Ali), a world-class Black pianist, on a concert tour from Manhattan to the Deep South, they must rely on “The Green Book” to guide them to the few establishments that were then safe for African-Americans. Confronted with racism, danger-as well as unexpected humanity and humor-they are forced to set aside differences to survive and thrive on the journey of a lifetime.
Never Look Away
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
2019, 189 mins, R
Cast: Tom Schilling, Sebastian Koch, Paula Beer, Saskia Rosendahl
A sweeping romantic historical drama, NEVER LOOK AWAY follows thirty years in the life of a great artist – loosely based on Gerhard Richter, one of the 20th century’s most admired visual artists – played by Tom Schilling (Woman in Gold, Generation War). The film goes from a childhood witnessing Nazi Germany, to post-war East Berlin, where he falls in love with a young woman (Paula Beer, Frantz, The Dark Valley, Transit) whose father is an ex-Nazi murderer in hiding (Sebastian Koch, The Lives of Others, Homeland, Blackbook), to escaping to the West at the time of the Berlin Wall, and ultimately being part of the exciting new movement in contemporary art.
Stan and Ollie
Director: Jon S. Baird
2019, 97 mins, PG
Cast: Steve Coogan, John C. Reilly, Nina Arianda, Shirley Henderson
Laurel & Hardy, one of the world’s great comedy teams, set out on a variety hall tour of Britain in 1953. Diminished by age and with their golden era as the kings of Hollywood comedy now behind them, they face an uncertain future. As the charm and beauty of their performances shines through, they re-connect with their adoring fans. The tour becomes a hit, but Stan & Ollie can’t quite shake the specter of Laurel and Hardy’s past; the long-buried ghosts, coupled with Oliver’s failing health, start to threaten their precious partnership. A portrait of the most tender and poignant of creative marriages, they are aware that they may be approaching their swan song, trying to rediscover just how much they mean to each other.