In the Bedroom is a film broken into three distinctive acts: the first is a family drama about a college-bound Maine boy (Nick Stahl) who falls in love with a much-older married local (Marisa Tomei), against the cautious tut-tutting of his cozy parents (Sissy Spacek, Tom Wilkinson); the second act focuses on the trials the parents must endure when their… read more!

I didn't much care for Little Children during its first half hour. A tale of bored suburbanites in Massachusetts, I detected something portentously American Beauty-like in its opening minutes – and I hated American Beauty. The initial meeting between unhappy stay-at-home spouses Sarah and Brad (Kate Winslet and Patrick Wilson) is contrived. The gossipy housewives in the playground where Sarah… read more!

Tár opens with a POV scene in which someone covertly records a video of superstar conductor/composer Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett) asleep on an airplane while texting someone else. One writes: "She's haunted". The other: "Are you still in love with her?" We're never told who is communicating, so we are left to gnaw on this mystery for a few minutes… read more!