E. Nielson

A film which details the last days of CBS News anchor Dan Rather and his 60 Minutes producer Mary Mapes, was based on Ms. Mapes’ memoir Truth and Duty: The Press, the President and the Privilege of Power. The film focuses on the Killian documents controversy and how the truth of a reliable story was derailed when certain bloggers and conservative talk show hosts began to cast doubt on the verifiability of certain documents detailing President George W. Bush’s Texas Air Nation

A comic, dramatic film based on a 2005 documentary of the same name which stars an excellent Sandra Bullock as an American political consultant who has been employed to help the flagging campaign of a former Bolivian President to regain the Presidency. The scenario details the inner workings of what it takes to get elected in today’s world and the manipulations and deceptions that take place along the way. This film which was directed by David Gordon Green from a screenplay b

John Wells’ film from a screenplay by Steven Knight and Michael Kalesniko is a well crafted film that details one man’s redemption through the lens of the high end restaurant business to triumph over his personal demons while trying to earn a third Michelin star, his industries’ top honor. I enjoyed the film, the locations, the atmosphere of a business I really know nothing about, while being caught up in a story with some of today’s top actors including Sienna Miller, Omar S

Danny Boyle directed this film from a screenplay by Aaron Sorkin that is based on the book STEVE JOBS by Walter Isaacson. Though Mr. Sorkin is a brilliant writer (Oscar winner for THE SOCIAL NETWORK & Creator and Chief Writer of TV’s THE WEST WING) he has basically written a play that was filmed on numerous locations throughout the Bay Area. The dialogue is the chief problem here, coming off as pedantic and laborious with an air of “Ain’t I brilliant.” The story is set backst

Sarah Gavron’s film with a screenplay by Abi Morgan based on true life events as they unfolded in early 20th century Britain detailing the early activists of the feminist movement and what sacrifices weremade to achieve their eventual goals. I must say that this is one of the saddest and most depressing films of the year, though I rather enjoyed the many details of the characters’ lives in realistically detailing the living and working conditions of not only lower class women

This is one of Steven Spielberg’s greatest films which details the story of what really happened in getting Francis Gary Powers released from the Soviet Union after his spy plane went down in 1960 during the height of the Cold War. This however is really the story of insurance lawyer, James B. Donovan, who was asked by his law firm, who in turn was doing a favor for the CIA, to defend the Soviet spy, Rudolf Abel and the consequences of what this action did to his professiona

Guillermo del Toro directing from an original screenplay that he co-wrote with Matthew Robbins is a most ridiculous film that is poorly constructed, not well thought out and lacking the kind of imagination that Mr. del Toro is best known for. Obviously filmed on a lavish budget it purports to be an old fashioned ghost story with the necessary kink to make it palpable for today’s young audiences. What it comes off as is a boring, sophomoric piece of filmmaking with an excepti

This film directed by Lenny Abrahamson with a screenplay by Emma Donoghue based on her book of the same name details the ordeals of a young woman and her son who are being held captive by a deranged man in a small, fortified room with one skylight above them. The young woman named Joy “Ma” Newsom was kidnapped at seventeen by her captive which she calls Old Nick and held captive for seven years. She has also been repeatedly sexually assaulted by him thus producing her beloved

Ramin Bahrani’s powerful film based on a screenplay that he co-wrote with Amir Naderi details the tragic consequences of home foreclosures and how one young man is willing to actually work for the same real estate agent who foreclosed on his family home by doing the same that was done to him, all in the hope of regaining his home once again. A circumstance that was all too familiar during the real estate meltdown a few years ago, this is powerful stuff and at times utterly he

Stephen Daldry’s film set in the slums of Rio de Janeiro, details the story of three young boys who make a discovery in a garbage dump and find themselves running from a system so corrupt while all the time trying to right a great wrong. Though this film has top billed stars Martin Sheen and Rooney Mara, it is owned by the three young boys who play the leads, Rickson Tevez as Raphael, Eduardo Luis as Gardo and Gabriel Weinstein as Rat. At times difficult to watch, since many