Drama Movies

When Boyz N the Hood was released in 1991, I wasn’t even 10 years old. Needless to say, I didn’t see Boyz N the Hood when it was in theaters. Even years later, after I had acquired a taste for movies, I didn’t jump at the chance to watch the movie. After all, it’s titled “Boyz N the Hood”.

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One of the best – and yet overlooked – movies of 2010, Barney’s Version is now out on DVD and Blu-Ray. The Paul Giamatti-starring film garnered a Best Actor Golden Globe, but was thoroughly dismissed at the Oscars, earning only a nomination for Best Makeup. Barney’s Version is a powerful, engaging and wonderfully acted drama deserving of much more recognition than it received.

Read FilmJabber’s full Barney’s Version movie review.

From writer/director Mike Leigh (Happy-Go-Lucky and Vera Drake) comes another superbly acted mini-drama – Another Year, a movie that follows several seemingly ordinary people through the ups and downs of an ordinary year. While the film features great performances, it appears Leigh actually went out of his way to make a movie that will be forgotten in, yes, another year.

Read FilmJabber’s full Another Year movie review.

On behalf of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, we are pleased to present Of Gods and Men, now available on DVD and Blu-ray. The acclaimed drama won the 2010 Grand Prize at Cannes Film Festival and Best Foreign Language Film from the National Board of Review. It has a 92% fresh rating on RottenTomatoes.com, described as “patient and restrained, Of Gods and Men asks deep, profound questions that will linger in the audience’s mind long after the movie.”

We’re giving away a free DVD and Blu-Ray combo pack – enter to win now.

John C. Reilly is filling a unique niche genre right now: two films in two years where he plays a guy who attempts to understand an overweight youth.  But Terri is no Cyrus. Despite the outward similarities of the two comedy-dramas, Reilly’s performance and relationship here strike a much different note.

Read FilmJabber’s full Terri movie review.

The first trailer for Steven Spielberg’s War Horse is now online. The movie is almost assured multiple Oscar nominations due to the pedigree alone, let alone the “feel good” nature of the story. There’s understandable excitement for the picture, as there should be due to the director alone.

So why am I so disinterested in this property?

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It’s not some elaborate hoax. The Hobbit and its sequel are indeed happening. Entertainment Weekly released the first few photos from the highly anticipated Peter Jackson movies, featuring Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf and a modern-looking bearded dwarf.

Check out the new movie stills from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

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An aging French illusionist finds his prospects dwindling as rock bands and electronics go mainstream in the Oscar-nominated French animated film L’illusionniste – known to us non-Frenchmen as The Illusionist. The movie is an alluring and richly animated drama-comedy, but its low key storytelling fails to hold attention the way the filmmaker’s last production, the incredible Triplets of Belleville, did.

Read FilmJabber’s full The Illusionist movie review.

The well-reviewed Ben Affleck drama The Company Men is now on DVD. We’ve reviewed the movie and are also giving away the DVD to one lucky winner.

In The Company Men, Affleck delivers another nuanced and relatable performance as a rising hotshot who suddenly finds himself fired from the job he thought was secure.  As the company undergoes an operational overhaul many other employees are let go, particularly some of the company’s eldest leaders.  Faced with a nearly nonexistent job market, Affleck and the others must find a way to overcome their grim situation and get back on their feet.

Read our The Company Men review now, and then enter the DVD giveaway!

Another Year is now out on DVD and Blu-Ray. In celebration, we’re giving away the DVD/Blu-Ray combo pack.

From seven-time Oscar® nominee Mike Leigh comes this critically acclaimed slice of life starring Academy Award® winner Jim Broadbent (Best Supporting Actor, Iris, 2001), Lesley Manville and Ruth Sheen. A happy couple for over thirty years, Tom (Broadbent) and Gerri (Sheen) act as a steady anchor to their unmarried circle of family and friends. But as the seasons change and another year passes, Tom and Gerri’s support is put to the test in this masterful look at life, love and the meaning of friendship.

Enter the Another Year DVD/Blu-Ray giveaway now – sign up by June 14.

Beautiful Boy is an unconventional love story that explores the journey of a married couple on the verge of separation, who must live with unimaginable heartbreak, and find healing through the darkest days of their lives. With the movie arriving in select theaters today, we’re giving away a Beautiful Boy movie poster autographed by stars Maria Bello and Michael Sheen as well as director Shawn Ku!

Enter to win the autographed Beautiful Boy poster giveaway today.

Ten days into the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), I finally attended my first showing, a sold-out screening of the upcoming drama-thriller The Whistleblower, starring Rachel Weisz. The movie, about sex trafficking in post-war Bosnia and the subsequent follow-up by the United Nations and United States, is unfortunately a dull, somewhat cluttered affair.

Read FilmJabber’s full The Whistleblower movie review.