Drama Movies

A wrong call. A random stranger named Kevin. A broken door frame. These are the circumstances that set a slacker on his journey to fulfill his destiny in Jeff, Who Lives at Home, the funny new comedy from Jay and Mark Duplass.

Read FilmJabber’s full Jeff, Who Lives at Home movie review.

Michelle Williams earned another Oscar nomination for her turn as Marilyn Monroe in My Week with Marilyn. She didn’t stand a fighting chance, but that in no way diminishes the understated performance she puts on display amidst the likes of Kenneth Branagh (also nominated) and Judi Dench. The movie was released to DVD and Blu-ray yesterday.

Read our My Week with Marilyn movie review, and then enter to win a copy on DVD.

Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Picture, In Darkness is a dramatization of a real-life story from World War II, about a Polish man who reluctantly helps a group of Jews live in the sewers of Lvov for over a year. The story is pretty remarkable and the movie is quite good, but In Darkness lacks the emotion found in cinema’s greatest depictions of the Holocaust.

Read FilmJabber’s full In Darkness movie review.

There is depressing, and then there is misery. And then there is We Need to Talk About Kevin, one of the most soul-sucking movies of all time. Featuring yet another great performance by Tilda Swinton and a disturbingly alluring story, the movie is also one of the best of 2011.

Read FilmJabber’s full We Need to Talk About Kevin movie review.

Foreign films are cool. Because they’re foreign, and they speak foreign languages, and they have plots you’d never see in America, like Bullhead, about a steroid-fueled cattle farmer named Jacky Vanmarsenille who gets involved with a criminal meat trader (those exist?) and is forced to face his tragic childhood as federal agents begin to investigate an assassination of one of their colleagues… Who comes up with this stuff?

Read FilmJabber’s full Bullhead movie review.

Last time Johnny Depp took on a Hunter S. Thompson adaptation, he was Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. In The Rum Diary, he’s simply lost in Puerto Rico, which isn’t nearly as wild of a ride. At times entertaining, but generally forgettable, The Rum Diary‘s only saving grace is that it also stars the face and body of Amber Heard.

Read FilmJabber’s full The Rum Diary movie review.

Glenn Close is nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for Albert Nobbs, a period piece in which she plays a woman masquerading as a man to get ahead in life. Unfortunately for her, getting ahead in life means pinching pennies and working as a servant at a fancy hotel. Unfortunately for us, Albert Nobbs is a dreadful bore.

Read FilmJabber’s full Albert Nobbs movie review.

Objectively, Meryl Streep is the greatest actress in the history of cinema. She has been nominated for 17 Academy Awards. She’s won twice. What few people realize is that her last win was for Sophie’s Choice, 30 years ago. She is so good that people take her for granted, shrug off her performances as "typical Meryl Streep" good. With The Iron Lady, her "losing" streak should come to an end, as she has even outdone herself.

Read FilmJabber’s full The Iron Lady movie review.

Michelle Williams turns in another terrific performance as Marilyn Monroe in My Week with Marilyn, an alluring little film that is entertaining, but ultimately unremarkable. The movie will appeal to those more interested in lighthearted romantic dramas than serious Oscar fare.

Read FilmJabber’s full My Week with Marilyn movie review.

Every year there are a few worthwhile movies that go wholly unnoticed by the general movie-going public. Sometimes the marketing is poor or the topic unappealing. Other times, the movie is picked up by a small distributor or receives a less-than-prominent release. Such is the case with White Irish Drinkers, a movie that few, unfortunately, have seen, let alone heard of.

Read FilmJabber’s full White Irish Drinkers movie review.

The excellent drama Martha Marcy May Marlene debuts on DVD and Blu-Ray on February 21, 2012!

The movie is a powerful psychological thriller starring Elizabeth Olsen as Martha, a young woman rapidly unraveling amidst her attempt to reclaim a normal life after fleeing from a cult and its charismatic leader (John Hawkes). Seeking help from her estranged older sister Lucy (Sarah Paulson) and brother-in-law (Hugh Dancy), Martha is unable and unwilling to reveal the truth about her disappearance. When her memories trigger a chilling paranoia that her former cult could still be pursuing her, the line between Martha’s reality and delusion begins to blur.

We’re giving away three DVDs to our readers – enter to win today!

Oscar-nominated actress Vera Farmiga makes her directorial debut with the drama Higher Ground, about a woman who becomes trapped by her circumstances – and by the fundamentalist sect to which she belongs. Also starring John Hawkes and Vera’s younger sister Taissa Farmiga, Higher Ground is an interesting little movie. Unfortunately, it’s not much more than that.

Read FilmJabber’s full Higher Ground movie review.