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Paramount Pictures Interstellar: Good Space Film, Bad Climate-Change Parable
A story about looking for a new world is more exciting than a movie about saving an ailing one.
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Universal Pictures Scarlett Johansson's Vanishing Act
Lucy, Under the Skin, and Her seem like strange choices for the star. But maybe there's a reason she keeps picking roles in which she makes part of herself disappear.
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A24 What the Western Means Now
The Rover and forthcoming throwbacks to the John Wayne era may not dominate the box office, but they speak to American anxieties in a distinctly modern way.
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Open Road Finally, a Movie Portrays Social Media as Something Other Than Evil
Jon Favreau's indie comedy Chef is pitched at foodies—but it has a lot of smart, refreshingly positive things to say about Twitter, too.
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Paramount; HBO Why the Latest Hollywood Heroes Hate the World
Instead of preventing the destruction of mankind, the likes of True Detective's Rust Cohle and Noah's titular lead welcome it—until last-minute changes of heart.
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Matt Sayles / AP; Wikimedia The Little Mermaid's Twisted, Sofia Coppola-esque Origins
Forget the Disney movie. The director of The Virgin Suicides was the perfect pick to make a live-action version of Hans Christen Andersen's disturbing fable about a girl becoming a woman.
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Evan Agostini / AP What Star Wars' Casting of Adam Driver Says About Hollywood
Girls' first breakout film star is a guy—further evidence that television shows are a more progressive, inclusive, diverse medium than movies are.
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Warner Bros. The Lego Movie: Further Evidence of Will Ferrell's Subversive Genius
The hit film is another win in Mr. Ron Burgundy/Ricky Bobby/President Business's career of mixing oafish slapstick with surprising political messages.
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AP The Oscars' Hidden, Pro-Youth Agenda
The Academy Awards have never been about celebrating cinema, they're about making the film industry look good. This year's mission: Crown young talents as bona fide stars.
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CBS Films The Coen Brothers' Subtle Politics
The Inside Llewyn Davis directors rarely depict the political process, but their portrayals of working-class characters struggling to get by does highlight a certain set of beliefs.
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Film's Failed Quest to Understand JFK's Death
Directors keep trying to show all the things the famous Zapruder footage missed, but they only end up revealing truths about their times.
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Focus Features Dallas Buyers Club: An AIDS Drama the Tea Party Can Enjoy
The film depicts one man standing up against a corrupt bureaucracy—absent the Reagan-era political context that made it that way.
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Hollywood's Scariest New Villain: Random, Floating Junk
Space debris and abandoned shipping containers threaten lives in Gravity and All Is Lost, but these films caution against leaving society—and all its man-made refuse—behind.
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Where Are the 'Real' Women in Movies About Sex Addiction?
Through their male protagonists, two new films smartly critique the media's objectification of women, but don't manage to include three-dimensional female characters of their own.
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A Watershed Moment for Hollywood's Animal-Rights Movement?
Films such as Blackfish, Finding Dory, and Planet of the Apes are taking a stand against live animals in entertainment as the federal government gets involved.
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Michael Cera Might Just Be the Most Interesting Actor of His Generation
The Arrested Development star spent years playing predictably awkward teens. Now, his latest roles reject the tropes that made him famous -- and with great success, too.
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The Lone Ranger Seals It: America's New Favorite Villain Is a Rich Guy
Insidious American war profiteers have largely replaced terrorists and foreign invaders as the antagonist of choice in blockbusters this summer.
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The Reagan-Era Subtext of Big and the Late-'80s Body-Swapping Film Boom
25 years later, the idea of kids working as adults seems like an allegory for yuppiedom.
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George W. Bush Might Approve of Star Trek Into Darkness
Sure, it questions the War on Terror, but J.J. Abrams's politically charged blockbuster sides with the 43rd president when it comes to leadership styles.
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The MPAA's Silly New Plan to Keep Kids Away From Violent Movies
The Motion Picture Association of America, feeling the pressure to curb kids' exposure to onscreen violence, plans to advertise films' adult content more prominently, not less.
