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99 Homes, directed by Ramin Bahrani
99 Homes, directed by Ramin Bahrani

99 Homes,

directed by Ramin Bahrani

(R, 112 minutes)

The crisis of the 2008 housing market that led to a devastating number of foreclosures inspires this spellbinding drama, which holds up well until its too-predictable ending. At the center is Dennis Nash (Andrew Garfield), a naive Florida construction tradesman who, along with his son and mother (Laura Dern), gets tossed into the street by wealthy and amazingly ruthless real estate scammer Mark Carver (played with brutal precision by Michael Shannon).

Sensing what no one else sees -- that Nash has the capacity to upend his morality to come over to the dark side and take advantage of hapless homeowners in dire straits -- Carver recruits and grooms him into an able colleague, motivated by the promise of an income that will allow him and his family to regain a roof of their own. But at what price?

It's a perfect companion piece to Academy Award-nominated The Big Short, currently in theaters.

Spectre (PG-13, 150 minutes) Daniel Craig again brings his sullen, exacting interpretation of James Bond to life in a battle against a sinister organization known as Spectre. Bad things happen. Some scenes are exciting. Others, not so much. And it's awfully long. But Q (Ben Whishaw) is around to lighten a few moments. A new Aston Martin brightens the already exotic scenery. And Christoph Waltz makes a tidy villain out of Franz Oberhauser. Not the greatest Bond film of all time, but a respectable one. With Naomie Harris, Lea Seydoux; directed by Sam Mendes.

Grandma (R, 82 minutes) Lily Tomlin overcomes a fragmented, poorly researched implausible script -- not nearly as edgy as it wants to be -- and makes it watchable in the role of Elle, an outspoken intellectual feminist poet of some academic renown who's just harshly broken up with her younger lover Olivia (Judy Greer). That's when rather adorable teenage granddaughter Sage (Julia Garner) shows up, desperately needing $600 by sundown. Being as she's unemployed, Elle can't provide. So the two, with little help from Sage's terribly conventional lawyer mother , Judy (Marcia Gay Harden), spend the day in increasingly idiotic pursuits of the cash. With Sam Elliott, Laverne Cox, Elizabeth Pena, John Cho; directed by Paul Weitz.

The Keeping Room (R, 86 minutes) A bleak, violent and very tense tale in which sisters Augusta (Brit Marling) and Louise (Hailee Steinfeld), along with their servant Mad (Muna Otaru), fight off a pair of renegade Union soldiers (Kyle Soller and Sam Worthington) who, near the end of the Civil War, are intent on pillaging their farmhouse -- and them. Directed by Daniel Barber.

MI-5 (R, 114 minutes) This stylish if derivative spy drama, spun off from a BBC series, seems designed to capitalize on the Game of Thrones stardom of Kit Harington (who here plays a loose cannon agent in a hipster man-bun) and, via its title and cover graphics, invite confusion with the Mission: Impossible franchise. (In theatrical release the film was called Spooks: The Greater Good, but that title probably wouldn't fly for the U.S. home video market). TV movie-level stuff directed by Bharat Nalluri.

Big Stone Gap (PG-13, 103 minutes) Ashley Judd stars in this far-too-sappy romantic comedy as Ave Maria Mulligan, a pleasant and respected small-town spinster whose discovery of a long-hidden family secret changes her life. The supporting cast is stronger than it needs to be: Patrick Wilson, Jane Krakowski, Anthony LaPaglia, Whoopi Goldberg. Directed by Adriana Trigiani.

Rock the Casbah (R, 100 minutes) A terrific cast (Danny McBride, Bruce Willis, Scott Caan, Kate Hudson) and versatile director (Barry Levinson) can't do anything with this poorly written and pointless story of a has-been California rock band manager (Bill Murray), dumped in Afghanistan by his last remaining client (Zooey Deschanel), who runs into a Pashtun teenager with a beautiful voice and a dream of entering the Afghan version of American Idol.

MovieStyle on 02/12/2016

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