Mark Ivanir Movies

Director Steven Spielberg kicks off the big-screen Tintin trilogy with this computer-animated, motion-capture adaptation of Herge's beloved Tintin comic strip. Produced by Spielberg, Peter Jackson, and Kathleen Kennedy, the first installment in the series finds adventure-seeking Belgian reporter Tintin (voiced by Jamie Bell) and surly Captain Haddock (voiced by Andy Serkis) racing to recover a treasure that was lost at sea four centuries ago. Meanwhile, the malevolent Red Rackham (voiced by Daniel Craig) is determined to beat them to it. Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Toby Jones provide additional voices for a film written by Edgar Wright, Joe Cornish, and Steven Moffat. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A young man with a religious calling begins following a very different path in this independent drama based on a true story. Sam Gold (Jesse Eisenberg) is a Hasidic Jew in his late teens who lives with his family in Brooklyn. Sam's father, Mendel (Mark Ivanir), runs a fabric store and Sam helps out when he isn't busy with his rabbinical studies. But Mendel isn't an especially good businessman, a fact that's become very obvious to Sam, and his uncertain financial future has caused his fiancée's parents to call off the couple's upcoming wedding. Sam is also suffering from a bit of jealousy toward his best friend, Leon (Jason Fuchs), who seems to have better luck in both life and academics, so when Leon's older brother, Yosef (Justin Bartha), offers Sam some good-paying part-time work, he's more than interested. Sam is instructed to fly to Amsterdam, pick up a parcel, and bring it back; it's not until he comes home to New York that it dawns on Sam that he's transporting drugs, but between the hefty payroll, the charm of Amsterdam-based ecstasy wholesaler Jackie Solomon (Danny A. Abeckaser), and the beauty of Jackie's sexy paramour, Rachel (Ari Graynor), Sam begins to think life in the drug game might be just the thing for him after all. The first feature film from director Kevin Asch, Holy Rollers received its world premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

An emerging journalist (Jesse Eisenberg), an experienced cameraman (Terrence Howard), and a discredited reporter (Richard Gere) find their bold plan to capture Bosnia's top war criminal quickly spiraling out of control when a UN representative mistakes them for a CIA hit squad in a light-hearted thriller inspired by Scott Anderson's popular Esquire article. The Weinstein Company provides stateside distribution for a film written and directed by Richard Shepard (The Matador). ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

One man bears witness to the secret history of America during the Cold War in this drama directed by celebrated actor Robert De Niro. In 1939, Edward Wilson (Matt Damon) is a young man with a bright future ahead of him -- he's a top student at Yale and the protégé of one of the school's leading English professors, Dr. Fredericks (Michael Gambon). But Wilson's life changes dramatically when he's invited to join Yale's powerful secret society, Skull and Bones. Through his Skull and Bones connections, Wilson meets Sam Murach (Alec Baldwin), an mysterious FBI agent who asks Wilson to investigate charges that Fredericks is a Nazi sympathizer working with the German government. Later, at a Skull and Bones party, Wilson is introduced to Clover Russell (Angelina Jolie), the sister of one of his classmates and the daughter of a powerful politician; their one-night stand leaves Clover pregnant, and Wilson must leave the woman he loves, Laura (Tammy Blanchard), to wed Clover and give their child a name. Shortly after their wedding, thanks to his work with Murach, Wilson is invited to join the Office of Strategic Services, a military intelligence organization organized by Bill Sullivan (Robert De Niro), and Wilson accepts. Through World War II, Wilson serves with the OSS, and learns he can trust no one in the game of international espionage, which helps make him little more than a stranger to his wife, his son, and his few friends. As the OSS evolves into the Central Intelligence Agency after the war, Wilson becomes party to America's darkest and most dangerous secrets, and in the wake of the futile Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, Wilson is forced to make a terrible choice between the security of his nation and the safety of his family. Inspired by the true-life story of CIA founder James J. Angleton, The Good Shepherd boasts an impressive supporting cast, including William Hurt, John Turturro, Billy Crudup, Joe Pesci, and Timothy Hutton.

~ Mark Deming, Rovi

An old-fashioned Jewish father vows to bring his stubborn family together after being slipped a dose of ecstasy during the annual Passover celebration in director Salvador Litvak's psychedelic Seder comedy. Family patriarch Ira Stuckman (Michael Lerner) has taken a few tips from his hard-nosed father, Arthur (Jack Klugman), when it comes to matters of the family. A strict disciplinarian with little tolerance for tomfoolery, stubborn Ira is insistent that the whole family come together for the Seder feast despite their lingering disagreements. When Ira's son, Zeke (Ben Feldman), drops a hit of ecstasy into his father's meal in hopes of opening the old man's eyes up to a "new perspective," the once curmudgeonly father turns suddenly touchy-feely before insisting upon on ushering in a new era of forgiveness among the notoriously disagreeable clan. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

This week's murder victim is Serge Cluvarias (Marek Probosz), the much-despised ringmaster for the Dratch and Denby Circus. Monk is convinced that the killer is Serge's tempestuous ex-wife, celebrated high wire artiste Natasia Lovara (Lolita Davidovich). Trouble is, eyewitnesses to the murder insist that the masked killer had jumped down from a high rooftop to do the dirty deed, then performed a somersault before escaping--but Natasia had fractured her foot two weeks before Serge's death, and has the X-rays to prove it. By the time Monk has assembled the clues necessary to close in on the killer, another hapless circus performer suffers "Death By Elephant"! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Based on a true story, Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List stars Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler, a German businessman in Poland who sees an opportunity to make money from the Nazis' rise to power. He starts a company to make cookware and utensils, using flattery and bribes to win military contracts, and brings in accountant and financier Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley) to help run the factory. By staffing his plant with Jews who've been herded into Krakow's ghetto by Nazi troops, Schindler has a dependable unpaid labor force. For Stern, a job in a war-related plant could mean survival for himself and the other Jews working for Schindler. However, in 1942, all of Krakow's Jews are assigned to the Plaszow Forced Labor Camp, overseen by Commandant Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes), an embittered alcoholic who occasionally shoots prisoners from his balcony. Schindler arranges to continue using Polish Jews in his plant, but, as he sees what is happening to his employees, he begins to develop a conscience. He realizes that his factory (now refitted to manufacture ammunition) is the only thing preventing his staff from being shipped to the death camps. Soon Schindler demands more workers and starts bribing Nazi leaders to keep Jews on his employee lists and out of the camps. By the time Germany falls to the allies, Schindler has lost his entire fortune -- and saved 1,100 people from likely death. Schindler's List was nominated for 12 Academy Awards and won seven, including Best Picture and a long-coveted Best Director for Spielberg, and it quickly gained praise as one of the finest American movies about the Holocaust. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A pair of American pilots are forced to cooperate with their Soviet counterparts on a mission to destroy a Middle Eastern nuclear weapons site in this predictable, low-budget action sequel. The first Iron Eagle's rebellious fly boy Cooper (Mark Humphreys) has returned, as has his gruff mentor Chappy (Louis Gossett Jr. as yet another military man). They must work with two Russian pilots, one of whom is a beautiful woman that handsome young Cooper naturally sets out to woo. An extended build-up, including the requisite government conspiracy, leads to the climactic final battle. Average-at-best production values fail to elevate the film above a derivative screenplay, although the film did find enough success to produce further installments in the series. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi