Alex Orlovsky Movies

Writer/director Xan Cassavetes, daughter of John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands, shifts gears from documentary to feature work with this offbeat horror opus. Set in New England, it tells the story of two sisters. Both are French vampires -- one evil, the other benevolent. Milo Ventimiglia plays a screenwriter who falls hard for the good sibling (Joséphine de la Baume), which incites the anger of the other sister (Roxane Mesquida). That young woman then decides to unleash fury on the local town. The cast also includes Riley Keough, Michael Rapaport, and Caitlin Keats; this marked Cassavetes' first directorial assignment following her 2004 documentary Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

In Derek Cianfrance's The Place Beyond the Pines, Ryan Gosling plays Luke, a drifter who makes a living doing motorcycle stunts in a traveling carnival. When he discovers that he has an infant son, he decides he wants to be able to take care of the child. He meets an ex-convict who knows how to rob banks, and learns from him how to pull off heists. His actions cause his life to become intertwined with a police officer named Avery (Bradley Cooper), who chases after him during a robbery. The Place Beyond the Pines screened at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

A relationship is charted from its promising beginning to its sad collapse in this independent drama from Derek Cianfrance. Dean (Ryan Gosling) meets Cindy (Michelle Williams) when they're in their late teens; he's working for a moving company, she's a college student visiting her elderly grandmother at a home for the elderly. Cindy is dating Bobby (Mike Vogel), her boyfriend from high school, but as she gets to know Dean better, a mutual attraction grows between them. Years later, Dean and Cindy are married and have a daughter, Frankie (Faith Wladyka), but they're clearly not as happy as they once were; Dean loves his daughter but feels distant from his wife, they have to look after an elderly relative (John Doman), and when Cindy bumps into Bobby while running errands, it's clear he still holds a grudge against her. Dean and Cindy go away for a weekend together at a hotel, but it doesn't take long for them to realize that the magic isn't coming back. Blue Valentine received its world premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A grown man locked into an extended state of arrested adolescence returns to the nest while concocting a series of excuses as to why he cannot return to his wife and child in this existential comedy drama from filmmaker Azazel Jacobs. Mikey was preparing to board an airplane bound for California when he suddenly found himself fleeing from the airport and returning to the comfort of his parents' New York home. Even Mikey isn't sure exactly why he made the snap decision not to go home, all he knows is that he can't quite muster the courage to go back and assume the responsibilities of your typical family man. Of course, Mikey's doting mother is more than happy to enable her son's indecision -- and his father remains as emotionally distanced as ever -- but as time goes on, the grown-up man-child finds it increasingly difficult to make the choice between going back to reality, or drifting ever further into his second adolescence. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A self-proclaimed artist and genius who has elevated his drab existence into a personal mythology organizes his final party, a living wake, in director Sol Tryon's absurdist black comedy. K. Roth Binew (Mike O'Connell) is about to live his last day. Abandoned by his father (Jim Gaffigan) as a young lad, Binew was raised by his nanny, Marla (Diane Kagan), and gradually grew to gain an appreciation for the arts. Though he would personally never complete a single work of art, he nevertheless considers himself an artist and has recently been told by his doctor that he will shortly expire of some mysterious, unnamed disease. Upon being informed of his dire situation, Binew boards his rickshaw and requests that his biographer and driver, Mills Joaquin (Jesse Eisenberg), transport him around town so that he may make his final arrangements. As the day wears on, Binew and Joaquin visit the local "liquirsmith" to procure spirits, arrange a Viking-style funeral for the eccentric "artist," and steal a goat for a personal picnic. Later, after Binew is attacked by his neighbor (Eddie Pepitone) and has his attempt to donate books at the local library refused, he hands out invitations to his final party. It is there that Binew will perform a short piece for his audience, and summarily drop dead on the spot. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Following up his critically acclaimed debut Insomnia (1997), Norwegian director Erik Skjoldbjaerg makes his first English-language feature with this adaptation of the book by Elizabeth Wurtzel. Christina Ricci stars as Lizzie, a prize-winning student heading off to Harvard where she intends to study journalism and launch a career as a rock music critic. However, Elizabeth's fractured family situation including an errant father (Nicholas Campbell) and a neurotic, bitterly hypercritical mother (Jessica Lange) has led to a struggle with depression. When her all-night, drug-fueled writing binges and emotional instability alienate her roommate and best friend, Ruby (Michelle Williams), as well as both her first (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) and second (Jason Biggs) boyfriends, Lizzie seeks psychiatric counseling from Dr. Diana Sterling (Anne Heche), who prescribes the wonder drug Prozac. Despite success as a writer that includes a gig writing for Rolling Stone and some mellowing out thanks to her medication, Lizzie begins to feel that the pills are running her life and faces some tough choices about her future. Prozac Nation (2001) is a longtime dream project of star Ricci, who also serves as one of the film's co-producers. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi