Charlie Rowe Movies

Two men return home from war to discover that the home front is nearly as grim as what they left behind in this independent drama. Tommy Donahue (Chris Kerson) and D.D. Davis (Will Blagrove) both grew up in the same neighborhood in North Philadelphia and volunteered for the Army, serving tours of duty in Iraq. Drugs and crime have always troubled their community, and now these crises have hit even closer to home. Tommy's father is a mechanic in the local Irish mob, and he went to war rather than become a hired killer for his dad. Upon returning home, Tommy tries to reconnect with the wife he abandoned (Judy Jerome) and the four-year-old daughter he's never met (Maddie Morris Jones), but his father isn't eager to let Tommy go his own way. Meanwhile, D.D.'s older brother, Darnell (Nakia Dillard), has become the head of a violent gang of drug dealers, and has recruited his younger brother, James (Daveed Ramsay), to sell dope. D.D. tries to persuade Darnell to change his ways and James to get out of the game while he can, but rescuing his family and his community is no simple task. Cost of a Soul was the first feature film from writer and director Sean Kirkpatrick. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In mid- to late-'60s Britain, an unusual yet colorful subculture sprang up and thrived as a product of the upswing in British pop music, only to meet its doom within a few short years. Though the BBC functioned as the country's main source of news and music, its programmers offered very little airtime to rock & roll -- which left an overwhelming need unfulfilled. In response, small bands of "pirate" radio enthusiasts set up broadcasting towers on boats just outside of English boundary waters, and transmitted signals to an estimated 25 million listeners, 24 hours a day and seven days per week. Unsurprisingly, the DJs who took charge of these broadcasts could rival just about anyone in terms of flamboyance and outsized personalities. With Pirate Radio (released as The Boat That Rocked in the U.K.), writer-director Richard Curtis (Love Actually) travels back to the Swinging Sixties and takes a headfirst plunge into this colorful realm.

The story opens in 1966, aboard a rusty fishing trawler christened Radio Rock and equipped with pirate broadcasting equipment. Here, the slightly daft elitist Quentin (Bill Nighy) presides over a motley crew of joint-toking, sex-hungry disc jockeys including Dave (Nick Frost), a heavyset boob who nevertheless considers himself a hot property with women and loves to chase skirts; "The Count" (Philip Seymour Hoffman), an American DJ who aspires to be the first person to drop an F-bomb over the British airwaves; the gloom-laden Irishman Simon (Chris O'Dowd); bonked-out hipster Thick Kevin (Tom Brooke); womanizer Mark (Tom Wisdom); Angus (Rhys Darby), a New Zealander whom nobody likes; and the only female member of the group, lesbian cook Felicity (Katherine Parkinson). These misfits pull off quite a show -- enough of one that they attain the status of national idols for the youth culture -- but the super-conservative government minister Dormandy (Kenneth Branagh) detests the whole business and will do almost anything in his power to shut them down. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

A dejected nine-year-old girl finds her dreary Christmas in Vienna magically transformed by an enchanted gift in director Andrei Konchalovsky's adaptation of the timeless holiday classic. Just as it begins to look as if Christmas is going to be a total bust, young Mary (Elle Fanning) receives a gorgeously crafted nutcracker from her adoring uncle Albert (Nathan Lane). Later, as night falls on Christmas, the Nutcracker (Charlie Rowe) springs to life, and whisks Mary away on a breathtaking tour of the place where all Christmas gifts come alive. But something is amiss in this captivating world of wonder; the malevolent Rat King (John Turturro) and his wicked mother (Frances de la Tour) are plotting to claim the entire kingdom for themselves, and when they kidnap the Nutcracker, Mary teams up with the other toys to get him back. Saving the kingdom won't be easy, though, because before Mary and her friends can rescue the Nutcracker and restore order, they'll have to discover the Rat King's one true weakness, and summon the courage to strike back when he least expects it. The film features eight new songs by Oscar winner Sir Tim Rice (Aladdin, The Lion King). ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi