Jennifer Aniston Interview, 'Beloved Sisters' and More

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Friday, January 9, 2015

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Putting 'the Cloak of Rachel' to Rest By FRANK BRUNI With "Cake," Jennifer Aniston hopes to transcend tabloid coverage and earn the kind of recognition reserved for serious actresses.

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Movie Reviews 'Beloved Sisters' A Literary Triumvirate of Love and Lust By STEPHEN HOLDEN "Beloved Sisters" imagines a fraught ménage à trois among the German poet and dramatist Friedrich Schiller and the sisters Charlotte von Lengefeld and Caroline von Lengefeld. The Carpetbagger: From Germany, a Literary Giant's Ménage à Trois Movie Overview 'Predestinatio' When Traveling Through Time, Pack a Change of Identities By MANOHLA DARGIS Based on a short story by the science-fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein, "Predestination" tracks the journeys of a Temporal Agent assigned to right wrongs before they happen. Movie Overview 'Valley of Saints' Seeking Solace Elsewhere, Before Encountering It at Home By STEPHEN HOLDEN "Valley of Saints" tells the story of two men whose plans are disrupted by a military curfew and whose friendship is threatened by a shared love interest. Movie Overview 'Something, Anything' Finding Her Way Back in Small, Slow Steps By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS In "Something, Anything," a young newlywed disrupts her closest relationships as she tries to put her life back together after a traumatic loss. Movie Overview 'La Última Película' Tripping Over the Hazy Line Between Fiction and Reality By ANDY WEBSTER Raya Martin and Mark Peranson's "La Última Película" is a goofy, dazzling riff on Dennis Hopper's ambitious if flawed picture, "The Last Movie." Movie Overview 'Preservation' Where Deer Aren't the Only Trophies By NICOLAS RAPOLD In Christopher Denham's "Preservation," a hunting party finds itself pursued. 'Dark Summer' Captive, and Not Just to the Internet By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS In "Dark Summer," a teenager becomes the victim of his online obsession. Movie Overview 'Ode to My Father' Searching for Family Along a River of Tears By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS JK Youn's "Ode to My Father" has an obsessive hero seeking relatives lost in the Korean War. 'The World Made Straight' Codes and Vendettas, Frozen in Time By BEN KENIGSBERG A Civil War legacy cascades through the backwoods of North Carolina in the 1970s in "The World Made Straight," an overcooked adaptation of a Ron Rash novel. Movie Overview 'When Evening Falls on Bucharest or Metabolism' In Intimate Quarrels, Deciphering What's Unsaid By BEN KENIGSBERG Corneliu Porumboiu's "When Evening Falls on Bucharest or Metabolism" consists of only 17 shots, and the truth in each scene remains ambiguous. 'Farewell Herr Schwarz' A Family Fractured by the Holocaust By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS In "Farewell Herr Schwarz," Yael Reuveny follows the trail of relatives who were torn apart. Movie Overview 'It's All So Quiet' Death Watch on a Dutch Farm By NICOLAS RAPOLD In Nanouk Leopold's "It's All So Quiet," a middle-aged farmer waits on his bedridden father while making plans for when he dies. Movie Overview 'Black November' Challenging Corruption in the Niger Delta By NICOLAS RAPOLD "Black November," a blood-for-oil drama directed by Jeta Amata, follows a Nigerian activist who mobilized opposition after a deadly explosion. Movie Overview 'The Taking of Tiger Mountain' A Battle of Bandits and Wits in Civil War Era China By BEN KENIGSBERG "The Taking of Tiger Mountain" is a protracted, oddly proportioned Chinese war picture from the action director Tsui Hark, adapted from the novel "Tracks in the Snowy Forest."

Video Features Video: Anatomy of a Scene | A Most Violent Year The writer and director J.C. Chandor narrates a sequence from his film. Video: This Week's Movies | Jan. 9, 2014 The New York Times film critics review "Unbroken," "A Most Violent Year" and "Into the Woods." Related Review: 'Unbroken' Related Review: 'A Most Violent Year' Related Review: 'Into the Woods' Video: Patti Smith's Cinematic Lullaby Patti Smith, the "godmother of punk," crossed a new frontier when she wrote an original song for the movie "Noah," based on the biblical flood.

News & Features Whose Baby Is 'Boyhood'? By MICHAEL CIEPLY and BROOKS BARNES Two producers of "Boyhood," a leading contender in the Oscar race, have found themselves cut out by the Producers Guild of America. Hearing Oscar Buzz In Genre-Busting Scores By CARA BUCKLEY This year an increased number of less sanguine musicians have found their way into the Oscar conversation, the Carpetbagger reports. On His Best Behavior and Hoping to Fit In By ROSLYN SULCAS "Paddington," a new film based on the children's books by Michael Bond, prepares to open in the United States. Big-Budget Effects Without the Budget By NICOLAS RAPOLD Art-house auteurs are increasingly turning to digital tricks to enhance their dramas. Documentary on Russell Brand to Open South by Southwest Film Festival By MEKADO MURPHY "Brand: A Second Coming," directed by Ondi Timoner, will open the festival on March 13. The Carpetbagger Below the Line: The Sounds of 'Into the Woods' By MEKADO MURPHY Blake Leyh, a supervising sound editor for "Into the Woods," discusses the falling trees and cow burps he recorded for the movie. Clothes and Character: Colleen Atwood on 'Into the Woods' and 'Big Eyes' By RACHEL LEE HARRIS The designer explains the thinking behind the costumes in two of her projects, which ended up being released on the same day. The Carpetbagger 'Whiplash' and Those Bleeding Hands By CARA BUCKLEY The writer-director of the film was himself a drummer whose hands did bleed. Talk Anne Hathaway's Oscars Advice: 'Do the Opposite of What I Did' Interview by TAFFY BRODESSER-AKNER The actress on trying new things, kicking old habits and finding self-acceptance in the midst of criticism.

On Video Romantic Fancy in French Flavors By J. HOBERMAN A pair of Gallic meditations on love come to DVD: one fantastical ("Mood Indigo"), the other observational ("A Summer's Tale").

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A. O. Scott Recommends A Most Violent Year More brooding than brutal, “A Most Violent Year" is a pulpy, meaty, altogether terrific new film that finds Abel Morales (Oscar Isaac), the upwardly mobile owner of a heating-oil business, in a time of difficulty in New York City in 1981. NYT Review | Readers' Reviews | Buy Tickets | Watch Trailer Manohla Dargis Recommends Inherent Vice “Inherent Vice," Paul Thomas Anderson’s adaptation of the Thomas Pynchon novel, is a labyrinthine noir set in sunny Los Angeles, circa 1970. NYT Review | Readers' Reviews | Buy Tickets | Watch Trailer Stephen Holden Recommends Valley of Saints “Valley of Saints" tells the story of two men whose plans are disrupted by a military curfew and whose friendship is threatened by a shared love interest. NYT Review | Readers' Reviews | Buy Tickets | Watch Trailer