Dramas

Since its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, indie drama Fruitvale Station has been generating a lot of positive buzz, and we've finally got a trailer to go along with the rave reviews. Michael B. Jordan stars in the true story of Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old San Francisco Bay Area resident who was fatally shot by BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) police in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2009. Even from this small clip, the tension in the film is palpable as a fight breaks out on the train headed from Oakland toward San Francisco. Octavia Spencer also stars as Oscar's mother.

In real life, Grant's tragic death was highly publicized, having been captured on multiple cell phone cameras — a detail included in the trailer. I've watched Jordan in both Friday Night Lights and Parenthood, and he's one of my favorite up-and-coming actors, so I'm excited to see his turn on the big screen, as heart-wrenching as his role may be. Fruitvale Station opens in limited release on July 12, but definitely watch the gripping trailer after the jump.

I already have my tissues ready just watching the trailer for August: Osage County, which stars Meryl Streep as the matriarch of a family who gathers for the funeral of her husband (Sam Shepard). The kids all come home to Oklahoma, most notably Julia Roberts as eldest daughter Barbara, and unkind words, snark, and tears are unleashed. August: Osage County is full of familiar faces, and the rest of the extended family includes Ewan McGregor, Benedict Cumberbatch, Juliette Lewis, Abigail Breslin, and Margo Martindale. Whew!

Obviously, if Streep is involved you know you're in for a dramatic treat, and she's bringing it in the preview, but it also looks like Roberts and the supporting cast are at the top of their game, too. This adaptation of a stage play looks so powerful already, and I can't wait to see it when it comes into theaters Nov. 8 — right in time for award season. Watch the trailer after the jump.

Adapting F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1920s-set novel The Great Gatsby is an ideal fit for director Baz Luhrmann. The man known for over-the-top visuals in films like Moulin Rouge! and Romeo + Juliet depicts the biggest parties you've ever seen in Jazz Age-era New York, and Luhrmann even presents it all in stunning 3D. The aesthetic is the best thing about The Great Gatsby, which falls short in many other aspects. The movie is bloated with every detail and character from the book, and Fitzgerald's text is awkwardly featured on the screen. Luhrmann is as ambitious as Gatsby's climb toward the American dream, and only some of it pays off.

There are a few saving graces, like Leonardo DiCaprio. The actor puts on the impeccable suits of Jay Gatsby, a man whose background and source of wealth are a mystery. The ridiculously rich Gatsby is king of a Long Island castle where he can buy anything — except for the love of his former sweetheart Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan). She's quite comfortable with the old money she married into, even though her husband, Tom (Joel Edgerton), is a cheating bigot. It's the task of Gatsby's neighbor, narrator Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire), to help Gatsby win Daisy back, and though the two lovers do find their way back to each other, Gatsby's pretty, pretty world crumbles as he tries to make a life with her. The movie follows a similar path, starting off strong — all debauchery, confetti, and champagne — until it fades into a drawn-out bore. Luhrmann still succeeds in some areas, though; to find out what else I thought of The Great Gatsby, just keep reading.

George Clooney and Sandra Bullock provide a gripping two-man show in the breathtaking trailer for Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity. The two play astronauts who become stranded in space after their shuttle is destroyed by debris. That's right, they're stranded . . . in space. Let that sink in for a minute. The trailer, though simple, feels like a very real nightmare. At first everything is all peaches and cream and beautiful views of the sun coming over the Earth, the next minute they're essentially space orphans.

This already reminds me of Open Water, another movie that had me feeling claustrophobic even when the main characters are surrounded by open atmosphere, only without the sharks. My main question is: are Clooney and Bullock really the only actors in the movie? If any duo in Hollywood can carry a film, I believe in them, but that's still a pretty tall order. The movie hits theaters on Oct. 4, and until then, you can watch the trailer after the jump.

The environmental battle over natural gas drilling may not seem like the material that crowd-pleasing movies are built on, but Promised Land overcomes its potentially bland fracking setup to be a genuinely entertaining movie. In fact, this movie isn't really about fracking as much as it is the moral dilemma faced by its main character, portrayed by Matt Damon. He and John Krasinski square off in the Gus Van Sant-directed film as combating forces on either side of the fracking debate. They handily influence a small town (and the audience), though both campaigns are as compelling as they are dubious.

Damon plays Steve Butler, a slick but likable salesman, with familiar ease. He represents Global, a megacorporate natural-gas company that buys the drilling rights to citizens' land. Steve's got one last town (the fictional McKinley) to win over with his partner Sue (Frances McDormand, a pleasure to watch, as always) before he's promoted up the corporate ranks. They think they've got it in the bag until Dustin (Krasinski), an environmentalist with some bold claims about the detrimental effects of fracking and a whole lot of photos of dead cows, comes into town. Watching the tug of war that ensues to win the favor of the small population gets a little tedious, but the competitive dynamic between Steve and Dustin is one of the strengths of the film. Find out what else I thought of Promised Land when you read more.

To say that Les Misérables is a musical would be the understatement of the century. The dialogue in the film is sung nearly 100 percent of the time, setting it apart from pretty much every other musical-turned-movie. If three hours of straight singing doesn't sound like your cup of tea, then Les Mis probably isn't for you, but if you appreciate complex characters, an emotionally charged story, and yes, beautiful music, then you're in for a treat.

The story of Les Misérables is one of redemption, with Hugh Jackman carrying most of the burden as Jean Valjean, an ex-convict determined to get a fresh start and live as an honest man in 19th century France. Standing in his way is Javert (Russell Crowe), an inspector determined to put Valjean back in prison. The two square off again and again throughout the years, and along the way, Valjean rescues a poor girl named Cosette from the clutches of two dishonest innkeepers (played to comedic perfection by Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter) and eventually joins a Parisian uprising. To see where the film works and where it doesn't, just read more

Adapting a bestseller into a movie is never an easy feat, particularly when most of the story takes place on a rowboat in the middle of the ocean. However, Ang Lee's Life of Pi is a great example of how a movie can take a novel to the next level. Thanks to amazing visuals, imagery, and 3D, the movie version of Life of Pi pumps more magic into the impossible tale of a boy, a boat, and a Bengal tiger.

That boy, of course, is Pi, who is named not for the mathematical constant but for a French swimming pool beloved by his uncle. His unique name is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to quirks; Pi grows up in India, where his family owns a beautiful menagerie — we're talking sloths, tigers, zebras, the works. As a teenager, Pi's parents decide to uproot the family and animals to Canada, but their trip takes a tragic turn when the ship sinks. As the sole human survivor, Pi is left to fend for himself aboard a rowboat with the zoo's resident tiger, Richard Parker. What ensues is a story of endurance, friendship, and the human spirit.

To see what else I thought of the film, just read more