Before these rainy days end, use them as the perfect excuse to get out of the weather and into an area movie theater. Up To Date's indie, foreign and documentary Film Critics make it easy with this week's recommendations.
Steve Walker
"Dark Money," Not Rated
- Using the state of Montana as a microcosm, Kimberly Reed's incisive documentary explores the genesis, roots and rotten core of the influence of corporate money on politics, both pre- and post-Citizens United.
"Juliet, Naked," R
- In this off-beat comedy based on a Nick Hornby novel, Ethan Hawke plays a reclusive rock star who is prodded out of hiding by the museum curator girlfriend (Rose Byrne) of an obsessive fan.
"Puzzle," R
- Kelly Macdonald gives a winning performance as a housewife who finds an upcoming jigsaw puzzle championship — and the attention of her competition partner — a welcome distraction from being taken for granted by her husband and sons.
Cynthia Haines
"The Bookshop," PG
- In this adaptation of the Penelope Fitzgerald novel, Emily Mortimer portrays an entrepreneurial widow whose new bookshop introduces a bit of progressivism to a reluctant, conservative English town.
"Puzzle," R
- In this English-language version of a 2010 Argentinian film, Kelly Macdonald stars as Agnes, a suburban housewife who suffers ennui, boredom, and neglect at home until a new hobby — competitive puzzling — shifts her perspective.
"Juliet, Naked," R
- Burned-out musician Tucker Crowe strikes up a discourse with online commenter Annie after she insults his latest album as a way to get back at her boyfriend, a Tucker Crowe superfan played by Chris O'Dowd.
