Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015)

Thomas Mann stars as Pittsburgh-raised twelfth-grader Greg, who spends most of his days trying to fly under the radar among his peers at school, not trying to fit in so much as to not stand out.  He’s longtime friends (or co-workers, he states due to his desire not to commit to anything definitive) with Earl.  Together, they spend a good deal of their spare time not only watching classic films, but making their own silly spoof home movies based upon them (echoes of Be Kind Rewind abound).  His mother thinks it’s important for him to make a connection, and cajoles him into visiting Rachel, a fellow classmate he barely knows who has recently been diagnosed with stage four leukemia.  They begrudgingly spend time together, but soon form a unique friendship. The young men decide to make a film just for Rachel, hoping it will give her the strength she needs for the long and arduous battle ahead.

Mad Max: Fury Road (Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron) Film review

his time out, Max Rockatansky is played by Tom Hardy, an established actor known for playing many complex, troubled antiheroes, so a natural fit for the part. He’s an ex-cop in post-apocalyptic Australia. His travels eventually lead him to abetting the fierce and heroic Imperator Furiosa, who is on a cross-country journey in a mega-tanker through desolate wasteland to transport five pregnant women used by a vicious, slaving despot named Immortan Joe for breeding purposes to a legendary oasis of her youth (“the place where it’s green”). As one of his children is ready to pop, Joe is going to get that child at any cost, so the deadly chase is afoot, with Furiosa and Max greatly outnumbered against the horde of sadistic “war boys” in Joe’s command, willing to do whatever it takes to stop the exodus from succeeding.

Clouds of Sils Maria (2014)

Juliette Binoche stars as internationally famous actress Maria Enders, whom we meet on a trip to Zurich, Switzerland with handy and very trustworthy personal assistant and confidante, Valentine, in tow, asked to accept a major career tribute, on behalf of Wilhelm Melchior, the playwright and screenwriter who gave her a big break early on (and perhaps a bit of romance). En route, she receives word that he has died, which derails the spirit of the speech she has been preparing. Meanwhile, Maria is approached by a respected young director looking to cast her in a juicy role in the very play that brought her fame, “Maloja Snake”, except this time, she’s slated to play the older romantic counterpart to the young seductress she had played in the original production.