Over a twenty-year stretch, half a million people have died from opioids, according to the CDC. And one of the crisis’s major killers is OxyContin, which earned the already-wealthy Sackler family billions of dollars.

Even though the family’s firm, Purdue Pharma, is now in bankruptcy proceedings and ordered by courts to pay billions in penalties and compensation, members of the Sackler

There are some especially strong documentaries out there to see [...]

Writer-director Paul Morrison has fashioned an endearingly sweet later-in-life romance fable that follows two senior citizens who first meet walking their dogs and then, over the course of several seasons, deal with the joys, pittfalls and pains of what it means to start a relationship at any age, never mind in the autumn of the year.

Right away we meet Dave (Dave Johns, exquisite in “I, Daniel Blake”), when he and his dog

“Tougher Than a Tank”

Marine Eddie Ryan was hit in the head by friendly fire in Iraq, and his condition was so grave that his parents came to his bedside expecting to say goodbye. Against all odds, Ryan not only survived but was soon able to speak and use his left arm. He maintained his sense of humor, even if certain emotional cues were now absent due to his injuries. The medical bills

I’m a fan of a short film that can tell a complete story and foster a solid atmosphere in only so many screen minutes. Accordingly, if you happen to be in Los Angeles in time for the Dances With Film Festival, on september 1st do yourself a favor and check out “A Good Couple,” a dreamy psychological thriller from filmmaker Robert Gregson.

Gregson’s short stars Julie Ann Earls

Earlier this week I re-watched the original “Candyman” from 1992 in which a pair of enterprising though credulous graduate students (Virginia Madsen and Kasi Lemmons) seek to catalog and/or debunk Chicago urban legends. One legend in particular drew them in: the story of a late-nineteenth-century black portraitist whose affair with a wealthy white patron’s daughter resulted not only in her pregnancy but in her father’s hiring a mob

The new thriller “The Night House” indeed has its share of jump scares, though thankfully this rather clever and intelligent supernatural thriller from director David Bruckner (working from a screenplay by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski) has much more on its mind than simply inducing fright in the viewer—which it certainly accomplishes.

The filmmakers give us no time