What were the best films that came out in the last week? What were the worst? Were there any you weren’t sure of seeing? Below are quick and easy star ratings of the past week’s releases to help you decide, including short plot details from IMDB. Full comment and opinion can be found in The Film Journal.

—

12/09/14

—

—

A Most Wanted Man

A Chechen Muslim illegally immigrates to Hamburg, where he gets caught in the international war on terror.
—
122 min. Director: Anton Corbijn. Writer: Andrew Bovell. Stars: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Daniel Brühl.
—
Watch trailer

—

—

In Order of Disappearance (Kraftidioten)

Nils snow ploughs the wild winter mountains of Norway, and is recently awarded Citizen of the Year. When his son is murdered for something he did not do, Nils wants revenge.
—
116 min. Director: Hans Petter Moland. Writer: Kim Fupz Aakeson. Stars: Stellan Skarsgård, Kristofer Hivju, Birgitte Hjort Sørensen.
—
Watch trailer

—

—

Manuscripts Don’t Burn (Dast-neveshtehaa nemisoosand)

Khosrow and Morteza set out on a mission to kill someone. The assassination ought to be arranged as a suicide. At the last minute however, they are obliged to change their initial plans…
—
125 min. Director: Mohammad Rasoulof. Writer: Mohammad Rasoulof.
—
Watch trailer

—

—

Pride

U.K. gay activists work to help miners during their lengthy strike of the National Union of Mineworkers in the summer of 1984.
—
120 min. Director: Matthew Warchus. Writer: Stephen Beresford. Stars: Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, Dominic West.
—
Watch trailer

—

—

The Boxtrolls

A young orphaned boy raised by underground cave-dwelling trash collectors tries to save his friends from an evil exterminator. Based on the children’s novel ‘Here Be Monsters’ by Alan Snow.
—
97 min. Directors: Graham Annable, Anthony Stacchi. Writers: Irena Brignull, Adam Pava. Stars: Ben Kingsley, Jared Harris, Nick Frost.
—
Watch trailer

—

—

The Wizard of Oz

• Unmissable Dorothy Gale is swept away to a magical land in a tornado and embarks on a quest to see the Wizard who can help her return home. [1939 rerelease]
—
102 min. Directors: Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Mervyn LeRoy, Norman Taurog, King Vidor. Writers: Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson. Stars: Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger.
—
Watch trailer

—

—

Still showing

—

Sex Tape • Avoid

Before I Go to Sleep

Finding Fela!

Life of Crime

M • Recommended

The Guest

The Hundred-Foot Journey

They Came Together

—

—

—

Follow the editor @GaryGreenScreen

—