The Squid and the Whale / Running With Scissors / The Messengers / Freedomland

The Squid And the Whale - in his third feature, director Noah Baumbach scores a triumph with an autobiographical coming-of-age story about a teenager whose writer-parents are divorcing. The father and mother duke it out in half-civilized, half-savage fashion, while their two sons adapt in different ways, shifting allegiances between parents. The film is squirmy-funny and nakedly honest about the rationalizations and compensatory snobbisms of artistic failure as well as the conflicted desires of adolescents for sex and status. Everyone proceeds from good intentions and acts rather badly, in spite or because of their manifest intelligence. Fulfilling the best traditions of the American independent film, this quirky, wisely written feature explores the gulf between sexes, generations, art and commerce, Brooklyn and Manhattan. Running with Scissors - Augustens mother (Annette Bening) is a deluded aspiring poet with bipolar disorder whose marriage to his dad (Alec Baldwin) is in ruins. Soon, she is seeing a very eccentric therapist named Dr. Finch (Brian Cox), while Augusten (Joseph Cross) is left in the care of Finchs wacky family, including his tightly-wound daughter (Gwyneth Paltrow). Abandoned by his parents and adopted by the Finches, he finds a kindred spirit in youngest daughter Natalie (Evan Rachel Wood) and motherly support from Finchs long suffering wife Agnes (Jill Clayburgh). Constantly recording the events of his life in his journal as a way to cope, Augusten finds himself avoiding school, learning about love from an older man (Joseph Fiennes), and making big decisions at the tender age of fifteen. One of the wildest comedy adventures in years! The Messengers - When the Solomon family moves into an outwardly peaceful sunflower farm in North Dakota they are torn apart by suspicion, mayhem and murder. Freedomland - in this explosive thriller, when Brenda Martin (Julianne Moore) claims her car was stolen with her son in the backseat, the chilling accusation sparks an intense investigation led by Detective Lorenzo Council (Samuel L. Jackson). The frenzy to find her son escalates into an explosive nightmare of suspicion and accusation, and the search for the truth leads to riveting action, disturbing revelations, and a shocking ending.