The year 1981 was a low point in New York City, tallying the highest crime rate stats on record. There’s a new movie out this weekend that shows what it was like to try to run an honest business in that corrupt climate.
Oscar Isaac’s moral code may not survive “A Most Violent Year.” This American dream drama takes place in 1981, the most brutal year in New York’s history. He’s an immigrant trying to run a business without getting involved in the crime and corruption that usually entails but his wife is not quite so scrupulous. “A Most Violent Year” is rated R.
Children take a trip to the unhappiest place on earth in “The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death.” This one picks up 40 years after the Daniel Radcliffe chapter. A group of London orphans is forced to leave the big city for more inexpensive environs. The problem with this little fixer-upper is that the kids keep disappearing at the hands of an evil spirit. “The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death” is rated PG-13.
A Russian Cold War heats up in “Leviathan.” This foreign language film depicts a power struggle in a small town, when the mayor fights back against a bigger bureaucrat who wants his land, who then puts the squeeze on the citizens to turn them against the mayor. “Leviathan” is rated R.