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The Americans is a period spy thriller drama series created by Joe Weisberg. The FX series is set during the Cold War and it follows the story of Elizabeth and Philip Jennings, two Soviet Kgb intelligence officers who are sent to Washington D.C. to pose as an American couple to gather information on the American government. The Americans stars Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys in the lead roles with Maximiliano Hernández, Holly Taylor, Keidrich Sellati, Noah Emmerich, Annet Mahendru, Susan Misner, and Alison Wright starring in supporting roles. So, if you loved the intensely thrilling story, nail-biting drama, and compelling characters in The Americans here are some similar shows you should check out next.

The Spy (Netflix) Credit – Netflix

The Spy is a French English-language spy thriller drama series created by Gideon Raff. Based on the life...

One of the coolest and most beloved sub-genres for thriller, action, and drama fans is the spy genre and there’s a good reason. In a spy film or series, we get complicated and cool characters who put their lives on the line by going against numerous people and instead of always letting their guns talk they use more covert tactics, which are always thrilling to watch. So, Netflix being what it is, it has a large library of content and also some of the best spy shows you can find and that’s what inspired us to compile a list of the best spy shows you can watch on Netflix right now.

Fubar Credit – Netflix

Fubar is an action thriller and comedy-drama series created by Nick Santora. The Netflix series follows the story of Luke Brunner, a recently retired CIA agent who finds out that his daughter is also...

(L-r) Yotam (Ofri Biterman), Iris (Oshrat Ingedashet) and Eli (Michael Moshonov) in America. Photo credit: Beta Cinema. Courtesy of Menemsha Films

America, despite the title, is not set in the U.S. nor is it about America, Instead, it is a deeply human, moving, emotionally complex, intelligent Israeli drama an Israeli man who has lived in America for decades but returns after the death of his long-estranged father, to deal with the estate, and reconnects with some people from his past. Human relationships, and a different take on a love triangle, as the center of the fine drama/romance America, from the director of the international hit The Cakemaker. Israeli writer/director Ofir Raul Graizer helmed both that excellent German drama and this new this Hebrew-language drama/romance, which feels like a kind of sequel in its similar emotional, poignant style.

America centers on an Israeli-born man, Eli (Michael Moshonov...

The Sympathizer is a period spy thriller and dark comedy series created by Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar. Based on a 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Vietnamese author Viet Thanh Nguyen, the HBO series follows the story of the Captain, a North Vietnam spy planted in the army of South Vietnam but when he is forced to flee to the United States, he keeps gathering information on his community to send it back to the Viet Cong. The Sympathizer stars Hoa Xuande in the lead role with Robert Downey Jr., Toan Le, Fred Nguyen Khan, Duy Nguyễn, Vy Le, Ky Duyen, Kieu Chinh, Alan Trong, and Sandra Oh starring in supporting roles. If you loved the spy thriller and dark comedy aspects of The Sympathizer here are some similar shows you could watch next.

The Americans (Hulu & Rent on Prime Video) Credit – FX

The Americans is a...

Title: A Tale of Love And Darkness Director: Natalie Portman Starring: Natalie Portman, Gilad Kahana, Amir Tessler, Moni Moshonov, Ohad Knoller, Makram J. Khoury, Neta Riskin and Alex Peleg. Based on the novel by Amoz Oz, ‘A Tale of Love And Darkness’ marks the first film written, directed and starring Academy Award actress Natalie Portman. The story retraces Oz’s memories growing up in Jerusalem, with his academic father Arieh and his dreamy and imaginative mother Fania, during the years before the Israeli statehood. They were one of many Jewish families who moved to Palestine, from Europe, during the 1930s and 40s, to escape persecution. Fania’s delusion becomes a prominent protagonist [ Read More ]

The post A Tale of Love And Darkness Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Close-Up is a column that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Two Lovers is playing on Mubi in the Us through September 15.Little Odessa (1994), The Yards (2000), We Own the Night (2007), The Immigrant (2013): Written and directed by James Gray, these four films are occupied by characters living extraordinary lives. Yet despite their depiction of an exceptional existence—covering cold-blooded killers, cunning gangsters, ruthless hit men, and the perilous plight of early 20th century immigrants—Gray's cinematic worlds are consistently unassuming and relatable. No matter how high the drama or how dire the circumstances, there is a palpable attention to detail, in character and setting, which attains a surprising level of modest believability. Two Lovers (2009), his fourth feature film, likewise achieves this authenticity, but it is also something of an exemption to his body of work. Anchored by Joaquin Phoenix as Leonard Kraditor, in what was the actor's third straight film...

Read More: Watch: Patrick Stewart Flexes His Comedy Muscles in New 'Blunt Talk' Featurette In a new exclusive clip from "Hunting Elephants," Patrick Stewart, playing a dramatic, past-his-prime actor looking to open a new theater, is confronted with the prospect of robbing a bank with two other older men and a 12-year-old boy in order to get the money he needs. The film brings an unlikely group together -- three elderly men and one preteen -- to rob a bank when they decide this is the best way to solve each of their financial issues. Confusion and chaos erupt in this comedy as the newfound criminals struggle with the dangerous logistics of actually stealing money from a bank. The film also stars Sasson Gabai, Moni Moshonov and Gil Blank. Reshef Levi's "Hunting Elephants" premiered in Israel in 2013, and will be available on DVD and VOD on August 11. Watch the clip above.

Beasts of Burden: Levi’s Slapstick Heist Film Runs Amuck

For his sophomore film, Israeli director Reshef Levi inserts Patrick Stewart alongside the likes of Sasson Gabai, Moni Moshonov, and Moshe Ivgy for a comedic bank heist in Hunting Elephants. While there’s mild amusement to be had amongst this group of sassy old codgers, the whole endeavor feels a bit forced. Snippets of characters directly addressing the camera frequently distract as Levi and co-writer Regey Levi cut across timespans in attempt to give the scenario added depth. Reinforcing stereotypes rather than playing with them, Levi’s broad scenario feels tonally akin to something like Last Vegas (2013) but entrenched in more archaic stagnation.

Daniel (Zvika Hadar) is a security guard at a bank. While explaining to his twelve year old son Jonathan (Gil Blank) how the new security system works, replete with all the proper codes needed to gain entry,...

You might have noticed that it's been a very long while since we've seen Patrick Stewart's presence on the big screen. It's been several years in fact, during which his voice did most of the acting, from video games and animated movies to everything by Seth MacFarlane. But now it seems that his actual face will accompany his voice, in a new Israeli film of all places.Sir Patrick will play an eccentric Brit in the upcoming crime comedy Hunting Elephants who joins a group Israeli misfits in a bank heist. Its the third feature comedy by writer-director Reshef Levi and stars some of Israel's own acting nobility, including Moni Moshonov (Late Marriage), Sasson Gabai (The Band's Visit) and Moshe Ivgy (Campfire).Jonathan is a boy genius...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Safe Haven

"Rock of Ages" star Julianne Hough is in negotiations to join Josh Duhamel in Lasse Hallstrom's adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks novel "Safe Haven" at Relativity Media.

Dana Stevens and Les Bohem adapted the script in which Hough would play a young woman whose arrival in a small North Carolina town prompts its tight-knit community to question her mysterious past. [Source: Variety]

What's the Matter with Margie

Elizabeth Banks has joined Daniel Minahan's dark comedy "What's the Matter with Margie" for Myriad Pictures. Shooting commences early 2013 in Los Angeles.

"True Blood" creator Alan Ball penned the script in which Banks plays a stepped-on office-worker who, after years of abuse, snaps and resorts to murderous revenge. [Source: Thompson on Hollywood]

Hunting Elephants

John Cleese, Sasson Gabai and Moni Moshonov have joined the cast of Reshef Levi's "Hunting Elephants" at Bleiberg Entertainment. Shooting kicks off in July in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

The story...

John Cleese may be in his 70′s but that hasn’t stopped him from continuing his substantial film career with yet another project. THR reports that the legendary comic actor has joined the cast of the heist comedy Hunting Elephants, from Israeli director Reshef Levy.

Coming from a screenplay in which Levy also wrote focuses on “Jonathan, a precocious 12-year-old whose life threatens to fall apart after his father dies in an accident at the bank he works for. The bank refuses to take responsibility and even threatens to reposes Jonathan’s home, leading to his decision to stage the heist with the only gang he can find: three senior citizens.”

Cleese will join Iraqi actor Sasson Gabai, who is set to play “Jonathan’s cranky grandfather and partner in crime Elijah” with Israeli actor Moni Moshonov playing Elijah’s friend Nick. Levy made his directorial debut back in 2008 with Lost Islands,...

Chicago – In this edition of the HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: DVD, two lucky winners will clean up with three DVDs from Magnolia Pictures for “Julia,” “Two Lovers” and “The Answer Man” plus a full-size poster for “I Am Love” signed by Oscar-winning star Tilda Swinton and an “I Am Love” soundtrack!

“I Am Love” stars Tilda Swinton from writer and director Luca Guadagnino. “Julia” stars Tilda Swinton from director Erick Zonca. “Two Lovers” stars Joaquin Phoenix, Gwyneth Paltrow, Vinessa Shaw, Moni Moshonov and John Ortiz from director James Gray. “The Answer Man” stars Jeff Daniels, Lauren Graham, Olivia Thirlby and Kat Dennings from director John Hindman.

To win your free DVDs and poster courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, all you need to do is answer a question in this Web-based submission form. That’s it! Directions to enter this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup and immediately win can be found beneath the graphic below.

Chicago – In this edition of the HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: DVD, one lucky winner will clean up with three DVDs from Magnolia Pictures for “The Burning Plain,” “Two Lovers” and “Flawless” plus a full-size poster for “Ondine” signed by stars Colin Farrell and Alicja Bachleda!

“Ondine” stars Colin Farrell, Alicja Bachleda, Tony Curran and Stephen Rea. “The Burning Plain” stars Charlize Theron, John Corbett, Robin Tunney and Gray Eubank. “Two Lovers” stars Joaquin Phoenix, Gwyneth Paltrow, Vinessa Shaw, Moni Moshonov and John Ortiz. “Flawless” stars Demi Moore, Michael Caine, Lambert Wilson and Nathaniel Parker.

To win your free DVDs and poster courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, all you need to do is answer a question in this Web-based submission form. That’s it! Directions to enter this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup and immediately win can be found beneath the graphic below.

The movie poster for “Ondine” with Colin Farrell and Alicja Bachleda.

Image...

Chicago – James Gray’s highly underrated and tragically underseen “Two Lovers” will undoubtedly find a loyal and loving audience on Blu-Ray. Joaquin Phoenix’s totally obnoxious behavior overshadowed what is arguably the best performance of his career in this ’70s-esque drama about a man caught between what he has and what he wants.

Blu-Ray Rating: 4.5/5.0 Happiness is not having what you want, it’s wanting what you have. Poor Leonard (Joaquin Phoenix) can’t figure out either in “Two Lovers,” a daringly old-fashioned drama with an undeniably ’70s style but themes as old as the written word.

Two Lovers was released on Blu-Ray on June 30th, 2009.

Photo credit: Magnolia

Leonard is a suicidal romantic, a victim of a failed engagement a few years back who is awkwardly set up with the lovely Sandra (Vinessa Shaw) by his parents (Moni Moshonov & Isabella Rossellini). She is a beautiful, sweet girl and the...

Chicago – How many men have missed out on a great relationship because they were chasing a romantic vision largely of their own making? James Gray’s excellent “Two Lovers,” the film that Joaquin Phoenix has notoriously been promoting in a style similar to that of Andy Kaufman, is a wonderful character-driven drama about a man caught between what he has and what he wants.

Rating: 4.5/5.0 As a friend of mine quoted after seeing the movie, “happiness is not having what you want, it’s wanting what you have.” It sounds corny, but this is essentially the dilemma in which that poor Leonard (Joaquin Phoenix) finds himself in “Two Lovers,” a daringly old-fashioned drama with a ’70s style but themes as old as the written word.

Read Brian Tallerico’s full review of “Two Lovers” in our reviews section. We meet Leonard on a delivery run for his father’s (Moni Moshonov) dry-cleaning business.

Gwyneth Paltrow is back and Joaquin Phoenix has got her in the soppy indie drama "Two Lovers," a dismal cine-splotch about depressed losers in outer Brooklyn by writer-director James Gray.

Phoenix plays a glum misfit who lives with his parents (Isabella Rossellini, Moni Moshonov) and works at their dry- cleaning business. For unknown reasons, he attracts attention from not one but two beautiful women (Paltrow, a legal assistant who lives in the building, and Vinessa Shaw,...

Two Lovers begins with Joaquin Phoenix, the troubled son of two Brighton Beach dry cleaners, jumping off a pier into freezing water. He resurfaces after a change of heart, but as the scars on his wrists attest, this isn’t the first time he’s thought about killing himself. And as the rest of the film makes clear, he has a habit of getting in over his head. Still recovering from a scotched engagement, Phoenix lives at home with parents Isabella Rossellini and Moni Moshonov in a cramped, homey apartment. He mopes, works at the family business, and hones his ...

Opening this Friday in both Los Angeles and New York is director James Gray’s new movie “Two Lovers”. The film stars Joaquin Phoenix, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Vinessa Shaw as three people whose lives are intertwined by love. Joaquin Phoenix plays Leonard, a charismatic but troubled young man who moves back into his childhood home following a recent heartbreak. While recovering under the watchful eye of his parents (Isabella Rossellini and Moni Monoshov), Leonard meets two women in quick succession: Michelle (Gwyneth Paltrow), a mysterious and beautiful neighbor who is exotic and out-of-place in Leonard's staid world, and Sandra, the lovely and caring daughter of a businessman who is buying out his family's dry-cleaning business. Leonard becomes deeply infatuated by Michelle, who seems poised to fall for him, but is having a self-destructive ...

The folks over at Cinematical have debuted the new poster for Two Lovers, the romantic drama starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Vinessa Shaw, Isabella Rossellini, Moni Moshonov, Elias Koteas, and Joaquin Phoenix, supposedly his last role. The Brooklyn-set film, directed by James Gray (We Own the Night), follows a bachelor (Phoenix) torn between the family friend his parents wish he would marry and his beautiful but volatile new neighbor. Gray also co-wrote the film with Ric Menello. It opens February 13, 2009.

Cinematical has received this exclusive poster for Two Lovers, starring Joaquin Phoenix (in his final movie role?), Gwyneth Paltrow and Vinessa Shaw. Directed by James Gray (We Own the Night), Two Lovers is a Brooklyn-set romantic drama that follows a troubled man who returns to his childhood home and falls for two very different women: the lovely and caring family friend (Shaw) and the mysterious, volatile neighbor (Paltrow). Which woman will he choose, and will she set him on a course for happiness or turn him in the complete opposite direction? Two Lovers also stars Isabella Rossellini and Moni Moshonov, and it will arrive in theaters on February 13, 2009.

Click below to view entire poster.

Gallery: Two Lovers Poster

Filed under: Drama, Romance, Fandom, Movie Marketing, Images, Posters

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From the opening sequences, in which crackpot mental-hospital patient Moni Moshonov holds a skull aloft and quotes extensively from Hamlet while a catatonic soldier slumps against a tree in the background, Forgiveness feels like a high-concept stage play, the kind of well-meant but pretentious project where grand themes are worked out in a claustrophobic setting among a small cast. While Israeli-born director Udi Aloni (Local Angel) opens up the settings to include location shooting in New York City and Israel, and operates with a complicated timeline, he never shakes that feeling of a small, crowded stage. Itay Tiran plays the son of Auschwitz survivor Michael Sarne, whose meek mixed guilt and pride in his heritage drives Tiran to a defiantly single-minded Zionism: He picks a fight at a Middle East peace rally, gets the star of David tattooed on his chest, moves to Israel to enlist in the army,...

By Matt Singer

It wasn't just the weather that was gloomy at the 61st Cannes Film Festival. By the time the skies above southern France briefly cleared for a few days during the second week of the festival, the international press corps had been infected by a mass plague, not unlike the one portrayed in this opening night selection "Blindness," done in reverse . instead of losing their sight, hundreds of journalists stumbled around in a fog, obliged to do nothing but look, and after 12-plus days of looking at a selection of tasteful, well-made and entirely bleak movies, society's rules were breaking down into sweaty anarchy. Those waiting in line for press screenings, always ready to devolve into contentious, multilingual shoving matches, were especially cranky. The traditional applause during a film's closing credits was muted at best, nonexistent or drowned out by boos at the worst. Walking out of a...

This review was written for the festival screening of "We Own the Night".CANNES -- With three feature films to his credit -- "Little Odessa", "The Yards" and now "We Own the Night" -- writer-director James Gray makes essentially the same film over and over again. The focus is on male family members, fathers and brothers, and the setting is the corrupt world of cops and gangsters in New York immigrant communities. The past two films have come to Cannes, and neither has escaped boos following its press screening. The problem is not that Gray is an especially bad filmmaker but rather that he is an unimaginative one.

Clearly, these family themes contain a great deal of autobiography and mean much to Gray. But he insists on setting his analysis of the difficulties experienced by family members who go very separate ways, often on opposite sides of the law, in an overly familiar genre. So many great filmmakers have mined this territory before him that he is reduced to searching for scraps on the mine's floor. Why does he continually want to go up against Scorsese and Coppola -- not to mention "The Sopranos" -- with these small family dramas?

"We Own the Night" -- a phrase used by an '80s-era NYPD street crime unit -- is a more accomplished film than "Yards". Yet it will fail to satisfy police movie buffs, as procedures are de-emphasized, and the drama is too perfunctory and obvious. Falling between the cracks as it does, the film's boxoffice performance, despite the presence of producers-stars Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg (who both starred in "Yards") looks very average.

What Gray does best here is create an atmosphere of palpable tension and dread. Once a gangster puts out a hit on a family of cops, all of their lives are in danger every second. You feel the weight of this fate in their every move around Brooklyn.

Phoenix plays Bobby Green, who runs a Russian-owned nightclub in Brighton Beach. Because of this job, he has changed his last name to disguise the fact he comes from a Polish-American family of New York City cops. The name change also betrays an estrangement from his dad, semi-legendary deputy chief Burt Grusinsky (Robert Duvall), and his brother, Joseph (Wahlberg).

The crucial problem here, if Gray seriously wants to focus on family, is the lack of explanation for this estrangement. Does Bobby not like cops? Or maybe just his brother? Did his dad favor his brother when he was young because Joseph had dyslexia? Perhaps he wasn't breast-fed.

Speaking of which, where are the women in this family? Or, for that matter, where are the women in this movie, since the only major female role belongs to Bobby's sexy Puerto Rican girlfriend, Amanda (Eva Mendes)?

With his dad's encouragement, Joseph has targeted the nephew (Alex Veadov) of the nightclub's owner (Moni Moshonov) for drug trafficking. The drug dealer resents this and puts out a contract on Joseph.

Joseph is seriously wounded but survives. Suddenly rediscovering brotherly love, Bobby agrees to wear a wire when he meets with the gangsters to inspect his drug operation since the nephew wants Bobby to become involved in the business.

But the operation goes wrong, a shootout ensues, Bobby's family connections are exposed and a contract is out on all male family members. Which, among other things, causes Eva to have major reservations about continuing a relationship with a guy who now wants to become a cop.

What follows is all too routine and predictable -- the escape of the drug dealer, a betrayal by a friend, an ambush of cars escorting Bobby and Eva to a safe house and a death in the family. The climax, too, reminiscent of that in "The French Connection", is indifferently staged.

The acting is solid but unexceptional. Tech credits are more on the money: Gray shoots the film in a blue-gray that feels ominous and grim. Even here, though, predictability reigns: Nothing good ever happens in a film shot in such a color scheme.

WE OWN THE NIGHT

Columbia Pictures

2929 Prods. presents a Nick Wechsler production

Credits:

Screenwriter-director: James Gray

Producers: Marc Butan, Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg, Nick Wechsler

Executive producers: Mark Cuban, Anthony Katagas, Todd Wagner

Director of photography: Joaquin Baca-Asay

Production designer: Ford Wheeler

Music: Wojciech Kilar

Costume designer: Michael Clancy

Editor: John Axelrod

Cast:

Bobby Green: Joaquin Phoenix

Joseph Grusinsky: Mark Wahlberg

Amanda: Eva Mendes: Burt: Robert Duvall

Vadim: Alex Veadov

Marat Bujayev: Moni Moshonov

Running time -- 117 minutes

MPAA rating: R...