MONICA LEVINSON

BEIRUT (2018)
Starring Jon Hamm, Rosamund Pike, Shea Whigham, Dean Norris, Mark Pellegrino, Douglas Hodge, Alon Aboutboul, Kate Fleetwood, Leïla Bekhti and Jonny Coyne. Directed by Brad Anderson.

In 1980s Beirut, Mason Skiles is a former U.S. diplomat who is called back into service to save a colleague from the group that is possibly responsible for his own family's death. Meanwhile, a CIA field agent who is working under cover at the American embassy is tasked with keeping Mason alive and ensuring that the mission is a success.

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC (2016)
Starring Viggo Mortensen, Samantha Isler, Annalise Basso, Steve Zahn, George MacKay, Nicholas Hamilton, Shree Crooks, Charlie Shotwell, Trin Miller and Kathryn Hahn. Directed by Matt Ross.

Ben is an idealistic father has lived a decade off the grid with his six kids in the forests of America’s Northwest. He spends his days home-schooling the kids and teaching them combat and survival skills. His wife Leslie has recently been hospitalised and the family are eagerly awaiting her return. But when tragic news of her death reaches them, the family pile into their bus dubbed “Steve” and journey across-country to attend the funeral and say a final farewell to their beloved mother. Grappling with grief and the culture shock of entering the modern world, their journey soon brings the eccentricities of their rag-tag clan to light in stark contrast to ‘normal’ society. With his wife’s parents determined to take custody of the kids, Ben must consider assimilating the family back into society, or risk losing them forever.

REVIEWS Captain Fantastic - A new kind of hero

TRUMBO (2016)
Starring Bryan Cranston, Helen Mirren, Diane Lane, John Goodman, Louis C.k., Elle Fanning, Alan Tyduk, Dean O'Gorman and David James Elliott. Directed by Jay Roach.

In this fascinating true story, Dalton Trumbo is a successful Hollywood screenwriter who was blacklisted in 1947 by the studios under the direction of the infamous House Committee on Un-American Activities. Holding strong to a belief in free speech and refusing to name "suspicious" friends, Trumbo was vilified in the communist witch-hunt that took place in America at the height of the Cold War. He was exiled professionally, sentenced to a year in prison for Contempt of Congress, and drawn into battle with the absurd Red-hating gossip columnist Hedda Hooper. With an irrepressible creative talent, Trumbo would find his way back into Hollywood, writing several scripts under pseudonyms during his exile, including Roman Holiday, and winning two Academy Awards under an alias.

REVIEWS Trumbo - The dark side of Hollywood