It might be unfair to lay the blame entirely on M. Night Shyamalan, but if plot twists and shocking reversals and surprise reveals have a bad name right now at the movies, the man behind “The Village” and “The Happening” should shoulder at least some of the responsibility.

As if to vindicate and justify the pleasure and power of a good twist, here comes Danny Boyle’s “Trance,” a thoroughly pleasurable movie of unexpected revelations and witty diversions that easily ranks among the best films of this still-young year. I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun having the rug pulled out from under me.

The...

In adapting Neil Gordon’s novel about members of the Weather Underground still on the lam decades later for their violent actions, director Robert Redford and screenwriter Lem Dobbs (“The Limey”) could have tackled big ideas about dissent and protest, honed a character study about aging radicals and the young journalist chasing after them, or even dug into Redford’s past as the star of “All the President’s Men” and “Three Days of the Condor” and crafted a gripping thriller.

Option four was apparently to make a dull and uninvolving drama that flirts with big ideas without saying anything new or interesting about them,...

Robert Redford’s “The Company You Keep” marks his ninth directorial work. The film offers a broad range of cast members, with Redford himself taking the lead. Shia LaBeouf and Anna Kendrick represent young Hollywood in the film, with Julie Christie and Susan Sarandon, Nick Nolte and Chris Cooper rounding out the cast. The film makes goes into limited release on Friday. 

Redford stars as a member of Weather Underground, the radical leftist group of 1969 which sought to overthrow the U.S. government in a revolution. Redford is quite the political activist himself as founder of Redford Center, which describes itself as a “group driven by creative innocent and social activism.” 

Redford has his plate full. He will make his superhero flick debut in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” He will also star in...

Here we go again: No sooner did the “Twilight” franchise pack up and head to that shiny coffin in the sky that we get another Stephenie Meyer story about the Special-est Girl in the World and the cute boys who fall madly in love with her. No bloodsuckers or lycanthropes this time, however; now it’s all about glittery dust-bunny aliens who have taken over all the human bodies and turned them…polite?

“The Host” posits an alien invasion whereby almost all of humanity has been body-snatched, resulting in a planet that’s clean, well-fed and kind. A remaining group of people has decided not to swap their souls for...