Steven Rea's weekend movie picks
Big Eyes Director Tim Burton finds his dream subjects: husband and wife Walter and Margaret Keane, whose paintings of saucer-eyed waifs and tearful clowns were the kitsch hit of the 1960s. He claimed the images were his, but she made them, locked away in a studio like some Brothers Grimm unfortunate. Christoph Waltz and a great Amy Adams bring the couple to life in this wondrously strange true tale about art, dawning feminism and intellectual-property theft. PG-13
Big Eyes Director Tim Burton finds his dream subjects: husband and wife Walter and Margaret Keane, whose paintings of saucer-eyed waifs and tearful clowns were the kitsch hit of the 1960s. He claimed the images were his, but she made them, locked away in a studio like some Brothers Grimm unfortunate. Christoph Waltz and a great Amy Adams bring the couple to life in this wondrously strange true tale about art, dawning feminism and intellectual-property theft. PG-13
Birdman Michael Keaton is a faded Hollywood star trying to reclaim his career by mounting a Broadway drama in Alejandro G. Iñárritu's fierce, breathless, innovative film. With Edward Norton, Emma Stone and Naomi Watts. An exhilarating, out-of-the-blue masterwork. R
The Imitation Game Gripping, sad and true, the story of British mathematician Alan Turing, who led a team of code breakers during World War II trying to crack the German's daunting Enigma encryption machine. The life of this unsung hero, a closeted homosexual, was brought to grievous conclusion. Benedict Cumberbatch stars (in another remarkable performance), with Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode and Mark Strong. PG-13