Celebrated director Mike Leigh (Secrets and Lies, Happy-Go-Lucky) returns to period drama which he mined so successfully in Topsy-Turvy, to create an epic biography of the brilliant English painter J.M.W. Turner (Timothy Spall). Veteran actor Spall, who appeared in the Harry Potter movies and played Churchill in The King’s Speech, won the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for his performance as the quirky outsider who was a master artist. The film covers the last half of his life, from the height of his success in the 1830s to his death in 1851. Turner, a magician with light and considered a forerunner of the Impressionists, was completely obsessed with his art. But his personal life was a mess. He sometimes slept with his fond housekeeper (Dorothy Atkinson), but still treated her as a servant; he ignored his grasping ex-mistress (Ruth Sheen), who had borne him two daughters. Eventually he fell in love with his seaside landlady (Marion Bailey) and lived with her incognito. A constant traveler in search of new sights to paint, he enjoyed the hospitality of the landed aristocracy, visited brothels and was a popular but anarchic member of the Royal Academy of Arts. He once had himself tied to the mast of a ship in bad weather in order to paint a snowstorm. The film excels in creating completely convincing period authenticity; cinematographer Dick Pope (also a prizewinner at Cannes) seems to capture Turner’s genius with glowing images.

Rated R, Run Time: 2hrs 29mins
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Meet the Weiss family, who are making their way in Hollywood rife with money, fame, envy, and relentless hauntings. Stafford Weiss (John Cusack) is a famed TV self-help therapist with an A-list celebrity clientele. Meanwhile, Cristina Weiss (Olivia Williams) has her work cut out managing the career of their disaffected child-star son, Benjie (Evan Bird), a fresh graduate of rehab at age 13. Yet unbeknownst to them, another member of the Weiss family has arrived in town - mysteriously scarred and tormented Agatha (Mia Wasikowska), just released from a psych ward and ready to start again. She soon works her way into a friendship with a limo driver (Robert Pattinson) and becomes personal assistant to unraveling actress Havana Segrand (Julianne Moore), who is beset by the ghost of her legendary mother, Clarice (Sarah Gadon). But Agatha is on a quest for redemption - and even in this realm of the artificial, and the unearthly, she's determined to find it, no matter what it takes.

Rated R, Run Time: 1hrs 52mins
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Four-time Oscar nominee Julianne Moore (Far From Heaven, The Hours, The End of the Affair, Boogie Nights) gives a terrific, heartbreaking and unforgettable performance as Alice Howland, a renowned linguistics professor, happily married with three adult children. In the words of her husband John (Alec Baldwin), she's the most beautiful and most intelligent woman he's ever known. But Alice finds herself forgetting words—her stock in trade. Frightened, she consults her doctor, and receives a devastating diagnosis: early onset Alzheimer's disease. Her loving family tries to support her, but finds their bonds thoroughly tested. Her children, Anna (Kate Bosworth), Tom (Hunter Parrish) and Lydia (Kristen Stewart) each meet the crisis in their own way. Lydia, an aspiring actress, has been at odds with her mother over her own future, and tries to mend the breach before it is too late. Alice's struggle to stay connected to who she once was is frightening, poignant, and inspiring. Told with a quiet restraint that is more powerful than sentimental melodrama, Still Alice will touch your heart. Written and directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland (The Last of Robin Hood, Quinceañera), based on the novel by Lisa Genova.

Rated PG-13, Run Time: 1hr 41mins
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The gripping drama Whiplash stars Miles Teller (The Spectacular Now) as Andrew Neiman, a 19-year-old jazz drummer determined to rise to the top of the country's most elite music conservatory. One night, Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), a conductor equally known for his talent for teaching as he is for the terrifying method of his instruction, discovers Andrew practicing the drums, and the next day requests that he be transferred into his band. At first, Andrew is an "alternate," confined to turning the pages of the "core" drummer, but at the band's next competition, the core drummer's sheet music is misplaced and Andrew gets the opportunity to play. Though the act further alienates him from his fellow musicians, the band nonetheless wins the competition, and he seems poised to become Fletcher's new "favorite son." Andrew's maniacal effort to achieve perfection is further fueled by Fletcher's psychological brinksmanship. The nearer to perfection Andrew gets, the narrower his circle of intimates becomes until he is left only with Fletcher—and even that relationship is jeopardized by the ferocity of Andrew's ambitions. A journey that can be seen alternately as a descent into madness or an ascent to greatness comes to a crescendo on the biggest platform for Andrew's talents—the unforgiving stage of Carnegie Hall. Nominated for 5 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Simmons) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Damien Chazelle).

Rated R, Run Time: 1hr 46mins
Official Website