Although the actual characters and specific events are fictional, The Experiment movie is based on a real experiment with the same idea. The intention is to see if certain characteristics of both guards and prisoners cause the prison environment to be more abusive. They hire 26 to stay for two weeks in a mock prison and they are divided in two; the guards and the prisoners. Rules are set and they are told to abide by them, because if one messes up, they all suffer. That means no one gets paid. Suddenly things take a sudden turn for the worst, when the men playing the guards let the power go to their heads and the so-called prisoners start to fight back. What happens when the warden tries to stop the experiment that he started?

Directed by Gus Van Sant and featuring Matt Damon in the leading role, Promised Land centers on the ace of the oil industry, Steve Butler, a corporate salesman, who is sent to rural American town to secure the drilling rights of his company to tap into the local resources. The town is going thru an uneasy times after the world financial crisis, and, in these times, the establishing the office and production platforms could be in-need for the locals, especially considering the buying drilling rights from local authorities. However, what seemed as easy procedure at the first look, turned to uneasy challenge for Steve. Now he has to rethink all of his beliefs and approaches to life. The movie is a subject of criticism concerning the facts that the major sponsor of its production is Abu Dhabi Media, which is totally owned by United Arab Emirates. It's believed that due to this sponsorship, the film puts shale fracking being described in the movie in a bad light, as it significantly increased the oil-producing capabilities of USA and reduced the oil import from UAE. Nevertheless, Promised Land allows us to enjoy brilliant play of Matt Damon, which is considered to be as "top-level" as it was in The Adjustment Bureau, True Grit and The Informant!

Inspired by California's Parent Trigger law in 2010, a Daniel Barnz's movie Won't Back Down is telling a story about two mothers, who are adamant in their decision to change things in downgrading school of their city. Their strong will and resoluteness to override the sequence of mediocre performance reports issued by the school year after year leads them to fierce battle with corruption and indolence prevailing behind the school officers and government officials. Two mothers, a bartender (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and a teacher Nona Alberts (Viola Davis) maybe belonging two different backgrounds, but they are very eager to fight the bureaucracy personalized in Principal Thompson and Teacher's Union President (portrayed by Holly Hunter, Grace Hanadarko from Saving Grace TV series). It seems like the mothers are going to lose everything in this unequal combat, however their good will to change things for better will bring them victory and safe education for their children, which deserve the best future.

Water for Elephants comes out in 2011 as an adaptation from the novel by Sara Gruen published in 2006. The movie, starts as a flashback of an old man and is set during the time of the Great Depression stars Robert Pattinson, of Twilight fame, playing a veterinary student, named Jacob Jankowski, who is orphaned and finds himself jumping aboard a passing train transporting the Benzini Brothers traveling circus. Jacob becomes the de facto veterinarian for the circus animals, including an elephant, name Rosie, who is 'un-trainable' until Pattinson's character finds a way to get through to her. Of course, there is a love triangle involving Pattinson, Academy Award winner Christopher Waltz, and the ever so hot Resse Witherspoon in here as well, but in order to avoid the spoiler, no more will be said. Suffice it to say, those who want to feel that 'tug' at their heartstrings will not be disappointed.

If you are very fan of such movies like The Illusionist and The Prestige, the 2013 year will delight you with some brilliant surprises. There are two movies worth your attention in 2013 The Incredible Burt Wonderstone and Now You See Me. And if the second one looks more like some mix with drama and crime genre, the first one is the "pure magic". Much like Nolan's The Prestige, Don Scardino's The Incredible Burt Wonderstone tells a story about two magicians Burt Wonderstone and Anton Marvelton whose performance gained them the first place in world rankings, but suddenly their fortune dried when Anton gets trauma during the performance. It was an accident, but Anton blames Burt for this and leaves the show. Burt has to overcome desperation, he tries to find something credible in his life to draw inspiration for the new magic shows. For worse, a previously unknown street-magician Steve Gray enters a big scene with a dangerous, but much acclaimed trick which builds him the whole show, makes it an enormously popular one. Burt understands that Gray's success means checkmate for him when his beautiful assistant, Jane turns against him and joins Gray. There only salvation for Burt, to convince Anton forgive him and reunite in some new glorious show to overshadow Gray. It's not an easy mission to accomplish, because Anton has moved to Far East and seems to be quite happy without Las Vegas turmoil. Don Scardino managed his best to gather such a brilliant cast in this 30 000 000 USD movie: Jane is played by Olivia Wilde (Relanxious, The Third Person, People Like Us, Deadfall, TRON: Legacy) while main antagonist Steve Gray is portrayed by Jim Carrey (Dumb and Dumber To, Loomis Fargo, Mr. Popper's Penguins). The main character Burt Wonderstone is played by Steve Carell (Frank or Francis, Hope Springs, Date Night) while his partner, Anton Marvelton is depicted by Steve Buscemi (On the Road, Rampart, Grown Ups). And if you are not impressed enough, David Copperfield stars in The Incredible Burt Wonderstone as illusionist David Copperfield, of course.

Silver Linings Playbook is a heart touching, riotous movie based on the same name novel of Matthew Quick. The story of The Silver Linings Playbook revolves around the life of Pat Solitano, an ex-teacher, who is just released from a mental institution. David O. Russell who directed the film and wrote the screenplay immerses us in the Pat's mind allowing him to narrate the movie. We follow Pat endeavors to reunite with his ex-wife, despite of her treacherous betrayal. His family trying their best to help him, but situation changes dramatically when Pat meets Tiffany, a mentally depressed girl who agrees him to help with the reunion in exchange of some "contract" Pat agrees to "sign" with her. Step by step Pat understands that his "The Silver Lining", a theory he developed while being in a mental institution, are somehow connected with Tiffany's one. As he realize that fact, it becomes absolutely clear for him that their lives are connected and predetermined now by God's design. The movie pleases us by outstanding cast: Bradley Cooper is Pat Solitano, while Jennifer Lawrence is Tiffany. Pat's father is played by magnificent Robert De Niro and Chris Tucker is Danny.