The 100 Best Movies of the 1950s

Next up in Paste Magazine’s “100 Best/Greatest” series: The 1950s! I blurbed my ass off for this list, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat (which is to say that I am literally doing it again right now, for a different list focused on a different subject. As Hexxus once said: No breaks!). Anywho … Continue reading →

Soaking in Prague’s Beer Spa

Good news, everybody! I write about beer now, too! And for Paste Magazine, no less, which in my estimation is one of the best outlets for journalism regarding the beer world. Color me biased. (I’m biased. But I also know that Paste’s thoughts on beer are held in pretty high esteem by people who are … Continue reading →

Interview: Demetri Martin, “Dean”

Ehhhhhhhhhh! Remember that time I told you I liked Dean, that movie directed by that guy Demetri Martin? Well, call me biased, but I happened to interview him this year via Independent Film Festival Boston, where the film happened to screen. What a happening! Let me be blunt: I had a great time talking to Martin, … Continue reading →

Best of Criterion’s New Releases, May 2017

Hey! It’s May(‘s Criterion round-up for Paste Magazine)! An Ozu movie written around fart jokes is an Ozu movie well in my wheelhouse, but I did not write about Good Morning; instead I wrote about Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelle, Chantal Akerman’s landmark arthouse film, a three hour opus about a single mom as she … Continue reading →

Review: The Commune, 2017, dir. Thomas Vinterberg

I wish I had enjoyed Thomas Vinterberg’s new film, The Commune, more than I did, but hey, good news: I still enjoyed it quite a lot. It’s good! Of course it is. It’s a Vinterberg film. It’s just, perhaps, a bit more gentle than a movie about group living and marital infidelity should be, and perhaps … Continue reading →

Review: Alien: Covenant, 2017, dir. Ridley Scott

First thing’s first: Here’s the link to my review of Alien: Covenant at Paste Magazine. Second thing’s, uh, second: Spoilers. I have to get some shit off my chest after the baffling defenses mounted in the film’s favor by some of the most respected names in contemporary film criticism, mostly because their defenses hinge on the … Continue reading →

Review: Take Me, 2017, dir. Pat Healy

I’m not sure I should be reviewing things that Taylor Schilling does. We were classmates in middle school. If objectivity matters in criticism (it doesn’t, but legions of DCEU fans think it does, and who am I to overlook them in discussion of a film that has fucking nothing to do with the DCEU, right?), … Continue reading →

Review: The Drowning, 2017, dir. Bette Gordon

Guys! I’m back! I made it home! I survived vacation! (TL;DR version of my vacation: We went to Vienna, Prague, Aberystwyth, and London, and now we’re all horribly jet lagged.) That means I have a whole lot of stuff to plop in your laps for your reading pleasure, and of course it would be pleasurable, wouldn’t it? We’ll … Continue reading →

TV Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Episode 4.17 & 4.18, “Cop Con”/”Chasing Amy”

Get ready to be bummed, gang: This is my last Brooklyn Nine-Nine write-up. For now! For now. Easy there, you didn’t let me finish. This is my last Brooklyn Nine-Nine write-up for now, as I’ll be unable to cover the rest of the season (ending on the 23rd). But it’s all good! You can still tune into … Continue reading →

The 100 Greatest War Movies of All Time

War is hell, which is probably why people love making movies about it. (It’s hard to say whether people love watching movies about it more than they love making movies about it, but I digress.) So the gang at Paste Magazine, including me, put on their colors and watched a whole damn bunch of movies about war, … Continue reading →

IFFBoston 2017 Celebrates the Best of Cinema That Stays With You

Well: It’s all done. It’s over. That’s all, folks, ’til next year, and so on and so forth, et cetera. Independent Film Festival Boston 2017 is in the books, and while yes, the event was terrific, I must now endure the post-fest doldrums until about June or so (as one whole month is about the … Continue reading →

Review: Gilbert, 2017, dir. Neil Berkeley

I wasn’t at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, but that didn’t stop me from writing a review about Gilbert, Neil Berkeley’s very good documentary about the one and only Gilbert Gottfried, the guy you probably know best as the voice of an angry parrot in the Aladdin movies (or the erstwhile voice of an exasperated duck in Aflac … Continue reading →

TV Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Episode 4.16, “Moo Moo”

I know neither how nor why I have managed to forget to share my review of last week’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine. For as long as I’ve been writing about this show, my write-up for “Moo Moo” stands out as one of my favorites, much as “Moo Moo” itself stands out as one of the best episodes in the … Continue reading →

Best of Criterion’s New Releases, April 2017

Oh, sure: I know what you’re thinking. “It’s May, Annnnnnndyyyyyyyyy! Why are you so late sharing the April Criterion round-up, huuuuuuuh?” Well, I mean, hush. Calm down. It’s okay. You can still read the Paste Magazine Criterion piece for April even though it is no longer April. You should, too, not only because I spend more time … Continue reading →

Review: Buster’s Mal Heart, 2017, dir. Sarah Adina Smith

I like Mr. Robot, Sam Esmail’s psychological hacker-drama on the good ol’ US of A Network, so it stands to reason that I might also like Buster’s Mal Heart, Sarah Adina Smith’s psychological whatsit drama, which stars Mr. Robot‘s bug-eyed leading man, Rami Malek. But I didn’t like Buster’s Mal Heart that much. I mean: I liked it. I … Continue reading →

The ‘Umbrellas of Cherbourg,’ ‘La La Land’ And The Bittersweetness Of A Demy Musical

It’s never too late to talk about La La Land, so I kinda did that by talking about The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, which is basically the movie that La La Land wants to be but can’t because it has lived a very sheltered life. I’m happy to take the opportunity to write a long-form something about a Criterion … Continue reading →

Review: Obit, 2017, dir. Vanessa Gould

Well, how about that? Obit, a film about The New York Times‘ obituaries desk, is as entertaining and informative as it is profound. I liked it! I had a good time with it! I was not overwhelmed by morbidity while watching it, mostly because the film is as far from morbid as a film about death can … Continue reading →