There’s a whole lot to like about Trey Edward Shults’ debut film, Krisha, which I’ll be writing a few paragraphs about later this week (mini review round-up, incoming); it’s made with incredible verve, it’s so personal that it blurs the line of reality and art, and the performances are all outstanding. But the most exciting thing about … Continue reading
I don’t know how many people have access to movies like April and the Extraordinary World, and I don’t know many people love Hergé and Tintin and traditional animation and steampunk and Marion Cotillard. If you do love any one or more of those things, this movie was basically made with you in mind. It’s glorious. It’s also … Continue reading
If you went to the movies at all this week, you only probably went to see one very, very specific movie: this son of a bitch, which I very strongly did not like. You could even say I hated it. If you walked up to me and said, “Man, Andy, you sure hated that movie,” I … Continue reading
You probably have pretty strict expectations laid aside for any romantic comedy you choose to engage with. You probably assume that any film bearing that oft misjudged appellation will be saccharine and utterly fake. You probably also haven’t seen Lolo, mostly because it has only been in theaters for a couple of weeks and will expand … Continue reading
…well, it’s here. I am referring both to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and my review of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which just went up at Paste moments ago. Put in short: I kind of hated it in a very ambivalent way. It’s a terrible movie, and watching it exhausted and agitated me to no … Continue reading
Oh, memory is a hazy, funny thing. Time spent in our reveries can take us from point A to point G across the span of our lives, and even if it doesn’t make any kind of external sense, it makes total internal sense. That’s sort of how Arnaud Desplechin’s new film, My Golden Days, operates. It … Continue reading
If at any point this past week, particularly Thursday, you were seized by a sudden and inexplicable urge to bark out a good old Éirinn go Brách while embarrassing yourself and others in your vicinity by having too much to drink while wearing green, well, you know why: Thursday was Saint Patrick’s Day, that massively important … Continue reading
Is there a director whose work you just can’t get into, while everyone you know loves and admires them? That’s my experience with Jeff Nichols, who you might know best for his 2011 drama Take Shelter, which is mostly good before it crawls up its own keister in its final scene. With his new film, Midnight Special, … Continue reading
There are two main reasons to seek out Michael Showalter’s Hello, My Name is Doris: Sally Field and Max Greenfield, who share a warm and genuinely affectionate chemistry with one another as Showalter’s unexpected will they/won’t they romantic leads. The third reason to see the film is Showalter himself, who brings a surprisingly earnest directorial sensibility to what could easily … Continue reading
If you follow me on any kind of social media, you already know how I feel about this week’s episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine: it is valuable and wonderful simply because it demands that Terry Crews act like a complete asshole to cute kittens. This is why I watch Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Hell, it’s why I watch television. I’ll spare … Continue reading
I’m not a fan of Eli Roth’s 2002 debut, Cabin Fever, so I didn’t expect to walk into the remake, directed by a mysterious man known only as Travis Z., and come out having enjoyed myself. (Note: Travis Z. isn’t mysterious at all. He’s a set designer with credits on awesome stuff like Behind the Mask: The … Continue reading
Generally, I expect talented people to make good movies. This doesn’t seem like much to ask, right? So imagine my disappointment on watching the perfectly okay The Legend of Barney Thomson, which stars Robert Carlyle, Ray Winstone, Emma Thompson, and Tom Courtenay, and which Carlyle directed himself. “Perfectly okay” isn’t a phrase that anyone should use … Continue reading
…so, I’m trying something new here. Bear with me. I like hearing from my readers. I also like having readers, and I know factually that keeping you guys engaged goes beyond just posting my clips and writing original content here. It isn’t enough for me to talk about myself. I want to create a space where … Continue reading
I don’t know if you all are going to see a review of Creative Control from me – I’ve got a feature essay brewing for Movie Mezzanine, and so I may not have the energy to commit more ink to the film beyond that and beyond this here interview I did with Benjamin Dickinson, the film’s … Continue reading
Challenge mode: talk about 10 Cloverfield Lane without talking about what it is versus what it isn’t, all while avoiding the pitfalls of spoilers (with the term “spoilers” being loosely and variably defined by everyone who happens to click on this article). That’s a daunting task made necessary only by J.J. Abrams and his insatiable appetite … Continue reading
I reviewed the first half of The Muppets, ABC’s misguided attempt at bringing the Muppet crew to modern audiences, last year. If you kept up with my recapping, you may remember that my thoughts on the show went all over the place; sometime I liked it, sometimes I didn’t, sometimes I nothing’d it, depending on the … Continue reading
This year, the race for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Picture might have been the most easily predicted outside of Best Animated Feature; even if you only knew of Son of Saul through pop culture osmosis, it’s likely that you were pretty sure the Academy voters were going to give it the top prize … Continue reading
Months ago, if you told me Zootopia would win me over on a cardiovascular level, I probably would have ignored you. Yet here we are today, with my glowing review freshly posted over at Paste Magazine. Zootopia is a delight. Even if it didn’t lean hard on its discrimination allegory, it would still be wonderful; it has a great sense … Continue reading
…look, you all knew this was coming. Here’s the thing about last Sunday’s Oscar ceremony: I don’t remember most of it. That might be a good thing. In my mind, the inability to recall vast swaths of the show signals the following: Nobody said anything embarrassing (a’la Travolta introducing Idina Menzel as Adele Dazeem) Nobody said … Continue reading
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot has a Tina Fey problem, but then again, Tina Fey’s movie career has a Tina Fey problem. How is it this hard to figure out how best to transition Fey’s multi-pronged TV persona into multiplex success? Maybe it’s worth looking at Fey’s big-screen choices before we look at her as an actress: movies like Date Night … Continue reading
A Constant Visual Feast 