It’s possible that I’m being too combative about all of the cultural inquiry made into Sofia Coppola’s new film, The Beguiled, in my review (written, as ever, for Paste Magazine). I’m not entirely sure. What I am sure of is that the structure of the conversation surrounding the film is symptomatic of the major ills afflicting … Continue reading
It’s rare that a single movie becomes the prism through which I view every other piece of popular culture I engage with in a given year; this is partly because movies capable of being that prism come along but rarely, and partly because when they do, they don’t typically appear in theaters during February, previously … Continue reading
First: I got to interview Ana Lily Amirpour, director of 2014’s A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night and last Friday’s The Bad Batch, and if I had to describe the experience in a word, that word would be “awesome.” If I had to describe it in more words than that, I’d peg it as one of … Continue reading
Did you know that I really like Trey Edward Shults movies? Well, I do! So much that I have interviewed him twice, that I named his debut, Krisha, my #2 pick of 2016, and that I wrote this feature-length ditty over at Paste Magazine about the role family plays in his films (being Krisha and It Comes at … Continue reading
(What do any of these movies have in common with each other? Little and less, but maybe you can draw some links from one to the other to the third, especially between the first and the last in the round-up. Or maybe not. There’s not much that gooey indie dramedies, harsh crime stories, and acid-trip … Continue reading
I’m not sure what else can be said about The Book of Henry after the Internet gave it a straight-up, bewildered drubbing, but that won’t stop me from sharing the review I cobbled together for Paste Magazine. I don’t mind saying that this, Colin Trevorrow’s choice of post-Jurassic World, pre-Jurassic World 2, pre-Star War:s Episode IX work, … Continue reading
Picking 100 movies to represent the all-timers of their category is a thankless and impossible task; even if you hit all the major titles needed to give the list gravitas, you’re going to end up leaving out titles that one person might think are essential, or another person will take exception to the ordering, or … Continue reading
I’m a man with an iron stomach, but even I came close to blowing chunks during stretches of Hardcore Henry, so the idea of taking on another film shot through a first-person perspective might make me sound amnesic. But Kill Switch isn’t Hardcore Henry, not simply for lack of gratuitous violence (and gratuitous Sharlto Copley performances) but for … Continue reading
(Author’s note: I’m trying this new thing where I will attempt to review movies here if I’m on assignment writing about ’em in other capacities elsewhere. So when I interview talent, write editorials, or compose lists, I’ll circle back around to this space for capsule reviews as buttressing corroborative details.) THE MUMMY, 2017, dir. Alex … Continue reading
Another year, another interview with Trey Edward Shults, one of my favorite up and coming filmmakers. (I should maybe start a list of my favorite up and comers, just for my own edification, but also because I really love web traffic.) In March of 2016, we talked about Krisha, his debut film, which turned out to … Continue reading
More spillover from this year’s Independent Film Festival Boston, boys and girls! In this chapter of my post-fest follow-up, I present to you my interview with Zoe Lister-Jones, actress, writer, singer, filmmaker, playwright, and probably a host of other nouns denoting profession that I am unaware of. (Chef? Basketball player? Deep sea fisherwoman? Vigilante superheroine?) … Continue reading
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
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
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
Every single damn time I talk about Dean, Demetri Martin’s directorial debut, I check and double check and quadra-check my work to make sure I do not accidentally refer to him as “Dean Martin.” That’s not a nice thing to do, Demetri Martin. It’s not a nice thing to do at all. Anyways: Dean is out in … Continue reading
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
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
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
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
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
A Constant Visual Feast 