I liked Nightcrawler so much that I’m bummed I couldn’t like Roman J. Israel, Esq. more; I like Dan Gilroy, I like Denzel Washington, I like Carmen Ejogo, and I like Colin Farrell. (In case you don’t already know, I also like social activism and social justice.) This movie should have been a slam dunk for me. … Continue reading
There is a part of me that loves Coco, the new Pixar film, for Coco, and a part of me that loves it for essentially being a big ol’ “eff you” to our president and his openly xenophobic, anti-immigrant ideology, which isn’t really an “ideology,” because let’s face it, Donald is not an ideological kind of … Continue reading
Prior to this week, I’d never caught even a minute of La Belle Noisues, Jacques Rivette’s four hour long movie about the mindbogglingly meticulous process painters follow for their craft. But thanks to a 4K restoration of the director’s cut, and also to the fine folks at The Playlist, I’ve seen every single one of them, … Continue reading
I’m sort of tired of comedies that adopt the simple method of point-and-shoot – see The Big Sick – but I can forgive them for mere adequacy of craftsmanship so long as the writing is both a) good, and b) doesn’t overstay its welcome. In the case of Mr. Roosevelt, I get the sense that the film’s … Continue reading
For WBUR’s The ARTery, I wrote about a too-common problem even the best TV shows face: Figuring out when to end it all, by which I mean (he said in a rush) when to wrap things up and close the series out. Certain great shows can go beyond three or four seasons of content without … Continue reading
Simple answer to the question posed by the title of my latest piece at The Hollywood Reporter: Yes. Yes it does. Luc Besson’s latest and underloved summer CGI extravaganza, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, has its flaws, most of them being tied to Dane DeHaan’s ill fit as the cocky action hero type, … Continue reading
I probably shouldn’t give half a damn either way about Justice League; it’s pretty crummy, it’s a comic book movie, and pretty crummy comic book movies don’t really deserve anyone to come to their defense. But the truth is that most comic book movies are pretty crummy, and while the DC comic book movies tend to … Continue reading
I could do with a new Cartoon Saloon film every couple of years or so, ideally more often than that, but it’s animation, what are you gonna do; besides, the movies this studio knocks out are always worth the wait. Back in 2014, I reviewed Song of the Sea. This year, I reviewed The Breadwinner, a very … Continue reading
I went into Daniel McCabe’s This Is Congo with a healthy amount of trepidation, expecting nothing more than a linear history lesson about the state of the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2017. My expectations weren’t met. The film is a history lesson, that’s for sure, but it keeps the lesson active, primarily rooted in McCabe’s footage … Continue reading
And now, for the second time this year, I’ll link to that old piece I wrote about Ichi the Killer back when this blog was in its fledgling days (and literally everything I wrote, I wrote on these pages, as opposed to what I do now). There’s a reason for the re-link: Ichi the Killer is back … Continue reading
Every so often, I watch a movie for review, I like it, and as much as I can articulate the things I like about it, I…can’t articulate a fucking thing about why I like it, or what it means on a cultural or even just a niche level. That’s my experience with Marianna Palka’s new film, Bitch, … Continue reading
I won’t lie to you, folks: I really enjoyed speaking to Steven Yeun, best known to most as Glenn on The Walking Dead, a show I gave up on a long, long time ago but bitterly missed because, among other things, Yeun is awesome. But fear not! He’s doing a-okay post-TWD, thanks to roles in movies … Continue reading
If you’re not already watching Starz’ The Girlfriend Experience, might I suggest you start now; now in its second season, the show has completely changed face by moving on from its season one arc, involving the great Riley Keough, to a dual-narrative that respectively involve Anna Friel and Louisa Krause, and Carmen Ejogo. It’s still a … Continue reading
I hated, hated, hated, hated, hated, hated, hated, hated, hated, hated, hated, hated, hated, hated, hated, hated, hated, hated, hated, hated, hated, hated, hated, hated, hated Tragedy Girls. If it had any balls, I would kick them for a whole day, except that if it had any balls it’d be a much better movie, and so … Continue reading
It might not be obvious based on my interview with Ruben Östlund – I try to keep it professional – but I dug The Square. I dug it so much that I wrote a review about it to pair with the interview. No preamble. Just a link. It’s over at Paste Magazine. Do your thing.
I’m at the point where if you give me one Marvel movie, you’ve given me all Marvel movies, but maybe Marvel is also at the point where they’re actually hiring filmmakers and letting them assert their voice in their productions; Thor: Ragnarok, a Taika Waititi joint, is really, really good, and not just in comparison to … Continue reading
Put me in the stocks and excoriate me in town square, because I am not a fan of The Handmaid’s Tale. But maybe don’t put me in the stocks, because a) we’re a somewhat civilized people in 2017, and also b) I loved Alias Grace, the other major slash high-profile Margaret Atwood television adaptation released this year. I am … Continue reading
And now, for my next trick, I’ll write about theater for WBUR’s The ARTery. I’m a multi-pronged freelancing threat over here. I guess interviewing the playwright Molly Smith Metzler about the Boston Playwright Theater’s new production of her play Elemeno Pea isn’t a huge stretch for me; she served as the executive story editor for this … Continue reading
If Criterion’s October slate was comprised primarily of shit alongside either The Lure or Barry Lyndon, it’d still be a pretty good slate. Incredibly, both of these films appeared on the slate with a handful of other great films, so basically if you missed out on October’s releases, you really missed out (and might I recommend you take … Continue reading
Speaking to a filmmaker for the second time about their work is always a strange-ish experience, one that I lived through earlier this year with Trey Edward Shults, but I’m not really going to complain about getting to chat up artists like Shults and Sean Baker twice. You might remember that I talked to Baker back … Continue reading
A Constant Visual Feast 