“‘Women Talking’ Is an Important Conversation, Running in Circles”

…and talking, and talking, and talking, and talking, without an ounce of drama and no stakes, and let me tell you: I hate writing that sentence. Continue reading →

Review: The Discovery, 2017, dir. Charlie McDowell

I really liked Charlie McDowell’s The One I Love, so imagine my disappointment when I watched The Discovery and found that it’s a pile of reluctant, hedging, self-doubting faux-spiritual feel-good nonsense. (“Feel-good” might be a stretch, but boy, the movie bends over backwards to get in as many cheap hugs as possible.) I didn’t hate it, but … Continue reading →

Review: Lion, 2016, dir. Garth Davis

I found the experience of Lion frustrating, but it took me time to understand the depths of my frustration. The film works for about an hour, its first hour, where young Saroo Brierly winds up lost in Calcutta, a place where he knows neither a soul nor a word of the language spoken; the terror he … Continue reading →

Review: Kubo and the Two Strings, 2016, dir. Travis Knight

Laika can do no wrong. Mostly. I didn’t love ParaNorman, but that’s a minor sin made up of a handful of minor grievances, and besides, four years on, I might love it if I revisited it. The real proof of Laika’s excellence is that they haven’t yet made a really bad film, the repugnant, inexcusable kind … Continue reading →

Review: Pan, 2015, dir. Joe Wright

“When Joe Wright’s Pan moves its setting away from London and into Neverland, Peter (Levi Miller), not yet the hero we know he becomes, steps out onto the deck of a flying pirate ship to observe a strip mine jammed with filthy children singing a shanty song that sounds an awful lot like “Smells Like … Continue reading →

Review: Side Effects, 2013, dir. Steven Soderbergh

Is this it? Is this the final theatrical release for filmmaking maverick Steven Soderbergh? The man has been threatening to retire for the last couple of years, so at this point any such claims feel akin to crying wolf, but were he to fully cease making movies tomorrow, Side Effects is a reasonable enough film to end … Continue reading →

Golden Statues and Outrage: The Oscar Nominations

This week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences unveiled the entries for each of their twenty four categories in anticipation of this year’s 84th Academy Awards show. As is always the case, response among critics and film writers has been mixed, characterized by raised eyebrows, occasional high praise and pleasant surprise, and most … Continue reading →

2011 Rising: My Films to Watch (pt.1)

For me, 2010’s in the bag, but it’s not totally wrapped up until I take the time to ruminate over the upcoming slate of movies in 2011 that excite me, discourage me, intrigue me, or puzzle/offend me (and, of course, also post the rest of my top ten, which is, I promise, coming around the … Continue reading →

Review: The Social Network, 2010, dir. David Fincher

Announcement to Jesse Eisenberg: From henceforth you are no longer allowed to work with writers whose names are not Aaron Sorkin. Sorkin, known throughout his career for engineering propulsive and mercurial dialogue, possesses a style almost tailor-made for Eisenberg’s precipitative speech patterns. Throughout The Social Network‘s two hour running time Eisenberg seems to be the … Continue reading →