On the occasion of Paul McCartney’s 80th birthday, I decided to burden myself with the unforgiving task of writing about the Beatles. After trying out…
After Sherman At its most fraught, to be Black is to feel as if locked in constant battle with the external forces committed to devaluing…
Beba is a uniquely fascinating or formally gorgeous mining of personal history, one that fully immerses viewers into its subject’s headspace. “You are now entering…
The Other One is an overcomplicated affair, but also a hyper-stylized and thrillingly violent one, and further proof that American blockbuster cinema is lagging. Released in…
Good Girl Jane Writer-director Sarah Elizabeth Mintz’s debut feature, Good Girl Jane, treads a well-worn path in its portrayal of an innocent teenage girl’s eventual…
No one is going to mistake Lightyear for a return to form for Pixar, but its littered small pleasures make for an inoffensive animated space yarn.…
Spiderhead is pure algorithm “art,” an empty bad-tech tale that delivers nothing new or exciting. You’d be forgiven for getting excited for a mid-budget, talent-driven, non-IP-based…
Jerry and Marge Go Large presents its larger-than-life tale with restraint and sincerity, imbuing its caper framework with the tenderness of a Christmas comedy. If you’ve…
Artist and critic Fred Camper once called Howard Hawks (and I’m paraphrasing from memory here) the “hardest to define of all the classic Hollywood auteurs,…
Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar is not your savior; he’s not your messiah, not your go-to source for everyday wisdom, and he’s certainly not an individual…
Clytaemnestra is compelling matched to its adapted text and its defining power dynamics, but is also a remarkably dry, frequently enervating work of stifled rhythms. What…
Official Competition is a decidedly strange film — formally impressive, off-kilter in its humor, and often incisive with its observations of the state of cinema. If…
Sophia Having established a strong lane for herself somewhere in between narrative and nonfiction filmmaking with her recent run of features, Crystal Moselle stays on…
Cha Cha Real Smooth aims to hit viewers squarely in the feels, and even if will be too nicecore for some, Raiff’s brand of earnestness succeeds…
Father of the Bride ticks off the requisite boxes for a film of its ilk, and with some savvy, but its essential shallowness if troubled by…
Brian and Charles is so lightweight as to risk blowing over at any moment, but is also a wholly endearing affair that will charm more viewers…
SEVENTEEN Thirteen-member boy group Seventeen (don’t worry about it) debuted on the K-pop scene in 2015 with a progression of singles that brimmed with youthful…
Mad God is a profoundly unique work from Phil Tippett’s frenzied mind, a troubled, personal, and wholly original statement of the aching human heart. More famously…
Stanley Kubrick seems like an odd filmmaker to claim as having underrated films. I’m not as great a fan as most cinephiles, but given the…
There is no defined rubric to be a Bruno Dumont player: the director has spent his career weathering comparisons to Bresson and his predilection for…