Arguably the most significant acquitting factor and favored defense for his predominantly libertarian cinema, Clint Eastwood’s tendency toward unashamed self-critique and persona deconstruction has dictated…
The Righteous is a compelling forgery, often beautiful to look at but not nearly as profound as it believes itself to be. The Righteous, the debut…
Clint Eastwood likes inky color patterns, tar-black shadow cutting across battleship grey sterility, and drab, olive-green dress. The actor-director has performed a gradual shift towards…
All My Puny Sorrows builds a striking purgatorial atmosphere that transcends any by-the-number grief narrative, but the film is burdened by an unwieldly and overly verbose…
White Elephant might satiate devoted JVJ fans but will feel warmed-over for other DTV action heads. Even the best filmmakers have a few stumbles in them.…
The white-hot winning streak that Clint Eastwood was on during the mid-’90s constitutes a seldom touched — at least by his own contemporary standards —…
Hustle is middlebrow inspo cinema that fails to channel the best of either Sandler’s juvenalia comedy or his dramatic talent — just one giant cliché…
Saul Bass’ poster for Otto Preminger’s Advise & Consent (1962) shows the dome of the Capitol neatly dissected from the building itself, the title emerging…
Jonathan Rosenbaum is fond of quoting British critic and curator Michael Witt on Godard; Witt writes that “If Godard… has repeatedly suggested that the cinema…
Terence Davies’ Benediction is beautifully melancholic work, one that bursts benevolently onto the screen with immense feeling. The cinema of veteran English auteur Terence Davies…
Ayuma Watanabe’s latest anime is both bland and loathsome, dull when its not offending and contemptible the rest of the time. Let’s not beat around…
Interceptor makes enough of its modest scale to please DTV action junkies until the next low-budget blaster comes along. DTV action lovers will have a…
Clint Eastwood is perhaps as iconic a figure as there is in the last half-century of Hollywood cinema. Gunslinger machismo, a hard-nosed boomer ethos, and,…
Crimes of the Future is a fascinating, ambitious project from Cronenberg, who readily sources his own career-long preoccupations in the creation of something that feels…
After Blue is a delirious visual experience, but Mandico stretches his few ideas far too thinly, resulting in a beautiful but repetitive trudge. Bertrand Mandico’s…
Neptune Frost lacks for coherence, but remains an oddity worth seeking out on the strength of its formal expressions and bold exploration of ideas. Saul…
The Phantom of the Open doesn’t deviate much from the underdog sports movie template, but has just enough depth and charm to slightly elevate it…
It’s a common misconception of auteurism that once a filmmaker has been so designated, every film by that particular artist suddenly becomes an unimpeachable masterpiece.…
Harkis is pretty much the sort of foursquare historical drama one would typically associate with Rachid Bouchareb (who was back in Cannes in 2022 with…
Throughout modern history, pop and rock music have certainly played a crucial role in a broader socio-political history. Filled with joyful and energetic dynamism, the…