One way to discuss the content era we find ourselves in is to frame “content” as the antithesis of true “art.” The latter serves to…
The modern live-action superhero flick often suffers from a weightlessness problem. These spectacular behemoths dazzle with their cornucopia of digital pleasures, yet the further our…
Across diverse forms of media, artists have devised various modes of depicting oppression. Watching Clement Virgo’s stirring feature Brother, it’s the smallness of the characters…
Following his loose trilogy of Oakland-based documentaries, Peter Nicks returns to spotlight arguably the most dynamic professional basketball player of the last decade. Golden State…
Savanah Leaf’s debut Earth Mama treats the viewer to a tender, moving portrait of a complicated Black woman. Leaf establishes the stakes early on: Gia…
At its most fraught, to be Black is to feel as if locked in constant battle with the external forces committed to devaluing your life…
Typically, calling a film a faithful adaptation of its source material can constitute praise. It’s a signal of approval, a fan’s casual imprimatur. It’s a…
In July 2020, The New York Times published an article by composer and music composition professor Marcos Balter that criticized the notion of calling Joseph…
Once in a while, a debut film comes along that announces the arrival of a potentially major new talent. A.V. Rockwell’s freshmanfeature, the Teyana Taylor-starring…
These days it feels like we’re more frequently encountering stories of people — particularly men — obsessed with legacy. Characters yearn for a sense of…
Grief casts a long shadow. Aleem Khan’s After Love largely places itself in the darkness that comes before the hopeful ascent, drawing power from its…
The Wonder is undeniably lifted by the strength of its two leads and technical craft, despite a notable failure to satisfy all of Lelio’s ambitions. Rarely…
Red looks like a One Piece film but doesn’t feel like one, lazily delivering franchise content without the emotional and visual force necessary to truly animate it. For…
Black Adam entertains, but only if you view it on autopilot and disregard its lack of thematic subtlety. As Black Adam crash-lands into theaters this Friday,…
Last Flight Home isn’t probing enough and its repetitions can lend a revolving door feel, but there’s a clear and moving heart to the film that…
Drifting Home can be plagued by its narrative convention and visual monotony, but it’s also a charming portrait of emerging adolescence that will please plenty of…
It can sometimes feel that Hold Me Tight coasts by on mood alone, but Amalric maximizes that mode, orchestrating his film’s disorienting tone with virtuosic…
Honk For Jesus’ plot is unevenly distributed and its tone a bit imbalanced, but it ultimately lands as a solid sendup of toxic church culture sold…
Loving Adults is visually impressive and sporadically interesting, but sacrifices the necessary character depth for this type of film at the altar of melodramatic plot construction.…
Marcel the Shell isn’t a perfect film, but in expanding a 2010 Internet gimmick to humorous and heartfelt feature length, it proves surprisingly refined, and a…