Review: Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson’s ‘Ghost Stories’
“Nyman and Dyson’s film is so full-bloodedly cinematic that it leaves one wondering how on earth they captured this on the stage.”
Benedict Seal
Review: Armando Iannucci’s ‘The Death of Stalin’
“In the end, the humor fades away in favor of political machinations, but the film’s killer gags are still numerable.”
Review: James Franco’s ‘The Disaster Artist’
“The Hollywood dream lives on proudly in ‘The Disaster Artist.’”
Review: Luca Guadagnino’s ‘Call Me by Your Name’
“‘Call Me by Your Name’ skips through time like a dream, or a calcified, powerful memory.”
Conduits of Fear: The Vital Role of The Youth in Horror
“Horror is a genre that believes, rightly, that young people are the future.”
London Film Festival Review: Léonor Serraille’s ‘Jeune femme’
“Dare I say it, but ‘Jeune Femme’ is as ripe for an American remake as any film I’ve seen on this year’s festival circuit.”
London Film Festival Review: Andrey Zvyagintsev’s ‘Loveless’
“Much like ‘Leviathan,’ the film is oppressively bleak.”
London Film Festival Review: Vivian Qu’s ‘Angels Wear White’
“Vivian Qu’s ‘Angels Wear White’ is another realist, slow cinema meditation on the social troubles in China.”
London Film Festival Review: Dee Rees’ ‘Mudbound’
“‘Mudbound’ plays the game and begins with a white man, but, throughout the course of an epic tale, it arrives at a moving destination.”
London Film Festival Review: Todd Haynes’ ‘Wonderstruck’
“This kind of world recreation doesn’t come cheap, and it’s a delight to see a filmmaker of Haynes’ caliber given such a worthy budget.”
London Film Festival Review: Andrew Haigh‘s ‘Lean on Pete’
“‘Lean on Pete’ hits the mark emotionally and reveals itself to be a poised, moving film.”
More Than Mythology: Overt Quotation in James Mangold’s ‘Logan’
“Heavy-handed “meta” moments make the allusions worthless, and superhero films will keep hitting a glass ceiling until they can start creating their own cinematic mythology.”
Cannes Film Festival Review: Taylor Sheridan’s ‘Wind River’
“‘Wind River’ is a well crafted, but straightforward, thriller with an interesting setting and social context.”
Cannes Film Festival Review: Roman Polanski’s ‘Based on a True Story’
“The title is, of course, a knowing joke. ‘Based on a True Story’ couldn’t be further from reality.”
Cannes Film Festival Review: Sergei Loznitsa’s ‘A Gentle Creature’
“Sergei Loznitsa goes for absurdist satire, but, unfortunately, the joke’s on him.”
Cannes Film Festival Review: Ben and Joshua Safdie’s ‘Good Time’
“‘Good Time’ plays like little more than a direct-to-video thriller.”
Cannes Film Festival Review: Noah Baumbach’s ‘The Meyerowitz Stories’
“Like a classic stand-up comedian, Baumbach is far more interested in observation than hot button provocation.”
Cannes Film Festival Review: Sofia Coppola’s ‘The Beguiled’
“‘The Beguiled’ plays out exactly as one might expect and never really stretches beyond its contained premise.”
Cannes Film Festival Review: John Cameron Mitchell’s ‘How to Talk to Girls at Parties’
“‘How to Talk to Girls at Parties’ is spirited but doesn’t have anything new to say.”
Cannes Film Festival Review: Laurent Cantet’s ‘The Workshop’
“Like ‘Visages, villages’ and ‘Claire’s Camera,’ ‘The Workshop’ continues a Cannes 2017 trend for the unmatched power of creation and artistic expression, and this film reaches to darker depths than those tales.”