Interview: Director Noah Lerner on Murray Lerner’s ‘Festival’
Bill Bria Interviews Noah Lerner About Murray Lerner’s 1967 Documentary Festival!
Review: Greta Gerwig’s ‘Little Women’
“Greta Gerwig continues to exercise her command of cinematic storytelling with ‘Little Women,’ a perfectly wrapped and beribboned Christmas gift as welcome as a steaming cup of cocoa after a frosty skate around the local frozen pond.”
Review: Meryam Joobeur’s ‘Brotherhood’
“A sharply-shot film, ‘Brotherhood’ effectively uses the short running time to question familial responsibilities/motives, and the central performances make Joobeur’s planned feature adaptation even more intriguing.”
Review: Ico Costa’s ‘Alva’
“A showcase of the potent purity of visual expression, ‘Alva’ concerns itself with consequence, more specifically the consequences we attribute to ourselves, as well as those we put upon others we can never truly know.”
Review: Clint Eastwood’s ‘Richard Jewell’
“‘Richard Jewell’ is, for the most part, a captivating recreation of a man’s journey through hell and back. Its strong acting and character relationship dynamics are the main selling points, as Eastwood’s sense of direction and pacing are the best they have been in a long time.”
Review: Sophia Takal’s ‘Black Christmas’
“Playing with of-the-moment vocabulary familiar on college campuses, the latest ‘Black Christmas’ upends several slasher conventions, even if the film is a step down from the director’s excellent ‘Always Shine.'”
12 Angry Films: Sidney Lumet on Justice #6 – ‘Prince of the City’
“‘Prince of the City’ is a taxing, draining experience, but one that is ultimately rooted in very real despair; the system, it argues, has failed. If these characters are the products of the American criminal justice system, then it ought to be blown up.”
‘QT8: The First Eight’ Is a Fun Yet Lacking Look at Quentin Tarantino’s Movies
“‘QT8: The First Eight’ is a serviceable, well-edited survey of Tarantino’s filmography prior to ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.'”
Review: Alex Gibney’s ‘Citizen K’
“There’s no telling the story of Khodorkovsky without telling the story of Russia, and it’s for that reason that ‘Citizen K’ is rather invaluable to people like this writer, Americans of a certain age who perhaps aren’t well versed in Russian history.”
Jennifer Kent Sings a Bloody Song in ‘The Nightingale’
“Jennifer Kent’s ‘The Nightingale’ will not attract the same cult following or breadth of widespread fan devotion as ‘The Babadook,’ but her latest marks significant progress in the filmmaker’s command of story and cinematic language.”
Why She Fights: On ‘So Proudly We Hail!’ and Female Camaraderie
“While a number of combat films released in 1943 focus almost exclusively on the male war effort, ‘So Proudly We Hail!’ finds nobility, heroism, anger, racism, sacrifice and camaraderie in its female characters.”
Review: Adam Egypt Mortimer’s ‘Daniel Isn’t Real’
“With ‘Daniel Isn’t Real,’ Mortimer stands by his choices and doesn’t wobble. The result is a film that’s harmonious and undiluted, if prickly and divisive.”
Love on the Run: Melina Matsoukas Makes Convincing Debut with ‘Queen & Slim’
“The desperate need to locate hope and light (and maybe even love where those things are in short supply) recommends ‘Queen & Slim,’ especially at a time of frustration and division.”
Photo Essay by Andy Witchger: Rodrigo y Gabriela at Minneapolis’ State Theatre
“During Rodrigo y Gabriela’s recent show at Minneapolis’ State Theatre, “Echoes” fell smack in the middle of their set, creating a sense of space that heightened the immediacy of the surrounding original tracks.”
‘The Curse of the Cat People’: Val Lewton’s Groundbreaking Introduction of Childhood Fantasy
“Lewton’s insights into both childhood and adult inner personal conflicts are legacies which deserve recognition in the foundational history of horror, both for psychological thrillers and fantasy films.”
Review: Marielle Heller’s ‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood’
“Who is going to argue with the casting of Tom Hanks? Even so, the reason I don’t care for most fictionalized biopics lies in the imitation of one well-known person by another.”
London Korean Film Festival: Seeking Family and Identity in Four Female-Directed Debuts
London Korean Film Festival: Serena Scateni on ‘Young-ju,’ ‘A Bedsore, ‘A Boy and Sungreen’ and ‘Yukiko’
Things Go Wrong: Tony Hancock’s Cinema of Despair
“The Hancock persona tapped into a uniquely British strain of malaise, which manifests itself in a fractious fatalism, a dread of impotence which finds its expression in outlandish displays of petulance, pettiness and pomposity.”
Review: Todd Haynes’ ‘Dark Waters’
“‘Dark Waters’ may have a downbeat climax, to the degree that may not be considered a climax at all, yet it’s a film made to inspire action, to underline the idea that this crisis is a modern one — it’s still happening, and it’s not resolved.”
Bong Joon-Ho’s ‘Parasite’ Infiltrates Year-End Best Movies Lists
“Like the Master of Suspense before him, Bong effortlessly blends the horrific and the comic en route to the icebox talk that has viewers questioning their own attitudes and beliefs through the unanswered mysteries of the story.”