Recap: Girls ‘Queen for Two Days’
“I know I say this every week, but it must be said again: this is such a good season of Girls.”
Recap: Vinyl ‘Cyclone’
“‘Cyclone’ is the most trying episode of Vinyl yet for anyone less than fascinated with Bobby Cannavale’s Richie Finestra”
The Feminine Grotesque #5: Lilith’s Heir – On ‘The Strange Love of Martha Ivers’
A Series by Angelica Jade Bastién
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘Alucarda’ (Juan López Moctezuma, 1978)
A Weekly Column on Love and Erotica in Cinema by Justine A. Smith
Review: Zoe Cassavetes’ ‘Day Out of Days’
“An unquestionably personal work, Day Out of Days exposes the inequity of Hollywood’s interior while highlighting just how important female voices are in telling the story of human existence.”
You Better Well Be the Ringmaster: American Crime Story ‘Conspiracy Theories’ (Recap)
“American Crime Story has done an impressive job of imbuing well-known facts with enough intrigue to make them play like gripping fiction, and ‘Conspiracy Theories’ is no exception.”
Donald Trump, ‘London Has Fallen’ and the So-Bad-It’s-Good Candidacy
“A once-pure appreciation of misplaced passion, the hallmark of so-bad-it’s-good entertainment has been capitalistically leveraged.”
Jacques Tardi Adaptation ‘April and the Extraordinary World’ Offers a Thrilling Alternate History
“The extraordinary world of April and the Extraordinary World is no simple one, and it’s welcome that its worldview veers away from the simplistic.”
Recap: Girls ‘Old Loves’
“The fourth episode of Girls’ still-terrific fifth season is the first point at which the end of the series comes into sharp focus.”
Recap: Vinyl ‘He in Racist Fire’
“There was a return this week, in grand fashion, of Horrible Coke Faces.”
Review: Gavin Hood’s ‘Eye in the Sky’
“Eventually, Hood can’t avoid the chance to step up to the pulpit and offer a stance. But even as the film orchestrates its grandly emotional and proudly manipulative climax, it means nothing and everything.”
Review: Dan Trachtenberg’s ’10 Cloverfield Lane’
“True to form, the narrative beats of 10 Cloverfield Lane do unspool more than progress, but the difference is that they’re always based in character.”
DMG’s Jeff Nichols RetroSpecial: ‘Mud’ (2012)
A Jeff Nichols Retrospective by Dylan Moses Griffin
The Feminine Grotesque #4: Madness, Thy Name Is Eve
A Series by Angelica Jade Bastién
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘La Religieuse’ (Jacques Rivette, 1966)
A Weekly Column on Love and Erotica in Cinema by Justine A. Smith
Review: Kent Jones’ ‘Hitchcock/Truffaut’
“Although it contains very little new material, Hitchcock/Truffaut will undoubtedly find a home within the film education community and could become an important tool in introducing Hitchcock’s immense body of work to hoards of “uninitiated” cinema devotees.”
The Ugliness of Hatred: American Crime Story ‘Marcia, Marcia, Marcia’ (Recap)
“As tempting as it’d be to focus solely on the sexism in the trial, ‘Marcia, Marcia, Marcia’ ultimately works best as an episode due to its unwillingness to forget about race.”
‘Whiskey Tango Foxtrot’: Empty Empowerment
“It’s not a bad movie, but no matter how long it spends in the war zone, it still feels like a tourist.”
Review: Grímur Hákonarson’s ‘Rams’
“A great director can make us a care for characters wildly outside our realm of understanding, and Grímur Hákonarson may have proven himself such a director with his latest film, Rams.”
With ‘The Mermaid’, Stephen Chow Fully Utilizes the Camera as Comedic Tool
“Stephen Chow’s invigorating, irreverent, slapstick, but occasionally serious, comedy The Mermaid is an odd beast to pin down.”