The Milk of Kindness: Andrea Arnold’s ‘Cow’
“‘Cow’ strikes just the right balance between the filmmaker’s self-awareness, which punctuates the movie’s soundtrack selections, and Arnold’s long-game feminist commentary.”
Review: Ryan Marley’s ‘Candidato 34’
“‘Candidato 34,’ a documentary short by filmmaker Ryan Marley, raises important questions about disability ethics and sociopolitical norms.”
They Know Not What They Do: The Passion of the Christ in Franco Zeffirelli’s ‘Jesus of Nazareth’
“‘Jesus of Nazareth’ is precisely a film of moments, and Zeffirelli depicts them with expert technique.”
Having It All: The Career Woman Takes Over
D.M. Palmer on the career women of ‘9 to 5’ (1980), ‘Baby Boom’ (1987), ‘Big Business’ (1988), ‘Working Girl’ (1988) and ‘Disclosure’ (1994).
On Power and Pleasure in Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘Phantom Thread’
“‘Phantom Thread’ is for anyone who has ever been hungry, for anyone who has ever been in love. Most of all, it’s for those people who know that love and hunger are, at their most acutely expressed, one and the same.”
Review: Pedro González Bermúdez’s ‘A Forbidden Orange’
“The side trips in ‘A Forbidden Orange’ are more tantalizing than the sights on the main highway.”
Numbness and Arousal in the Post-Postmodern Apocalypse of ‘Too Old to Die Young’
“Taken as a whole, ‘Too Old to Die Young’ is a summative statement on genre, aesthetics and the crumbling American psyche, delivered with a fury sublimated in neon glow. It is a major work of art.”
Only in Chaos Are We Conceivable
“The future appears bleak for the telenovela characters of ‘The Wandering Soap Opera,’ but at least they have accessible entertainment options to distract them from all the normalized chaos.”
Review: Krystin Ver Linden’s ‘Alice’
“Alice’s imaginative genre-mashup works in fits and starts, but there is no question about the quality of lead Keke Palmer’s smooth Pam Grier-inspired performance, even if she inhabits a universe that never fully comes together for viewers.”
The American Horizon: Working Life in the New Hollywood
“What is so strange about the New Hollywood renaissance of the 70s is that it took place at a time of acute crisis for the business. It was a signal of the industry’s weakness that these cracks in the veneer were not only permitted but encouraged…”
A Song of Suggestion and Sanctimonious Snakes
“Singh understands the power of suggestion and how a simple turn of the head can communicate what a character might struggle to articulate.”
Collecting Movies with Mylissa Fitzsimmons
Mylissa Fitzsimmons Interview: Greg Carlson and the filmmaker discuss movie collecting and ‘Everything in the End.’
An Interview with ‘Plan 9 from Outer Space’ Author Katharine Coldiron
‘Plan 9 from Outer Space’ Interview: Andrew Wyatt discusses the 1957 Ed Wood movie with author Katharine Coldiron.
Glasgow Film Festival Review: Claire Denis’ ‘Fire’
“Denis drenches every scene in ‘Fire’ with such a sultry sadness; the film stays captivating even as a drastic turn never seems to arrive.”
Review: ‘Taylor Tomlinson: Look at You’
“Tomlinson doesn’t hit the trendy talking points of so many comedians her age. Instead, she figuratively peels a rotten orange in ‘Look at You’ and asks the audience what they see. The damage is evident, and yet there’s still beauty in the bright color that remains.”
Review: Christian D. Bruun’s ‘Calendar Girl’
“‘Calendar Girl’ is charming but meandering, a film torn between being a historical documentary and a character study that never ends up successfully being either…”
Review: Matt Reeves’ ‘The Batman’
“The end results of ‘The Batman,’ while acceptable, are insufficiently satisfying, largely because the gritty realism overtakes the story itself.”
Review: Christopher Boone and Kevin Smokler’s ‘Vinyl Nation’
“‘Vinyl Nation’ accentuates the positive, but the documentary can also be commended for at least raising questions about industry downsides to the record boom.”
Glasgow Film Festival Review: Justin Kurzel’s ‘Nitram’
“In ‘Nitram,’ even the simplest domestic scenes inside the Bryant family home seem to have had the light and life sucked from them. And even in the film’s gentlest moments, Kurzel never lets the audience forget the film’s hopeless destination.”
Both the Sum and the Parts: Black Country, New Road’s ‘Ants from Up There’
“Black Country, New Road’s ‘Ants from Up There’ feels like a landmark moment in contemporary British alternative rock music.”