“Grief is a quiet but unrelenting presence within ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ that gradually reveals itself the more viewers learn about the death of Mike Timlin, the protagonist’s friend and singing partner.”
“‘Red Rooms’ provides a perfect recipe for isolation and alienation, encouraged by a media world around us that seeks only to capture attention and never thoughts.”
“In our attempt to fill in the gaps of the Oswald character, we recast him again and again, hoping that the latest iteration will reveal a previously hidden angle.”
“‘Detour’ plays like a fever dream powered by guilt and dread; an existential noir about an American male lost in the nothingness and vastness of the country.”
“‘The Righteous Gemstones’ season 3 stays true to the constants that made me appreciate the show in the first place while adding more characters to love.”
“Here in the heart of Yoknapatawpha (Lafayette) County, I think about our favorite literary son, William Faulkner, during his time as a screenwriter in Hollywood and how he would feel about the current strike by members of the WGA.”
“Discordant, broken, berserk: ‘Branded to Kill’ refuses all direct relations with geography in its depiction of a career hitman on the verge of losing control.”
“The ghosts of the divisive past that New Labour set out to consign to history’s trash heap reared their heads, presaging a politics that would cast off the Blairite technocratic order.”
“‘We’re All Going to the World’s Fair’ prefers the space between categories. This position facilitates a unique experience of time, much like the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“‘Cliffhanger’ is emblematic of a specific kind of big-budget Hollywood blockbuster that was very much in vogue at the time: dumb, full of testosterone and British villains.”
“‘Amsterdamned’ can’t decide if it wants to embrace those who interact with the city or kill them, and this contradiction is part of the film’s slimy, schlocky charm.”
“Melville’s Paris is a poetically insomniac version, one that I’m not sure ever really existed. The City of Light has been written about and filmed so much that one has long since forgotten what is real and what is urban legend.”
“In a climate of secular uncertainty, the addict’s commitment to something larger took on an almost religious significance; the user was transformed into an intrepid traveler.”