Adrenaline and Virtuosic Filmmaking: Hal Ashby’s ‘8 Million Ways to Die’
“It’s not the edge of the knife — it’s the business end of the blade.”
The Sadness of Desert Trolls: On Robert Altman’s ‘3 Women’
“Altman balances searing interpersonal conflicts with a visual rhythm that’s downright whimsical.”
My Summer of Dunst: Volume 5
“Dunst remains in control of her persona, but she’s also at the mercy of Hollywood scheming.”
Netflix from 5 to 6: Reed Morano’s ‘Meadowland’
“With ‘Meadowland,’ Reed Morano doesn’t shy away from pain, and neither should Netflix viewers.”
Where Does Your Hidden Smile Lie? – On Philippe Garrel’s ‘Frontier of the Dawn’
“This is a love story expressed through gaping structural absences.”
Action Hero Vulnerability and Shocking Comedy in John Frankenheimer’s ‘Dead Bang’
“The vomit moment in ‘Dead Bang’ is unfailingly human.”
The Absurdity of Our World: Tom Ford’s ‘Nocturnal Animals’
“With great color, style and technique, Ford haunts the audience with the disappointments of our absurd world.”
‘Fatal Attraction’ at 30
“Lyne does not believe in the ‘New Man.'”
Obsession and Compulsion: A Deep Look at ‘Single White Female’
“In ‘Single White Female,’ being fixated with a person’s looks, behavior and personality represents a fetishization of that person as a whole.”
‘Rampart’: A Season in the Abyss
“‘Rampart’ can never step out of the shadows.”
The Power of Suggestion in Ben Young’s ‘Hounds Of Love’
“‘Hounds of Love’ makes an intriguing case for suggestion in place of an all-out, sensationalized show.”
Sunday Spaghetti: Tonino Valerii’s ‘Day of Anger (I giorni dell’ira)’
“‘Day of Anger’ is a tightly-structured film about societal influencers and people on the fringe that need somebody in their corner.”
My Summer of Kirsten Dunst: Volume 4
“Marie Antoinette has become queen and left her partying days behind.”
The Uninhabitable Tomorrow: Bruce Robinson’s ‘Withnail & I’
“‘Withnail & I’ is chock-full with digs and insinuations of homoeroticism, some of them crude, others more subtle and rife with dramatic potential and longing.”
In the Shadow of Women: On the Farrelly Brothers’ ‘There’s Something About Mary’
“What begins as a seemingly lightweight romantic comedy gradually expands into a surprisingly sophisticated exploration of romantic obsession and self-delusion.”
Vague Visages Is FilmStruck: Jeremy Carr on Anthony Mann’s ‘T-Men’ and ‘Raw Deal’
“In both ‘T-Men’ and ‘Raw Deal,’ Alton and Mann take what is already a heightened genre and somehow intensify its formal qualities.”
Hidden Gems of Soviet Cinema: On Sergei Loznitsa’s IDFA Top 10
“Now free to travel, these films now face the trouble of traveling well.”
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.”
Hopes and Fears in Helsinki: Pirjo Honkasalo’s ‘Concrete Night’
“The harsh dialogue may not connect, but the visuals most certainly will.”
‘A Serious Man,’ the Goy’s Teeth and the Coenesque
“When we watch the films, we can be Larry — agonising over ‘feeling the question’ — or we can be Sussman, content not to know but still enjoying the experience.”