“Both films deal with maternal sexuality: The Boy punishes it and rebukes mothers for caring about anything other than their children, and The Babadook acknowledges it as difficult to balance with childcare, but an inescapable part of motherhood nonetheless.”
“Don’t call it a comeback, call it a Reeves-urrection.”
A Weekly Column on Love and Erotica in Cinema by Justine A. Smith
Chilean writer Jaime Grijalba ranks the 2015 theatrical releases of his country.
BFI Southbank: Anna Karina on Jean-Luc Godard and “Bande à part”
“‘Women in Revolt’ stands in defiance of the majority of transgender-specific cinema…”
“A fever dream of marital discontent, Charlie McDowell’s ‘The One I Love’ tackles a failing marriage with sci-fi panache.”
“Energized by two charismatic leads, It’s Us beautifully explores the process of early 30s decision-making and how one deals with the consequences of questionable actions.”
“It was my first time reading Chandler, and yet it didn’t feel like it: I’d devoured so many of his influences that the writing seemed familiar, even if there was nothing quite like getting it from the original source.”
“What would the world of animation be like if Yoshifumi Kondō had lived to make another film?”
“Atonement may always be widely regarded as Wright’s best work, but Hanna is his bravest and most authentic (and should be remembered as such).”
“Why can’t Leia be into gold bikinis or even that fantasy of submission?”
“As a filmmaker struggling with her own ideas, it’s a little upsetting to see a man (of the same age) come out with a fully formed idea of his own kind of cinema.”
“In comparing the new film with American Hustle and The Fighter, Russell’s frenetic style succeeds in the previous two through a shifting focus that feels at bit more at home in the context of a sprawling ensemble piece.”
“An incredible failure, ‘The Rose Tattoo’ has value in understanding the confines of the production code and the importance of good direction.”
“The problem of Birdman isn’t its maximalism, but the direction in which it’s aimed.”
“While Iñárritu’s tactics can become tiresome over multiple views, he is perhaps one of the greatest, single-experience filmmakers working today.”
“Babel is Crash with delusions of global grandeur; a film that masquerades as a sweeping, humanistic epic, but is instead an ultimately hammy, superficial and miserablist game of connect-the-dots.”
“Amores Perros clocks in at 150 minutes, yet not a single frame feels unnecessary.”
“It’s understandable for viewers to call something ‘overrated’ when they feel let down, however, critics should strike the word from their vocabularies.”