“Poehler makes certain to strike a steady and careful balance between Ball and Arnaz in ‘Lucy and Desi,’ allowing them to share the spotlight in a meaningful way far more satisfying than any loose-with-the-facts biopic fictionalization.”
“Few artists have dreamt more boldly and defiantly in their exile than Ferrara; he has faced up to the dark towers of commerce and coercion, the systemic violence that is rationalized and sanctioned to peak efficiency by the prevailing conditions.”
“‘Downfall’ accomplishes Kennedy’s principal goal: it shines a bright light into a dark place.”
“Hanna Bergholm’s feature debut ‘Hatching’ is a satisfying creature-feature delight.”
“The year 2012 was the first in which cinema could adequately assess the material and psychological toll of the crash. The box office tells its own story: audiences were looking for saviors…”
“‘Hot Fuzz’ has remained a key part of the zeitgeist thanks to its specificity, but also because the movie celebrates doing the right thing, working together and being a good person above all else.”
“The power of ‘Coach to Vienna’ today rests in its mythic quality. The crux of the story may well be placed in the ‘real,’ but the affect of the mise-en-scène is that of a murderous fable.”
“‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ nearly wears out its welcome, but as far as hot dog-fingered audacity goes, the Daniels will make plenty of new eyeballs go googly.”
“‘Into the Night’ is a valuable resource for the ‘connoisseur of fear.'”
“In ‘Mass’ and ‘The Humans,’ the single location is used as a platform for ideas that seek universal understanding and collective empathy.”
“‘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.”
“‘Jesus of Nazareth’ is precisely a film of moments, and Zeffirelli depicts them with expert technique.”
D.M. Palmer on the career women of ‘9 to 5’ (1980), ‘Baby Boom’ (1987), ‘Big Business’ (1988), ‘Working Girl’ (1988) and ‘Disclosure’ (1994).
“‘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.”
“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.”
“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…”
“Singh understands the power of suggestion and how a simple turn of the head can communicate what a character might struggle to articulate.”
The Art of the Score #3: Blake Howard on Steven Soderbergh’s ‘Logan Lucky’
“The same way our minds shift under the influence of drugs, so too do they shift under the influence of new information, new truths. The higher the walls, the taller the ladders people will build to overcome them.”
“Carole Lombard’s performances — even when placed in manic films such as ‘Twentieth Century’ — are so often understated that you barely even notice half of the choices made.”