“It’s amazing what an emerging writer-director can accomplish by staying true to the basic elements of filmmaking and then building upon the foundation by applying a creative vision to a relatively simple yet regionally specific story.”
“The main issue with a film as defiantly arthouse as ‘She Is Conann’ is that if the story isn’t engaging in its own right, everything else that’s wrong becomes increasingly more obvious.”
“I hope the future of Ukrainian cinema looks like ‘The Editorial Office.'”
“‘Io Capitano’ feels carefully researched in its subject matter, while the narrative itself is constructed with an intensity far more characteristic of Garrone’s genre work.”
“‘Air Force One Down’ stalls during the middle act but ultimately finds it groove, choppy as the writing may be overall.”
“Despite the hollow philosophizing, ‘Molli and Max in the Future’ offers a surrealistic blend of popcorn entertainment and classic Hollywood appeal.”
“‘Marmalade’ isn’t a great film, and many high-brow critics will presumably dismiss it as ‘rotten’ nonsense, but there’s something special within the overall approach that suggests a bright filmmaking future for O’Donnell.”
“Al Rasheed’s feature directorial debut succeeds through its cultural specificities, enlightening cinematography and authentic performances.”
“‘A Different Man’ is a bold, unsettling psychological drama, showing Sebastian Stan at his most chaotically unhinged…”
“Bittersweet and deeply poignant, ‘My Old Ass’ is one of the most emotionally affecting dramedies in quite some time.”
“‘In Our Day’ shows that even a smaller Hong Sang-soo film, like the smaller moments of life that it portrays, can be just as rich with drama, sadness and beauty as any other, and that every fragment contains so much of the whole.”
“With all the surfaces of style, wit and entertainment stripped away, ‘The Palace’ lays the director’s ideology bare in all its unflinching bleakness and petty emptiness.”
“Kim mostly hits the mark with ‘Man on the Run,’ even if some of the Adam McKay-style filmmaking choices don’t land particularly well.”
“‘The Painter’ seems destined for Tubi, where it may indeed earn a fanbase. The film clearly sets up a sequel, so a second franchise installment might be more creatively ambitious, even if its existence on paper doesn’t feel earned.”
“With dashes of dark humor, unnerving tension and a striking lead performance centering it all, ‘The Teachers’ Lounge’ uncomfortably builds to claustrophobia in a real domino effect.”
“‘Brief Tender Light,’ with all its cultural complexities, offers an access point for worldwide viewers willing to look beyond lazy stereotypes and reductive interpretations of not just Africans but fellow humans in general.”
“General audiences can access and appreciate The Adams Family’s ‘Where the Devil Roams’ from various perspectives – the mark of an enduring film.”
“By only fleetingly bringing attention to the economic hardships at play, ‘The Boys in the Boat’ frustratingly remains a niche proposition, of fascination only to fans of the film’s focal sport.”
“A film drastically less than the sum of its parts, ‘Eileen’ commits the unfortunate blunder of continually reminding one of similar, better movies.”
“‘Napoleon’ is very much a repudiation and a revolt against history’s ‘Great Men.'”