Review: Maximiliano Contenti’s ‘The Last Matinee’
“‘The Last Matinee’ doesn’t necessarily celebrate gore cinema, but rather the concept that moviegoers can evolve and mature by directly facing their fears.”
Review: Jane Campion’s ‘The Power of the Dog’
“It is surely a disservice to reduce Campion’s filmography to a study in gender, despite the longstanding focus of so much scholarship.”
Review: Peter Middleton and James Spinney’s ‘The Real Charlie Chaplin’
“With almost surgical precision, filmmakers Peter Middleton and James Spinney dissect the life and work of a legend in ‘The Real Charlie Chaplin,’ a worthwhile addition to the many studies of one of the most recognizable screen performers in cinema history.”
‘House of Gucci’: A Disappointing Oddity
“Right from the get-go in ‘House of Gucci,’ it’s clear that something is amiss.”
Review: Sion Sono’s ‘Prisoners of the Ghostland’
“‘Prisoners of the Ghostland’ is like a failed yet well-made pilot episode, one that teases high drama but doesn’t have anything interesting to say about the characters.”
Review: Malcolm Ingram’s ‘Clerk’
“The biggest takeaway from ‘Clerk,’ aside from the fact that the terrific Joey Lauren Adams should’ve had a bigger career, is that nobody is more surprised by Smith’s success than the man himself.”
Review: Casey Tebo’s ‘Black Friday’
“Tebo’s low-stakes take on holiday horror is a lot like Christmas candy; ‘Black Friday’ hits the spot, but you might be left craving something slightly more substantial soon afterwards.”
Review: Tanya Chuturkova’s ‘Chocolate Road’
“I’ll never be the same after watching ‘Chocolate Road.’ No longer will I eat a bonbon without seeing a massive cacao plant. I won’t be able to watch ‘Chocolat’ without thinking about Central American cacao plant clones. That’s a good thing…”
Review: Penny Lane’s ‘Listening to Kenny G’
“With ‘Listening to Kenny G,’ Lane affirms her status as one of the most talented nonfiction storytellers working today.”
Review: Kavery Kaul’s ‘The Bengali’
“There’s plenty of skepticism to be found in ‘The Bengali’; however, that’s just the starting point for an important conversation about first encounters, cultural education and life-changing travel experiences.”
Review: Martin Wilson’s ‘Great White’
“‘Great White’ may not be a groundbreaking or unique film, but it’s made with respect, and that deserves to be reciprocated.”
Review: Adam Ethan Crow’s ‘Lair’
“‘Lair’ succeeds with its female-led possession story but fails with the flat adjacent flat subplot.”
Review: Mia Hansen-Løve’s ‘Bergman Island’
“The Fårö setting in ‘Bergman Island’ provides Hansen-Løve with a treasure chest of opportunities to indulge and explore cinephilia, reflexivity, homage and intertext, but the potential autobiographical interpretations are equally enticing.”
Review: David Verbeek’s ‘Dead & Beautiful’
“With ‘Dead & Beautiful,’ Verbeek foreshadows the inevitable clash between the progressive leaders of tomorrow and conservative vampires who seek blood. As new generations of wealth emerge, will the enlightened prioritize reality over their personas?”
Review: Wes Anderson’s ‘The French Dispatch’
“‘Like the very best of Wes Anderson, ‘The French Dispatch’ is large and contains multitudes.”
Review: Edgar Wright’s ‘Last Night in Soho’
“The multifaceted, nuanced quality of music is vital to ‘Last Night in Soho,’ in which people aren’t so easily defined.”
The Spice Must Flow – Review: Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Dune’
“Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Dune: Part One’ is a worthy addition to the collection, besting the Lynch film in certain ways but still flummoxed and frustrated by the source material’s conversation-heavy downside.”
London Film Festival Review: Joanna Hogg’s ‘The Souvenir Part II’
“Like its predecessor, ‘The Souvenir Part II’ is defined by its open spaces; the silences in conversation, the gap between ‘action’ and ‘cut,’ the clouds between the memory of how something happened, and the reality of it.”
Review: David Gordon Green’s ‘Halloween Kills’
“‘Halloween Kills’ may not be to everybody’s tastes, but there’s a reason for that ‘kills’ in the title, beyond attention-grabbing marketing. The word refers not just to Michael himself but the rot at the core of Haddonfield…”
Review: Ridley Scott’s ‘The Last Duel’
“The ‘cinematic’ moviegoing experience is gradually taking shape once more, not just the notion of spectacle, but stimulation of the mind and conscience.”