“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.”
“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?”
“‘Like the very best of Wes Anderson, ‘The French Dispatch’ is large and contains multitudes.”
“The multifaceted, nuanced quality of music is vital to ‘Last Night in Soho,’ in which people aren’t so easily defined.”
“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.”
“Ducournau’s approach to cinematic lineage and influence in ‘Titane’ is a complicated one, as she develops her singular filmmaking style into something even more evasive and intricate than in ‘Raw.'”
“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.”
“‘Martha Marcy May Marlene’ opines that it’s sometimes better to give up trying to fix somebody, rather than forcing them into a breakdown, particularly in instances when the source of their trauma isn’t completely clear.”
“‘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…”
“The ‘cinematic’ moviegoing experience is gradually taking shape once more, not just the notion of spectacle, but stimulation of the mind and conscience.”
“Holland and Sodaro are so effortlessly good together, their characters evoking the kind of visual contrast unforgettably rendered by Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy…”
Anthony Strand Interview: A conversation about movie collecting with Vague Visages contributor Greg Carlson.
“‘The Medium’ is arguably the horror movie of the year, one that should be seen on the biggest screen possible.”
“There is no analytical framework to guide audiences towards a hollow understanding of raw talent. Gleeson’s charisma is built-in, like all legendary performers, and this is most evident when his characters behave despicably.”
“‘Red Rocket’ is Baker’s strongest work to date, a film much smarter (and far funnier) than its provocative synopsis would suggest.”
“There is a general sense of otherworldliness that feels enrapturing in ‘Spencer,’ even if Larraín stumbles while addressing the heavier themes.”
“‘Gully Boy’ has as much heart as it does energy, and skillfully manages to avoid being a formulaic tearjerker about a poor boy from the slums.”
“Despite a variety of shortcomings that encompass eye-rolling fan-service lollipops and unresolved narrative threads, there is much to savor in ‘The Many Saints of Newark.'”
“‘V/H/S/94’ is a thoroughly decent installment despite its relatively slight nature. It’s a film which invites the audience to have a lot of fun but keeps an air of spooky credibility intact…”
“Kilmer’s personal observations and insights are always engaging in ‘Val’ and occasionally yield details and particulars that allow viewers to peek behind the curtain of fame.”