“‘The Irishman’ may be the last film of an era. The banquet scene ranks among the most powerful sequences of Scorsese’s career because he allows it, following Visconti’s example, to linger.”
“‘Scare Me’ takes a while to get going, awkwardly finding its footing through its opening scenes, but when it settles into the long night of storytelling in the cabin, Ruben’s debut feature becomes a total delight.”
“What’s consistently left out of the ‘Cheer’ conversation is a discussion of the precarious tension of love and exploitation between coach Monica Aldama and the team.”
“At once riveting and entertaining, while inciting in the viewer visceral and arduous self-reflection, ‘Marriage Story’ is an uncompromising and deeply affectionate reflection on what pulls us apart and yet what keeps us bound together despite it all.”
“A great magician never reveals his tricks, and Soderbergh far too nakedly shows the craft in ‘The Laundromat,’ whereas a narrower focus, with the human consequence of the Panama Papers in clear sight, could have beguiled, incited and entertained in equal measure.”
“While ‘High Flying Bird’ may seem uneven at first glance, one has to appreciate that Soderbergh directly addresses controversial societal topics that always touch a nerve in America.”
“As we careen further down the barrel of late-capitalism, it has become clear that the laborer is now the product.”
“‘Too Old to Die Young’ is rough around the edges, and perhaps deliberately so. It’s almost as if the writers are two brothers in a car fighting between soft rock and techno on the radio.”
“The rom-com isn’t dead. It was simply evolving into something more interesting, more modern and more accepting.”
“Not everyone, and not even every Dylan fan, will go along with the tall tales, but amidst the japes are several of the most riveting live performances of Dylan’s career.”
“One of the greatest pleasures of ‘See You Yesterday’ is that the challenges and complexities of the jumps get better as the story unfolds.”
“Whether or not Johnson overcomes the arguments made by James Baldwin in essays contained within ‘Notes of a Native Son’ rests largely with the viewer’s sympathies with the objectives and sensibilities of Wright (and Johnson).”
“Despite being a well-intentioned art house film, ‘Soni’ somehow fails to create an impressionistic effect and often feels cliched. But what’s commendable is the character treatment by the debutant director, Ayr.”
“Its vibrating self-awareness, unwieldy traveling circus vibe and mind-bending movie-within-a-movie duality allow Welles to simultaneously mock and indulge in the critically celebrated, sexually-charged, Antonioni-style, European art film.”
“‘Velvet Buzzsaw’ is nicer to look at than a urinal signed ‘R. Mutt,’ but like Duchamp’s ‘Fountain,’ I won’t be rushing to see it again anytime soon.”
“With ‘The Tale,’ Jennifer Fox addresses a painful subject in a straightforward and clear-eyed manner.”
“In a way, the Coens complete the arc of the film, tying it together cohesively, by suggesting that the arc is random, sometimes cruel, and sometimes meaningless.”
“Fargeat is almost saying, ‘well, if you want to look at her, you must look at her no matter her condition.’ It is a grotesque way of calling out the male gaze, but it is an effective one.”
“Anchored by a deeply sympathetic performance from Aparicio, ‘Roma’ is an empathetic, sentimental, stirring delight.”
“‘The Most Assassinated Woman in the World’ is not, by my estimation, a horror film, but a film about horror spectatorship; the joy of discomfort.”