Album Review: The 1975 ‘Notes on a Conditional Form’
“By the end, ‘Notes on a Conditional Form’ reveals itself to be about very little — too incoherent to justify its length and too scattershot to feel like a unified whole.”
Josephine Decker Casts a Spell with Elisabeth Moss in ‘Shirley’
“Moss is nothing short of phenomenal in ‘Shirley,’ filling out her performance with a steady flow of poisonously perfect wisecracks, putdowns and insults…”
Review: Josh Trank’s ‘Capone’
“Hardy provides something alien, both amusing and disgusting, a unique cross between Jack Nicholson’s Jack Torrance in ‘The Shining’ and Vincent D’Onofrio’s Bug in ‘Men in Black.'”
Review: Alex Lee Moyer’s ‘TFW NO GF’
“By the time ‘TFW NO GF’ lets the viewer up for air, faith in the facts will have dissipated. It may feel like time to get offline, and stay there.”
‘True History of the Kelly Gang’: Nothing in Life Is Free
“‘True History of the Kelly Gang’ explodes like a Molotov cocktail, one that is fueled by punk spirit and more androgynous costuming than a New York Dolls album.”
Not the End: Celebrating the Directing Career of John Cassavetes
“Cassavetes’ films form a mosaic of artistic fortitude, glued together with thought.”
Jonathan Kiefer on ‘Around the Sun’ and the Plurality of Unknowns
Yoana Pavlova Interviews ‘Around the Sun’ Screenwriter Jonathan Kiefer
‘The Assistant’: Kitty Green’s Important Workplace Drama
“Green’s skillful direction is a master class in strategic elision.”
Album Review: Hayley Williams ‘Petals for Armor’
“Although ‘Petals for Armor’ continually returns to a well of torment and reflection, there is a sense of reinvigorated purpose and direction at play in both Williams’ words and her aesthetic choices.”
Why Criticism: Brian De Palma and Film as Film Criticism
“If the point of criticism is to bring the reader closer to the artwork, then Schrader’s reviews of other films are as important as his own to understanding his perspective.”
Review: Grímur Hákonarson’s ‘The County’
“Filled with powerful female-led moments, laid on the backdrop of the Icelandic countryside, Hákonarson’s crowd-pleasing humanist creation strengthens Iceland’s reputation within the international film circuit.”
‘The Psychic,’ ‘The Black Cat’ and the Concept of the ‘Final Girl’
“Even though ‘The Psychic’ and ‘The Black Cat’ don’t exist as prominently in the cultural consciousness as ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ and ‘Halloween,’ there is a sense that the Final Girls do exist in the wider world of horror…”
Sympathy for the Devil: How ‘Batman Returns’ Complicates the Penguin
“In the end, there can be no simple feelings of joy or satisfaction in seeing Batman defeat the Penguin — in seeing the good guy defeat the bad guy — because who’s the winner here, really?”
Collecting Movies with Production Designer Caity Birmingham
Greg Carlson Interviews Production Designer Caity Birmingham About VHS Collecting
The Disaster Area: From ‘Airport’ to ‘Airplane!’ – Part Two
Part Two of a Four-Part Disaster Movie Series by Bill Bria
Album Review: Car Seat Headrest ‘Making a Door Less Open’
“Much of what Toledo communicates in ‘Making a Door Less Open’ taps aptly into the strangeness and hysteria of the present moment, reaffirming his ability as an assuredly human and fallible rock ’n’ roll troubadour.”
World Cinema Project: The Sights and Sounds of a Nation – ‘Trances’ and ‘Redes’
“As with the underlying creed of Trances, the unambiguous intent of Redes’ communal message resonates in its country of origin and around the world, communicating the pleas for justice, egalitarianism and independence that are vital facets of life and are so often central to the best of all cinematic documentaries.”
Foetus Under Quarantine: An Interview with Musician JG Thirlwell
Leslie Hatton Interviews Musician JG Thirlwell
‘Ghost in the Shell SAC_2045’: Unsustainable Revival
“‘Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045’ attempts to move the series into full octane action but pushes its philosophical roots to the side.”
Alike in Their Way: (Un)happy Families in ‘Teorema’ and ‘Visitor Q’
“While ‘Teorema’ and ‘Visitor Q’ share a common DNA, what’s most striking is the way each film uses The Stranger. Both figures bring with them a kind of new order, as if they were missing puzzle pieces for the families that they integrate themselves into.”