Recap: Girls ‘Good Man’
“The series may not be as wild and crazy as its earlier and edgier self, but the even strain continues to fit neatly with the theme of maturation.”
Recap: Vinyl ‘Whispered Secrets’
“The thing about Vinyl is that, if it was good, the series would be a lot more fun to watch.”
DMG’s Jeff Nichols RetroSpecial: ‘Shotgun Stories’ (2007)
A Jeff Nichols Retrospective by Dylan Moses Griffin
Glasgow Film Festival Review: John Carney’s ‘Sing Street’
“As the saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
The Feminine Grotesque #2: Mirror, Mirror – On Bette Davis in ‘Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?’
A Series by Angelica Jade Bastién
The Feminine Grotesque #1: A Unified Theory on Female Madness in Cinema and American Culture
A Series by Angelica Jade Bastién
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘Love & Basketball’ (Gina Prince-Bythewood, 2000)
A Weekly Column on Love and Erotica in Cinema by Justine A. Smith
Review: John Hillcoat’s ‘Triple 9’
“Triple 9 probably won’t go down as one of the great heist films on par with Die Hard or The Italian Job, but it might.”
Glasgow Film Festival Review: Stephen Ringer’s ‘Weepah Way for Now’
“It’s a touching depiction of a bond between sisters, but it doesn’t really create such a bond with viewers.”
Berlinale 2016 Review: Sara Jordenö’s ‘Kiki’
“Kiki is not the documentary that will prompt mass change or acceptance of fringe LGBTQ culture, but it doesn’t have to be.”
The Plea’s the Thing: American Crime Story ‘100% Not Guilty’ (Recap)
“Racism is, of course, the defining issue of discrimination in the O.J. case, but the show never lets us forget the misogyny which also haunts its characters.”
Review: Robert Eggers’ ‘The Witch’
“The Witch does for the woods what Jaws did for the ocean. They’re ruined for you.”
Recap: Girls ‘Wedding Day’
“With the series and its central quartet now nearing a more fulsome sense of adulthood, the great delight in Season Five’s debut is in how thoroughly it revels in being a television show.”
Recap: Vinyl ‘Yesterday Once More’
“The pilot’s structure resembled a vinyl record by being circular. The follow-up resembles one because there’s a hole in the middle.”
Berlinale 2016 Review: Robert Greene’s ‘Kate Plays Christine’
“Kate Plays Christine finds itself at the at intersection of reality and performance art, but no matter how fabricated the precursor, the emotional core remains intact and exceptionally powerful.”
His Blazing Automatics: Frank Grillo Is Our Most Undervalued Action Hero
“Did we really need another Purge film? Probably not, but did we need another film where Frank Grillo kicks ass? Yes. Absolutely yes.”
Berlinale 2016 Review: The Terrifying Future of War – Alex Gibney’s ‘Zero Days’
“Like a drunken boxer shoving people outside of a nightclub, Gibney’s loud mouth is supported by his ability to knock you out.”
Of Love and Other Demons: In Remembrance of Andrzej Żuławski
Justine A. Smith Remembers Andrzej Żuławski (November 22, 1940 – February 17, 2016)
Berlinale 2016: With ‘Chi-Raq’, Spike Lee Pushes the Power of Sexuality to New Heights
“Profoundly funny, shocking, sad and ultimately inspiring, Spike Lee’s Chi-Raq is the rude awakening that America needs to get its shit together.”
We Are Kardashians: American Crime Story ‘The Dream Team’ (Recap)
“Throughout the first three episodes, the writers appear to be struggling with the question of how funny it is to riff on the Kardashians’ eventual reality fame, and the opening of “The Dream Team” finds American Crime Story deciding, dubiously, that it’s hilarious.”