“A surrealist bookend to his unofficial gangster trilogy, The American Soldier finds R.W. Fassbinder not only at peace with his version of cinematic grace but more cynically-minded than ever.”
“A complex study of character and mood, Gods of the Plague relies heavily on subtly-crafted and detached scenes to amass larger thematic ideas of isolation, jealousy and love.”
“Basking in drawn-out pauses and uninterrupted tracking shots, Fassbinder strives to make his audience feel a profound discomfort and delights in presenting an errant challenge to his viewers’ integrity.”
“A commanding first directorial effort from Alex Garland, Ex Machina is the product of a perfectly-tuned collaborative endeavor, much like the mind of its artificial centerpiece.”
“The House of Black and White contains natural beauty and rich compositions that rival the best of cinema.”
“From the fluid cinematography of Doug Emmett to Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s obvious transition into an undeniable star, the directorial debut of Chris Messina, Alex of Venice, contains a natural honesty that simply feels right.”
“A Kafka-esque condemnation of Stalin’s government ham-handedly plopped into a John le Carré spy thriller, Child 44 is ambiguous cinematic fluff.”
“Unfriended intelligently explores the act of clicking and how those split-second decisions can change everything.”
“The end is coming for both Mad Men and its anti-hero, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Don’s final breath comes during a heroic moment.”
“A plethora of likable characters and tidy wrap-ups diminish the artistic potential of While We’re Young, as Baumbach doesn’t compromise the film’s abilities as a general crowdpleaser.”
“A deeply impactful film (regardless of length or medium), Hertzfeldt’s World of Tomorrow has a penetrating gift for resplendent empathy — solidifying itself as a shining star of 2015, and one of the finest films of the decade.”
“The beginning of ‘The Wars to Come’ sets the tone for an episode that interlocks present and past while discarding hopeful ideals of a peaceful future.”
“Like a pilfered Fabergé egg, Ryan Gosling’s freshman effort, ‘Lost River,’ is a sight to behold but completely hollow beneath its bejeweled veneer.”
“A somewhat uneven protest of English nobility and a denouncement of nepotic privilege, The Riot Club’s message is a redundant one: unchecked, inherited wealth leads to problems.”
“‘Bug’ closes in on you in a curiously suffocating way. It’s disorienting in the best way possible.”
“The horror reads as a treatise against a dominant culture that upholds rather old-fashioned ideas of gender…”
“Babbit recognizes that the characters in question have a difficult choice to make: to subscribe to a dominant culture and survive or to ‘be themselves’ and ostensibly be shunned.”
“Critics have labeled ‘Heartbeats’ as derivative and pretentious, flamboyant and bratty, but it’s exactly the kind of film where such criticism means that it’s doing its job.”
“The beginning of Mad Men’s final flight enforced the idea that individuals may physically change but outward appearances don’t always reflect the inner-self.”
“The complexities of ‘Stranger Than Fiction’ are worthy of their own analysis, but the film’s simplicities and stark honesty about emotion are its strengths.”