Review: Johnnie To’s ‘Three’
“To missteps when ‘Three’ hews too close to action clichés.”
Preacher Recap: ‘South Will Rise Again’
“The episode provides plenty of darkness, but what it also provides is a sense of understanding.”
Preacher Recap: ‘Monster Swamp’
“It’s the denial, the lack of judgement and the lack of consequences that run so rampant in the city which make the episode’s climax so powerful.”
Preacher Recap: ‘The Possibilities’
“With most of the series’ major villains now in play, if not all, it’s only a matter of time before Annville becomes the ‘Monster Swamp’ Root so fears.”
Review: Hong-jin Na’s ‘The Wailing’
“It’s a film that doesn’t so much scare as it harrows, boring deep into the psyche.”
Review: Laura Bispuri’s ‘Sworn Virgin’
“One problem with ‘Sworn Virgin’, particularly in its later stages, is a distinct lack of stakes.”
Love and Death: The Romantic Sorrow of Fritz Lang’s ‘Destiny’
“‘Destiny’ arrives at its final satisfying destination as a poetic and deeply affecting film, an ethereal meditation from a now legendary filmmaker…”
Preacher Recap: ‘Pilot’ and ‘See’
“It’s clear from the early stages of ‘Preacher’ that Rogen, Goldberg and Catlin are going to be taking a deliberate pace with the material.”
Review: Grímur Hákonarson’s ‘Rams’
“A great director can make us a care for characters wildly outside our realm of understanding, and Grímur Hákonarson may have proven himself such a director with his latest film, Rams.”
The Style, Sins and Sympathies of Robert Bresson’s ‘Au hasard Balthazar’
“Much of Au hasard Balthazar’s transcendental value derives from its explicit openness to theological interpretation, particularly given Bresson’s oft-commented upon Catholicism and some of the film’s more overt symbolism.”
Review: Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s ‘Mustang’
“A film full of warmth and dread in equal measure, Mustang serves as a reminder of the power of siblinghood in the face of adversity.”
Review: Cary Joji Fukunaga’s ‘Beasts of No Nation’
“As an empathetic machine, Beasts of No Nation tries too hard to convey the unimaginable, leaving in its place a sense of cold insouciance towards a system that is shown to be irreparably broken.”
Review: Alex Ross Perry’s ‘Queen of Earth’
“An intimate character study of a shifting, indefinable character, Queen of Earth pushes the already exceptionally talented Elisabeth Moss to new levels of intense frenzy and naked emotion.”
We Failed This Film: Darren Aronofsky’s ‘The Fountain’ (2006)
A Series by Dylan Moses Griffin
Review: Tetsuya Nakashima’s ‘The World of Kanako’
“For all its frenetic editing, energetic performances and twisty narrative structure, there is sadly an elephant in the room, and that’s the film’s treatment (or mistreatment) of women.”
Review: François Delisle’s ‘Chorus’
“Almost violently textured, ‘Chorus’ evokes the works of Ingmar Bergman as it contrasts the spiritual qualities of the mind and the body.”
Chasing Chabrol: ‘Les biches’
“‘Les biches’ remains one of the more elusive and symbolic films of Chabrol’s career, as the narrative adopts a dreamlike structure that often obscures reality and truth.”
Q.V. Hough’s Top 10 Films of 2014
Q.V. Hough’s Top 10 Films of 2014
