Review: Ridley Scott’s ‘All the Money in the World’
“It’s ultimately Scarpa’s bizarre scripting decisions that make the film just a fun crime thriller, and not a Ridley Scott classic.”
An Ode to Alice Lowe’s Performance in Her Feature Directorial Debut ‘Prevenge’
“As any great piece of cinema should evoke in the viewer, Alice Lowe’s electric performance in ‘Prevenge’ makes one laugh, cry and shriek in terror.”
Review: Valérie Massadian’s ‘Milla’
“Although the well worn label of ‘humanist’ may have lost its meaning by now, ‘Milla’ truly lives up to the mantle, as it is ultimately concerned with the fortitude and ability of a young woman to create a space of her own in the world.”
Review: Aaron Sorkin’s ‘Molly’s Game’
“For a film that prides itself on being ‘based on a true story,’ ‘Molly’s Game’ often relies on moments that are too coincidental, too easy. Yet, there’s nothing here to suggest that Sorkin won’t eventually figure things out behind the camera.”
Review: Fatih Akin’s ‘In the Fade’
“Writer/director Akin presents everything through a stilted lens which mistakes prosaic framing and editing for a matter of fact tone.”
Vague Visages Is FilmStruck: Jeremy Carr on Costa-Gavras’ ‘Z’
“‘Z’ is thoughtful, provocative, impassioned entertainment, stylish and teeming with conviction.”
Review: Nora Twomey’s ‘The Breadwinner’
“‘The Breadwinner’ is a beautifully-constructed yet grueling story of female bravery that feels both timeless and timely.”
Review: Scott Cooper’s ‘Hostiles’
“For all its attempts at dissecting human cruelty, there’s no human core to this story, which makes its 135-minute runtime feel twice as long.”
The Ideology of Kinko’s: A Conversation with ‘Lady Bird’ Cinematographer Sam Levy
Devika Girish Interviews Sam Levy
The Birds and the Beats: How ‘Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai’ Achieved Ultimate Serenity
“Ghost Dog glides through the story with the swiftness of an avian being in a film that never fails to be cathartic.”
The Bees Won’t Sting: On Celebrity Adoration, Hollywood Misdirection and Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘Boogie Nights’
“At some point, you’ve got to take down the celebrity posters, or at least reassess what they represent.”
Real, All Too Real: Rakhee Sandilya’s ‘Ribbon’
“Within the context of a cinema that is high-strung and often defined by its over-the-top, spectacle-driven family dramas, ‘Ribbon’ and its smallness (and everydayness) is not just a refreshing break but an extremely well-timed breaking of the mold.”
The Story of the Girl Named Blue: Danish Renzu’s ‘Half Widow’
“Renzu’s film gives a face to the thousands of women featured in the papers, disturbingly called ‘half widows’ — not just defined by the lack of a husband, but also by this ‘half,’ not full, not a complete status of being.”
Review: James Franco’s ‘The Disaster Artist’
“The Hollywood dream lives on proudly in ‘The Disaster Artist.’”
The Uninhibited Spirit of Hope: Rima Das’ ‘Village Rockstars’
“‘Village Rockstars’ represents a cultural category that is largely ignored by mainstream cinema and heralds a new chapter in the contemporary practice of serious filmmaking in India.”
Review: Martin McDonagh’s ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’
“McDonagh’s film is as much of a message movie as summiting Mount Kilimanjaro is a relaxing family-friendly vacation.”
Review: Feng Xiaogang’s ‘Youth’
“Achieving a vibrant mix of swooning sincerity and bitter irony, Feng Xiaogang’s ‘Youth’ walks the tightrope of Chinese history with a showman’s flair and a subversive wit, channelling its conflicting perceptions of the past into a single cohesive, ultimately jaded vision.”
Framing the Breakdown: Visual Psychosis in Lucrecia Martel’s ‘The Headless Woman’
“Martel’s film is an absolute masterpiece in visual symbolism and deserves to be seen on that basis alone.”
Review: Joachim Trier’s ‘Thelma’
“It’s an odd little film, more melancholy and plaintive than outright scary or troubling, that slowly crawls under your skin.”
On Ruben Östlund’s Dystopian Realities: ‘Force Majeure’ and ‘The Square’
“Painfully ironic, aggressive and humorously on point, Östlund’s films are timely cinematic pieces that put their characters’ moral compasses at stake.”