Cannes Film Festival Review: Sofia Coppola’s ‘The Beguiled’
“‘The Beguiled’ plays out exactly as one might expect and never really stretches beyond its contained premise.”
Cannes Film Festival Review: John Cameron Mitchell’s ‘How to Talk to Girls at Parties’
“‘How to Talk to Girls at Parties’ is spirited but doesn’t have anything new to say.”
When the Male Gaze Breaks: Between ‘The Neon Demon’ and ‘Black Swan’
“In Darren Aronofsky’s ‘Black Swan’ and Nicolas Winding Refn’s ‘The Neon Demon,’ the female body is used in its most delicate and presumptuously feminine form.”
The Bewitching Terror of Nicolas Winding Refn’s ‘The Neon Demon’
“Refn provides a movie with universal appeal, displaying how pathetic and desperate human beings can be in their moments of weakness, insecurity and greed.”
NYFF Review: Mike Mills’ ’20th Century Women’
“With Mills so free and acrobatic in his constructions and portrayal of the characters, coupled with excellent acting, it’s difficult not find them endearing given the wit and depth of ’20th Century Women.'”
Eye on Iñárritu: ‘Babel’ or (‘Crash’ with Delusions of Global Grandeur)
“Babel is Crash with delusions of global grandeur; a film that masquerades as a sweeping, humanistic epic, but is instead an ultimately hammy, superficial and miserablist game of connect-the-dots.”