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.”
Jack Ascending: Nicholson’s 1980s
“There has always been a conflict at play in Nicholson’s screen presence: between ‘Nicholson’ and ‘Jack.’ The desire to be taken seriously and the lure of the riotous Jack persona have always done battle across his decades of stardom.”
London Film Festival Review: Todd Haynes’ ‘Wonderstruck’
“This kind of world recreation doesn’t come cheap, and it’s a delight to see a filmmaker of Haynes’ caliber given such a worthy budget.”
Fantasia Film Festival 2017 Review: Federica Di Giacomo’s ‘Libera Nos’
“It’s an unconventional perspective, making ‘Libera Nos’ a riveting new lens on a familiar topic.”
Vague Visages Is FilmStruck: Jeremy Carr on Federico Fellini’s ‘La Strada’
“Fellini’s films often flourished with acute ruminations on life and society, but rarely would his work achieve this degree of pure emotion.”
Instant Cult Classic: Gary Michael Schultz’s ‘Vincent N Roxxy’
“Either you love the squeaky rollercoaster or you’ve got no time for the squeaky rollercoaster. Welcome to the carnival.”
Las Palmas Film Festival Opens with ‘Katie Says Goodbye’
“Roberts believes in the subtle force of his nice-as-pie protagonist, and he is right: Katie’s light outshines the blue Arizona sky.”
The Many Peculiar Virtues of Wes Craven’s ‘My Soul to Take’
“As the second last film in one of the great contemporary horror filmmaker’s careers, it’s an extraordinary example of artistic self-reflection and development.”
Moments of Revelation in Martin Scorsese’s ‘Silence’ and ‘Shutter Island’
“What is the cost to oneself of living by a system of belief?”
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door: Analyzing Martin Scorsese’s ‘Silence’ as a Remake of His 1967 Debut
“Scorsese’s latest film channels the same intellectual curiosity and spiritual fervor of his directorial debut, with the addition of nearly 50 years of experience in technical skill and storytelling precision.”
Losses Made in Heaven: Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ and ‘Casino’
“In Scorsese’s inversion of the downfall, paradise isn’t the origin and its loss doesn’t mean moral decrepitude, only mediocrity.”
Review: Martin Scorsese’s ‘Silence’
“For all its violence and grandiosity, it stands as an impressively filmed indictment against religious persecution.”
Heartstrings: The Musical Presence of Martin Scorsese’s Films
“More than any of Scorsese’s own cameos, his music accompanies viewers as they watch, as if he were watching along with everybody else.”
What I Learned from Martin Scorsese’s ‘Life Lessons’
“Martin Scorsese’s ‘Life Lessons’ benefits more from analysis as a self-standing artistic expression than as a counterpoint to the other installments of ‘New York Stories.'”
Toxic Masculinity and Empathetic Comedy: Martin Scorsese’s ‘Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore’
“The cumulative effect of ‘Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore’ is one of openness and warmth.”
The Way of the Future: The Connections Between Martin Scorsese’s ‘Raging Bull’ and ‘The Aviator’
“With ‘Raging Bull’ and ‘The Aviator,’ Martin Scorsese perfects a configuration of the biopic as self-recognized fiction.”
Why Criticism: Understanding Film Restoration
A Column on Film Criticism by Justine A. Smith
Recap: Vinyl ‘Rock and Roll Queen’
“‘Rock and Roll Queen’, the ninth and penultimate episode of Season One, is largely a gathering together of ongoing plot threads and weaving them into a runway on which the entire season will land next week, and that’s fine.”
Review: Kent Jones’ ‘Hitchcock/Truffaut’
“Although it contains very little new material, Hitchcock/Truffaut will undoubtedly find a home within the film education community and could become an important tool in introducing Hitchcock’s immense body of work to hoards of “uninitiated” cinema devotees.”
Recap: Vinyl ‘Pilot’
“Trying to divine the future of a series from its pilot is a fool’s errand, and even more so when so much of the show’s appeal as yet rests in the ‘in nomini patris, et filis, et cinema sancta amen’ passion of its director, the cinema’s most charismatic priest.”