“The characters in ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains,’ ‘Smithereens’ and ‘Suburbia’ find in punk rock a convenient shorthand for authenticity, a posture which presages its eventual absorption into the very mechanisms it sets out to oppose.”
“‘Director A.J. Eaton’s rock star biography ‘David Crosby: Remember My Name’ checks all the boxes of the lion-in-winter music documentary.”
“There’s no solace in the music of Boy Harsher, only a feeling that we are all facing the same fears and uncertainties. Yet, sometimes, that is solace enough.”
“Another stunning work of perfectly placed ellipses and calculated restraint, Pawel Pawlikowski’s ‘Cold War’ is a film filled with images as iconic and austere as its blunt title.”
Marshall Shaffer Interviews ‘Cold War’ Star Joanna Kulig
“In ‘Vox Lux,’ pop music is an emblem of pop culture and the distractions we use to soften the growing trauma of the nation. It also plays into the main question that Corbet raises: just how long can we cling onto pop culture before society gets so bad that nothing will help?”
“As in ‘Ida,’ Pawlikowski offers little exposition, which leaves the audience to gather any and all clues.”
“Street Sects is the kind of band that a lot of people would call ‘problematic,’ but they’re a much-needed smack in the face in a world that seems less compassionate with each passing day.”
“Gaga’s mere presence allows Cooper a wide berth to go big with scenes and moments that play with and embrace camp.”
“‘Baby Driver’ and ‘Drive’ are not road maps to modernity, they don’t offer any route through it that guarantees a safe arrival. The only advice they might offer is to tear up the map itself. To simply drive.”
