“Rossellini astonishingly blends the good and the bad into an imperfect merging of society in all its multiplicity of guises. Death, desolation and violence are as pervasive in the film as love and empathy.”
“‘The Hill’ charts a path forward for Lumet’s justice films, which increasingly depart from the idealism of ’12 Angry Men’ and reckon deeply with the justice system’s contradictory, irreconcilable principles.”
“‘Inglourious Basterds’ is a study in suspense.”
“Those seeking some deep-dive exploration into Tolkien and his process will likely get more out of a standard biography or documentary. As it stands, ‘Tolkien’ is a merely adequate celebration of the author and the power of art.”
“‘They Shall Not Grow Old’ is such an apt title because the experiences of these soldiers are made entirely immediate, through both technical and narrative care. Peter Jackson reaches into the past and immortalizes those lives through film.”
“Confronted, challenged and upended throughout the course of Michael Cimino’s ‘The Deer Hunter,’ conventional notions of masculinity are routinely conditional to the film’s dominant shifts in setting and tone.”
“Where is our own cinema of madness?”
“‘Fudge Sandwich’ is the kind of album that provides listeners with a new favorite track every day, no small feat for a collection of cover tunes.”
“‘Argo’ allows you to enjoy the CIA’s outlandish caper, but it also confronts you with the ambivalence of the larger picture.”
“Maybe this war of innocence is one that’s never really won or lost. Maybe we just take life one battle at a time.”
