Everything is exactly as it seems in this mundane road trip western. There’s a comforting simplicity to the world depicted in Cry Macho. Men are strong and stoic, women are either virtuous or temptresses, cities are dens of sin and … Continue reading Cry Macho Review: Clint Eastwood Serves Up Macho Cheese
The cards never quite form a winning hand in Paul Schrader’s bleak horror noir. How much are we responsible for our own actions? To what extent is the path of our lives forged by chance or by choice? And when … Continue reading Review: Oscar Isaac Tries to Control the Game in The Card Counter
Nia DaCosta’s sequel to the 1992 horror classic falls into the very trap it attempts to critique. Sometimes I wonder if the success of Get Out did more harm than good for Black filmmakers. Suddenly you had a rush of … Continue reading Review: Candyman Looks Sweet But Lacks Sting
The director’s ode to comic book nonsense is violent, absurd, and refreshingly cinematic. I don’t know if you were aware of this, but comic books are ridiculous nonsense. They’re full of mutant freaks and interdimensional monsters who only stop punching … Continue reading Review: Obstacles are Opportunities in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad
If Woodstock was the heart of the 60s, the Harlem Cultural Festival was its soul. Michael Wadleigh’s 1970 documentary concert film Woodstock is widely considered the definitive cultural document of the 1960s. Yet the audience and performers in attendance during … Continue reading Review: Summer of Soul Celebrates the Sound of a Revolution
The long-awaited Summer gateway movie is inventive and charming, if a bit hollow. Here it is, just shy of one year since its original June 2020 premiere date, the musical movie event to launch you into Hot Girl Summer 2021. … Continue reading Review: In the Heights is a slightly watery Summer treat
It’s a big dick world, Wonder Woman’s just living in it. There is so much penis imagery in the DC Cinematic Universe it’s practically a house style at this point. Whether it’s the suspiciously folded contours of the Kryptonian escape … Continue reading Review: Wonder Woman 1984 Fights a Big Dick Enemy
David Fincher’s homage to golden-age cinema paints a bland portrait of the notorious screenwriter. “You can’t capture a man’s whole life in 2 hours, all you can hope is to leave an impression of one.” So what impression are we … Continue reading Review: Mank Draws a Blank
This magical and immersive dance party is a prescription for the 2020 blues. Lovers Rock is the second in a five-film anthology from director Steve McQueen. Read my review of the first film, Mangrove, here. God, remember parties? Remember the … Continue reading Review: Lovers Rock is 100% Good Vibes
Amy Adams and Glenn Close try to emote their way out of this toothless piece of poverty tourism. I didn’t hate Hillbilly Elegy, but then it’s difficult to hate a movie that so thoroughly lacks a point of view. J.D. … Continue reading Review: Hillbilly Elegy
Director Steve McQueen applies his distinctive visual style to a story of resistance within a vibrant London community. Long before it was the setting of Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant’s romantic hijinks, London’s Notting Hill neighborhood was home to a … Continue reading Review: Small Axe: Mangrove
The more heavily-scripted sequel contains flashes of brilliance but ultimately fails to offer anything new. Forgive the blinding obviousness of this statement, but a lot has changed in America since 2006, and I don’t just mean our downward spiral into … Continue reading Review: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
⚠️ This post contains spoilers. I tried for three days to write a cohesive review of Aaron Sorkin’s latest film The Trial of the Chicago 7, but it’s a film that is stubbornly difficult to distill in a way that … Continue reading Random Notes on The Trial of the Chicago 7
Scuttled by bad press on its release, Waterworld is a lot better than you remember A post-apocalyptic dystopia where survivors live off of the detritus of Earth’s former civilization while bands of petroleum-obsessed marauders terrorize the weak. A small outpost … Continue reading Wet Mad Max: Waterworld at 25
On the film’s 25th anniversary, Apollo 13 shows how much has changed in the way America responds to a crisis. Ask anyone who’s watched it to name a scene from the 1995 film Apollo 13 and odds are they’ll recall … Continue reading Apollo 13 and the Nostalgia of American Competence
⚠️ This article contains spoilers for the 1991 film Cape Fear 💥 Content Warning: sexual assault, child abuse I’ve found myself drawn to trash cinema in recent weeks (ask me about the shameful pleasures of the Underworld franchise). The deep … Continue reading In Cape Fear, Scorsese Drags Us Into the Muck
DC’s latest superhero team-up adds much-needed sparkle to an ultimately flawed formula. This is a spoiler-free review. To discuss spoilers, head over to the Birds of Prey Spoil Sports. Birds of Prey is funny. It’s colorful and stylish. Its violence … Continue reading Review: Birds of Prey
Richard Stanley returns with a clunky, campy Lovecraft adaptation. This is a spoiler-free review. In 1990 South African director Richard Stanley made a name for himself with the cyberpunk slasher Hardware, a delightfully trashy yet frequently beautiful woman-vs-murderbot flick. Several … Continue reading Review: Color Out of Space
Adam Sandler hustles his way through a sustained cinematic anxiety attack. This is a spoiler-free review. There’s a moment early on in Uncut Gems when sleazy jewelry dealer Howard Ratner, played by Adam Sandler, has a choice to make. He’s … Continue reading Review: Uncut Gems
Scorsese’s most epic gangster picture is also his funniest and most thoughtful. This is a spoiler-free review. To discuss spoilers, head over to The Irishman Spoil Sports. In the opening shot of The Irishman, the camera advances from the shadows … Continue reading Review: The Irishman
A near-perfect comedy whodunnit destined to become a classic. This is a spoiler-free review. To discuss spoilers, head over to the Knives Out Spoil Sports. I didn’t think the big studios made movies like this anymore. A tightly scripted, lovingly-shot … Continue reading Review: Knives Out
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