FYC 2018: Documentaries
This post includes mini-reviews of some of 2018’s documentaries with an eye on films various studios are targeting for the 2019 Oscars and other end-of-year awards (including the OFCS awards which I’ll be voting on). If a film also has a full-length review, a link will be included. This will be updated through the end […]
FYC 2018: Netflix
This post includes mini-reviews of some of Netflix’s 2018 releases with an eye on films they’re targeting for the 2019 Oscars and other end-of-year awards (including the OFCS awards which I’ll be voting on). If a film also has a full-length review, a link will be included. This will be updated through the end of […]
A Star Is Born (2018) Review
RATING: (4 STARS) Though A Star Is Born has been made now four times, the 2018 version directed by Bradley Cooper and starring Cooper and Lady Gaga (in her first major film performance), is my first experience with these story beats. Of course, they’re not unfamiliar ones. It doesn’t take intimate familiarity with the Janet […]
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Review
RATING: (1.5 STARS) Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park stands the test of time. It’s a remarkable action-horror hybrid that knows its greatest strength is the sense of awe. When Sam Neill turns Laura Dern’s head toward the real, live dinosaurs for the first time, it’s transcendent. The series only ever reached that point again once—in the […]
Eighth Grade Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) Over the last few years, the horror genre has experienced a sort of renaissance at least partially on the back of some exemplary art-house titles released by A24, including The Witch and Hereditary. The studio’s latest horror film is a very different sort of movie. Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade doesn’t feature ghosts […]
Ocean’s 8 Review
RATING: (3 STARS) Ocean’s movies are tough to get wrong. It’s true that Ocean’s 8 is the first (at least this century) that’s been made by someone other than the incomparable Steven Soderbergh. But as good as his direction and sensibilities were for Ocean’s 11, 12 (especially), and 13, it wasn’t hard to imagine a […]
10 Performances to Watch This Fall
I’ve already written a bit about the movies that have my attention as the calendar turns toward autumn, but what about the performances? Too often, I overlook actors in favor of their directors and screenwriters (both when I write about films and when I anticipate them), but this fall’s crop of titles has the potential […]
The James Bond Movies, Ranked
I wrote a version of this list six years ago, shortly after the release of Skyfall, but recent news, and the commentary surrounding it, have had me feeling nostalgia for the series of films that, more than any other, got me interested in and thus writing about film. While Danny Boyle’s exit from “Bond 25” […]
Top 10 Most Anticipated Fall 2018 Movies
On first glance, the fall 2018 movie season looks a little ragged. Blockbuster-wise, we’ve got another Fantastic Beasts film, Aquaman, Bumblebee, and Venom. Woof. But the indie circuit appears as strong as ever with lots of long-awaited directorial returns and emerging studios (Netflix, Annapurna) making what appear to be their strongest pitches for awards relevance […]
Ranking the Mission: Impossible Films
The NOC list, chimera virus, rabbit’s foot, nuclear launch codes, the Syndicate, plutonium orbs. Track them down. Save the world. These are your missions if you choose to accept them. For more than two decades, Tom Cruise and a host of talented co-stars and directors have been thrilling audiences with impossible mission after impossible mission. […]
Mission: Impossible—Fallout Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) For the longest time, the Mission: Impossible franchise felt disjointed. Different directors—Brian De Palma, John Woo, J.J. Abrams, Brad Bird—brought different styles to essentially the same story, and the supporting cast, while consistently enjoyable, was always changing to the point that it was difficult to connect with anyone outside of Tom Cruise’s […]
American Dream Review
About a decade and a half after producing and directing one of the most powerful and influential documentaries of all time, Barbara Kopple returned to the world of workers’ rights for American Dream. It’s an interesting title that immediately tells the viewer that this film won’t be as tied down to a specific place as its […]
Ready Player One Review
RATING: (2.5 STARS) Steven Spielberg became one of the most beloved filmmakers in the history of the medium on the backs of blockbusters like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., and Jurassic Park that transported viewers into fantastical worlds where anything seemed possible. Ready Player One is perhaps his […]
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
RATING: (3.5 STARS) Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, from Oscar-winning director Morgan Neville, is something of a safe lob down the middle for the adult movie-going public in 2018. Nostalgia and empathy are two of the strongest emotional pulls when it comes to non-fiction filmmaking. This film has loads of the former. Fred Rogers the […]
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Review
During the vicious climax of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, a titanic fight has broken out among the entire Pollitt clan over the imminent death of their patriarch, Big Daddy (Burl Ives), and the fate of their 28,000-acre cotton plantation. Brick (Paul Newman) is the film’s male protagonist and overhears his wife, mother, brother, and […]
Avengers: Infinity War Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) I haven’t truly loved an Avengers film yet. Both 2012’s original and Age of Ultron came out of the oven burnt and overdone. In an effort to give everyone a moment, the filmmakers made “moments” meaningless. (This was exacerbated in Marvel’s nadir: Captain America: Civil War.) With Infinity War, directors Joe and […]
