Nymphomaniac

The 20 Best Performances of 2014

The 20 Best Performances of 2014

It was a great year for acting, and I still haven’t seen some of the year’s most acclaimed performances. If David Oyelowo (Selma), Julianne Moore (Still Alice), Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game), J.K. Simmons (Whiplash), Timothy Spall (Mr. Turner), Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Beyond the Lights), or anyone else bowls me over the way they have so […]

FYC 2014: Magnolia Films and Magnet Releasing

FYC 2014: Magnolia Films and Magnet Releasing

We’re approaching the end of the year, and I’ll be using these FYC posts to share as many thoughts as I can about 2014’s crop of movies. And while I, like most others, might be considering these films for categories like Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Screenplay, I’m going a little more creative. First […]

The Best Movies of 2014 So Far

The Best Movies of 2014 So Far

We’re here, finally, on the cusp of an exciting fall movie season, and I’m looking back and a weird-ass year so far. Not bad, per se, just…weird. I rated a lot of movies 3.5 stars or better. I thought my annual trip to the Tribeca Film Festival was as fruitful as its ever been. Yet […]

Nymphomaniac: Volume II Review

Nymphomaniac: Volume II Review

RATING: (3.5 STARS) In Volume I of Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac, sex was used as a means of discovery and toy for manipulation. In Volume II, it’s a goddamn weapon of mass destruction. What’s arguably even more shocking than this film’s depravity and bleakness—or its copious and explicit sexual content—is von Trier’s willingness and ability […]

Nymphomaniac: Volume I Review

Nymphomaniac: Volume I Review

RATING: (2.5 STARS) Volume I of famous Danish provocateur Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac saga is…well…incomplete. This portrait of a woman’s journey into sex addiction builds and builds and builds, and if Volume II delivers on the promise introduced here, these two drifting hours of character development will feel essential. On their own, they just don’t. […]