Overstreet Archives: The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
On Movies & Media,Film Reviews
December 18, 2022
Ten years ago, I wrote about The Muppet Christmas Carol for another website, marking the film's 20th anniversary. Here, at the film's 30th anniversary, I'm bringing that review to Looking Closer.
0 Comments9 Minutes
The Wonder (2022)
On Movies & Media,Film Reviews
December 16, 2022
On the week that I watched The Wonder , I had a challenging encounter with a stranger that brought the movie's central tension vividly to mind. It seems that the best way I can highlight my admiration for the movie is to share my experience alongside my review.
0 Comments31 Minutes
My Father’s Dragon (2022)
On Movies & Media,Film Reviews
November 29, 2022
The source material, a 1948 children's book by Ruth Stiles Gannett, is whimsical and funny, and has clearly influenced storytellers for generations, but it's a meandering and episodic tale that lacks a certain gravity. Can Cartoon Saloon storytellers revise it into something resonant?
0 Comments17 Minutes
All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)
On Movies & Media,Film Reviews
November 13, 2022
Do we need another epic war movie in 2022? Yes, if it serves to strip away any sense that battlefields are about heroes or glory. All Quiet has always been about telling the truth, and this new German-made adaptation on Netflix is no exception.
0 Comments15 Minutes
Stuck in the middle with Tár
On Movies & Media,Film Reviews
November 5, 2022
Director Todd Field's return to the big screen is an unforgettable spectacle. And it is, almost inarguably, the greatest performance of Cate Blanchett's remarkable career. Some will call it a masterpiece. I'm not so sure.
0 Comments15 Minutes
Nothing Compares (2022)
On Movies & Media,On Songs & Albums,Film Reviews
October 10, 2022
It has taken three decades — 30 years to the month! — for the truth to come into focus. In the early '90s, Sinead O'Connor risked her career to speak truth to power. She was condemned by Christians, by pop culture, by almost everyone. And now we've seen her laments justified, her prophecies coming true. Here, thank God, is a movie that loves her and grieves for her.
0 Comments12 Minutes
The Duke (2022)
On Movies & Media,Film Reviews
August 18, 2022
Roger Michell's final film* is an endearing epilogue to an impressive career, but even the headliners Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren can't make this one memorable.
0 Comments7 Minutes
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (2022)
On Movies & Media,Film Reviews
August 15, 2022
The great Leslie Manville proves that she can make even a cloying crowdpleaser like this worth watching. You might find this "power of positive thinking" fairy tale a blessed relief it is from the punishing darkness and violence of almost everything else this summer. (Or, if you're like me, you might find it too sticky sweet for its own good.)
0 Comments14 Minutes
Shadow in the Cloud (2021)
On Movies & Media,Film Reviews
August 7, 2022
This isn't a one-woman show, but it's close: Chloë Grace Moretz gives this cartoonish action film a far stronger central performance than it needs, and that turns an otherwise forgettable action thriller into surprisingly compelling experience.
0 Comments9 Minutes
Hit the Road (2022)
On Movies & Media,Film Reviews
July 31, 2022
The son of the great Jafar Panahi has become a promising filmmaker himself. Panah Panahi's first movie takes backroads that lead to laughs, surprises, and troubling revelations.
3 Comments12 Minutes