with Jeffrey Overstreet

Brandon Vedder's portrait of David Bazan follows the rock star through harrowing experiences of fear, doubt, betrayal, and self-discovery.

Another in my "Less than 500 words" reviews: I finally caught up with Roman Polanski's breakout thriller.

A Hidden Life is a movie that I wish every moviegoer in the world would experience on the big screen while they have the chance. But I'm also holding back from what feels to me like excessive praise.

Even if we grant 1917 the distinction of being the first war film to play from beginning to end as one unbroken scene, I think we must also conclude that it's less than the sum of its part.

At this point, here are my top 21 films of 2019.

Here it is — a music festival, a playlist, a countdown of my favorite albums of 2019.

A prelude to my countdown of 25 favorite records fro 2019, here's a long list of albums that probably deserve to be in that top 25 but... well... math is unforgiving. Explore. Listen. Discover some new favorites.

Here come the year-end lists! But let's consider their context: It's been a difficult year. We have needed art to revive our sense of vision, to awaken our conscience, to offer us rumors of glory in a darkening world.