Movie Reviews (Chronological)
Guest review: Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
Guest reviewer Damian Arlyn considers the place of Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood in director Quentin Tarantino’s oeuvre.
I Am Not a Witch (2018)
Don’t miss this overlooked treasure from 2018: a mystical “fantasy” about a young Zambian girl condemned as a witch.
Booksmart (2019)
Booksmart is certainly energetic and exciting. But do its high-powered hormones overwhelm its generous heart?
Her Smell (2019)
Elisabeth Moss stars as Becky Something, a ferociously self-destructive rock star who challenges us to consider the tenacity of our love.
High Fidelity (2002)
Digging through the archives, I’ve found an old favorite and I’m taking it for a spin. Here’s my original Year 2000 review of High Fidelity.
Ash is Purest White (2019)
Jia Zhangke delivers a wildly ambitious epic of a gangster’s girlfriend thrown overboard into Chinese capitalism’s unmerciful storms. Go see it. (Caution: Part Two of this essay examines the film’s confounding conclusion, so — spoilers!)
Shrek (2001)
Lo and behold—archaeologists digging deep in the Looking Closer archives have unearthed Overstreet’s original 2001 review of Shrek.
Chungking Express (1994)
A brief reflection on Wong Kar-wai’s Chungking Express.
Elf (2003)
Imagine… a new band of superheroes made up of characters who were raised by inhuman species: Princess Mononoke, raised by a wolf goddess! Mowgli, hero of the jungle, raised by wolves! Tarzan, another hero of the jungle, raised by apes! Peter Pan, who was raised...
24 Frames (2018)
In which Overstreet returns to writing about movies for Good Letters with a celebration of Abbas Kiarostami’s final, enigmatic, meditative movie.