Movie Reviews (Chronological)
The Courier: forgettable cinema about an unforgettable hero
Our screens are so over-saturated with superheroes these days that we’re in danger of forgetting what real heroes look like. Superpowers are exciting — but they’re also shortcuts. They show us what we might dream of becoming. But let me put it this way: I...
Zhao, Varda, Sayles, and Malick: Why Nomadland is my favorite film of 2020
Several years ago, I wandered down to the reading room of Laity Lodge, a Texas conference center. I knew it to be the quietest, most restful place at the Lodge, and I needed a break after a few days of constant conversations with other writers. The reading room has an...
Lee Isaac Chung Week, Day Five: a review of Abigail Harm
Lee Isaac Chung’s strangest film isn’t easy to watch. Nor is it easy to forget. But it is well worth seeking out for its cautionary tale of a compromising love affair, mystical visitors from “up there,” and the dangers of self-isolation.
Do the Wrong Thing: a portrait of betrayal in Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)
Compelling, occasionally impressive in its cinematographic finesse, occasionally obvious in its allusions, often too familiar in its form, eventually painful in its truth-telling, this flashy new film is, ultimately, a necessary testimony.
Oscar-bait extravagance: Mank is a mess
In David Fincher’s much-anticipated epic about the origins of Citizen Kane, its political context, and its troubled screenwriter, so much artistry is spent on ambitious and extravagant scenes. But there’s no magic happening here.
Caution: Raunchy Christian high school sex comedy may cause flashbacks!
I found Yes God Yes, a raunchy but sincere little indie comedy from writer-director Karen Maine (Obvious Child), streaming on Kanopy, and it was just the kind of mildly amusing distraction I needed to take my mind off of this grueling week of election results. Yes God...
Overstreet Archives: Séraphine (2008)
I’m delighted to publish, for the first time at Looking Closer, a piece I wrote for Image about Martin Provost’s extraordinary film Séraphine, which I rated my favorite film of 2008. (Since then, I’ve come to favor Olivier Assayas’s Summer...
Overstreet Archives: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006)
Who would have guessed that the person in the Pirates of the Caribbean credits who would eventually come to mean the most to me would be … Mackenzie Crook? But it’s true. In recent years, I have watched the TV series Detectorists again and again, delighted...
Overstreet Archives: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
In 2003, I approached Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl with trepidation. The movie caught me by surprise. Below, I’ll restore my original Looking Closer review to this site — it’s been missing for many years. At the time, I was...
At long last — a substantial documentary on Flannery O’Connor
Listen to a podcast reading of this review and additional commentary from Jeffrey Overstreet at the new Looking Closer podcast. How I wish this film had been available last winter when my Seattle Pacific University students and I were politely arguing about Flannery...