Movie Reviews (Chronological)
Catch the rare treasure Petite Maman on the big screen if you can
Like Jacques Doillon’s Ponette and John Sayles’s The Secret of Roan Inish, Céline Sciamma’s new film is about very young children living with loss and grief. And, like those films, it casts an unforgettable spell. Don’t miss it!
Conflicted about The Northman’s conflict
With full respect for arguments to the contrary, I’m of a mind to say that Robert Eggers’s The Northman, while very clearly in the category of “Not My Kind of Movie,” is a complex and meaningful film that deserves heavy cautions, the raising of certain concerns, and considerable praise. Viewer discretion is very forcefully advised.
Alas, it may be too late for you to see one of 2022’s most enthralling cinematic experiences
The greatest films are becoming the most difficult to see in a theater. Memoria — the third transcendent cinematic experience I’ve enjoyed in 2022 — is, like the others, one that moviegoers will have to seek out on their own, and they’re unlikely to ever see it on a big screen.
Joel Coen’s Macbeth adaptation is visually striking — but unaffecting
Did social distancing influence this Joel Coen production of the Scottish play? It has some great actors in it, but their performances seem strangely separate. And the film’s striking images seem more like a gallery of evocative stills than immersive cinema.
A zigzagging walk through the highs and lows of Villeneuve’s Dune
Six or seven sentences on Dune. Well… six or seven long, detailed sentences. I can probably hold myself to that. That’s what I’ve been telling myself. Maybe if I force myself to sum up, in just a few lines, my first impressions of Denis...
Discovering “Devi”
During November’s Barnes and Noble Criterion sale, I took a chance on a film I’ve never seen before. I am so glad that I did. It’s one of the great films about the possibilities and the dangers of religious faith.
Why I find “Passing” a profoundly “unrelatable” film
In a season of sprawling epics and extravagant spectacle, Rebecca Hall’s directorial debut is one of the year’s finest exceptions: a quiet, focused film that knows exactly what it wants to be and efficiently achieves it.
Welcome to Wes Andersonia, Part 1: My first two visits to The French Dispatch
Wes Anderson’s devoting every resource at his disposal to realizing grander visions. The results are more like museums than paintings, more like restaurants than mere meals.
Mass gives us a close-up of one of the hardest conversations ever imagined
I’m hard-pressed to think of a more difficult conversation I’ve seen at the movies. Some will discover it, look up the 2021 Oscars, and wonder: Why was this overlooked?
Titane (2021)
This year’s top prize at the Cannes film festival is an audacious, lurid circus that leaves me not only disappointed but actually regretting the experience.