I don’t think it’s mere happenstance that the simplest and gentlest of Martin McDonagh’s four feature films is also far and away his best. I’ll admit that letting the descriptor “gentle” anywhere near The Banshees of Inisherin seems like a … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2022 — Number Three
To Leslie (Michael Morris, 2022). The feature directorial debut of Michael Morris (who has a formidable number of prestige television helming credits to his name) plays like a throwback to the pre-Tarantino era of independent American cinema, when there was … Continue reading Then Playing — To Leslie; Bodies Bodies Bodies; Women Talking
Working from a warmly insightful screenplay he wrote with regular collaborator Tony Kushner, director Steven Spielberg turns the camera on his own history and emerges with a work that is arguably the most penetrating of his storied career. Heavily autobiographical, … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2022 — Number Four
The opening passages of Decision to Leave move like an entire season of a serious-minded cable channel’s arty police procedural packed into a few minutes. Detective Jang Hae-jun (Park Hae-il), a stern insomniac, investigates a suspicious cliffside death, bringing him … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2022 — Number Five
Written and directed by Zach Cregger, Barbarian deftly uses the familiar mechanics of the the horror genre to build in dread at every turn. The style and visual wit Cregger brings to the proceedings would be impressive enough on its … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2022 — Number Six
Causeway (Lila Neugebauer, 2022). In a welcome return to a more small-scale drama, Jennifer Lawrence plays Lynsey, a soldier who returns to her home city of New Orleans after sustaining a traumatic brain injury while deployed in Afghanistan. Lawrence is … Continue reading Then Playing — Causeway; All Quiet on the Western Front; Remember My Name
Playing the title character in Pearl, Mia Goth has two different scenes that instantly feel like the stuff of film acting legend. The first is a lengthy monologue held in a single shot, Goth’s Pearl finally expressing to someone else … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2022 — Number Seven
The highly meme-able joke that’s been running at a brisk sprint ever since the release of Tár, the third feature from writer-director Todd Field, is that seemingly intelligent, discerning viewers are confused about whether the film depicts the downfall of … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2022 — Number Eight
For the First Time Ever, I’m Optimistic About Women in the Movie World by Manohla Dargis Writing for The New York Times, Manohla Dargis surveys the state of the entertainment industry’s openness to women filmmakers and, for maybe the first … Continue reading Outside Reading — Women Helming
Understandable as the broadly adopted choice might be, it’s been strange to settle in with movies set in contemporary times and places and see how little the COVID-19 pandemic weighs on them. The fantasy of film fiction has rarely felt … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2022 — Number Nine
Coffee for Two 