There were few actors who could take full command of a film like Albert Finney. Immediately intimidating, Finney was a bull among fawns. But he was also nimble, cunning, authentic, and playful. He didn’t work all that often, yet racked … Continue reading From the Archive — Miller’s Crossing
Director Yorgos Lanthimos surveys society and sees corroded souls, all of them sending out alternating waves of hurt and affront, like sonar that delivers wounds. He also, to the benefit of misanthropic cineastes everywhere, finds the resulting eternal struggle to … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2018 — Number Six
Shirkers is a movie that never was. Or maybe was, then wasn’t, then was again. And then, well after its journey seemed fully, decisively over, a dusty path ending at a sheer cliff face, Shirkers became an entirely different type … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2018 — Number Seven
Satire is punishingly hard to master on the big screen. It’s a tricky puzzle in any medium, but there’s an added degree of difficulty when the tapestry is so large and dynamic. Many skilled filmmakers have taken large gashes in … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2018 — Number Eight
Tully (Jason Reitman, 2018). Working with a script by Diablo Cody, the writer behind two of his best outings, and a compelling, vanity-free performance by Charlize Theron, director Jason Reitman creates a film that is almost jarring in its bleak … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — Tully; Can You Ever Forgive Me; The Smart Studios Story
The instigating action of the plot is so small and unassuming that it almost seems like a cheerful memory rather than a cinematic plot point. A little bear named Paddington (voiced marvelously by Ben Whishaw) longs to purchase a vintage … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2018 — Number Nine
A few days after the annual Oscar nominations announcement is still a time of bliss, when justice is possible. No matter how many personal favorites have been overlooked, there inevitably remain contenders imbued with uncommon cinematic beauty. Maybe those creative … Continue reading From the Archive — Brokeback Mountain
Ari Aster brings a scalding intensity to his feature directorial debut, Hereditary. Unmistakably a horror film — in its nightmarish imagery, in its tone, in its unapologetic embrace of the gruesome — Hereditary is presented with a psychological acuity that is … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2018 — Number Ten
The Oscar nominations arrived yesterday, and with them comes my own timed-release survey of the best the recently closed cinematic year had to offer. I begin with my customary caveat: Much as I’d like to be comprehensive and timely in … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2018 — An Introduction
It’s been a notably rocky year for the the most hallowed of entertainment honors, so it’s fitting that the announcement of this year’s Academy Award nominees was a mix of the woefully predictable with gleaming bursts of the daring. In … Continue reading Popularity Contest — Thoughts on the Oscar Nominations
