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Joker

“A stitched together dolly of Martin Scorsese’s halcyon auteur days as envisioned by a dudebro with no understanding of Scorsese’s artistry, sophistication, or poetry. Add to this a patina of DC Comics and a suffocating aura of self-seriousness that pervades in the worst possible ways and you’l” read more

Jamaica Inn

“For all the flourishes that demonstrate Alfred Hitchcock was at least somewhat engaged with material, Jamaica Inn still evinces the sight of the controlling director being overrun by his star with his mind largely elsewhere. Coming right before his transatlantic crossing to work with a minor America” read more

The Phantom of the Opera

“God knows I love musical theater, but I have cared for the ponderous and thunderous work of Andrew Lloyd Weber. He of the simplistic and pedestrian musical and lyrical refrain, of crafting stage shows with scores that all sounds the same except for the one big song, of being nearly single-handedly r” read more

It's Always Fair Weather

“It’s Always Fair Weather is a film filled with some of the best, under heralded dance sequences in the MGM canon and a story that is underwhelming. There’s very much a tonal and narrative problem at play here as Fair Weather tries to be a satire of television, an exploration of post-war malaise,” read more

Gigi

“The 1950s began and ended with Vincente Minnelli films triumphant at the Academy Awards. An American in Paris won for Best Picture, even if Minnelli was overlooked that year, and launched the acting career of star Leslie Caron. Several year later they reunited for Gigi, the musical adaptation of the” read more

Brigadoon

“Is it controversial to share that you were enchanted by Vincente Minnelli’s film version of Brigadoon? A quick look at the critical reception shows a mixed/positive reception, and I can understand that. Buying into Brigadoon requires you to accept the complete unreality of the world, and a camera ” read more

Lili

“This is a weird one. Not quite a musical but really a melodrama either, Lili exists somewhere in the netherworld between those twin points. Lili (Leslie Caron) is a young girl, roughly sixteen, recently orphaned who runs off to the carnival. Here she meets a magician (Jean-Pierre Aumont), his jealou” read more

I Love Melvin

“This is clearly B-level, churn out product to keep the stars in the public consciousness movie from the MGM musical department. Debbie Reynolds and Donald O’Connor are appropriately spunky and adorable in this inconsequential love story. I’ll be damned if I can remember anything from the score, ” read more

Give a Girl a Break

“A pleasing if forgettable minor musical that provides Bob Fosse with one of his few major roles, Give a Girl a Break is just one of many MGM musicals released during the 50s that is more of a trial run for up-and-coming talent than anything else. After all, there’s a precocious Debbie Reynolds fre” read more

The Barkleys of Broadway

“Originally conceived as a reunion of Fred Astaire and Judy Garland after the success of Easter Parade, The Barkleys of Broadway instead ended up being the coda for the Astaire and Ginger Rogers duo. Garland was amid a breakdown due to her addictions and Rogers was a last-minute replacement. This als” read more

The Broadway Melody of 1940

“The fourth and final entry in the Broadway Melody franchise, The Broadway Melody of 1940 follows a familiar pattern of ‘star is born,’ mistaken identities, and romance. It’s our lone chance to watch Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell dance together, and that accounts for a lot of the pleasures of” read more

The Star

“I suppose even Sunday school needs chum to keep the tots occupied, so here’s The Star to take up that space. I’m not opposed to films with religious themes, The Last Temptation of Christ is one of my favorites, but this doesn’t explore anything interesting, wondrous, magical, or enchanting abo” read more

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

“Cuter and more imaginative than I imagined, even if it does feel a little bit like microwaved wonder and imagination, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is a minor delight. Geeky wunderkind grows up (Bill Hader) to invent a machine that transforms water into food so that it rains down hamburgers, for” read more

We’re Back! A Dinosaur Story

“Sometimes things that are clouded with the nostalgia of childhood are best left in that hazy rearview mirror. Case in point, my recent reacquaintance with We’re Back! A Dinosaur Story, a film I used to watch relentlessly as a sickly youth. Upon rewatch, thing I had never noticed before (inconsiste” read more

Little Women

“There’s more than a little bit of Louisa May Alcott in Jo March, and there’s also a bit of Jo March in Greta Gerwig. Not only does Gerwig prove that there’s still life in Little Women, Alcott’s oft filmed novel of four daughters coming of age in the Civil War, but that there’s still nuance” read more

Daughters of the Dust

“Julie Dash’s directorial debut, Daughters of the Dust, explores a legacy of slavery never given resonance or thought in American history, fiction, or cinema. Here is the Gullah island culture writ large and given a chance to reveal itself to a wider audience. Dash’s camera is less of a coherent ” read more

A Dry White Season

“Movies about racism with a white protagonist often exhibit a milquetoast exploration of the subject matter as they inevitability treat systemic modes of oppression as the actions of a bad few. There are the good white people, the bad ones, and the patient, dignified oppressed class on the sidelines ” read more