Login
Home
95 Lists
1531 Reviews
Collections
“The Assassin is beautiful to behold, but thereās no narrative or character to give you a firm grasp. Itās hypnotic and narcotizing beauty for the sake of it with nothing to tether your interest. Character motivations, relationships, even a coherent story or timeline is all abstracted or diffused” read more
“Taking a short film, in this case I Donāt Want to Go Back Alone and blowing it up to feature-length can have unintended consequences of distorting the might and power of the original. Thank god that The Way He Looks extends that shortās empathy and compassion, and its minute details in which blo” read more
“Whether or not youāll engage with Moonrise Kingdom will be easily discerned whtin the opening minutes as itās a free association of Wes Andersonās numerous quirks and obsessions. We explore a familial home and the complicated relationship therein by viewing everything as if it were a series of” read more
“The hard truth is this: Brett Ratnerās a āfor hireā director without any vision of his own. His background is in music videos and this has left him with the distinct inability to let things breathe or rest. A suspenseful story wilts under his eye because of this, and Red Dragon plays like warm” read more
“Somehow Paul Schrader is behind the lens of this limp-dick erotic thriller? Man, weāre a long way off from the atmosphere and palpable tension of his greatest films, like the screenplay for Taxi Driver or his directorial work in Affliction. Just as two examples of his intellectual movie-making pro” read more
have watched
6/10
have watched
3/10
8/10
“Disneyās love for orphans-in-the-wild was prominent in 2016 between this remake, their second live-action Jungle Book, and a journey into Roald Dahlās macabre world in The BFG. All of them are best when detailing the quietest moments of the wild, imaginative lives of their urchins, especially Pe” read more
“Five years separate the first film and this sequel, both in real-time and in the filmās continuity. And those five years have not been exactly kind to foursome, both in the filmās narrative and the final product. Ghostbusters II is a prime example of a sequel providing diminishing returns. Ā ” read more
“The Venn diagram between would-be academics and blue-collar workers is a near perfect circle in Ghostbusters, a near fairy tale of trade jobs thwarting the paranormal. Only in New York would something like this fly. I mean, what other city would find citizens barely raising an eyebrow at the sight o” read more
have watched
8/10
have watched
7/10
have watched
5/10
have watched
8/10
have watched
8/10
“Adaptation works wonders for Quentin Tarantino. Sure, he canāt help himself when it comes to populating his film with a sprawling running time and (so much) jive talking, but Jackie Brown remains his most mature, accomplished, and satisfactory work. Thereās shocking bits of violence here, but mu” read more
“Maybe if this had been remade with La Diva Streisand in 1966 instead of 1976 things would be different, but thatās not the world we live in. Streisandās version of A Star is Born, do you really think the credited writers (including Joan Didion!) and director Frank Pierson actually had a say in t” read more
“Is this supposed to be some kind of parody of the hysterical Christian morality plays of Tyler Perry, or some kind of running commentary/satirical take on them? Is there any way to come to Blackbird that doesnāt end in you walking away completely confounded by its flagrant and vulgar mishmash of t” read more
“You know, it seems like writer/director/star Philipp Karner is working through some deeply personal stuff throughout Like You Mean It. Shame he didnāt invite the audience along for his personal journey and mea culpa. Like You Mean It is glacial and opaque, much like its main character, and weāre” read more
have watched
4/10
have watched
3/10
5/10
“Vampires, Neil Jordan, and Saoirse Ronan looks like a winning combination on paper, but Byzantium all style and no substance. Ronan is customarily subtle, poignant, and nuanced, and Jordan imbues the entire thing with his austerity and low-key eroticism, but thereās just not enough story to justif” read more
“Fritz Langās first big hit, with Metropolis just a few short years away, may not be as ingenious or vital as his later works, but itās still fascinating to watch as a primer on the earliest parts of his career. Itās something of a morality play/parable between a young woman who has recently lo” read more
“Between this and Argo, boy has American cinema turned an endlessly complicated event into a two-dimensional construct. Historical context or a decent grasp on the complexities at play? Donāt look here. Compelling and multi-layered characters? Nope, try again. But at least you get an international ” read more
“The piercing realism that canāt be faked strikes you hardest in Pariah. You can sense it in the script and direction by Dee Rees, you can sense it in Adepero Oduyeās central performance, in Kim Wayans and Charles Parnellās supporting work. It just drips from every frame of Pariah. Ā You cou” read more
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
“Yes, for all of the likeable work that Steve Carell and Keira Knightley put into their lead performances thereās still a remarkable lack of chemistry between them. Yes, the end of the world setting is merely a means to shove them together in a romance that would otherwise never occur, got it. And ” read more
“Youāve got some serious artistic hubris if youāre willing to stick Robert De Niro behind a yellow cab and reference one of his most iconic works, and Being Flynn cannot compare to Martin Scorseseās sweaty, paranoid Taxi Driver. That was a work of pure daring, an evocationĀ of numerous western” read more
“Indie dramadies about softhearted curmudgeons befriending adorable, precocious moppets is a genre that produces more duds than gems. Case in point: St. Vincent, Bill Murrayās entry in that much-abused genre finds him saddled with babysitting a tween that feels like the embryonic version of Jason S” read more
“The Pretenders had released four albums by the time their first compilation, Singles, hit the shelves in 1987, and itās a testament to their unique and enduring spin on classic rock. Chrissie Hynde brought a feminine mystique to the classic cock rock sound. From their self-titled debut through 198” read more
“Ten years separated the first film and this sequel. The only shocking thing about that factoid is that it took so long. Never mind that the musical sequences rarely had anything to do with the plot, or that the actors couldnāt sing (for the most part), or that much of it was shoddily made, filmed,” read more