Emma. movie review: this queen bee has a bitter sting
A sly, penetrating zing and a frisson of Insta-influencer horror — of the oppression of performative perfection against a marzipan backdrop — renders Austen’s fluff and nonsense deadly serious.
Month: February 2020
Olympic Dreams movie review: coming in from the emotional cold
Guerilla filmmaking is at its most charming in this melancholy romance set — and improvised and shot on the fly — in the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic Village. Delightful and delicately observed.
my picks for tonight’s 92nd Academy Awards (the Oscars for 2019’s films) (winners indicated)
I correctly guessed 10 out of the 24 categories, which is at least a little better than last year.
Oscar Nominated Documentary Shorts 2020 (92nd Academy Awards) review
My pick: “Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl),” a tremendous ode to the power of sports to boost girls’ self-esteem and set them free from the shackles of the limited expectations.
Oscar Nominated Live Action Shorts 2020 (92nd Academy Awards) review
My pick: The gorgeous “Brotherhood” opens up reductive notions of Middle Eastern cultures in the Western imagination while telling a moving story of family and forgiveness that is quite universal.
Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts 2020 (92nd Academy Awards) review
My pick: I haven’t seen a short film this year that is as full of pure joy as “Hair Love.” I’d like to think that its sweet positivity will be the thing that, at this awful moment, gives it an edge.
movies by or about women opening US/Can Feb 07
Cathy Yan directs and Christina Hodson writes Birds of Prey, starring Jurnee Smollett-Bell and Margot Robbie; more… [This post is for Patreon patrons only for the first month.]
movies by or about women opening UK/Ire Feb 07
Cathy Yan directs and Christina Hodson writes Birds of Prey, starring Ella Jay Basco Margot Robbie; more… [This post is for Patreon patrons only for the first month.]
Daniel Isn’t Real movie review: or is he?
Stylistically sophisticated and psychologically insightful, this is an exquisitely ambiguous and inventively disturbing mashup of body horror, demonic possession, and Lovecraftian science fiction.
Citizen K documentary review: behind the new Cold War
Muckraking documentarian Alex Gibney on why Vladimir Putin is so dangerous, via the tale of a Russian oligarch of the post-Soviet era turned dissident. Vital context for the state of the world today.
