Only the Brave movie review: the men who tame wildfires
Familiar in its overall storytelling arcs about risktaking and redemption, but also a sincere tribute to our new firefighting heroes for a warmer planet.
A Murder in Mansfield documentary review: a reconciliation with tragedy (Doc NYC 2017)
An honest and brave portrait of the trauma and grief of those in the immediate periphery of a terrible crime. A simple, intimate film, and a powerful one.
I’m on BBC World Service’s “The Arts Hour” again this Sunday, November 12th
I am back for more! They like me at “The Arts Hour”! They really like me!
Paddington 2 movie review: wrap yourself up in this bear hug
There is such kindness here, such humanity, such warmth and optimism. This is a fantasy of unique scope and astonishing emotional depth beneath the silliness.
Lady Bird movie review: flights of adolescent angsty (LFF 2017)
An emotional feast full of humor and pathos about the audacity, the wonder, the horror that is female adolescence. Beautiful, bittersweet, and very generous.
Inconceivable movie review: nanny dearest
This preposterous, stilted, often hilariously terrible domestic thriller twists maternal yearnings into a toxic parody of femininity.
curated: LA, NYC, Boston and Nat’l film critics boycott Disney films in year-end awards
The relationship between the studios and critics has always been a contentious one, for obvious reasons, but what might have been previously called a cold war has hotted up this year…
Murder on the Orient Express movie review: strangers on a train
Doubly dated, lacking in humor and subtext, its impressive cast deliberately underutilized, this is little more than an exercise in gorgeous production design.
The Light of the Moon movie review: “victim” is not a dirty word
A tough, uncompromising depiction of a rape and its aftermath that serves as a formidable corrective for how this subject is typically seen onscreen.
It Comes at Night movie review: and it never leaves
A quietly chilling nightmare of human frailty and strength, tense with a nameless disquietude. A supremely accomplished little film.
