I am AWFJ’s Spotlight profile for September
It’s in honor of FlickFilosopher.com’s 20th anniversary this month.
God’s Own Country movie review: the cultivation of love
A wonderful portrait of life in a harsh, lonely place, and of romance as a prompt for personal growth and changing traditions. Raises the bar for British indies.
Detroit movie review: racism 101 for white people
Tense, gripping, enraging, but only about things that black Americans already know. This is a primer about racism for white people, and we must pay attention.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day 3D movie review: he said he’d be back…
An action masterpiece newly remastered in gorgeous 4K (and rejiggered for superfluous 3D) reveals how fresh it remains not only technically but thematically.
Logan Lucky movie review: a waste of a heist
Fun enough and diverting enough while you’re in the middle of it, but hints of something much richer and more satisfying dangle just out of its reach.
California Typewriter documentary review: a qwerty little passion
A winsome spell of romance and nostalgia and adorably dorky passion. This is not a portrait of people with an odd hobby: it is a hymn to mechanical beauty.
Pilgrimage movie review: faith in a time of weaponized religion
Moody, atmospheric, even beautiful in its grimness; a medieval adventure unlike any we’ve seen before, with a sharp attention to psychological and moral realism.
Ballerina (aka Leap!) movie review: lowering the barre
Cheesy Euro ballerina-porn cartoon is full of dated animation, cringeworthy attempts at humor, bizarre anachronisms, and a terrible message for little kids.
La Soledad movie review: life and beauty among the ruins
An extraordinary blend of documentary and fiction, a strikingly intimate, humane tale of a family, a house, and a nation. Like nothing you’ve seen before.
The Hitman’s Bodyguard movie review: protection racket
Reluctant-buddy action comedy feels like unfunny, warmed-over ’90s leftovers. Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson look like they’d rather be elsewhere.
