Trumbo movie review: liberal Hollywood? ha!
Marvelously balances the silly and the solemn. There’s almost a whiff of the Coen-esque in its slick sharpness, in its whistling past the graveyard.
biography
He Named Me Malala documentary review: teach your children well
A charming film — Yousafzai is as endearing and funny as she is ambitious and brave — but also one with a vital message: how we raise kids matters.
Steve Jobs movie review: insanely great (LFF 2015)
You’ve never seen such a compelling, entertaining movie about a genius jerk. As smart and as sleek as a Macbook Pro, and a compulsory bit of modern history.
Legend movie review: badfellas
Tom Hardy is fab, but this is GoodFellas-lite, depicting violent sociopaths as glamorous, even amusing, and lacking all understanding of what made them tick.
Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine documentary review: portrait of the symbol as a young man
An almost unbearably heartbreaking documentary rehumanizes the LGBT icon… and makes him newly tragic all over again.
American Sniper movie review: a pawn in the game, misplayed
A banal, bland tribute to things no one questions as laudable (though it has to misrepresent its subject to do so). But Bradley Cooper is very good.
Hockney documentary review (London Film Festival)
You don’t need to be a fan of the artist to enjoy this spirited celebration of his life and art. But you may end up a fan afterward.
Get on Up movie review: James Brown’s bad self
Solid biopic of the godfather of funk and soul, but there’s not much genuinely memorable about it beyond Chadwick Boseman’s stunning breakout performance.
Mr. Turner movie review: in the concrete abstract
This is no stuffy costume drama but a richly lived-in visit to early-19th-century England that is rough, bawdy, often funny, and more often unsettling.
The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz documentary review: threat to the system
An essential — and enraging — documentary about activist Aaron Swartz, a danger to corporate hegemony whose work could not be allowed to continue.
