The DUFF movie review: a kinder shade of cruel
This high-school comedy avoids the worst clichés of the genre and resists rather than indulges the worst tendencies of adolescence. Which is a rare thing.
coming of age
Seventh Son movie review: witches be crazy
Like Monty Python without the comedy, or at least without the intentional comedy. Jeff Bridges’ saving throw against the Phoning It In curse fails!
X+Y (aka A Brilliant Young Mind) movie review: emotional equations
An honest, heartfelt film, full of lovely performances, yet one that ends up rather unexpectedly conventional.
Ida movie review: alas poor Poland?
A beautiful film, and a mysterious one. I don’t quite know what to make of it, but I have been seduced by its evasive intrigue.
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya movie rating: green light
With an irrepressible heroine full of life and joy and humor, this is an ancient Japanese folktale fresh with immediacy and relevance.
Drunktown’s Finest movie review: native voices
Infuses a familiar tale of small-town life and youthful disaffection with a crisp sense of hope teased out of Navajo tradition.
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.
Kingsman: The Secret Service movie review: forgets its manners
I cannot recall a film that left me with such a sour taste in my mouth by its end. Does the movie deliberately defy itself with obnoxious intent?
Big Hero 6 movie review: how to train your robot
Joyous and exhilarating. A fresh and funny animated adventure that subverts genre clichés at every turn.
Whiplash movie review: music as a savage beast
If you didn’t think music could involve actual blood, sweat, and tears, this breathtakingly visceral coming-of-artistic-age drama will set you straight.
