The Cut movie review: head not in the game
A real aspect of boxing — dangerously fast weight loss — sports films have ignored becomes body horror we have not seen before. The genre’s motivational clichés get twisted, nastily and poignantly.
drama
Black Bag movie review: committed to the cloak-and-dagger
Smart, sophisticated spy-versus-spy nonsense makes for a perfect little cinematic contraption. Tense and tricksy, but much more deliciously, these are espionage mind games with a sexy screwball vibe.
Sinners movie review: bootleg vampires
Wildly primal, big and bold, fueled by pain and rage, by community and family, throbbing with love and sex and joy, infused with magic. A sumptuously textured, unmissable howl of a passion project.
When I’m Ready movie review: it’s the end of the world, and you’d barely know it
Pretty young people are sad about the end of everything, but there’s no urgency and little emotional authenticity to any of it. We’ve seen this before, pulled off with far more affecting feeling.
The Apprentice movie review: Donald Trump’s origin story as a loser and a user
A portrait of a weak man, humorless and friendless, desperate to be liked, desperate to be seen as someone who matters. Sebastian Stan’s brilliantly disgusting Trump is horrifically riveting.
The Brutalist movie review: red, white, and brutal
Stark and unsentimental, as stubborn and as challenging as its protagonist, and as monumental as his works. Adrien Brody’s performance is extraordinary, full of flinty anger and palpable melancholy.
Blitz movie review: the unraveling of propaganda
Picaresque childhood misadventures sketch vibrant WWII London. A movie of brutal randomness, feral intensity, and ferocious intimacy. Wildly human, artistically masterful, and completely magnificent.
Lee movie review: the things she saw, and the way she saw them
It barely scratches the surface of the enormous audacity of WWII photographer Lee Miller, but still this is an important movie. It’s also joyous filmmaking, with terrific performances all around.
Twisters movie review: no winds of change blowing here
Hooray for Glen Powell’s star rising, but this absurdly coy movie — is it a sequel? a remake? — is a cowardly, reckless missed opportunity: it’s deeply baffling that it omits any hint of global warming.
Back to Black movie review: no justice for Amy Winehouse
Marisa Abela is very good as Amy Winehouse, the one saving grace of this cowardly biopic of the wild and wise musician, which hangs its subject out to dry just as the people closest to her did, too.
