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.
epic
Killers of the Flower Moon movie review: blood for oil (London Film Festival 2023)
A great American filmmaker on a memory-holed chapter of American history at the intersection of colonialism and toxic masculinity. Massive, epic, and essential. Scorches the earth of our complacency.
Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts 2021 (93rd Academy Awards) review
I don’t see how the astonishing “Opera,” by Erick Oh, doesn’t win the Oscar for Best Animated Short. This is a stupendous achievement, a cartoon clockwork depicting life, the universe, and everything.
Godzilla vs. Kong movie review: whole earth monster catalog
Everything a monster movie needs: Monsters, natch. Cute kids who Know Things. Nerdy-hot scientists. Spectacular sci-fi visions. Humor but no cheese. Warmth but no schmaltz. And a superb green message.
Anthropocene: The Human Epoch documentary review: the destruction of our planet, in pictures (EIFF 2020)
Astonishing: sometimes oddly beautiful but mostly like sci-fi horror. An anti-meditation nightmare, a call to arms if only we were ready to finally address our thoughtless impact on planet Earth.
Apollo 11 documentary review: you are there, on the Moon (Sundance London 2019)
This astonishing assemblage of vintage footage, some never before seen, may be unspoilable (we know how it ends) but it’s still hugely suspenseful, and beautifully immersive visually and emotionally.
Avengers: Endgame movie review: with a bang *and* a whimper
A miraculous blend of grief and humor. Big, bold, brash, then sneakily meta. I am only starting to get my head around the emotional and creative right-hook of it. A fitting end (for now) to the MCU.
Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms movie review: the tragedy of the immortal
Epic yet intimate, this is a visually gorgeous and emotionally lush fantasy drama about love and hope set in a violent but beautifully realized invented world.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 movie review: 2 same 2 spurious
Thinks it’s edgy and transgressive, the punk little brother of all those other stodgy comic-book movies, but it isn’t. It’s just slightly more candy-colored.
Queen of the Desert movie review: Gertrude Bell gets forgotten again
This may be Werner Herzog’s most conventional film, but its mostly untold true story knows what it means for a woman to choose a life of adventure and intellect.
