Around the Block movie review: to teach, perchance to inspire
Appealing performances, a few tweaks to genre clichés, and a sincere desire to counter outrageous racism go a long way toward making this worth a look.
LGBTQ+
Yves Saint Laurent movie review: underdressed
This biopic of “fashion’s little prince” offers all the elegant precision of a fashion shoot — it’s beautiful, and cold — but lacks a lot of necessary context.
Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia documentary review: repeating history
A hugely entertaining biography of one of the great observers of the American century whose witty, bitter obstinance offers essential criticism of the U.S.
Next Goal Wins movie review: nothing but net
I could not possibly care less about football, and I fell hopelessly in love with this movie, and with the can-do amateur team it introduces us to.
Tom at the Farm review: shoulda stayed in the city
An overwrought pastiche of Hitchcock that makes less sense and renders its protagonist far less plausible the longer it goes on.
Geography Club review: mapping the teen terror of being weird
A gentle high-school drama about how little courage it actually takes to break through adolescent panicky silence and embrace everyone’s differences.
Stranger by the Lake review: a cautionary tale about bad boys
As an exercise in style, this minimalist noir erotic thriller is pretty cool. But it loses its way somewhere around the midpoint and never quite finds it again.
Oscar Nominated Documentary Shorts (86th Academy Awards) review
There is a single thread running through these shorts, and it is deeply existential and irreducibly personal: How do we save ourselves?
G.B.F. review: high school sucks
Sharp satire cutting through the sweet silliness makes this a refreshing change of pace for teen comedies.
Philomena review: suffer the women
A cry-till-you-laugh-dramedy about seeking lost family and finding new purpose; Judi Dench and Steve Coogan are fantastic. Seriously, though: bring Kleenex.
