Skip to content
  • weekly digest email
  • join my Patreon
  • join my Substack
  • my books
  • about/contact
  • twitter
  • rotten tomatoes
  • letterboxd
  • goodreads
  • pinterest
  • rss
FlickFilosopher.com

film criticism by maryann johanson | handcrafted since 1997

  • on Netflix
  • movies for the resistance
  • classic film virgin
  • directed by women
    • Where Are the Women? project
  • cinemas
    • US and Canada
    • UK and Ireland
  • dvd/vod
    • US and Canada
    • UK and Ireland
  • 2023’s films ranked
    • 2022’s films ranked
    • 2021’s films ranked
    • 2020’s films ranked
  • all recent posts
    • archives by month
  • all reviews
    • A–M
    • N–Z
    • Oscars Best Pix
    • Oscars Best Animated Pix
  • new comments

2017 theatrical releases

Polina movie review: what it takes to dance ballet

Thu, Dec 20, 2018
no comments yet

A marvelous paean to everything that goes into making great art: hard work, complicated humanity, taking risks, and trusting one’s own instincts. Anastasia Shevtsova is tremendous as a young woman with an indomitable spirit.

| Leave a comment

The Breadwinner movie review: a daring girl’s adventure

Fri, May 25, 2018
1 comment

Beautiful and startling, bursting with both brutality and hope, this animated adventure is too intense for young children, but the brains and bravery of its young heroine will inspire older kids and adults alike.

| 1 Comment

1945 movie review: a reckoning for the collaborators

Tue, May 22, 2018
1 comment

A quiet horror movie about grief and regret as spiritual possession, about rationalization and denial as immorality. We don’t tell ourselves stories that whisper, as this one does, The Nazis had help. We need to.

| 1 Comment

Borg vs McEnroe movie review: they get served

Tue, Apr 10, 2018
no comments yet

Excruciatingly suspenseful and unexpectedly moving portrait of the on-court rivalry between the two great tennis players… and the intriguing secret layer to the public dynamic between them.

| Leave a comment

This Beautiful Fantastic movie review: this ordinary normal

Sun, Mar 11, 2018
6 comments

An ostensible fairy tale of the creative life in London that tries too hard to be eccentric, while also trying too hard to be grounded and realistic. This is one of those idiosyncrasies that you really can’t have both ways.

| 6 Comments

Icarus documentary review: on athletes’ compromised wings

Wed, Feb 28, 2018
1 comment

Perfectly illustrative of the serendipitous nature of documentary filmmaking as it pivots from a personal investigation of doping in sports into a thriller with global geopolitical ramifications.

| 1 Comment

Brakes movie review: when romance comes crashing down

Tue, Feb 20, 2018

This ultra-low-budget indie uses its own rough edges to great effect in its skewering of the happily-ever-after rom-com fantasy. Bleak, brutal, absurd, and painfully realistic.

The Party movie review: bring your own battle

Fri, Feb 16, 2018
1 comment

Sally Potter’s brutally snappy take on the classic British drawing-room comedy hauls it into the 21st century with a cutting takedown of the anxieties and hypocrisies of well-off left-wingers.

| 1 Comment

Phantom Thread movie review: hate couture

Thu, Jan 18, 2018
7 comments

A conundrum of a film that defies genre as it twirls us around a wickedly fascinating triad of gently, quietly manipulative people. A cinematic experience of sly eeriness and oblique mystique.

| 7 Comments

Hostiles movie review: white man’s burden

Wed, Jan 17, 2018
44 comments

Sure, millions of Native people dead and ancient cultures destroyed, but who has to live with that? All the good soldiers who were just following orders, that’s who. Won’t someone think of the white man?

| 44 Comments
Older posts
Page1 Page2 … Page19 Next →

sf/f/h flash fiction by me

Cultural Artifacts cover
now on Kindle Unlimited!

try KU for free:
US Amazon
Can Amazon
UK Amazon

please help keep truly independent film criticism alive!
support my work at Patreon  support my work at Substack
Pledge your support now at Patreon or Substack.
FREE weekly digest and daily streaming recommendations via Substack.
Or make a one-time donation via Paypal.

shop to support




Watch on Apple TV

FlickFilosopher.com does not accept ads, guest posts, link placements, or sponsored content.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.

member
Online Film Critics Society


member
Alliance of Women Film Journalists

Tomatometer-approved critic on
Rotten Tomatoes



top critic
Movie Review Query Engine

Amazon US author page
Amazon UK author page


executive member
International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences
Copyright © 1997–2023 MaryAnn Johanson. All rights reserved.
No content appearing on this site may be reproduced, reposted, or reused in any manner without express written permission.
privacy policy | hosted by Fused