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

handcrafted film criticism by maryann johanson | since 1997

Substack, Patreon, and Paypal subscriptions restarting Feb 1st [more]
  • 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

2020 releases

The Truffle Hunters documentary review: following a passion right into the ground

Thu, Aug 19, 2021
3 comments

One of the best documentaries I’ve ever seen. Delightful in its simplicity and profound in its wisdom. Specific yet universal, it’s an empathetic portrait of charming subjects. It’s also really funny.

| 3 Comments

My Octopus Teacher documentary review: out of the way, human

Sun, May 09, 2021
3 comments

This otherwise gorgeous nature documentary is marred by the banal self-therapy of its human protagonist… and he is nowhere near as interesting as the manic pixie dream octopus who changes his life.

| 3 Comments

Nomadland movie review: ain’t that America

Thu, May 06, 2021
no comments yet

Come on down for a gen-u-ine American dystopia at the crossroads of end-of-empire and late-stage capitalism. Chloé Zhao’s outsider’s eye is hugely sympathetic but unhindered by knee-jerk patriotism.

| Leave a comment

One Night in Miami… movie review: the past, still prologue

Mon, Apr 19, 2021
no comments yet

An electrifying philosophical fantasia that imagines four towering figures of 1960s America arguing over how to navigate racism as Black men. Enraging, but also thrilling, bursting with cinematic joy.

| Leave a comment

The Tunnel (Tunnelen) movie review: fire in the mountain

Sun, Apr 11, 2021
no comments yet

As stuffed with soap-opera clichés as its cinematic precursors, but this is nevertheless a solid and diverting rescue procedural… and it’s somehow even more shocking for how mundane its disaster is.

| Leave a comment

Synchronic movie review: Benson and Moorhead would have voted for Obama twice if they could have…

Fri, Apr 09, 2021
no comments yet

Just because a tale is science fiction doesn’t mean that plausibility and cohesion are not required. Yet we can see the narrative strings pulling along the puppet-characters, and in an ugly direction.

| Leave a comment

Irresistible movie review: are money and politics irretrievably entwined?

Sun, Feb 21, 2021
1 comment

This zingy satire is so perfectly, beautifully Jon Stewart: big and brash, raging with fury at the state of American politics but also underlain with hope that it might be changed for the better.

| 1 Comment

Tenet movie review: I have no time for it

Fri, Feb 05, 2021
8 comments

Washington and Pattinson have palpable charisma, but this cold puzzle offers no incentive to solve it. Throw in damsel-in-distress crap, and both my geek sensibilities and my feminism are offended.

| 8 Comments

Assassins documentary review: when a murder is not a murder

Fri, Jan 29, 2021
no comments yet

The story of the women duped into *checks notes* killing Kim Jong-un’s brother is more bonkers — and sad, and gripping — than we’ve heard. Utterly fascinating; the stuff of a Hollywood thriller.

| Leave a comment

Wonder Woman 1984 movie review: days of future past

Sat, Jan 16, 2021
5 comments

The retro pastel optimism is ironic, but the dark stuff slips by in subtext. This bold, colorful tale, recalling classic superhero films, could be happening in a parallel universe… a much nicer one.

| 5 Comments
Older posts
Page1 Page2 … Page11 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