Unsane movie review: is she or isn’t she?
As a piece of craft, this is a smack in the face to Hollywood’s bloated blockbusters. As a piece of pulp, it brings a sharp, smart feminist twist to familiar tropes of cinematic paranoia.
reviews by year
Mary Magdalene movie review: the Gospel of Mary
A fiercely feminist and proudly revisionist historical drama that offers a powerful and much-needed rebuke to modern Christianity. Enrapturingly beautiful and intensely emotional.
Tomb Raider movie review: raiders of the old movie
Another videogame adaptation in which empty avatars run around perfunctorily because that’s what the plot requires of them. There’s no humor, no fizz, no movie magic at all.
Submission movie review: a hot take on gender power dynamics from opposite-world
In the moment of #MeToo, this tale of the relationship between a male professor and a young female student is howlingly out of step and outrageously tone deaf. And that’s on top of its tedious clichés.
Mom and Dad movie review: they’re giving the kids something to cry about
A brilliant, if demented, concept could have been The Purge for parenthood, but it is inadequately explored, and then abruptly dropped by a sudden ending. The entire third act of the film is missing.
In the Land of Pomegranates documentary review: is the Middle East fixable?
The state of affairs in the Middle East may actually be thornier than it seems from afar: that is the position this brave, intimate perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict seems to take.
This Beautiful Fantastic movie review: this ordinary normal
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.
Gringo movie review: Mexican bland-off
Woefully undeveloped characters, a thin yet convoluted plot, and a lack of humor in the black comedy. This is what it looks like when a hastily scribbled first draft goes straight into production.
Oscar Nominated Documentary Shorts 2018 (90th Academy Awards) review
My pick: “Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405,” a marvelous portrait of artist Mindy Alper, one that challenges us all to know ourselves as well as she seems to, even when it’s incredibly painful.
Oscar Nominated Live Action Shorts 2018 (90th Academy Awards) review
My pick: I think the quietly shocking “DeKalb Elementary” may win for its very of-the-moment story about a school office worker’s attempt to de-escalate an invading gunman’s rage via patience and empathy.
