Radioactive movie review: science, bitch
Rosamund Pike is perfection in this intellectual romance, an unsentimental portrait of a woman striving to be appreciated for her mind at a time even more anti-woman than today. Feminist and flinty.
1900s
Tolkien movie review: it doesn’t wander, but it’s lost
This infuriatingly reductive biopic of the Hobbit author renders him as stolid and dull, and removes all the mystery and the wonder from creative inspiration. Literal-minded and free of magic.
Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché documentary review: the movie pioneer you’ve never heard of
Not only a portrait of the woman who made more than a thousand of the very first films, but a mystery detective story about how the achievements of a trailblazing woman were erased, and found again.
Winchester movie review: she hosts dead people
The story of a fascinating woman retold in the most reductive, least resonant way possible, while actually sidelining her. Even cast as a simple haunted-house tale, it’s not even a little bit scary.
Marie Curie: The Courage of Knowledge movie review: so hot she’s radioactive
With more sexy baths than any movie about a male scientist has ever seen, this biopic undermines the battle Curie fought to be taken seriously that is depicted here.
Victoria & Abdul movie review: one of her best friends was brown
Charming based-on-fact British costume dramedy gently snarks about power and propriety but cuts a lot deeper when it comes to bigotry and bootlicking.
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.
The Lost City of Z movie review: archaeology was his religion
An adventure of the intellect and of the heart with the real-life explorer who inspired Indiana Jones, one more about the journey than the destination.
Embrace of the Serpent movie review: mild Amazonian odyssey
More intriguing in its ambitions than in it successes, which are limited, and oddly keeps its distance from the very people it wants to enlighten us about.
you can watch the first episode of Cinemax’s new series The Knick on YouTube (if you’re in the US)
Or if, ahem, you have a U.S. IP address. First one’s free, kid…
