movies by or about women opening US/Can Jan 29–31
Reed Morano directs The Rhythm Section, starring Blake Lively; more… [This post is for Patreon patrons only for the first month.]
1940s
Quezon’s Game movie review: earnest historical drama struggles to tell its important tale
An untold Holocaust story, of Philippine president Manuel Quezon’s fight to take in Jewish refugees, feels like it remains untold: this sluggish, overlong film cannot overcome its low-budget roots.
movies by or about women opening US/Can Aug 14–16
Holly Gent cowrites mystery dramedy Where’d You Go, Bernadette, starring Cate Blanchett; more… [This post is for Patreon patrons only for the first month.]
The Aftermath movie review: don’t mention the war…
Post WWII upheaval is a cheap backdrop to beautiful people getting it on. Characters and situations are undeveloped, and there’s little genuine romance here, and too much laughable preposterousness.
Overlord movie review: underwhelmed
This Nazis-with-supernatural-weapons horror schlock drags its feet getting to its fantastical elements and then does absolutely nothing interesting with them, just wallows in dull, rote gore and grue.
The Little Stranger movie review: so many ways to be haunted
A glorious gothic conundrum of obsession, delusion, psychological infection, and just possibly actual malevolent spirits. The most haunting aspect of this eerily enrapturing film may be the sly, maddening ambiguity of it all.
Cold War (Zimna wojna) movie review: chilly romance
This lush throwback to European cinema of the 1950s and 60 looks gorgeous and sounds wonderful, but it never quite gels as the passionate romance it wants to be.
Memoir of War (La Douleur) movie review: woman on the homefront
Marguerite Duras’s semifictionalized memoir of psychological survival and emotional endurance in Paris during the Nazi occupation makes an uneasy, listless transition to the screen.
movies by or about women opening US/Can from Wed Aug 15
Adele Lim and Lea Carpenter cowrite two of the week’s wide releases, (respectively) Crazy Rich Asians and Mile 22. Progress!
movies by or about women opening UK/Ire from Wed Aug 15
Shevaun Mizrahi directs a documentary look at Turkish retirees; Reema Kagti directs a docudrama about India’s first post-independence Olympic medal; more…
