The Conjuring 2 movie review: haunting only in its disjointed bulkiness
“Less Ed and Lorraine” and “more cheese and cardboard” is precisely the last direction a sequel to the classy original should have gone in. Yet here we are.
1970s
Holding the Man movie review: grand romance, no qualifiers needed
Told with a lovely romantic sweep and full of raw, honest emotion, this is a gay love story that’s also just a great love story, full stop. Yay.
The Nice Guys movie review: not-so-nice comic noir
Two fun characters played by two great actors with fantastic chemistry together go in search of a movie, and — spoiler! — never quite find it.
Requiem for the American Dream and The Divide documentaries review: economic inequality for all
Two powerful documentaries look at the ever-growing wealth gap, and introduce us to some of those struggling through the resultant financial insecurity.
Miles Ahead movie review: where the music takes you
A fantasy about Miles Davis’s life and music; loose, free-flowing, a kind of cinematic jazz. An astonishingly assured directorial debut from Don Cheadle.
My All American movie review: football fundamentalism
Not an inspirational football movie but the highlights reel from one, with a golden boy who is his own manic pixie dreamboat. The worst sort of hagiography.
Woodlawn movie review: Jesus is an Alabama football fan, obvs
A film taken with the singular American delusion that Jesus loves football… though it also throws in a new delusion: Jesus hates the U.S. Constitution.
Pawn Sacrifice movie rating: red light
Yawningly dull Cold War chess drama squanders the charms and talents of Tobey Maguire (as Bobby Fischer) and Liev Schreiber (as Boris Spassky).
Janis: Little Girl Blue documentary review: the painful soul of the music
A compassionate, intimate unpacking of the legend of Janis Joplin that reveals the troubled influences on the force-of-nature singer she willed into being.
The Letters (aka Letters from Mother Teresa) movie review: utter nunsense
A fatuous argument for Mother Teresa’s sainthood; credulous and willfully ignorant, and disregards everything about her beliefs that was nasty or skeptical.
