film criticism by maryann johanson | since 1997
A ramble with appealingly messy people rethinking their priorities that is perhaps more charming and touching than it might have been if this pandemic summer didn’t have so many of us doing the same.
Underwhelming: episodic, a random collection of unconnected vignettes rather than one cohesive story. Inoffensive, but missing the first movie’s fantastical animals’ perspective on the human world.
A dull, dated comic-book clunker that is somehow even smaller and lesser than the sum of its noisy, junky, clichéd bits. So perfunctory that it saps even its excellent cast of all their charisma.
Amanda Seyfried and Lily James sing ABBA tunes; Jodie Foster patches up criminals; Lauren Greenfield investigates Western materialism; and more…
Does every wide release in North America this week feature a female protagonist or female ensemble? Wow.
Sophie Fiennes profiles Grace Jones, Chloé Zhao tells a cowboy’s tale, and more…
A charming delight in a retro timeslip. Gillian Robespierre and Jenny Slate continue their rampage of creating wonderfully, memorably flawed women onscreen.
Charming. A cleverly constructed and amusingly rendered fantasy adventure that sings with a sweet, wistful devotion to home, family, and friendship.
Beautifully redresses how the realities of women’s lives are too often ignored on film… and does so with startling raw power and humor.
Hey, wouldn’t it be neat if Alvin asked Dave, “Am I a pet?” and then, not getting an honest answer, led a chipmunk uprising?
