film criticism by maryann johanson | celebrating 25 years: 1997–2022
It’s not interested in a world absent the incalculably enormous impact of the Beatles. It’s just a lazy comedy of one running joke, a regular schmoe enjoying unwarranted success, and a blah romance.
Chrissy Metz stars in faith-based drama Breakthrough, directed by Roxann Dawson; more… [This post is for Patreon patrons only for the first month.]
Amanda Seyfried learns about her mother Meryl Streep’s past; Lauren Greenfield looks back to her childhood in glitzy Los Angeles to explore American materialism; and more…
Amanda Seyfried and Lily James sing ABBA tunes; Jodie Foster patches up criminals; Lauren Greenfield investigates Western materialism; and more…
Helen Mirren, Angourie Rice, Lily James, Juliette Binoche, Shirley Henderson, Maxine Peake, and Bel Powley headline in an unusually rich week for movies about women…
A wonderfully old-fashioned tearjerker, with a thoroughly delightful cast, where cosy quaint Englishness is leavened by a harsh reality of World War II that pop culture has ignored.
A feature-length Oscar clip, two hours of Gary Oldman stomping around in a Winston Churchill suit. There’s too little drama and too much inevitability in what amounts to a reanimated Madame Tussaud’s waxwork scene.
Edgar Wright used to send up cinematic clichés with gusto and with huge humor. Here he just embraces them — and his sullen, unengaging hero — unironically.
A Mr. Collins of a movie: fatuous, self-important, and nowhere near as smart or as elegant as it thinks it is. There isn’t a lick of wit to be found here.
A product of the Disney princess machine. Its highest ambition is to move a new line of toys. Or to evoke despair in the fairy-tale-ization of girls’ lives.
