film criticism by maryann johanson | celebrating 25 years: 1997–2022
Rami Malek brings warmth, humor, and a down-to-earth humanity to the larger-than-life Freddie Mercury. But it is the power of Queen’s music — the rousing good cheer, its sheer rock ’n’ roll joy — that fills up this pure brash entertainment.
A thoroughly magnificent film on every level, with astonishing performances by Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl; one of the very best films of 2013.
Apparently men turn to dangerous athletics in order to express their emotions and existential rage.
A subtle and striking globehopping ensemble drama of human interactions shaped by sex and love, honesty and deception, allure and retreat.
I sincerely cannot help but worry, with no snarkiness intended whatsoever, whether Clint Eastwood has gone senile. He is 80, after all. I hope this not the case, of course, and I certainly don’t wish it on the guy, but I can’t imagine what else explains this utterly baffling film.
Screenwriter Peter Morgan throws a rotten tomato at the former British prime minister…
I might not know from football, I do know people, and *The Damned United* is an absolutely thrilling story, one both hilarious and poignant, about a man who is downright classical in his flaws…
We know how it is: You’d like to go to the movies this weekend, but the idea of just lying on a tropical beach — even if you have to pretend the sofa is made of sand — sounds so much more appealing. But you can have a multiplex-like experience at home with a collection … more…
Take a break from work: watch a trailer… I don’t know much about football — the sport the rest of the world calls football, I mean, not what we Americans call football — and what I do know thrills me not one teeny bit. But I do know that Michael Sheen is a riveting screen … more…
This was the sort of hopeless dread the news that Ron Howard was directing this left me with. I felt like Robert Stack in *Airplane!*: ‘It’s a goddamn waste of time — there’s no way he can land this plane!’
