film criticism by maryann johanson | since 1997
This true origin story of a literal social-justice warrior is earnest, passionate… and exhausting. We need to keep telling these stories, yet each is but another tiny drop of water in a rough ocean.
A horror movie for grownups, dripping with the dread of a fairy tale of yore, primitive and atavistic, drawing on profound human pain and fear.
Behold a time before helicopter parenting, when children roamed free, ate cake for dinner, and played with fire. A delightfully old-fashioned treat.
An honest, heartfelt film, full of lovely performances, yet one that ends up rather unexpectedly conventional.
Or, That Time That Santa Went to Prison and Dad Broke Parole to Spring Him. You know, for kids! A new classic in the annals of Yuletide movie misfires.
A movie to make you hate romance, and romantic comedies, and people.
Fanciful and visually lavish, yet very grounded in human reality.
Ridley Scott’s new Alien prequel. That alone is reason to rejoice…
A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. It is a fusty nut with no kernel. It speaks an infinite deal of nothing.
Eccleston and Ejiofor in the same TV thing? I would have been so there even if I hadn’t already had a chance to preview the first episode of this seven-part drama…
