handcrafted film criticism by maryann johanson | since 1997
A beautiful cinematic experience, delicately subtle and bursting with a gorgeous sense of place and character. There is wonderful intimate suspense in every moment of Nicole Beharie’s performance.
Nascent celebrity culture and the myth of the artist’s muse are skewered by the tale of Johnny Cash’s first wife, Vivian Liberto, told by her daughters and a trove of vintage photos and love letters.
And now it’s Jorge Antonio Guerrero, who costars in Roma, who can’t get a visa to attend the Oscars…
This tale of a teenaged girl’s crossing the boundary from childhood to too-early adulthood, simultaneously a portrait of a society quietly yet inexorably collapsing, has a disturbing power that sneaks up on you.
Meet some of the most brilliant teenagers alive, high-school students from all over the world competing at the World Cup of genius geekery. Funny, sobering, and inspiring.
A tough, uncompromising depiction of a rape and its aftermath that serves as a formidable corrective for how this subject is typically seen onscreen.
Deceptively simple and deeply cutting. A remarkable little film, a marvel of American indie filmmaking and of stories typically overlooked.
Are the geeks directing Hollywood, or is Hollywood just learning how to better use the geeks?
As of this writing, MacGruber — you know, the new film based on the recurring one-joke Saturday Night Live sketch — is at an astonishing 100 percent Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. And not even thanks to “reviews” by “critics” you’ve never heard of at nonexistent small-town newspapers who’ll say anything about any movie if it … more…
