Every awards season has one. A film that becomes a lightning rod for fervent criticism and then passionate defense, hot takes all around. It only makes sense that this year, it’s Blonde, which resurrects Hollywood’s premier poster girl as we’ve never seen her before, while continually luxuriating in the iconography that’s kept her star wattage […]
Read More Dark Roots: ‘Blonde’ Is A Bombshell, Not A BiopicI’m worried. I’m sure you are, too. It’s been a rollercoaster couple of years to be a film fan (along with everything else). 2019 was a stronger-than-average year at the movies, with sprawling, hearty, career-capping epics from major auteurs like Scorsese (The Irishman) and Tarantino (Once Upon A Time In Hollywood), ambitious, adult-oriented big screen […]
Read More The Tens: Best Of Film 2021“We are gathered here today in remembrance of The Motion Picture. To bid it adieu, and to share some of our fondest memories from its final year. Thank you very much to Netflix for providing the catering at this difficult time.” That’s how I opened last year’s top ten list — with a mock eulogy […]
Read More The Tens: Best Of Film 2020Watched on the 52nd anniversary of Dr. King’s assassination. This is an expanded version of my Letterboxd review from April 4, 2020.
Read More ‘King: A Filmed Record… Montgomery to Memphis’A decade at the movies is serious business. When the 2010s began, Avatar had just opened in theaters. It went on to top the all-time box office and spawned the short-lived resurgence of 3D, a fad that has mostly died out (again). Netflix, then known for its DVD rental services, was just beginning to expand […]
Read More Best Of The Decade: 2010sAdam Sandler is a likable guy. I don’t know why. I avoid nearly every movie he’s in — usually, tepid broad comedies, always playing up the signature appeal that’s been his brand since Saturday Night Live. Sandler has gotten serious on us before, flexing dramatic muscles in films like Punch-Drunk Love (2002), Spanglish (2004), Funny […]
Read More In The Rough: ‘Uncut Gems’The upcoming Oscar race just got a lot more competitive.
Read More A Most Violent Year: ‘1917’ Sends 2019 Out With A BangNo matter how many bad Tinder dates you’ve been on, you’ve never been on one that went as awry as Queen and Slim’s. Queen & Slim begins in the midst of an awkward first date between the title characters. (They’re never referred to as Queen or Slim during the film. Their actual names are referenced […]
Read More First Date, Kinda Nervous: ‘Queen & Slim’The words “Pedro Almodóvar” and “semi-autobiographical” are used together often, particularly when mentioning his strongest and most popular works — Bad Education, Volver, and the Oscar-winning All About My Mother amongst them. So it’s notable that the Spanish filmmaker’s latest, Pain & Glory, is said to be his most autobiographical film. Almodóvar returns to the rich […]
Read More Origins Of Love: ‘Genesis’ & ‘Pain & Glory’Controversial opinion: Quentin Tarantino films are mixed bags. More often than not, it’s a pretty good mix! But I’ve never unabashedly loved one. Pulp Fiction is vital and iconic, but I don’t care what happens to any of its characters; after a near-perfect setup, Inglourious Basterds mostly forgets its title characters, and can’t stop introducing new […]
Read More Something Witchy: ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’Let’s address the elephant in the room right away. Rocketman is way better than Bohemian Rhapsody.
Read More When Rock Was Young: ‘Rocketman’ & ‘Climax’Things have changed.
Read More The Tens: Best Of Film 2018
REAL NOBODY 