Misgivings about “a masterpiece”: Killers of the Flower Moon

Scorsese's new epic features some of the strongest and most conscientious work of his career. But the fact I'm opening with words about him here hints at what gives me mixed feelings about the film.


0 Comments38 Minutes

Three Colors: Blue at 30

My 10,000-word deep-dive on Kieslowski's masterpiece is published in a new anthology.


0 Comments5 Minutes

Bottoms (2023)

Here's a high school comedy about hormones and hijinks that goes to violent extremes, afflicting the comfortable and making the uncomfortable laugh until they're sick.


0 Comments27 Minutes

The Unknown Country (2023)

You're probably hearing a lot about Lily Gladstone's performance in Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon. In fact, she was just as magnetic earlier this year in The Unknown Country, a film worth seeking out on streaming services, and one of my favorites of 2023.


0 Comments10 Minutes

Barbie, Pt. 3: My full review!

My three-part series on Greta Gerwig's Barbie culminates with my full review.


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Killers of My Substack Journal: New films by Scorsese and Fincher

In a season of intensifying violence — in American neighborhoods, and in battlefields of global significance — some of our best filmmakers are telling stories about gun-wielding villains. I've just published thoughts on The Killer and Killers of the Flower Moon.


0 Comments2 Minutes

Barbie, Pt. 2: Action figures, their accessories, and me

In Part Two of my Barbie coverage, I establish some necessary context for my upcoming film review. My history with toy trends is a story of formative influences: Barbies for girls, armed men for boys.


0 Comments17 Minutes

Barbie, Pt. 1: While frightened men burn dolls, Christian women rave about Barbie’s wisdom

Greta Gerwig's brilliant blockbuster gets us laughing at the absurdity of real-world hierarchies (including injustices often reinforced in Christian circles to the harm of everyone involved).


0 Comments12 Minutes

Was Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer inspired by Raiders of the Lost Ark?

Christopher Nolan seems to be remaking Steven Spielberg's "Raiders of the Lost Ark" in this profound meditation on America's self-righteous obsession with coercive violence and apocalyptic firepower.


0 Comments6 Minutes

A scorecard for Star Wars: Visions — Season 2

A quick review of my personal Star Wars history and notes on this new animated series, which has a few delightful surprises... and a whole lot of storytelling that might've been ChatGPT'd.


0 Comments23 Minutes

Showing Up (2023)

Kelly Reichardt's latest depicts the day-to-day challenges of artmaking with such truthfulness that artists may find it almost too familiar.


1 Comment9 Minutes

Peter Pan and Wendy (2023)

David Lowery's "Peter Pan and Wendy" gives us a glimpse of the unconventionally meditative and innovative adaptation that might have been. But what it actually is? That might well be the result of studio interference, judging from these strangely incoherent results.


0 Comments14 Minutes

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. (2023)

Most people missed the long-awaited adaptation of "Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret." in the theater. That's a shame, as it's one of 2023's most enjoyable films so far.


0 Comments15 Minutes

They Cloned Tyrone (2023)

The new Netflix sci-fi comedy features John Boyega and Jamie Foxx in their best performances in years.


0 Comments2 Minutes

Rye Lane (2023)

This rom-com from newcomer Raine Allen Miller just might be the meet-cutest film of the year.


0 Comments13 Minutes

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning (2023)

Here's a preview of Overstreet's thoughts on the latest Mission: Impossible movie.


0 Comments5 Minutes

The Balcony Movie (2022)

Pawel Łoziński offers us the privilege of meeting his neighbors in a documentary full of chance encounters and surprises.


0 Comments8 Minutes

How to Blow Up a Pipeline (2023)

Daniel Goldhaber's film about desperate measures for desperate times is one of the year's most critically acclaimed films, and it's now available for rental on AppleTV+ and other streaming platforms.


0 Comments20 Minutes

Return to Seoul (2023)

If we don't know the context we came from, or the biology from which we were born, we might face particular challenges in figuring out who we are. That's the idea that drives Freddie on an erratic journey of self-discovery and reinvention in this riveting film.


0 Comments13 Minutes

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (2023)

This Oscar-nominated documentary exposes corporate cruelty from a voice of experience and a heart of compassion.


0 Comments11 Minutes

Overstreet Archives: Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie (2002)

A flashback to a curious moment at the crossroads of Christianity and the big screen: a VeggieTales movie that actually scored "fresh" on... wait for it... Rotten Tomatoes.


0 Comments16 Minutes

The Quiet Girl (2023)

No, this isn't about a girl who doesn't speak. Cáit has plenty to say throughout. This is, instead, a movie about the extraordinary power of people who have the patience and generosity to listen — to the soft-spoken, the uncertain, and the insecure.


0 Comments11 Minutes

Overstreet’s Favorite Films of 2022 — Part Three: The Top Ten

The day has finally come — I've seen enough films from 2022, and spent enough time reading about them, talking about them with thoughtful moviegoers, and writing about them that I'm ready to post my favorite films of 2022. (Just in time for the Oscars!)


0 Comments14 Minutes

Overstreet’s Favorite Films of 2022 — Part Two: Top-Ten-Worthy Runners-Up

This list of fifteen more represents all of the movies that I cannot believe I’m not including in my final Top Ten list.


0 Comments41 Minutes

Overstreet’s Favorite Recordings of 2022: The Top Ten

This year, my countdown of the previous year's best music has been a marathon of four posts: Honorable Mentions, #36 through #21, #20 through #11... and now this one. Here are my ten favorite albums of 2022. Sample tracks from each one and see if any of them speak to you. Then, post notes about your own favorites in the Comments if your favorites differ from mine!


0 Comments32 Minutes

Favorite Recordings of 2022: #20 – #11

Are you up for a treasure hunt? Here we go with one of the last two parts of my 2022 musical review.


0 Comments21 Minutes

Overstreet’s Favorite Films of 2022 — Part One: Honorable Mentions

The Academy Awards are about to hand out a bunch of Oscars, and they're going to throw around the term "best" a lot. That's a relatively meaningless term. I want to know about the films that moved and inspired you. Here's Part One of a three-part post on my own favorite films of 2022.


0 Comments40 Minutes

Is this the “best first film” for very young children?

This Oscar-nominated animated short is a rare wonder that will likely become an early-childhood treasure for young viewers and families.


0 Comments4 Minutes

Living (2023)

The great Bill Nighy is masterful in a strangely simplified adaptation of "Ikiru."


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Leveling up! Subscribe for free to Overstreet’s new online journal.

Now, Looking Closer has a companion Substack newsletter!


0 Comments3 Minutes

Favorite Recordings of 2022: #36 – #21

You're likely to find some new favorites here in this wildly diverse list of albums and selected tracks from my favorite 2022 recordings.


0 Comments36 Minutes

Favorite Recordings of 2022: Part One — Honorable Mentions

As I'll need some time to prepare my post on my Top 30 Favorite Recordings of 2022, I hope that this substantial feast of "Honorable Mentions" leads you to many hours of new musical discoveries.


2 Comments29 Minutes

Twas the season of “comfort food” movies…

A flashback to the '80s: Here's a new reflection on a "comfort food" movie worth revisiting during the holidays.


1 Comment25 Minutes

A conversation with Frederick Buechner in my quiet, snowbound house

Wondrous things can happen at Christmastime. And so it was that I found myself in deep conversation with the late Frederick Buechner just before Christmas. I wrote it down, and as it's probably relevant for many of us, I'm sharing it.


0 Comments6 Minutes

Overstreet Archives: The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)

Ten years ago, I wrote about The Muppet Christmas Carol for another website, marking the film's 20th anniversary. Here, at the film's 30th anniversary, I'm bringing that review to Looking Closer.


0 Comments9 Minutes

Looking Closer with Jeffrey Overstreet

(now the ears of my ears awake andnow the eyes of my eyes are opened)

– e. e. cummings, “i thank You God for most this amazing”