Movie Reviews (Chronological)
Haynes hits a tense, hilarious high with May December
Mar 22, 2024 | Film Reviews, On Movies & Media
Just as Todd Haynes’s new film keeps us guessing about Julianne Moore’s deceptive ex-con and Natalie Portman’s scheming method actor, it keeps us guessing what kind of movie it really means to be.
The great Nicolas Cage shows up for Dream Scenario, but is the movie worthy of him?
Mar 8, 2024 | Film Reviews, On Movies & Media
No, Nicolas Cage is not “funnier than he’s ever been.” But he’s really funny. And while everyone complains about the lackluster ending, let me praise what it does so well.
The Holdovers lives up to its name
Mar 7, 2024 | Film Reviews, On Movies & Media
Alexander Payne’s latest has its highlights, even if it holds us a little too long, and strains a little too hard for a crowd-pleasing conclusion.
Beauty and the rock’n’roll beast: Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla
Mar 7, 2024 | Film Reviews, On Movies & Media
A double-feature of Priscilla and Spencer might be a fascinating study. Or it might seem merely redundant.
Misgivings about “a masterpiece”: Killers of the Flower Moon
Jan 26, 2024 | Film Reviews, On Movies & Media
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.
Climbing The Eight Mountains: dazzling views, mixed feelings
Dec 12, 2023 | Film Reviews, On Movies & Media
An early draft of this review was originally published on September 14, 2023, at Give Me Some Light on Substack, months before it appeared here. Subscribe, and you’ll read many of these reviews while the films are still breaking news! I continue to believe that...
Bottoms is for 2023 what Heathers was for 1988
Dec 2, 2023 | Film Reviews, On Movies & Media
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.
Lily Gladstone goes soul-searching in The Unknown Country
Nov 5, 2023 | Film Reviews, On Movies & Media
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.
Barbie, Pt. 3: My full review!
Oct 29, 2023 | Film Reviews, On Movies & Media
My three-part series on Greta Gerwig’s Barbie culminates with my full review.
Killers of My Substack Journal: New films by Scorsese and Fincher
Oct 29, 2023 | Film Reviews, On Movies & Media
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.