My Father’s Dragon (2022)
On Movies & Media,Film Reviews
November 29, 2022
The source material, a 1948 children's book by Ruth Stiles Gannett, is whimsical and funny, and has clearly influenced storytellers for generations, but it's a meandering and episodic tale that lacks a certain gravity. Can Cartoon Saloon storytellers revise it into something resonant?
0 Comments17 Minutes
All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)
On Movies & Media,Film Reviews
November 13, 2022
Do we need another epic war movie in 2022? Yes, if it serves to strip away any sense that battlefields are about heroes or glory. All Quiet has always been about telling the truth, and this new German-made adaptation on Netflix is no exception.
0 Comments15 Minutes
Tár (2022)
On Movies & Media,Film Reviews
November 5, 2022
Director Todd Field's return to the big screen is an unforgettable spectacle. And it is, almost inarguably, the greatest performance of Cate Blanchett's remarkable career. Some will call it a masterpiece. I'm not so sure.
0 Comments15 Minutes
Looking Closer All-Stars: Sarah Welch-Larson on The Rings of Power
October 15, 2022
Star-gazing, I'm highlighting Sarah Welch-Larson as the first Looking Closer "all-star" — a writer whose wisdom and wit set her apart as exceptional in guiding us to the best in art and culture. Here, she finds her way to insight about why Amazon's The Rings of Power is such a fascinating and frustrating show.
0 Comments2 Minutes
Nothing Compares (2022)
On Movies & Media,On Songs & Albums,Film Reviews
October 10, 2022
It has taken three decades — 30 years to the month! — for the truth to come into focus. In the early '90s, Sinead O'Connor risked her career to speak truth to power. She was condemned by Christians, by pop culture, by almost everyone. And now we've seen her laments justified, her prophecies coming true. Here, thank God, is a movie that loves her and grieves for her.
0 Comments12 Minutes
Two new essays in one week: The Enlightened Replicant and the Liberated Marionette
On Movies & Media,On Books & Writing
September 26, 2022
New writing is heating up my laptop these days. I have two new essays — my first ever contribution to my favorite film-essay website, Bright Wall Dark Room, and the second in my new series on faith and fantasy at The Rabbit Room, a reflection on Disney's 1940 feature Pinocchio.
0 Comments1 Minutes
Where Did My Community Go? Marcel the Shell Offers Insight at The Rabbit Room
August 23, 2022
After posting my initial review of Marcel the Shell With Shoes One here at Looking Closer, I've contributed a second consideration of the film (after seeing the film twice more) to the wonderful website hosted by my friends at The Rabbit Room.
0 Comments1 Minutes
The Duke (2022)
On Movies & Media,Film Reviews
August 18, 2022
Roger Michell's final film* is an endearing epilogue to an impressive career, but even the headliners Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren can't make this one memorable.
0 Comments7 Minutes
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (2022)
On Movies & Media,Film Reviews
August 15, 2022
The great Leslie Manville proves that she can make even a cloying crowdpleaser like this worth watching. You might find this "power of positive thinking" fairy tale a blessed relief it is from the punishing darkness and violence of almost everything else this summer. (Or, if you're like me, you might find it too sticky sweet for its own good.)
0 Comments14 Minutes
Shadow in the Cloud (2021)
On Movies & Media,Film Reviews
August 7, 2022
This isn't a one-woman show, but it's close: Chloë Grace Moretz gives this cartoonish action film a far stronger central performance than it needs, and that turns an otherwise forgettable action thriller into surprisingly compelling experience.
0 Comments9 Minutes