Skinamarink: Alone in the Dark
The controversial movie of this January has been Skinamarink, and wherever film controversy is, that’s where I’m headed. Most horror movies become controversial because...
Saint Omer: L’Anatomie of a Murder
You may have noticed Saint Omer popping up on some film critics’ year-end Top 10 lists. I took in France’s entry into the International...
M3GAN: Hello, Dolly!
So, the trailer for M3GAN dropped this past fall, and everybody freaked out about the creepy talking and dancing doll. I did, too. A...
Whale: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Guilt
Watching The Whale is a torturous experience. So are the best Darren Aronofsky movies. Going all the way back to his debut film π,...
Babylon: Hollywood Endings
My favorite film of all time is Singin’ in the Rain. It doesn’t take a film historian to see that Damien Chazelle holds that...
Avatar: Blue Waters
Did anybody else watch the Black Panther sequel and get the sense that they were trolling Avatar? That movie had blue-skinned sea-dwelling people, and...
Decision to Leave: You Belong to Me
The teasingly ambiguous Decision to Leave is the first Korean movie I’ve seen that feels like a Pedro Almodóvar film: languid, dreamy, filled with...
Holiday Movie Preview
It’s the young people who are keeping movie theaters afloat these days. How else to explain the recent box-office numbers? We’ve seen Black Adam and...
Nanny: Don’t Go Near the Water
They’re selling Nanny as a horror movie. It was even co-produced by horror-movie outfit Blumhouse. The winner of the Jury Prize at Sundance isn’t...
Fabelmans: And We’re Rolling
This pandemic has made filmmakers turn to their own life stories for material: Kenneth Branagh in Belfast, James Gray in Armageddon Time, Elegance Bratton...