Joshua Brunsting
Tomatometer-approved critic
Josh is Chief Critic for The CriterionCast, a member of the Online Film Critics Society, a wrestling nerd, a hip-hop head, a father, a cinephile and a man looking to make his stamp on the world, one word at a time.
Movies reviews only
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Nothing Compares (2022) |
The greatness of Ferguson’s film isn’t so much in the craft of the film, although it is engaging, but instead it’s in the choice to focus not on the moments that made her famous and instead focus on the lead up to these moments. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Dec 15, 2022
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After Blue (2021) |
Mandico's latest film is inarguably his most accomplished and is a thrilling, engrossingly surreal answer to the question of what may just happen to us as we near end times. A thrilling, captivating piece of filmmaking. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Sep 14, 2022
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Please Baby Please (2022) |
Please Baby Please is a gleefully campy thriller that is maybe too ambitious for its own good but examines gender norms and dynamics in a way that’s both thrilling and thought-provoking - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Aug 12, 2022
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Out in the Ring (2022) |
The film is a powerful, if maybe simply told, meditation on a much too overlooked aspect of pro-wrestling history. Must watch for anyone who even has the most passing of interest in pro-wrestling. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Aug 12, 2022
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Flux Gourmet (2022) |
Flux Gourmet is a gloriously over-the-top rumination on creativity and authorship that emphasizes all of Strickland's kinks, culminating in a one-of-a-kind piece of gastro-baroque filmmaking. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Jul 05, 2022
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Riotsville, USA (2022) |
The film is an endlessly captivating time capsule of a moment this country is repeating as we speak. An essential piece of modern political art. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Feb 03, 2022
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The Cathedral (2022) |
Something of an elevated photobook of sorts, DAmbroses second feature is a deft, deeply felt family study that feels as personal as it does dream-like. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Feb 03, 2022
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After Yang (2021) |
After Yang is a meditative, tranquil and melancholic rumination on life, loss, grief and family thats truly one of a kind - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Feb 03, 2022
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Isabella (2020) |
Exploding themes Pineiro has himself been riffing on for much of his career, the experimenting with tone and narrative make the director's latest film feel utterly essential. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Sep 02, 2021
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Test Pattern (2021) |
Test Pattern is an incredibly taut narrative despite a non-linear structure, with jumps in time feeling natural because Ford has complete control over their story. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Mar 20, 2021
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Yung Lean: In My Head (2020) |
This new documentary shines a light on one of modern rap music's more influential, and controversial, figures, chronicling the rise and all of a troubled young artist. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Jan 17, 2021
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Somebody's Hero (2012) |
Featuring a handful of great performances, it may not be the most rewarding watch ever, but I'll be damned if this one doesn't win you over by the time the credits roll. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Dec 05, 2020
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Proxima (2019) |
It's a muted film, a mature and intimate film that doesn't lean into histrionics, instead finds beauty in the bonds of a mother and a child... - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Nov 14, 2020
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Epicentro (2020) |
A brazenly experimental feature, Epicentro is a textured and provocative look at the trail left by a history of colonialism, both literal and more figuratively. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Sep 10, 2020
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She Dies Tomorrow (2020) |
She Dies Tomorrow is at points a film about the way one deals with mortality, collective trauma and mass psychosis, making it an essential work of 2020 pop culture. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Sep 10, 2020
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My name is Margiela (2019) |
The direct involvement of Margiela may have forced the director's hand in tone and structure, but this type of almost hagiography feels fitting of a designer with less energy. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Sep 10, 2020
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Rebuilding Paradise (2020) |
Equal parts tender and terrifying, Rebuilding Paradise is a gorgeously rendered documentary, playing as a tense, engrossing and crisply shot study of a community torn apart. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Sep 10, 2020
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Shine Your Eyes (2020) |
A shockingly considered and mature film... - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Sep 10, 2020
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The Rental (2020) |
This is a lean and mean slasher film, an engaging deconstruction of a time-worn genre that's been rebuilt for an aspect of everyday life that rightly deserves a good skewering - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Sep 10, 2020
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Guest of Honour (2019) |
While it may not ultimately amount to much on a thematic level, Egoyan's latest is a fascinating experiment from a director who has seemingly found the spark once again. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Sep 10, 2020
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Relic (2020) |
Driven by a whip-smart script from James and co-writer Christian White, Relic is a rich and layered text that's both harrowing and emotionally nuanced and textured. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Sep 10, 2020
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Fourteen (2019) |
Fourteen feels almost like a collection of journal or diary entries, devastating moments in these lives that will flash forward at the drop of a hat - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Sep 10, 2020
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The Vast of Night (2019) |
Very clearly an atmosphere piece, the film does have an oddly rigid narrative, owing more to things like War of the Worlds than just the radio station's WOTW call sign. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Sep 10, 2020
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Shirley (2020) |
Decker and DP Sturla Brandth Grovlen turn this fictional recounting of a moment in the life of Shirley Jackson into and expressionist rumination on truth, storytelling - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Sep 10, 2020
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The Trip to Greece (2020) |
It's a road film, a buddy comedy and a rumination on age and mortality, all rolled into a quaint and gorgeously crafted piece of food porn that's endlessly watchable. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Sep 10, 2020
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Ahead of the Curve (2020) |
Curve is an incredibly enjoyable and lively film (albeit simply told), the conversation within it just plays a bit too broad. More than worth one's time, despite that however. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Sep 10, 2020
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The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) |
Bad proves Minnelli to be one of the most assured and powerful names in the world of cinematic melodrama, and his ability to bring to the genre the sense of tension found more often in noir pictures, really makes this film a singular and esoteric entrant. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Sep 01, 2020
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Tell Me Who I Am (2019) |
Tell Me Who I Am is a captivating look at two brothers and the grief they live with, and in this character study is a fascinating, unflinching look at love and forgiveness in the face of abject horror. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted May 23, 2020
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Olympic Dreams (2019) |
Gorgeously shot and led by two ace performances, Olympic Dreams is the type of adult romantic comedy that simply does not get produced these days. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted May 13, 2020
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I Was at Home, But (2019) |
A tender, profoundly moving portrait of grief and family, art and motherhood, the film is a formalist achievement that feels like a movement of true growth for Schanelec - The CriterionCast
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| Posted May 13, 2020
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The Whistlers (2019) |
Porumboiu's direction is absolutely top class, with his juggling of time and space assured and often quite alluring - The CriterionCast
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| Posted May 13, 2020
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Sorry We Missed You (2019) |
Loach returns with an essential take on the gig economy that's as gorgeously made as it is humane and tender. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted May 13, 2020
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Sea Fever (2019) |
he issue here is that everything from the characterization to the film's visual sensibility feels derivative of these references without inviting much new conversation - The CriterionCast
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| Posted May 13, 2020
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Beautiful Something Left Behind (2020) |
The film allows each subject to inform the viewer about their story in whatever way they see fit and in doing so we learn how grief is processed by the youngest of our society - The CriterionCast
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| Posted May 13, 2020
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Endings, Beginnings (2019) |
It's simply a film that feels put together based on some sort of schematic of a modern romantic drama, a film that feels decidedly incomplete... - The CriterionCast
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| Posted May 13, 2020
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I Wish I Knew (2010) |
Making its theatrical debut stateside a decade after bowing at the Cannes Film Festival, Jia Zhangke's documentary is a masterpiece worthy of (re)discovery. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Jan 31, 2020
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Zombi Child (2019) |
The latest from director Bertrand Bonello is an evocative, thought-provoking look at colonialism and identity. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Jan 31, 2020
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José (2018) |
Li Cheng's sophomore effort is a quiet, almost neo-realist, look into life as a young gay man in conservative Guatemala that's as beautiful as it is moving. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Jan 31, 2020
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Color Out of Space (2019) |
Cult director Richard Stanley's latest is a beautifully shot, if slightly bloated, cosmic horror film driven by a Nic Cage performance that stands as one of his best. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Jan 31, 2020
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The Europeans (1979) |
The first of three Henry James adaptations produced by the Merchant Ivory team, this is an entrancing entry not just in their partnership but in the career of Ivory himself. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Jan 09, 2020
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The Cave (2019) |
A thrilling, ceaselessly captivating documentary... - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Dec 03, 2019
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Synonymes (2018) |
A captivating look at the intersection between nationalism and toxic masculinity, few films feel as vital and truly important in 2019 as this superlative piece of work. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Dec 01, 2019
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Gay Chorus Deep South (2019) |
Gorgeously shot, Gay Chorus Deep South is a handsomely rendered, if maybe a bit thin, look at a group of people trying to bring about change through music. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Dec 01, 2019
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A Fish in the Bathtub (1999) |
Joan Micklin Silver's underrated and rarely seen comedic gem is a gorgeously shot, emotionally rich romantic comedy with a collection of ace performances and an ace script - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Dec 01, 2019
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Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project (2019) |
What makes Recorder so utterly compelling and beautifully textured is the absolute compassion and sympathy that director Matt Wolf has for his subject - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Dec 01, 2019
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Feast of the Epiphany (2018) |
The premiere film from Reverse Shot, this docu-fiction hybrid is a quiet, moving portrait of life, loss and food. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Dec 01, 2019
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Parasite (2019) |
Bong takes this battle between classes and one family's attempt to take that much craved next step up the economic ladder, and twists it into a fun house thrill ride. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Oct 16, 2019
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First Love (2019) |
Miike's direction is visceral, finding the filmmaker not only completely invested in this narrative but also willing to break from his formula at a drop of the hat. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Oct 16, 2019
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I Love You, I Don't (1976) |
Gainsbourg may not have the skill to nail a finale that's almost too violent, but thanks to a new restoration, Je T'aime Moi Non Plus is an absolute revelation. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Oct 16, 2019
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Dilili in Paris (2018) |
Feminist and anti-racist to the bone, Ocelot's latest film is a startling, if misshapen, gem that will hopefully find an audience despite a modest release schedule. - The CriterionCast
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| Posted Oct 16, 2019
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