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4.5/5
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BlackBerry
(2023)
|
Stephen Silver
|
An excellent exploration of an innovative but doomed product.
Posted May 19, 2023
|
|
4/5
|
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
(2023)
|
Stephen Silver
|
The first strong effort from Marvel in a while, as the Rocket story drives the plot, and attaches real stakes in a way these film usually don’t.
Posted May 19, 2023
|
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4.5/5
|
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
(2023)
|
Stephen Silver
|
Still doesn’t sugarcoat what Fox is facing these days, but it nevertheless strikes a tone of positivity.
Posted May 19, 2023
|
|
1.5/5
|
Ghosted
(2023)
|
Stephen Silver
|
Evans and de Armas are very appealing performers, and the action isn't bad, but this is a mostly witless action romcom.
Posted May 19, 2023
|
|
5/5
|
Beau Is Afraid
(2023)
|
Stephen Silver
|
The filmmaker’s grand statement on anxiety in the modern age, as well as mothers and sons. One of the year's best movies, but certainly not for everyone.
Posted Apr 24, 2023
|
|
1/5
|
Renfield
(2023)
|
Stephen Silver
|
Not as funny as it could’ve been, the action scenes are horrendous, and not nearly as visually compelling as what’s implied by a New Orleans-set vampire movie starring Nicolas Cage.
Posted Apr 24, 2023
|
|
|
The Decline of Western Civilization
(1981)
|
Noah Berlatsky
|
The Decline of Western Civilization is a punk document not just because it chronicles punk bands, but because it’s made in line with that famous punk ethos: the mainstream sucks, do it yourself
Posted Apr 16, 2023
|
|
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Showing Up
(2022)
|
Noah Berlatsky
|
Showing Up asks its audience to pay attention, even though not a lot’s happening in the film. Not a whole lot happens in most people’s lives day to day either. But being present for beauty and for those you care about is still a virtue.
Posted Apr 11, 2023
|
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4/5
|
Tetris
(2023)
|
Stephen Silver
|
A fun but complex romp about how different factions around the world, from the U.S. to Japan to Britain to the Soviet Union, all wanted a piece of that addictive video game.
Posted Apr 10, 2023
|
|
4.5/5
|
Air
(2023)
|
Stephen Silver
|
An entertaining crowd-pleaser, with a cool period look and convincing performances by good actors playing, for the most part, well-known people.
Posted Apr 10, 2023
|
|
5/5
|
John Wick: Chapter 4
(2023)
|
Stephen Silver
|
The best film in the series, featuring four or five action set pieces that are breathtaking.
Posted Apr 10, 2023
|
|
1/5
|
A Good Person
(2023)
|
Stephen Silver
|
Overlong, paced horribly, little momentum and cliches about grief, addiction, the opioid crisis and teenage rebellion.
Posted Apr 10, 2023
|
|
4/5
|
Imagining the Indian: The Fight Against Native American Mascoting
(2021)
|
Stephen Silver
|
Makes it clear that naming sports teams after racial slurs has always been insidious.
Posted Apr 10, 2023
|
|
|
Kill Boksoon
(2023)
|
Noah Berlatsky
|
Kill Boksoon is a film that keeps its secrets even as it opens a vein.
Posted Apr 07, 2023
|
|
|
2001: A Space Odyssey
(1968)
|
Noah Berlatsky
|
2001’s canonical standing is inseparable from Kubrick’s icy formal perfection—the regimentation and control that make the movie itself, and its creator, feel like an unscalable monolith.
Posted Apr 05, 2023
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|
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Wild Things
(1998)
|
Noah Berlatsky
|
Older noirs often present that failure of hierarchy as a crisis. But in Wild Things, it’s exhilarating.
Posted Mar 28, 2023
|
|
4/5
|
I Got a Monster
(2023)
|
Stephen Silver
|
There’s not much new or inventive about it as a piece of filmmaking, it tells the story well
Posted Mar 19, 2023
|
|
4/5
|
Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre
(2023)
|
Stephen Silver
|
The title may be unwieldy, its plot inconsequential, and its behind-the-scenes backstory bizarre, this is an entertaining action romp.
Posted Mar 19, 2023
|
|
4/5
|
A House Made of Splinters
(2022)
|
Stephen Silver
|
An immersive documentary that’s hard to watch, but very moving.
Posted Mar 19, 2023
|
|
2/5
|
Shazam! Fury of the Gods
(2023)
|
Stephen Silver
|
Doesn't capture the magic of the first film, does a bad job of faking Philadelphia, and its ending is an insulting copout.
Posted Mar 19, 2023
|
|
|
Inside
(2023)
|
Noah Berlatsky
|
Inside doesn’t tell you anything about the human soul except whether you want to stare at that one guy. If you do, you won’t feel trapped at all.
Posted Mar 16, 2023
|
|
|
The Night Porter
(1974)
|
Noah Berlatsky
|
The positions of torturer and victim slip around and into each other, and this is presented as part of the violence itself—a violence that continues in the mind and heart long after it ceases physically.
Posted Mar 09, 2023
|
|
|
To Leslie
(2022)
|
Noah Berlatsky
|
To Leslie is accomplished, remarkably slick given its budget, and predictable. All of its ugly truths are carefully polished; all of its wounds are systematically healed.
Posted Feb 21, 2023
|
|
1/5
|
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
(2023)
|
Stephen Silver
|
A dire and crummy movie, one of the worst ever produced by Marvel.
Posted Feb 19, 2023
|
|
3/5
|
Sharper
(2023)
|
Stephen Silver
|
The twists are jarring, and it’s unbelievable that the marks fall for the con every time. But the film lands successfully, and the ending is especially satisfying.
Posted Feb 19, 2023
|
|
4/5
|
At Midnight
(2023)
|
Stephen Silver
|
This one’s more conventional, and cornier than the director's first movie, but it’s a pleasant experience all around.
Posted Feb 19, 2023
|
|
1/5
|
Somebody I Used To Know
(2023)
|
Stephen Silver
|
This Amazon Prime romcom, which has no idea how loathsome its protagonist is, is the month’s worst film
Posted Feb 19, 2023
|
|
2/5
|
Marlowe
(2022)
|
Stephen Silver
|
Considering the level of talent involved, this should have been much better.
Posted Feb 19, 2023
|
|
|
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
(2023)
|
Noah Berlatsky
|
Ant-Man knows superheroes are a little ridiculous, and that even when your rescuing an entire tiny realm, it’s best to keep a sense of proportion.
Posted Feb 16, 2023
|
|
|
Somebody I Used To Know
(2023)
|
Noah Berlatsky
|
Franco and Brie have taken a form that isn’t supposed to be varied and varied it. In the process, they’ve crafted a graceful, unexpected gem.
Posted Feb 13, 2023
|
|
|
Halloween Kills
(2021)
|
Noah Berlatsky
|
There are interesting ideas for vivisection here, but the execution’s a mess.
Posted Feb 11, 2023
|
|
|
The Velvet Vampire
(1971)
|
Noah Berlatsky
|
The Velvet Vampire isn’t just by a female director; it’s about the possibilities of female creation, spectatorship, and fantasy in a genre and an industry that haven’t allowed much space for them.
Posted Feb 11, 2023
|
|
|
Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues
(2022)
|
Noah Berlatsky
|
Armstrong’s smiling image was important to him. I wish this documentary had been less interested in preserving that, though, and more focused on helping us understand the totality of a titanic artist and a fascinating man.
Posted Feb 11, 2023
|
|
4/5
|
Magic Mike's Last Dance
(2023)
|
Stephen Silver
|
Takes a big risk, in dropping most of the cast and taking it out of its Southeastern milieu. But it's a leap that works.
Posted Feb 10, 2023
|
|
4/5
|
Knock at the Cabin
(2023)
|
Stephen Silver
|
It doesn’t bring everything together, but this is still Shyamalan operating at a high level again.
Posted Feb 10, 2023
|
|
2/5
|
80 for Brady
(2023)
|
Stephen Silver
|
Why did Tom Brady have to produce a movie about four ladies around 80 who are fans of his, and their trip to watch him in Super Bowl LI? Why couldn’t he just put himself in a movie with Bugs Bunny, like a normal superstar athlete?
Posted Feb 10, 2023
|
|
3/5
|
Maybe I Do
(2023)
|
Stephen Silver
|
That this enjoyable film is getting a tiny theatrical release in late January is more a function of how far the romcom genre has fallen than any reflection on the quality of the film.
Posted Feb 10, 2023
|
|
2/5
|
When You Finish Saving the World
(2022)
|
Stephen Silver
|
It’s an odd film, which appears to be confronting and satirizing a political moment from a very different time.
Posted Feb 10, 2023
|
|
|
Pamela, a Love Story
(2023)
|
Noah Berlatsky
|
Netflix’s Pamela: A Love Story is a quietly defiant response.
Posted Feb 07, 2023
|
|
|
Sorry About the Demon
(2022)
|
Noah Berlatsky
|
This is a film that lacks direction and conviction—though not in a bad way. It slouches towards hell with such demonic inadequacy that it’s hard to not be charmed.
Posted Feb 01, 2023
|
|
|
Shotgun Wedding
(2023)
|
Noah Berlatsky
|
Shotgun Wedding isn’t a great movie or a great romcom. It’s full of good spirit, though. The script is cheerful and witty, and everyone seems to be having a good time.
Posted Jan 26, 2023
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|
|
Nanny
(2022)
|
Noah Berlatsky
|
Capitalism, hierarchy and racism make love unendurable. But love can also be a kind of resistance. The Nanny knows both that water drowns and that you can’t live without it.
Posted Jan 23, 2023
|
|
2.5/5
|
A Man Called Otto
(2022)
|
Stephen Silver
|
It ends on a heartwarming note, one that the film for the most part earns, even though Hanks isn't right for this part.
Posted Jan 14, 2023
|
|
4/5
|
Last Film Show
(2021)
|
Stephen Silver
|
Overcomes its association with the 'love letter to cinema' subgenre, and its inherent corniness, by getting creative with the premise.
Posted Jan 14, 2023
|
|
4/5
|
This Place Rules
(2022)
|
Stephen Silver
|
A good documentary about how political extremists in every direction are all hucksters.
Posted Jan 14, 2023
|
|
|
M3GAN
(2022)
|
Noah Berlatsky
|
"What makes M3GAN work is that the film realizes that you should be rooting for the oppressed, exploited service worker."
Posted Jan 06, 2023
|
|
3/5
|
Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody
(2022)
|
Stephen Silver
|
Avoids some, but not all, of the biopic cliches of "Bohemian Rhapsody," from the same screenwriter.
Posted Dec 27, 2022
|
|
3.5/5
|
Babylon
(2022)
|
Stephen Silver
|
The first 90 minutes are an instant classic in the making; unfortunately, it continues for another 90 minutes
Posted Dec 27, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
Loudmouth
(2022)
|
Stephen Silver
|
Shows the intriguing contrast between the Sharpton of the '80s and '90s and the man of today, also showing that the previous Al was much more interesting.
Posted Dec 13, 2022
|
|
1/5
|
The Son
(2022)
|
Stephen Silver
|
It's missing the touch that The Father had, and comes across as much less empathetic
Posted Dec 13, 2022
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