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6/10
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John Wick: Chapter 4
(2023)
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Chris Barsanti
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Despite an egregious running time and padded plot, the (maybe) conclusion to Keanu Reeves’ action series still serves up some of the original’s delightful weird.
Posted Mar 17, 2023
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The Night of the 12th
(2022)
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Paul Risker
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French true crime adaptation The Night of the 12th (La nuit du 12) is a response to the fraught relationship between men and women, and the detective as metaphor.
Posted Mar 16, 2023
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Creed III
(2023)
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Paul Risker
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Michael B. Jordan’s directorial debut Creed III escapes the shadow of Apollo, Rocky, and Drago and finds new ground for Donnie and the Creed spin-off series to build their own legacy.
Posted Mar 16, 2023
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God's Creatures
(2022)
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Paul Risker
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God’s Creatures ends with a perfect collaboration between silence and words.
Posted Mar 16, 2023
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7/10
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Run Rabbit Run
(2023)
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Paul Risker
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Run Rabbit Run bridges the fantastical or imaginary and the horror of being human.
Posted Mar 10, 2023
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The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean
(1966)
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Michael Barrett
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This surrealism is an example of Compton giving herself permission to throw in whatever perverse digression, and I could have used more examples before the story settles into its routine morality tale...the ending is sheer contrived melodrama...
Posted Mar 10, 2023
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Stranded
(1965)
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Michael Barrett
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Stranded is several things. It’s an observational “nothing happens” film about three tourists on summer vacation in Greece. It’s an existential meditation on passing time...it’s an unusual glimpse at bohemians of flexible sexuality...
Posted Mar 10, 2023
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Secret of the Incas
(1954)
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Michael Barrett
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The 1954 Hollywood adventure film Secret of the Incas may have a whiff of Indiana Jones about it to contemporary viewers, but it’s better than expected for a film that’s almost been buried in a tomb.
Posted Mar 03, 2023
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7/10
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Landscape with Invisible Hand
(2023)
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Paul Risker
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Landscape with Invisible Hand effectively uses sci-fi to gaze into the future and look back on humankind’s dark heritage.
Posted Feb 25, 2023
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4/10
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Pacifiction
(2022)
|
Chris Barsanti
|
Stays in a muzzy middle where fact and fantasy are practically indistinguishable.
Posted Feb 14, 2023
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Knock at the Cabin
(2023)
|
Jon Towlson
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The polarising mentality of ‘us and them’ that drives the classic home invasion narrative is very much in evidence in Knock at the Cabin.
Posted Feb 10, 2023
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The Banshees of Inisherin
(2022)
|
John Lumsden
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Witty dialogue tempers the cynical take on the human condition in The Banshees of Inisherin, which promises more black comedy from filmmaker Martin McDonagh.
Posted Feb 10, 2023
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Central Station
(1998)
|
Aaron Homem
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Central Station highlights the masses’ resilience while romanticizing their economic condition and environment.
Posted Jan 27, 2023
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Barren Lives
(1963)
|
Aaron Homem
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...notable film of the Cinema Novo movement in the 1960s, utilizes radical aesthetics — overexposure, hand-held camerawork, and fragmented narrative — to portray Brazil’s sertão as representative of the widespread poverty...
Posted Jan 27, 2023
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Women Talking
(2022)
|
Chris Robe
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Sarah Polley masterfully illustrates how new futures can be possible by reckoning and wrestling with the past and present.
Posted Jan 27, 2023
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The Wonder
(2022)
|
David Engel
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We are left with two possibilities: The Wonder is a deeply cynical artifact, or it's entirely clueless about itself. It's hard to say which is more depressing.
Posted Jan 27, 2023
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Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands
(1976)
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Imran Khan
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Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands is rich with sensuous detail that fills every scene with dizzying amounts of culture, music, and atmosphere.
Posted Jan 27, 2023
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The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
(1989)
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Chris Barsanti
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Stranger than Terry Gilliam’s 1990s hits and less aggressive than his later work, this glorious fantasy was the last time his talents fully flowered.
Posted Jan 19, 2023
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The Velvet Underground
(2021)
|
Chris Robe
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In The Velvet Underground documentary, Todd Haynes shows the music catapulting across time and space to Andy Warhol’s Factory, where the alchemy worked its magic.
Posted Jan 14, 2023
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6/10
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Living
(2022)
|
Chris Barsanti
|
Rages ever so properly against the dying of the light.
Posted Dec 23, 2022
|
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8/10
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Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
(2022)
|
Hector DeJean
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Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio gives lessons in mortality from death creatures possibly more unsettling than those in Hellboy II and Pan’s Labyrinth.
Posted Dec 17, 2022
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5/10
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Babylon
(2022)
|
Chris Barsanti
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Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt’s characters burn the candle at both ends in Damien Chazelle’s rollicking and ridiculous epic cautionary tale.
Posted Dec 16, 2022
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7/10
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White Noise
(2022)
|
Chris Barsanti
|
Pop art fever dream of catastrophe and consumerism.
Posted Dec 10, 2022
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A Game for Six Lovers
(1960)
|
Michael Barrett
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The editing by future filmmaker Nadine Trintignant is modern in its disorienting jumps, assembling the exquisitely sharp black and white images shot by Roger Fellous.
Posted Dec 03, 2022
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Project X
(2012)
|
Popmatters Staff
|
However shallow and lazy the execution is, Project X remains compelling by heralding the manic and voyeuristic instincts of a young man who is suddenly carefree.
Posted Dec 03, 2022
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The Unguarded Moment
(1956)
|
Michael Barrett
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Although not recalled as a stellar stylist, he got the job done, especially with the Universal machine supporting him...
Posted Dec 03, 2022
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Next Time We Love
(1935)
|
Michael Barrett
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Next Time We Love is directed smoothly by the busy and forgotten Edward H. Griffith. Joseph Valentine shoots everything on Charles D. Hall’s colossal sets, all vividly captured on this 2K master from Kino Lorber.
Posted Nov 22, 2022
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By Candlelight
(1934)
|
Michael Barrett
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...a perfect example of Depression-era escapism into Art Deco consumerism...
Posted Oct 31, 2022
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Arsenic and Old Lace
(1944)
|
Michael Barrett
|
One of the film’s rewards is that, upon rewatching and rethinking, there’s all that subconscious evidence buried in the story’s basement, and much of the audience’s satisfaction rests in the desire to keep it concealed.
Posted Oct 31, 2022
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Devil in a Blue Dress
(1995)
|
Imran Khan
|
Denzel Washington’s voiceover in neo-noir Devil in a Blue Dress is an equal mix of deadpan charm and wide-eyed innocence, which textures and nuances his performance.
Posted Oct 19, 2022
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Casanova
(1927)
|
Michael Barrett
|
Before it’s anything else, Casanova is a vehicle for Mosjoukine...
Posted Oct 19, 2022
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The Big Chill
(1983)
|
Jennifer O’Callaghan
|
The Big Chill‘s blunt suggestion that one may not have lived up to their younger self’s dreams or morals hits a universal nerve to this day.
Posted Oct 05, 2022
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9/10
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Retrograde
(2022)
|
Chris Barsanti
|
While Heineman has produced an epic story, he tells it primarily through a small group of people caught up in the storm toss of history.
Posted Sep 20, 2022
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Charade
(1963)
|
Jennifer O’Callaghan
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Hepburn combined comic timing with her trademark grace and the wide-eyed innocence she’s known for.
Posted Sep 12, 2022
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Love in the Afternoon
(1957)
|
Jennifer O’Callaghan
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Love in the Afternoon deserves credit for its artistic merit but also for serving as the beginning of a beautiful affair between Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond.
Posted Sep 12, 2022
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Gaslight
(1944)
|
Jennifer O’Callaghan
|
Gaslight, wherein Ingrid Bergman’s character’s perception flickers between reality and insanity, endures in our time of extremes.
Posted Sep 12, 2022
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Eden Is West
(2009)
|
Michael Barrett
|
Costa-Gavras' little-seen humane masterpiece, Eden Is West is the rare film that could make its viewers into better people.
Posted Sep 12, 2022
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Sleep Dealer
(2008)
|
Alejandro Hirsch Saed
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Sleep Dealer seems to argue that, through storytelling, multicultural collaboration, and spectacular action, even in the most extreme cases, the border is still an imaginary space that can be broken.
Posted Sep 12, 2022
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La linea
(2018)
|
Alejandro Hirsch Saed
|
Vizcarra highlights embodiment by making it evident that she is walking around with the camera, filming between cars and people, and following freely.
Posted Sep 12, 2022
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Flesh and Sand (Carne y Arena)
(2017)
|
Alejandro Hirsch Saed
|
The experience goes beyond imagery and has a specific process.
Posted Sep 12, 2022
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Venom: Let There Be Carnage
(2021)
|
Michael Curley
|
The film fails to use Carnage effectively and seems like it would be better off without him.
Posted Aug 30, 2022
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Licorice Pizza
(2021)
|
Michael Barrett
|
Even though the title conjures a sharp, sour taste, I think people can stare at Licorice Pizza and miss that it says the opposite of what most American films sell. Yet it's all right there, like the "magic eye" hidden image in an autostereogram.
Posted Aug 30, 2022
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Vivo
(2021)
|
Kevin Anzzolin
|
Vivo expresses the anxiety and ambiguous loss surrounding transnational migration...
Posted Aug 23, 2022
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The Harbinger
(2022)
|
Paul Risker
|
A timely work, it taps into the fears and vulnerabilities heightened by the pandemic.
Posted Aug 11, 2022
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7/10
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Times Square
(1980)
|
Imran Khan
|
A sheer punk rock drive engenders them. Johnson and Alvarado simply get up in front of the cameras and show the world what they’re made of.
Posted Aug 10, 2022
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Nightclubbing: The Birth of Punk Rock in NYC
(2022)
|
Chris Barsanti
|
...a solid and necessary addition to the underground music documentary canon.
Posted Aug 10, 2022
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Time Out of Mind
(1947)
|
Michael Barrett
|
Robert Siodmak’s Time Out of Mind, based on the novel by first National Book Award winner, Rachel Field, mixes gothic, classical, and literary elements in an unappreciated film.
Posted Aug 04, 2022
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We Might as Well Be Dead
(2022)
|
Paul Risker
|
Blessed with self-awareness, it’s an uncomfortable reflection on the human condition and how easily people are emboldened by a feeling of moral superiority and righteousness, how easily free will is seen to be a threat...
Posted Jul 20, 2022
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Please Baby Please
(2022)
|
Paul Risker
|
The final recommendation and one of the most intriguing entries in this year’s programme...
Posted Jul 20, 2022
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Resurrection
(2022)
|
Paul Risker
|
Resurrection is centred around Hall and Roth’s captivating performances.
Posted Jul 20, 2022
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