Vox

Tomatometer-approved publication
Rating Title/Year Author
Coming 2 America (2021) Alissa Wilkinson Coming 2 America is really just a movie about how fun and great Coming to America was. It gives us another way to dance to the prior movie's beat. EDIT
Posted Mar 5, 2021
3/5 Raya and the Last Dragon (2021) Aja Romano Raya herself is a wonderful protagonist, easily one of my favorite Disney princesses by a mile... By the time I was near the end, however, the film's innumerable borrowed tropes really began to get to me. EDIT
Posted Mar 5, 2021
3.5/5 Happiest Season (2020) Emily VanDerWerff Is the movie full of every cliché in the book? Yes. But because it takes place during my beloved Christmas season, and because it's got Davis at its center, I went with it. EDIT
Posted Feb 21, 2021
Nomadland (2020) Alissa Wilkinson Nomadland is achingly beautiful and sad, a profound work of empathy from Zhao. It's a true elegy, a lament for the dead, a yearning for the lost. EDIT
Posted Feb 19, 2021
Minari (2020) Alissa Wilkinson Both gently funny and moving, the movie is the story of bitterness coming along with growth and nourishment. EDIT
Posted Feb 18, 2021
3/5 To All the Boys: Always and Forever (2021) Constance Grady Centineo and Condor remain the best part of Always and Forever, as they were the best part of P.S. I Still Love You... But like P.S. I Still Love You, Always and Forever fails to find strong, specific details in which to ground this love story. EDIT
Posted Feb 18, 2021
Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar (2021) Alissa Wilkinson Watching Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar was the closest I've come in a long time to feeling like I was on vacation. I chuckled, mostly, and giggled a little, and got to check out of life for a while without the feeling of leaving my brain at the door EDIT
Posted Feb 18, 2021
Writing with Fire (2021) Alissa Wilkinson It's a stirring and inspiring documentary about some very courageous women, who deftly articulate and defend the need for accurate, fearless journalism in the pursuit of justice. EDIT
Posted Feb 10, 2021
Users (2021) Alissa Wilkinson Quite a few films at Sundance considered the effects of technology on our lives, but none were quite so lyrical or elegant - or, perhaps, chilling - as Users. EDIT
Posted Feb 10, 2021
Try Harder! (2021) Alissa Wilkinson It's a very funny movie about a bunch of students trying to find their way through a system that is designed to keep them out rather than let them in. EDIT
Posted Feb 10, 2021
Taming the Garden (2021) Alissa Wilkinson Taming the Garden unspools what's happening very slowly, and by the time we reach the end, it's overwhelming. EDIT
Posted Feb 10, 2021
Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (2021) Alissa Wilkinson The events were filmed, but the footage sat in a basement for 50 years. Now it's been compiled into a documentary about a pivotal moment in Black cultural history - and an absolutely infectious film to watch. EDIT
Posted Feb 10, 2021
Rebel Hearts (2021) Alissa Wilkinson Rebel Hearts tells the group's story, focusing on why the nuns changed and what they risked in refusing to bend to church leadership. It's a fast-paced and fascinating story that has implications far beyond Catholicism. EDIT
Posted Feb 10, 2021
President (2021) Alissa Wilkinson It is a thrilling, enraging film, and its intimate access to Chamisa and his advisers is extraordinary. EDIT
Posted Feb 10, 2021
In the Same Breath (2021) Alissa Wilkinson The result is a chilling, truly absorbing film with big implications for the future. EDIT
Posted Feb 10, 2021
Homeroom (2021) Alissa Wilkinson It's a compassionate, powerful, and often very funny look at a generation that will never be the same. EDIT
Posted Feb 10, 2021
Flee (2021) Alissa Wilkinson Flee won the World Cinema Documentary Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, and no wonder: It's heartbreaking and moving, and hard to forget. EDIT
Posted Feb 10, 2021
Cusp (2021) Alissa Wilkinson Cusp is a little staggering and incredibly beautiful... It's to Cusp's credit that there's still a sense of magic and possibility throughout the film, as if the girls have some hope for their futures. EDIT
Posted Feb 10, 2021
Captains of Za'atari (2021) Alissa Wilkinson Mahmoud proclaims that refugees don't need pity; they need opportunities. And that message resonates throughout the film. EDIT
Posted Feb 10, 2021
At the Ready (2021) Alissa Wilkinson The film wisely probes the complex intersection of race, politics, law enforcement, and adolescence, showing how the school-to-cop pipeline in America is constructed early in the lives of not only these teenagers but also thousands of others. EDIT
Posted Feb 10, 2021
All Light, Everywhere (2021) Alissa Wilkinson Watching All Light, Everywhere is informative, but more importantly, it's an experience - and a sobering one. EDIT
Posted Feb 10, 2021
Together Together (2021) Alissa Wilkinson Together Together is a remarkably restrained spin on a "quirky comedy," celebrating platonic love and the many strange ways that we find family for ourselves - and it's never quite what you'd expect. EDIT
Posted Feb 10, 2021
The Pink Cloud (2021) Alissa Wilkinson This sounds like a nightmare to watch during a pandemic, but The Pink Cloud is haunting and riveting in the best way. It acutely diagnoses a mental state that will feel startlingly familiar. EDIT
Posted Feb 10, 2021
Passing (2021) Alissa Wilkinson The film feels almost dreamlike, evoking a world in which the lines that separate friendship from desire, love from hate, and white from Black are more permeable than you might expect - a world a lot like today's. EDIT
Posted Feb 10, 2021
Mass (2021) Alissa Wilkinson Mass leaves plenty of breathing room for characters to have authentic moments of emotion and puts a gentle, grace-filled frame around an almost unspeakable tragedy. It's a showcase for its performers, but it's also a valuable experience for its audience. EDIT
Posted Feb 10, 2021
Marvelous and the Black Hole (2020) Alissa Wilkinson Marvelous and the Black Hole is quirky and a little punky and a lot of fun, a movie that treats teen girls - even the angry ones - as deserving of respect. EDIT
Posted Feb 10, 2021
Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) Alissa Wilkinson Judas and the Black Messiah is a stunning feature debut from director Shaka King, and it would be worth watching for the performances alone. But it also takes an innovative approach to the story. EDIT
Posted Feb 10, 2021
John and the Hole (2020) Alissa Wilkinson Directed by visual artist Pascual Sisto and featuring great performances from all of its leads, John and the Hole is a strange and darkly fun little thriller. EDIT
Posted Feb 10, 2021
Human Factors (2021) Alissa Wilkinson Part mystery, part drama, it's both engaging and sobering. EDIT
Posted Feb 10, 2021
Hive (2021) Alissa Wilkinson The film is stirring, infuriating, and ultimately hopeful. EDIT
Posted Feb 10, 2021
El Planeta (2021) Alissa Wilkinson The film is a little bleak, but also very funny, and a stellar debut for Ulman. EDIT
Posted Feb 10, 2021
The Dog Who Wouldn't Be Quiet (2021) Alissa Wilkinson The Dog Who Wouldn't Be Quiet doesn't stop with the moment of apocalypse; it imagines a life afterward, which is oddly heartening. EDIT
Posted Feb 10, 2021
CODA (2021) Alissa Wilkinson Sweet, thoughtful, and unusual in its extensive use of sign language and its casting of deaf actors (including Oscar winner Marlee Matlin), it's the kind of film you can't help but love. EDIT
Posted Feb 10, 2021
2/5 Malcolm & Marie (2021) Alissa Wilkinson In the hands of a stronger writer, Malcolm & Marie could have taken its cues from great theater two-handers, duets designed to showcase their actors. EDIT
Posted Feb 5, 2021
3/5 Earwig and the Witch (2020) Aja Romano Earwig's themes are so disjointed that it's not quite clear what the takeaway is. EDIT
Posted Feb 4, 2021
3.5/5 Crip Camp (2020) Alissa Wilkinson At times it feels like Crip Camp bites off slightly too much for a movie that's less than two hours long. But I can't really blame the directors for cramming in as much information as they can. EDIT
Posted Feb 2, 2021
3.5/5 The White Tiger (2021) Alissa Wilkinson The White Tiger feels like a fable, one that illustrates how trapping people in poverty so there will always be someone to do wealthier folks' bidding is as much a function of psychology and culture as of economic opportunity. EDIT
Posted Jan 27, 2021
4.5/5 Soul (2020) Alissa Wilkinson It's funny, and it's imaginative, but it's also just very, very real. EDIT
Posted Jan 22, 2021
Ukraine Is Not a Brothel (2013) Joe Dixon By showcasing the harsh realities of political oppression these women face as they protest and by humanizing larger-than-life characters, Ukraine Is Not A Brothel is a film that will spark discussion long after the end credits have finished rolling. EDIT
Posted Jan 20, 2021
4/5 One Night in Miami (2020) Alissa Wilkinson The film has the feel of theater, focusing on conversation and subtle power dynamics rather than a lot of movement and action. But some nimble staging and stunning performances from all four of its lead actors make One Night in Miami pulse with energy. EDIT
Posted Jan 15, 2021
Housebound (2014) Aja Romano Housebound is writer-director Gerard Johnstone's only feature film, but its unique tone has the confidence of an established, more experienced screenwriter EDIT
Posted Jan 12, 2021
The Reason I Jump (2020) Alissa Wilkinson While it's tricky for a neurotypical person (such as myself) to know how well it succeeds - as Mitchell says, "neurotypicals are rubbish at understanding anything that is not neurotypical" - I do feel like it reaches its aims. EDIT
Posted Jan 12, 2021
4.5/5 Promising Young Woman (2020) Alex Abad-Santos Around 10 minutes into Emerald Fennell's blistering Promising Young Woman, I realized that it would be one of my favorite movies. EDIT
Posted Jan 12, 2021
Her Socialist Smile (2020) Alissa Wilkinson The film is fascinating - a portrait of a woman who has little to lose and is willing to give her all for what she believes in - and an important addition to Keller's legacy. EDIT
Posted Jan 5, 2021
Death to 2020 (2020) Aja Romano Death to 2020 is ultimately just more of the same painfully humorless noise that's made up most of the year. EDIT
Posted Dec 29, 2020
4/5 Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020) Alissa Wilkinson Boseman plays Levee with an electricity that feels urgent. EDIT
Posted Dec 18, 2020
4.5/5 Another Round (2020) Alissa Wilkinson Another Round is a truly wonderful movie about trying to come to grips with life, anchored by terrific performances, infectious music, and a real understanding of the humming discontentment that all adults must learn to navigate in their own ways. EDIT
Posted Dec 18, 2020
3/5 Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) Alex Abad-Santos WW1984 is three movies rolled into one... And it's only the first two of these that truly take us somewhere wonderful. EDIT
Posted Dec 15, 2020
4.5/5 Wolfwalkers (2020) Alissa Wilkinson To watch Wolfwalkers is to dive into visual splendor. EDIT
Posted Dec 11, 2020
3.5/5 The Prom (2020) Aja Romano The jokes land, the cast is superb, the score is still charming, and fans of the show will have little to complain about. EDIT
Posted Dec 11, 2020