Makoto Shinkai's Your Name broke the anime box office record previously set by Spirited Away
Review by Andrew Swafford
Your Name. is doing the unthinkable: finding extraordinary success solely due to its quality as a good story, expertly told by a visionary filmmaker. Am I dreaming?
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Aaron Poole stars in The Void, a new horror film by directors Jeremy Gillespie and Steven Kostanski
Review by Jordan Collier
The Void is another horror film marketed as a throwback to the horror golden age of the 80s, when the genre wasn't afraid to be absolutely off-the-wall batshit crazy whether in idea or execution. It’s not going to be remembered for its characters or its plot, but I have a hard time believing it ever would have been.
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This list features writing by Andrew Swafford, Lydia Creech, Jessica Carr, and John McAmis
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Justin Long and Emily Rossum star in director Sam Esmail's feature debut Comet
Retro Review by Paige Taylor
If you're scanning through reviews to see if you want to watch this movie, don't watch it just yet. Now's not a good time. If you want to truly appreciate this movie, wait for a day when your mind is clear.
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Zoey Deutch stars in director Ry Russo-Young's Before I Fall
Review by Andrew Swafford
Before I Fall stylishly explores the repetitive nature of routine adolescent life in a way that isn’t being appreciated enough.
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Annette Bennin, Elle Fanning, and Greta Gerwig star in director Mike Mills's 20th Century Women
Review by Lydia Creech
The three women at the heart of 20th Century Women relatable and flawed and funny and beautiful, and, frankly, aspirational.
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Sandra Hüller stars in director Maren Ade's Toni Erdmann
Review by Jessica Carr
With Toni Erdmann, German writer/director Maren Ade creates a film that explores father-daughter relationships, the meaning of life and depression all while creating a comedic experience that had me laughing until my sides ached.
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Samuel Jackson reads the words of James Baldwin (above) in director Raoul Peck's I Am Not Your Negro
Review by Lydia Creech
I can’t stress enough how important it is that other voices be heard and listened to, especially in today’s political climate. The effect of hearing Baldwin speak is quite different from the talking head documentary styles of 13th and OJ; I Am Not Your Negro feels more lyrical and associative.
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Riccardo Scamarcio and Ruby Rose costar beside Keanu Reeves in director Chad Stahelski’s John Wick: Chapter 2
Review by Andrew Swafford
Can we talk about violence in the John Wick series? Seriously, can we? Only three years old, this franchise has already become a strange sacred cow for cinephiles who dig genre fiction. Yes, these movies are balletic and immaculately captured on film, but they’re also fascinating--if imperfect--from just about every other angle.
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Apu in Pather Panchali, Aparajito and Apur Sansar
Review by Zach Dennis
The Apu Trilogy has become so revered because it asks us to grapple with difficult moments in the main character’s life, but also leaves us with emotional touchstones that generate a desire to return to them.
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This list features writing by Zach Dennis, Andrew Swafford, Jessica Carr, Lydia Creech and John McAmis
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This list features writing by Zach Dennis, Andrew Swafford, Lydia Creech, Jessica Carr, John McAmis, and Malcolm Baum
Click below to see the full list!
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This list features writing by Zach Dennis, Lydia Creech, Jessica Carr, Andrew Swafford and John McAmis
Click below to see the full list!
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This list features writing by Zach Dennis, Lydia Creech, Andrew Swafford, Malcolm Baum, Jessica Carr and John McAmis
Click below to see the full list!
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Michael Sheen, Jennifer Lawrence, and Chris Pratt star in director Morten Tyldum's Passengers
Review by Andrew Swafford
I still like the originality of Passengers overall, but the tone of the film always stays on this side of “safe,” gutting the film of its potential to be a gutsy, interesting, original studio genre effort.
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Ryan Gosling, along with Emma Stone, stars in director Damien Chazelle's La La Land
Review by Andrew Swafford
La La Land is more ambitious than Whiplash in every conceivable way: it is longer, it has a more complicated plot, it doubles the number of artist-protagonists, it upgrades musical performance to musical theater, and it poses significantly more ethical dilemmas about art to wrestle with. I’m going to ignore the film’s obvious cinematic qualities in order to focus on the ethical side—because I’m not sure Chazelle has much to say this time around.
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Review by Lydia Creech
Godzilla films have always been best when looking politics right in the face, and Anno upholds and updates that tradition here.
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Amy Adams stars in Nocturnal Animals
Review by Ben Shull
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn once noted that “the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?” That very question is the crux of this film. Evil is ugly, yet a blackened heart begets it again and again and again.
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Alex Hippert stars as "Little" in director Barry Jenkins's Moonlight
Personal Essay by Courtney Anderson
I have to be honest and say that I don’t believe in total “universality” of films, especially not Moonlight. Chiron’s narrative is one that is so often ignored that the idea that “everyone” can find themselves in him confuses me. But I know Chiron.
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Personal Essay by John McAmis
It’s a harsh truth, but any human who testifies that they enjoy being alone is lying.
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