Review by Michael O’Malley
For Disney, self-critique is only useful for the extent to which it makes Disney look good. And a sequel is only as good as the value it adds to the company stock.
Read MoreReview by Michael O’Malley
For Disney, self-critique is only useful for the extent to which it makes Disney look good. And a sequel is only as good as the value it adds to the company stock.
Read MoreReview by Zach Dennis
Creed was so aspiring not only because of the impeccable directing by Ryan Coogler (who returns to this movie in a producing role only) but by Coogler’s incredible focus on the nuances of modern masculinity. The frustrating part of this second Creed is that it picks up this beat again, but lacks the subversion that its predecessor possessed.
Read MoreReview by Courtney Anderson
Green Book uses vital pieces of Black history as plot devices to tell the story of a loud-mouthed racist who learns to be less racist because of that time he became friends with a cool Black guy.
Read MoreReview by Lydia Creech
The Coens are obviously fascinated with the genre, and they’ve gotten the chance to do feature-length treatments several times in the past. Here in the short format, they get a chance to really flex their storytelling skills to quickly get the audience invested and then wrongfoot them.
Read MoreReview by Reid Ramsey
“Caustic wit. That’s my religion,” sighs Lee Israel (Melissa McCarthy) during an early conversation in the new movie Can You Ever Forgive Me?. This one line sums up, perhaps too simplistically, the overall attitude of the movie.
Read MoreReview from Festival du Nouveau Cinéma at Montreal by Clément Hosseart
Season one lured some of his viewers with a pastiche of procedurals, where the detective and his partner are your average local cops. Like Broadchurch, but with less of a Scottish accent, and with more cows. Season two mixes things up with some of the most literally down to earth science-fiction you will find.
Read MoreReview by Clément Hossaert
Built on the foundations of the book written by Shirley Jackson, this new edifice gives each of its characters a wing, a corridor and a past to live on, and a burden of trauma to deal with.
Read MoreReview by Lydia Creech
I’m sure Mandy will find its niche and hit the cult status it’s aiming for (it’s well on its way), but I’m fine with being left behind.
Read MoreReview / Personal Essay by Courtney Anderson
I’m always waiting for the movie where there’s a fat girl that actually does have a love interest, or at least isn’t spending the entire movie commiserating her weight. Which is what I thought Sierra Burgess Is A Loser would be. And it wasn’t. At all.
Read MoreReview by Jordan Collier
Something this mercurial and wonderful begs to be seen rather than described. It defies traditional categorization. It is an experience packed with so much color, heart, originality, and unbridled positivity that it makes impossible to stop smiling. Night is Short is a whirlwind of epic proportions, and it is one worth getting swept up in.
Read MoreReview by Nadine Smith
Support the Girls spoke truth to me personally as a child of strip malls and subdivisions, but it speaks to a much larger truth in its depiction of how the working class exists today.
Read MoreReview by Reid Ramsey
Mile 22 is just a bad story filled with bad characters and knowing that fictional characters were purposefully written and directed this way makes it all the worse.
Read MoreReview by Andrew Swafford and Lydia Creech
In this (“fo’ real, fo’ real sh*t!”) story of Ron Stallworth, Lee does a hilarious job poking fun at the kind of people that join the Klan, but, importantly, he also shows how insidious and pervasive racist ideologies can be.
Read MoreReview by Andrew Swafford
As a teacher, I’ve had countless conversations with colleagues fretting about how much tougher adolescence must be in the age of social media, and I’ve always found myself nodding in agreement. However, Eighth Grade reframes the conversation, asking us to empathetically consider why kids love being plugged in.
Read MoreReview by Reid Ramsey
hillbilly examines our media representations of hillbillies and southerners while co-director Ashley York returns from L.A. to her original home in Eastern Kentucky.
Read MorePersonal Essay / Review by Paige Taylor
This dumb musical was so infectiously joyful that I’ve been addicted to its euphoria since I’ve watched it. I have listened to ABBA every single day since. I have run to my car to get to work and blasted "Chiquitita" with the eagerness of someone who’s just discovered a love for crack. I am deep in this blissed out state of 70’s Swedish pop band delirium and honestly? I do not care to escape.
Read MoreReview by Lydia Creech
Maybe I misunderstand what other critics are responding so strongly to, or my tolerance for silly spy shit is just exceedingly low, but these “best action movie since X” reviews are really just damning with faint praise.
Read MoreReview by Zach Dennis
Ant-Man and the Wasp isn’t a vindictive or evil movie, but there’s something very half-cooked in its bones.
Read MoreReview by Courtney Anderson
Ant-Man and the Wasp is very straightforward, light-hearted film. Even though I find it odd that it was released so soon after Infinity War, it’s probably a good thing that it was: it’s a nice pick-me-up for Marvel fans who were shell-shocked.
Read MoreReview by Michael O’Malley
Sorry to Bother You finds the exact wounds inflicted on American bodies by their own megacorporations and paints clown faces on the scabs. And it stings.
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