Ari Aster’s new film, “Eddington,” is a lot of things. It’s a period piece set in May 2020, right as the COVID lockdown and mask mandates were being implemented. It’s a Neo-noir revisionist western hung across the backdrop of a dying town in New Mexico (Noir Mexico?). It’s a doomscroll into the heart of America. […]
Film
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Human of Steel
Superman leaps over trolls in a single bound
I‘m tired of having to point this out about movies, television shows and daily life, so I think this is the last time I’m ever going to broach this topic and I’m going to do so in a way I hope isn’t too terribly offensive: If you think the new “Superman” movie is “woke” then […]
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America Sings the Blues
A look at the best and worst of the year…so far
Well, we’re already halfway through the year, which has somehow felt like it’s lasted somewhere between two weeks and five hundred thousand years. I suppose this is as good a time as any to do a brief check-in of the best and worst movies and shows of 2025…so far. Even though some of these will […]
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Formulaic One
"F1" stays in its lane
There’s nothing really that wrong with “F1,” the new film from Joseph Kosinski, the mastermind behind “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Tron: Legacy” and a few other films without colons. As someone with less than zero interest in Formula One racing, I found myself invested in the story, while still wishing the film would paint outside the […]
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The Extinction of Awe
“Jurassic World: Rebirth” fails to evolve
I don’t think this is much of a hot take, but here we go anyway: the only good Jurassic movies are the first two, the ones directed by Spielberg. I get that “Jurassic Park III,” “Jurassic World,” “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” and “Jurassic World: Dominion” have their fans and I’m sure that if you were a […]
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Dragons, Dancing and the Depth of Love
June at the Movies
This week in theaters, we have a wide variety of new releases for just about every discerning cinema-goer. A new romantic drama, “The Materialists,” focuses on a complicated love triangle between Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal. Then there is another live-action remake of a beloved animated film (but this time someone other than […]
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The Horror of Franchise Filmmaking
"28 Years Later" is still incomplete
Danny Boyle is a master filmmaker who has never quite received the accolades he deserves, while also never really achieving the level of mastery he’s capable of, like Scorsese or Kubrick. While his films like 1996’s “Trainspotting” changed how drug movies were made and 2002’s “28 Days Later” redefined zombies forever, it wasn’t until 2008’s […]
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Feel Bad Inc
An A24 double feature
I can count on one hand the number of times a corporate production company/distributor logo excited me for whatever film they were releasing. As a kid, if New Line Cinema had their logo in front of a horror movie, I was there for it (they get a lifetime pass from me for “Evil Dead,” “Nightmare on […]
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Aesthetically Idiosyncratic Existentialism
The Phoenician Scheme is Wes Anderson at his most playful.
I‘m tired of apologizing for my love of the films of Wes Anderson. Here’s my hard line: I don’t begrudge anyone who doesn’t like Anderson’s movies. The combination of quirk, whimsy, intricate sets, obsessive symmetry, bright color palette and hyper-specific aesthetic isn’t for everyone, and nor should it be. BUT, where I do take issue […]
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The Next “Barbenheimer?"
Can “Stitch-ion: Impossible” be the next cultural juggernaut?
While I wouldn’t completely give them all the credit, the simultaneous release of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” on July 21, 2023, did a lot to revive interest in returning to the movie theater. While the movies were both critically and financially successful, it wasn’t wholly the films themselves that generated so much excitement; rather, it was […]