Gentle Monster
Lea Seydoux’s performance and some deft technical and structural choices by Marie Kreutzer allow GENTLE MONSTER to rise above a muddled and sometimes ineffective script.
All posts by Jim Ross
La Bola Negra
LA BOLA NEGRA posits that “too many love stories have been buried in the soil”, and although the suffering that accompanied them was buried also, the film proves they can yet bloom again into something touching.
Wild Horse Nine
WILD HORSE NINE possesses some wonderful delivery from its lead actors, but its muddled placement in a broader thematic picture results in a less enduring whole than Martin McDonagh’s best work.
The Social Reckoning
THE SOCIAL RECKONING is an absorbing look at the process of airing Big Tech’s dirty laundry. However, in its desire for catharsis and heroes the film itself reckons with very little. The film stares into the algorithmic abyss, blinks, and looks away.
The Match
THE MATCH is a dynamic and bold look at Argentina v England in 1986, but the narrow focus starts to feel like fawning and incurious tunnel vision rather than dedicated analysis.
I Love Boosters
I LOVE BOOSTERS is a disorienting rip through numerous ideas, but if recent years have shown anything, it’s that we have to drink from the fire hose and do our best to take action now. Now is not the time for nuance.
Zidane, Football’s Cinematic Enigma
Zinedine Zidane has a case to be the most cinematic of footballers. ZIDANE: A 21ST CENTURY PORTRAIT stands as a key pillar of his enduring mystical status twenty years on.
The Saviors
THE SAVIORS has interesting things to say about xenophobia, suspicion, and acceptance, even if it holds its most interesting cards in reserve for a hand it never ends up playing.
The ‘Good Grammar of Civility’ & Zeus’ Law
Conservative commentators may not yet connect with Zohran Mamdani’s words at his inauguration, but cinema heard them and is articulating what civility and empathy are for.
The Odyssey
Nolan’s choice to adapt the Odyssey shows the continuing influence on modern storytelling, and the technical choices are emblematic of Nolan’s domination of modern blockbuster filmmaking.