The French Dispatch
Not every story in THE FRENCH DISPATCH is a hypothetical page-turner, but the value of each one is clear, and Anderson remains one of the best cinematic authors.
Category Archives: Reviews
Dune
DUNE may be Denis Villeneuve’s most grand and high-minded entry in the cinematic canon yet, but the relationships and emotions developed in this adaptation of Frank Herbert’s book are as dry as the desert sand on Arrakis.
Passing
PASSING’s sumptuousness frequently tips toward a visual and auditory fussiness that distracts from the flow between and within scenes and the contemporary echoes of Nella Larsen’s source novella.
Bantú Mama
BANTÚ MAMA is a film that never entirely gives its audience the complete picture painted in the mind of its characters. However, by allowing relationships to develop without over-laden dialogue and instead relying on the team’s visual craft and acting skills to sketch out this story, the film sets a touching and engaging tale in … Continue reading Bantú Mama
No Time To Die
NO TIME TO DIE is a viscerally effective send-off for Daniel Craig’s tenure. Still, a deep thematic confusion prevents it from resonating beyond the increasingly narrow confines of what a James Bond movie is seemingly allowed to be.
Next Door (Nebenan)
In his debut as a director, the actor Daniel Brühl delivers a more than halfway effective psychological thriller: that is to say at around the forty-five-minute mark the carefully built-up tension and dark comedy suddenly dissipates into something more familiar in movie terms and consequently less involving.
The Green Knight
The only mystery in THE GREEN KNIGHT is why it’s so mild, when it should be something rich and strange. Marc Nelson reviews.
When I Consume You
Perry Blackshear’s WHEN I CONSUME YOU leads its viewership down a winding tunnel of despair and depravity – making the horrors bubbling under the surface expected but still unrelentingly devastating.
Rose Plays Julie
ROSE PLAYS JULIE thrives in discomfort. Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor’s drama opens with a veterinary school lecture on euthanising healthy animals – a common occurrence, often for behavioural reasons – and then spends each following scene contrasting characters’ assumptions and knowledge about their lives and loved ones. Carmen Paddock reviews.
Violet
Justine Bateman’s feature film debut is full of ideas but desperately needs to triage them to let the best of them – and Olivia Munn’s excellent performance – breathe.