20th Century Women (Mills, 2016)
Mills loves the small moments of life too much to let them add up to any grand narrative. He would rather just watch the memories float by, like a slideshow at a birthday party or graduation.
Author: Josh Wartel
-
-
Lion (Davis, 2016)
Lion is a movie that grapples with physical geography but not human geography. We get no real sense of what being Indian might mean to Saroo or whether his home has any pull independent of his childhood memories.
-
Miss Stevens (Hart, 2016)
Josh Wartel catches up with this award winner from SXSW film festival and is not quite as charmed as the festival jury....
-
Cars (Lasseter & Ranft, 2006) — 10 Years Later
While many of Pixar's films, like Toy Story, have already become beloved classics, Cars has mostly been forgotten. And not without some reason. It’s not a bad film, but it lacks the imaginative power of Wall-E and Inside Out or the emotional resonance of the Toy Story trilogy and the opening sequence of Up. Film history will mostly remember it as a cog in Disney’s well-oiled cash engine.
-
Full Frame Day 3: Audrie & Daisy
The true strength of this documentary is in the compelling tale of Daisy Coleman.
-
The Devil Wears Prada (Frankel, 2006) — 10 Years Later
It’s morning in Manhattan and the legion of the city’s models rise. They dress in a beautiful catalog of lingerie, skirts and stilettos and open their cabinets full of luxury makeup and eyeliner. When they hail taxis with cutting precision, they clutch their designer purses in their other arms. All of this opening scene takes place to the sound of KT Tunstall 2005 pop hit, “Suddenly I See,” which is perhaps a little too on the mark. We hear lyrics like, “She’s a beautiful girl / and everything around her is a silver pool of light,” and “Suddenly I see / This is what I want to be,” and we can’t help but wonder if The Devil Wears Prada will be 109 minutes of glorifying the fashion industry.
-
My Best Picture Choice: Room
By any standard, Room is a film full of meaning. But compared to the other contenders for Best Picture, including Spotlight, The Big Short and The Revenant, Room possesses a singularly ambitious vision.
-
Josh Wartel: My Year in Movies
At the start of 2015 I set out to watch 120 films and I met my goal. I’m at 135 and still have an opportunity to watch a few more before the College Football Playoff interferes. Without screeners and lots of time, I saw only a few dozen new releases. In fact, many of my favorite films of the year were not released in 2015 at all. So as I recap my highs and lows for the year, I remind everyone who complains about the current state of Hollywood that there is an ever growing storehouse of great films that are worth watching for the first time in 2016.
-
“Feel Better” Movies — Josh Wartel’s List
Nothing makes me feel better than the truth, and in their own ways, all five films that I chose are refreshingly honest.
-
Top Spin (Newens & Son, 2014)
What is the value of success without fame or fortune?