Comedy about specific ethnic or religious groups can be one of the hardest genre subsets to evaluate because the line between Horatian self-deprecation and Juvenalian contempt can move–or appear to–depending… Continue reading "One Big Happy Family (Sohn, 2025)"
Nuremberg is a sprawling mess of a movie, one that I admittedly appreciated all the more for its messiness. Topics like the Final Solution don’t lend themselves to commercial slickness,… Continue reading "Nuremberg (Vanderbilt, 2025)"
The War Between works slightly better as an illustrated history lesson than as a feature film. Westerns have been a staple of American film since its inception, partially because of… Continue reading "The War Between (Correa, 2025)"
Naked Ambition is an affable documentary that is brimming with interesting tidbits and vignettes about the life and work of model turned photographer Bunny Yeager. What keeps it in the… Continue reading "Naked Ambition (Scholl and Tabsch, 2023"
Just the Two of Us puts the Tolstoy adage about families to the test. The Russian master opined in Anna Karenina that all happy families are alike, while unhappy families… Continue reading "Just the Two of Us (Donzelli, 2023)"
The Glassworker straddles the fence between knock-off and homage. I think it falls on the wrong side of that divide. Show the picture above to a dozen cinephiles, and I… Continue reading "The Glassworker (Riaz, 2025)"
Suspended Time is the first narrative set during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in which I recognized elements of my own experience of the time. The World Health Organization reports that… Continue reading "Suspended Time (Assayas, 2024)"
East of Wall occupies a murky space between drama and documentary where it is not always apparent what is embellishment and what is meant to be accepted at face value.… Continue reading "East of Wall (Beecroft, 2025)"
Hola Frida is a film so winsome in its conception that it is almost impossible to criticize it for perceived flaws in its execution. The Frida of the title is… Continue reading "Hola Frida (Kadi and Vézina, 2024)"
The Trouble with Jessica presents itself as a dark comedy, even though it is more sour than dark and never particularly funny. Jessica (Indira Varma) is hardly in the movie.… Continue reading "The Trouble with Jessica (Winn, 2023)"
