2025 Top Ten
In Stephen Frears’s adaptation of High Fidelity, the hapless but somehow affable protagonist, Rob, lists his dream jobs, with “architect” coming in at #5. Eventually, after some pushback from his… Continue reading "2025 Top Ten"
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Cash for Gold (Enriquez and Puette, 2024)
One belief that I have developed over twenty-some years as a film critic is that there are more talented people in the industry than there are projects able to showcase… Continue reading "Cash for Gold (Enriquez and Puette, 2024)"
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You Are Cordially Invited (Stoller, 2025)
You Are Cordially Invited strives to find comedy somewhere outside of sitcom misunderstandings. It finds a little in farce — wrestling an alligator — but not enough to differentiate itself… Continue reading "You Are Cordially Invited (Stoller, 2025)"
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September 5 (Fenbaum, 2024)
I admired and respected September 5 as a work of art, but I confess that my interpretation of it seemed so out of step with those I saw it with… Continue reading "September 5 (Fenbaum, 2024)"
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Celebration (Anković, 2024)
Celebration (Proslava) is one of those films that one wants to grade on a curve. It has a serious topic — the rise of fascism in Croatia. It is competently… Continue reading "Celebration (Anković, 2024)"
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Apologia Pro Vita Joker
“Did I seem like a different person,” asks Arthur Fleck at his murder trial, “or was I the same old Joker?” This line from Joker: Folie à Deux (or FaD… Continue reading "Apologia Pro Vita Joker"
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The Waiting Game (Husain, 2024)
The Waiting Game is a feel-goodish documentary about a charitable organization, the Dropping Dimes Foundation, trying to get the NBA to fund pensions for former American Basketball Association (ABA) players.… Continue reading "The Waiting Game (Husain, 2024)"
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Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin. (Komarnicki, 2024)
My favorite scene in Bonhoeffer (I will forgo the cumbersome subtitle for the body of this review) comes early on when Dietrich’s brother has gone to war and their mother… Continue reading "Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin. (Komarnicki, 2024)"
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Gladiator II (Scott, 2024)
“Yay, team good guys, I guess,” said my friend Max while leaving the theater and succinctly expressing my own ambivalence toward Ridley Scott’s dull, plodding, and completely unnecessary sequel. There… Continue reading "Gladiator II (Scott, 2024)"
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Wicked (Chu, 2024)
Wicked is a bright, loud paintball splatter of a movie — one that seems to me to be as uncertain of what it wants to be as it is how… Continue reading "Wicked (Chu, 2024)"