Review: Humanity Takes Center Stage in British Spy Drama The Courier
When is a spy drama not a spy drama? One answer might be: when the spy in question isn’t really a spy. Thus is the true-life story of British businessman […]
Review: Operation Varsity Blues Gives the College Admission Scandal the Documentary Treatment
From the great documentary filmmaker Chris Smith (who has given us everything from American Movie to Netflix’s FYRE: The Greatest Party that Never Happened) comes Operation Varsity Blues, a complex […]
Review: The Truffle Hunters Sends Us Nose-First into a Dream-like World of Secrets, Scarcity and Purpose
It’s easy enough (if pricey) to pick up truffle oil at any grocery store; some neighborhood restaurants even feature truffle oil fries on their menu as a sort of “elevated” […]
Review: The Brutalities of War and Its Ramifications in Riveting, Heartbreaking Quo Vadis, Aida?
In the final months of the years-long Bosnian war (1992-1995), a conflict that pitted Bosnia and Herzegovina against factions backed by Croatia and Serbia, the brutally iconic events of July […]
Review: The Father Brings an Emotional and Stirring Story to Screen with Heartrending Results
It’s not always easy to adapt for the screen a work originally written for the stage, and the degree to which any such adaptation is successful relies on both the […]
Review: In The Human Voice, an English-Language Short Film, Spanish Filmaker Pedro Almodóvar Is as Bold and Captivating As Ever
The Academy Awards for short films are usually only of interest to die-hard Oscars fans, those of us paying attention to the filmmakers highlighted in this often-overlooked category in order […]
Review: Bruce Willis Sleepwalks His Way Through the Low-Budget Sci-Fi Mess Cosmic Sin
I don’t pretend to understand the economics that have led Bruce Willis to make such a string of dreadful, forgettable movies in the latter part of his career. Without deliberately […]
Review: Simple Yet Smart, Come True Finds Its Chills Where Sci-Fi and Horror Intersect
The intersection of science fiction and horror is something of a sweet spot for me. Maybe it’s the combination of the high-brow (in theory) place science fiction holds in our […]
Interview: In His First Starring Role, Taylor Takahashi Talks Playing Basketball in Boogie and Eddie Huang’s Mentorship
I’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating: I love talking to first-time actors because they’re less guarded in interviews than their more seasoned colleagues. They haven’t been coached as […]
Review: French Filmmaker Quentin Dupieux Returns to Absurdity, if Inconsistently, with Keep an Eye Out
If there’s one thing to count on in filmmaker Quentin Dupieux’s work, it’s a certain degree of absurdity. The French filmmaker broke out in 2010 with Rubber about (and this is […]
Review: In Istanbul, Stray Follows the Dogs Living on City Streets—and in Citizens’ Hearts
A few years ago, Ceyda Torun’s Kedi glimpsed the hard-scrabble lives of Istanbul’s feral cat population; the film followed the city’s feline citizens about their daily lives as they raised kittens, […]
Review: Boogie Is a Sports Movie with Unexpected Heart and a Promising Central Performance
This one did something for me I wasn’t expecting it to. On the surface, Boogie is a sports movie we’ve seen dozens of times: a kid from Queens, New York, […]