Glenn Heath Jr.
The resilient sitting ducks of ‘Dunkirk’
Much of Dunkirk is unforgettable, a relentless ode to minor human victories in the face of colossal national disaster. more
Jul 18, 2017 3:21 PM Film
‘Valerian and the City of Thousand Planets’ flat lines quickly
Valerian, which opens Friday, July 21, has antiquated views on gender equality and race. more
Jul 18, 2017 3:01 PM Film
Finding oneself at Jonathan Demme’s ‘Stop Making Sense’
Shot over the course of three performances by The Talking Heads during a December 1983 run at the Pantages Theater, Stop Making Sense brilliantly represents Demme’s endless love of musical performance and gleeful urgency. more
Jul 11, 2017 5:40 PM Film 1 Comments
‘War For the Planet of the Apes’ brings evolution full circle
Director Matt Reeves shows an appreciation for silence by implementing purposeful long takes dedicated to exploring the nuances of character. more
Jul 11, 2017 5:35 PM Film
Reassessing what patriotism means on screen
Some of those films are unforgivably jingoistic (Peter Berg’s Lone Survivor, Scott Waugh and Mike McCoy’s Act of Valor), while others employ fascist aesthetic techniques to lionize white male saviors (Roland Emmerich’s The Patriot). more
Jul 4, 2017 6:38 PM Film
Raging hormones and religious oppression in ‘The Little Hours’
As horny nuns who are bored silly by convent rules and routines, Alessandra (Alison Brie), Genevra (Kate Micucci) and Fernanda (Aubrey Plaza) sigh and pout their way through The Little Hours with the skill of eye-rolling millennials. more
Jul 4, 2017 12:15 PM Film
‘Baby Driver’ is caught between a rock song and a hard race
While it doesn’t reach the insane highs of Wright’s best work, Baby Driver, which opens Wednesday, June 28, beautifully highlights the magic of narrative free styling. more
Jun 27, 2017 5:55 PM Film
‘The Beguiled’ turns flirtations into acts of war
Calling this sweaty hothouse melodrama, which opens Friday, June 30, an allegory for the Civil War itself would be misleading. It’s more concerned with the overlap between gender and ideology, and how one can be used to hobble the other. more
Jun 27, 2017 5:40 PM Film
‘Okja’ depicts the symbiotic nature of friendship
Okja is at its best when centered firmly on Mija’s singular quest, but Bong seems determined to provide a larger critique of corporate greed and mindless consumption. more
Jun 20, 2017 4:31 PM Film
‘The Big Sick’ addresses real life anxieties of modern love
Despite the seemingly downer subject matter, The Big Sick is indeed very funny and moving, if slightly bloated. more
Jun 20, 2017 4:26 PM Film
‘Dawson City: Frozen Time’ charts the origins of a town and an industry
Dawson City: Frozen Time may sound like a time capsule on paper, but it’s something altogether more profound in motion. more
Jun 13, 2017 4:32 PM Film
‘The Hero’ finally gives Sam Elliott top billing
Sam Elliott has been a stalwart film performer since the 1970s but is often relegated to supporting roles that highlight his deep voice and stoic stance. more
Jun 13, 2017 4:20 PM Film
Eric McNatt Photo
Bad decisions are contagious in ‘It Comes at Night’
Anyone familiar with Krisha’s intolerable theatrics and visual grandstanding shouldn’t be surprised that It Comes at Night devolves into heavy-handed moralism. more
Jun 6, 2017 3:55 PM Film
Petulance and desire in ‘My Cousin Rachel’
My Cousin Rachel, Michell’s economical adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier’s novel, further examines the psychological consequences of living in denial. more
Jun 6, 2017 3:34 PM Film
‘The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki’ fights the good fight
The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki, an award-winning new feature by director Juho Kuosmanen, condenses this timeline down to a matter of weeks yet is equally affecting. more
May 30, 2017 4:34 PM Film
Auditioning and remembering in ‘Casting JonBenet’
Director Kitty Green’s strange and darkly funny doc/fiction hybrid revisits the famous murder of JonBenet Ramsey through a collage of candid interviews. more
May 30, 2017 4:21 PM Film
The coastal revelry of fools in ‘Slack Bay’
Slack Bay’s batshit, levitation-heavy ending produces a faux-sense of culmination that easily splinters the plot across family lines. more
May 23, 2017 5:09 PM Film
‘Elián’ remembers when Cuba and America fought over one child’s future
Elián González could have easily been just another body floating off the coast of Florida, the latest casualty in the United States’ failing foreign policy toward Cuba. more
May 23, 2017 5:03 PM Film
Photo Credit: Mark Rogers
Mankind gets served in ‘Alien: Covenant’
If love and faith are weaknesses in the Alien franchise, they have remained essential factors differentiating human from monster. Alien: Covenant, however, offers an altogether bleaker view of things. more
May 16, 2017 5:44 PM Film
Robb Rosenfeld
Dangerous liaisons in ‘The Lovers’
Most films see the end of a marriage as an opportunity for spectacle. The Lovers depicts this process in laborious and meticulous detail. more
May 16, 2017 5:30 PM Film