Posted in December 2016

The Playlist’s 25 Best Films Of 2016

The Playlist’s 25 Best Films Of 2016

As though you need to be reminded that it’s that time of year, I have, in addition to my BOFCA voting, been contributing to year-end lists, the first of which is The Playlist’s 25 Best Films Of 2016 list. I didn’t say much, just around 200 words or so about Anna Rose Holmer’s excellent fiction … Continue reading

Review: All We Had, 2016, dir. Katie Holmes

Review: All We Had, 2016, dir. Katie Holmes

All We Had encompasses a very, very particular storytelling aesthetic that I find absolutely loathsome, in which the director, Katie Holmes (also its star), decides it’d be fun to soft-shoe life lived hand to mouth on the open road. It’s basically dress-up, except she’s dressing up like a really poor person. I’d rather not say … Continue reading

Paste Magazine’s Best 16 New Shows Of 2016

Paste Magazine’s Best 16 New Shows Of 2016

It’s year-end time, folks, and Paste Magazine’s TV section has already kicked off the season by naming its picks for the best shows of the year, plus its picks for the best new shows of the year, which I contributed two write-ups for. (Guess which ones!) I don’t mind saying aloud and right off the bat that … Continue reading

Review: Always Shine, 2016, dir. Sophia Takal

Review: Always Shine, 2016, dir. Sophia Takal

I liked Sophia Takal’s sophomore film so much that I wrote about it twice: Once for Independent Film Festival Boston, once at the beginning of this here December month. (Both times for Paste Magazine, because surprise.) If you’ve already seen the film, well, no harm in reading my thoughts. If you haven’t, see it, then think … Continue reading

Best of Criterion’s New Releases, November 2016

Best of Criterion’s New Releases, November 2016

In this edition of Paste Magazine’s Criterion haul: Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams, that bizarre Marlon Brando Western One-Eyed Jacks, and the Lone Wolf and Cub chanbara series, which is just awesome. (Fun aside: Watch Moana and see if you can spot the way that Lone Wolf and Cub influences its story!).

Review: Lion, 2016, dir. Garth Davis

Review: Lion, 2016, dir. Garth Davis

I found the experience of Lion frustrating, but it took me time to understand the depths of my frustration. The film works for about an hour, its first hour, where young Saroo Brierly winds up lost in Calcutta, a place where he knows neither a soul nor a word of the language spoken; the terror he … Continue reading