Tagged with Reviews

Review: Andrei Rublev, 1966, dir. Andrei Tarkovsky

Review: Andrei Rublev, 1966, dir. Andrei Tarkovsky

Hello! I’m back from vacation. Vacation is why I’m behind on sharing and posting my work. Don’t look at me like that. I’m entitled to go on vacation. Deal with it. Anyways: Here’s Andrei Rublev. There’s a new restoration of Andrei Rublev running in New York City, at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, courtesy of Janus Films. … Continue reading

“Only Spike Lee could have made ‘BlacKkKlansman'”

“Only Spike Lee could have made ‘BlacKkKlansman'”

I don’t think it’s over the line to cite BlacKkKlansman as one of Spike Lee’s best films, and I’m the guy who usually seethes at claims of “masterpiece” directed at movies that haven’t been out in theaters for even a day. Is BlacKkKlansman that? Is it a masterpiece? I’m not sure. Time will tell. But it does stand out … Continue reading

Review: Far From the Tree, 2018, dir. Rachel Dretzin

Review: Far From the Tree, 2018, dir. Rachel Dretzin

Rachel Dretzin probably didn’t make Far From the Tree anticipating that members of her audience might come back around to Donald Trump mocking a disabled reporter at a campaign rally in 2015 (nice voting, schmucks!). Speaking for myself, that’s exactly what I kept thinking of watching the film (which is based on Andrew Solomon’s non-fiction novel … Continue reading

Andy’s Best Things, 2018 Halftime Edition

Andy’s Best Things, 2018 Halftime Edition

June has arrived, and also it’s about to end, the month-long worldwide celebrations of my birthday winding down* as I settle into my new age-number and look ahead to the rest of the year**. Thus, this, my Best Things halftime report, expanded once more from merely a ranking of film and TV to include music, … Continue reading

Review: American Animals, 2018, dir. Bart Layton

Review: American Animals, 2018, dir. Bart Layton

Days after my review of Bart Layton’s American Animals published at Paste Magazine, I’m starting to wonder if I had problems with the film based on what I thought it should be rather than what it actually is.  Yeah, yeah: Sounds like a bunch of hand-wringing movie critic anxiety over nothing. American Animals tells the story of four … Continue reading

Review: Let the Sunshine In, 2018, dir. Claire Denis

Review: Let the Sunshine In, 2018, dir. Claire Denis

For a movie with such a cheery, upbeat title, Let the Sunshine In is determinedly melancholic. Check the director’s name and that makes sense: Claire Denis doesn’t really make straightforwardly upbeat movies, from Trouble Every Day to White Material, so naturally she’d make a romantic comedy dripping in sadness. But it’s a good kind of sadness founded on a real … Continue reading

Review: Mrs. Hyde, 2018, dir. Serge Bozon

Review: Mrs. Hyde, 2018, dir. Serge Bozon

Nothing like watching a weird-ass movie adaptation of one of your favorite books that is nigh-unrecognizable from the book, am I right? I doubt Serge Bozon wants me to be mad about Mrs. Hyde; I doubt he made the movie expecting it’d actually make anyone mad. Without a doubt, though, I can say that the movie did … Continue reading