“You don’t get to commit the sin, then have us all feel sorry for you that it had consequences,” Kitty Oppenheimer reprimands her husband Robert midway through 2023’s Oppenheimer. For most of the film, J. Robert Oppenheimer leads the Manhattan Project without reserve, arguing the necessity Read More …
“Our world has set itself afire. I must look elsewhere to quench the blaze.” James Gray’s film tells the story of British explorer Percy Fawcett’s search for an ancient civilization deep in the Amazon jungle in the years before and after the First World War. Read More …
Dee Rees’s Mudbound plants itself firmly in Mississippi circa WWII, winding its way through the lives of a black family with deep, world-weary roots as they live and work as sharecroppers on the farm of a (once affluent) white family. Nakedly ambitious, Mudbound is a rural epic, chronicling the Read More …
Empowering movies about women don’t have to tell stories about women overcoming circumstances, oppression, or violence; the most empowering narrative is often about overcoming ourselves. Queen of Katwe was one of the most effective feminist films of the year, recounting the true story of Phiona Mutesi, a Read More …
Fourteen-year old Lewis MacDougall gives one of the 2016’s best performances in a film that is compelling and beautiful. A Monster Calls explores faith, letting go, and the search for healing. Based on the award-winning book by Patrick Ness, J.A. Bayona directs a story that takes audiences Read More …
What Jame Gumb (aka “Buffalo Bill”) does to his victims is a crime, but calling it that seems insufficient. When Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) finally puts him down, it is not an act of punishment but self-preservation. Perhaps because of centuries of rhetorical appropriation, it Read More …
Greta Gerwig’s approach to retelling Alcott’s famous story is one that has earned her both praise and criticism. In my opinion, her nonlinear approach to the story of the four March sisters is a stroke of genius—heightening the bonds between each sister, while giving each Read More …
The Irishman, titled onscreen I Heard You Paint Houses from the title of the book it is based on, is a staggering portrayal of one man on the margins of twentieth century American history. The film follows Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran (Robert De Niro) in his journey Read More …
“I’ll be the face of love for you,” Sister Helen Prejean (Susan Sarandon) tells a soon-to-be-executed murderer. The idea that a film can transcend (or sidestep) political ideologies has always been questioned, but the intertwining of the moral and the political has certainly been on Read More …
From writer and director Chloé Zhao, adapted from a book written by Jessica Bruder, Nomadland shows us real, honest stories about people simply being people. Depicted with candidness are the highs and lows, the pain and peace, and the turmoil and tranquility of everyday life. We see Read More …