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Best Supporting Actress of 2016
And now the best acting category, the one that is both the most fun and painful to assemble: Best Supporting Actress. Olivia Colman’s dryly hilarious world-building in The Lobster is the most painful...
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Best Actress of 2016
There may not be better proof of an overall strong film year than the oasis of leading actress performances we’ve been given. Best Actress giveth so much that it’s exceedingly difficult to take away...
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Best of 2016 – Personal Ballot
BEST PICTURE 13th 20th Century Women American Honey Arrival A Bigger Splash The Fits Jackie Krisha Little Men Moonlight BEST DIRECTOR Andrea Arnold – American Honey Barry Jenkins – Moonlight Pablo...
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The Best Films of 2016
Much as I hate to bring such a stunning film year to a close, there’s a small pleasure in being able to move on to what 2017 has to offer. And finally here we are: my Top Ten of 2016! Well, and then...
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In Review!: “Fifty Shades Darker”
Unhinged exes, and helicopter crashes, and opulent parties and my, oh my! The follow-up to the Fifty Shades franchise throws everything it can possibly pack inside inside its oversized package as if it...
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Final Oscar Predictions!
Happy Oscar Night everyone! Tonight, we’ll finally see if La La Land can match previous record holders after its record tie for nominations. God forbid the Twitter dissenters have even more grousing...
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In Review!: “Split”
Twist meister M. Night Shyamalan is back in popular favor after a long string of disasters (and the modest success of The Visit) with multiple personality thriller Split. But the return to form is a...
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In Review!: “Beauty and The Beast”
Beauty and the Beast is Disney’s latest attempt and near greatest misfire at live-action recreation of their most beloved classics (Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland is still an impossibly low bar to...
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In Review!: “Kiki”
Personal, political, and built with indefatigable spirit, Kiki is a no bullshit, all ferocity documentary debut from Sara Jordenö. Following the current LGBTQ ball scene of New York City, the film is...
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In Review!: “Staying Vertical”
With understated visual flair and sensual attentiveness, Staying Vertical is a bizarre and enthralling work from writer/director Alain Guiraurdie. Like Stranger by the Lake before it, Guiraudie...
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In Review!: “Wilson”
Woody Harrelson is one of our reigning underrecognized actors, versatile in hilarious and compassionate ways that defy easy typecasting. Craig Johnson’s Wilson, however, provides a showcase tailor made...
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In Review!: “The Blackcoat’s Daughter”
Oz Perkins delivers a creepy and contemplative debut with The Blackcoat’s Daughter, a horror film with familiar devices used in unexpected ways to establish its tone. Instead of pulse rushing thrills...
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In Review!: “The Zookeeper’s Wife”
Opening with a patient, glistening beauty The Zookeeper’s Wife meets its World War II subject with an earthy passion. A familiar aesthetic is nevertheless enlivened by director Niki Caro. She quickly...
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In Review!: “Raw”
Crashing in on a giant red wave of French extremity, Raw is one nastily daring debut from Julia Ducournau. Hazing rituals of a veterinary college make for a morbid playground of sexuality, feminism,...
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In Review!: “Personal Shopper”
Olivier Assayas’s Personal Shopper is its own unique form of thriller, as much a Hitchcockian psychosexual mind game as it is a thoughtful meditation on grief and the afterlife. Supremely at home in...
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In Review: “Unforgettable”
On its exterior, Unforgettable looks like a harlequin slice of sex vengeance camp grandiosity, but delivers each of those quadrants in mostly half measures. When the film flares up on that kind of...
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In Review: “Snatched”
Jonathan Levine’s Snatched flies in with a lot of wide-reaching and intelligent comic talent and only asks them to make a mess. Goldie Hawn’s cinematic return after a fifteen year absence is cause for...
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In Review!: “Alien: Covenant”
Once Ridley Scott again took over the reins of the Alien franchise, its humans got a whole lot dumber. Prometheus brought a crew to a foreboding planet only to have them immediately dispense of their...
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In Review!: “The Lovers”
A glance across the room, a shy gesture leads to awkward silence. Then the orchestra quickly stirs in as eyes meet, staying low until the sudden rush of requited love makes us exhale and catch our...
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In Review: “47 Meters Down”
47 Meters Down is an oceanic disaster film so morose and shoddy that it begs for some levity. With only a handful of cliched jump scares and general lack of visual tension, there’s a lot of room for...
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