Category: ★★★★

phantom-thread-movie

Phantom Thread ★★★★

The merging of Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Thomas Anderson felt prophetic when it happened ten years ago – with the masterful There Will Be Blood – and together they made one of the most influential American filmsRead Full Review

call-me-by-your-name-movie

Call Me By Your Name ★★★★

The pairing of James Ivory and Luca Guadagnino is not one I would have thought of myself. The two storytellers examine passion in such different ways. Guadagnino loves to mix in eroticism, he has a keenRead Full Review

lady-bird-movie

Lady Bird ★★★★

Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird has the kind of flaws that most first features have (this is Gerwig’s first solo directing credit). It tends to be representative of its titular protagonist, Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson – strong-willed,Read Full Review

the-square-movie

The Square ★★★★

The kind of satire that Ruben Östlund is doing with his 2014 film Force Majeure and his newest film, The Square, strikes right at the heart of contemporary society. Force Majeure dissected the state of the standard binary family in aRead Full Review

lost-city-of-z-movie

The Lost City of Z ★★★★

James Gray’s latest mesmerizing film is a testament to the varying uses of white male ego, a piercing look at the glories and pitfalls of Western civilization’s colonial fascination. In an era rife with EuropeanRead Full Review

i-am-not-your-negro-movie

I Am Not Your Negro ★★★★

The work of James Baldwin is exquisite, articulate and essential. That last part, the essentialism, is rooted in its passion and anger. His ferocity spilled upon the page with such beauty, but you could notRead Full Review

the-salesman-movie

The Salesman ★★★★

Asghar Farhadi’s ability to so scrupulously dissect the nature of humanity is one of the best things one can see in a movie theater these days. 2012’s A Separation was a masterpiece of tension, a bitingRead Full Review

la-la-land-movie

La La Land ★★★★

Consider the passion in a film like La La Land. It’s a film that is passionate about a great many things – music, cinema, love, heartbreak, Los Angeles, to name a few. It carries its passionRead Full Review

manchester-by-the-sea-movie

Manchester by the Sea ★★★★

Kenneth Lonergan is a kind of genius. There are more talented filmmakers formalistically, and there are screenwriters who have more power with words and how to use them, but there are so very, very few likeRead Full Review

the-handmaiden-movie

The Handmaiden ★★★★

Park Chan-Wook’s latest film, The Handmaiden, sits comfortably between eroticism and romance, between love and depravity. In a way, it’s about the difference between caring deeply for another person, and caring deeply about sleeping with anotherRead Full Review

moonlight-movie

Moonlight ★★★★

The idea of identity is something movies (and, it should probably be said, humans) have tried to come to grips with since the very beginning. The process of finding out who you are is life-long. WeRead Full Review

hell-or-high-water

Hell or High Water ★★★★

Taylor Sheridan’s screenplay for Hell or High Water is amongst the most masterful depictions of a specific, decaying American culture I’ve seen in a while. It’s right up there with No Country for Old Men and TheRead Full Review

the-lobster

The Lobster ★★★★

Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos is one of the most unique storytellers in cinema. His films are tense, funny alternative realities, with sarcastic views of human torment. His 2009 film Dogtooth is one of the most upsettingRead Full Review

krishna

Krisha ★★★★

When’s the last time an American filmmaker had as strong a debut film as Trey Edward Shults’ Krisha? The movie is so confident, so breathtakingly beautiful, so vulnerable with its feelings and situations. Shults madeRead Full Review

Under The Skin ★★★★

English filmmaker Jonathan Glazer made his name as a director of music videos and commercials. His videos for Jamiroquai (‘Virtual Insanity’) and Radiohead (‘Karma Police’), amongst others, displayed a man who had a virtuosic abilityRead Full Review

Juno ★★★★

It’s wonderful to see a film that is as exquisitely executed as Juno is. The movie is being touted as the offbeat comedy of the year, and I believe that it truly earns that title, but IRead Full Review

Away From Her ★★★★

It starts off very small for Fiona and Grant. She mistakenly places pots and pans into the refrigerator or has trouble remembering the name of wine. Grant doesn’t think she’s afflicted–he feels that she’s tooRead Full Review

Michael Clayton ★★★★

Michael Clayton is a “fixer” at one of the biggest law firms in the country. Got a big-time client who just ran someone over with their car? Clayton’s your man. “I’m not a miracle worker,”Read Full Review