Reviews

BlacKkKlansman is an awakening, a reminder that we can be more like Ron Stallworth, that he is not exceptional, until, perhaps, the very, very end, depending on how you read it, when Lee elevates Stallworth to

As someone on the margins of her own middle school society, Kayla possesses a keen awareness of who around her is being fake and who is being genuine. Even so, she herself is not immune to the desire for acceptance and struggles through several instances of identity crisis.

Most documentaries of entertainment people follow a familiar arc—the innate talent, the singular devotion to craft and rise to fame. Then, the fall from grace and public favor, and the final esteemed place in art and culture, voiced by colleagues, artists, and frustrated spouses and lovers. Neville’s film reveals that Fred Rogers’ path was so very different, but equally fascinating.

Most movies are fantasies, not in the genre sense, but in the descriptive. Movies present a condensed, idealized version of people and the world. They tip easily into the realm of metaphor and symbol, creating and incarnating icons to which audiences can attach their own hopes, fears, desires, even prayers.

The energy of the film is angry, but it is, after all, Juvenalian Satire in general, and, with respect to the individual characters in the story, Menippean Satire, so the judgement is real. It’s disturbing by design.

We believe Ethan Hunt’s relentless passion to save the world because we see it reflected in Tom Cruise’s insane passion to entertain the audience at extreme risk. Tom Cruise will attempt any stunt to entertain an audience.

While it is heartening to see the family pull together when the catastrophe comes, it is more heartening to see each of them recognize when another family member is in a moment of personal crisis.

That’s not to suggest that O8 is without its twists. The surprises have more to do with the characters than the plot though.

Balance sheets lack the faculty for recollection.

Pope Francis: A Man of His Word is about as straightforward as a documentary can be. Pope Francis looks into your eyes and lays out the things he believes are most urgent for humanity today.

Deadpool 2 isn’t for kids, but it sure is fun. I think it has a good heart too. There’s genuine sentiment on display in the midst of all the mayhem. Every moment of the film has been crafted to provide a good time for the audience

Despite the clamorous portrayal of motherhood, however, Tully doesn’t vilify motherhood or raising a family; nor are self-liberation and relational independence presented as remedies to a disease generated by traditional family structures. It’s not about doing more of “this” and “less” of that.

Disobedience spends less time trying to justify the romantic relationship between Ronit and Esti and more time trying to help audiences understand how they emotionally navigate their worlds. The affective synergy generated by voyeuristic close-ups and the deft performances of McAdams and Weiz is an emotional tour de force.

‘The Rider’ is a remarkably beautiful, compassionate, tough film that reckons the courage required, by the individual and by the individual’s community, to make that leap of identity into something new when the old is no longer possible.

Come Sunday—streaming now on Netflix—recounts a period in the life of Carlton Pearson, a pentecostal preacher of renown who, in the late 90s, came to believe that there was no inherent need for anyone to make a conscious decision to follow Christ in order to be saved from eternal damnation.

“Avengers: Infinity War” orbits a pair of central questions of a moral nature: “Are all lives worth the sacrifice of one life, and if so, are you willing to sacrifice the life of someone you love to save the rest?”

The best Noirs leave you feeling hollow in the end, as the characters feel. “Gemini” isn’t built on the same kind of nihilism, so it lacks the genre’s weight, even if the mystery is deftly handled.

This movie is one slick machine – a blockbuster about a world where blockbusters have so colonized the hearts and minds of the masses that the only creativity that still exists is in the reshuffling of references and the careful recreation of pop-culture icons, for pay. It’s a chocolate egg inside a chocolate egg inside a chocolate egg. And everyone is happy about it, including the audience.