The most obvious takeaway from the first beat of Sylvie’s Love—a lavishly directed new period romance from Eugene Ashe, who also wrote the screenplay—is that for his second feature, Ashe clearly has a profound passion for Douglas Sirk’s melodramas of the…
Kajillionaire Review: Life is what you steal for it in Miranda July’s newest indie wonderwork | Sundance 2020
Between Shoplifters and Parasite, new movies about “scamilies” (that’s my new term for “scam artist families,” don’t wear it out), continue to provoke fascinating ideas about class warfare and the lengths people will go to in order find a sliver of success in…
Palm Springs Review: Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti are a dream team in this summer dose of love, humor, and other surprises | Sundance 2020
These days, it’s not enough for a funny movie to be funny. To find mainstream success at the box office, a comedy has to either be an event movie, or so funny it becomes one. Which brings us to The…
Album Review: Mac Miller – “Circles”
Mac Miller was almost there. The Pittsburgh rapper had long left behind the days of his goofy mixtapes and stoner bro persona, mixing his passions for rock and R&B into his increasingly-layered music. He’d always had that goofy smile and…
The Assistant Review: A timely examination of manipulation and complicity | Sundance 2020
It’s not an exaggeration to say that Hollywood has found only middling success at best when it comes to reckoning with the MeToo movement, perhaps in part because audiences have to weigh the obvious irony. As we all know by…
Falling Review: Viggo Mortensen’s directorial debut is an excruciating melodrama about fatherhood | Sundance 2020
Viggo Mortensen has starred in many avant-garde dramas about troubled middle-aged men, but Falling is the veteran actor’s first time directing and writing is own film, as well as starring in it, naturally. His first movie is a personal one, as it’s…
Miss Americana Review: Taylor Swift reexamines her reputation on her own terms | Sundance 2020
Early in Miss Americana, a new Netflix documentary from director Lana Wilson (The Departure), ascendent pop star and newly-minted political activist Taylor Swift comments on how her fans tend to “grow up” with her, which she finds to be a problem…