No critic ever watches a movie hoping it will be bad, but it’s quite rare for a critic to actively wish a movie was better while watching it. I don’t mean that in the sense of wishing a bad movie…
I Feel Pretty Movie Review: A promising premise and potential feminist message fall apart
Pre-release buzz can either be a fantastic thing — becoming a trending topic on Twitter and turning into all anyone can talk or think about for weeks on end! — or a potentially fatal one — doing both those things…
Supernatural 13×19 Review: “Funeralia”
Supernatural has been bringing characters back from the dead more often than usual, and I couldn’t get behind the returns because they seemed to be mostly for plot reasons. That’s what I thought Rowena was going to be used for.…
Tribeca 2018 Movie: The Feeling of Being Watched
Speak English. If you must speak Arabic in public, never do so with a raised voice. Dress American. Act American. Stay together in groups, seem as non-threatening as possible. If you see the strange suited men in their bulky black…
Tribeca 2018 Movie Review: Yellow is Forbidden
What does Guo Pei want? This is the question lurking at the heart of Pietra Brettkelly’s new documentary on the exacting Chinese fashion designer who first skyrocketed into the public eye after designing Rihanna’s infamous canary yellow dress to the…
The Americans 6×04 Review: “Mr. and Mrs. Teacup”
In the fourth episode of The Americans, Philip and Oleg talk about the dissolution of the Soviet government, but what hangs more desperately over the show is the possible dissolution of Philip and Elizabeth’s relationship—brought up in the conversation with…
Traffik Movie Review: A grindhouse feature with a message
There’s something naturally fun about a movie whose plot revolves around a couple being hounded by small-town hoodlums, whether they be backwater hillbillies (like Backcountry or Wrong Turn) or Satanists (like Race With the Devil). Deon Taylor’s Traffik is a…