One of the many charming qualities about the Beastie Boys is that they could be you. If three dorky-looking Jewish white boys could break into rap music, let alone break barriers within the genre, maybe you could do something amazing…
The Way Back Movie Review: Ben Affleck bares his soul in basketball drama
For better or worse, Ben Affleck is a very famous movie star. He’s been a very famous movie star for over 20 years and has checked all the boxes a very famous movie star’s life includes: starred in blockbuster movies…
The Call of the Wild Movie Review: Misses the point of Jack London’s Novel
There’s something deeply, fundamentally perverse about filming a Jack London story with CGI animals—it’s akin to shooting a film version of James Joyce’s Ulysses on location…in Belfast. Everything that the novel stood for—the ego destruction of modernist man in the…
Herself Review: Clare Dunne unlocks the power of the human spirit in Phyllida Lloyd’s remarkable return to the big screen | Sundance 2020
Sometimes, you can just tell that the leading actor of a film was deeply involved in the creative process, and that is certainly the case for Clare Dunne, who co-wrote and stars in Herself, a new British-Irish hope drama from director…
The Rhythm Section Movie Review: Blake Lively bores in Bourne knockoff
This one did itself in barely halfway through its runtime. Cantankerous hermit Jude Law dares a haggered Blake Lively to either keep running with him or go swimming to build up her endurance. When Lively tries to explain that she…
Sylvie’s Love Review: Tessa Thompson and Nnamdi Asomugha lay on the charm in this extraordinary classical romance | Sundance 2020
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…
Minari Review: Steven Yeun balances family and the American Dream in A24’s latest, warmest drama | Sundance 2020
In the 1980s, my father put all his hopes and dreams into the American Dream. He convinced my mother and two older siblings (I wasn’t born yet) to come with him to Massachusetts, despite not knowing more than a few…