Venice Review: Adam Driver and Jodie Comer shine but ‘The Last Duel’ is diminished by an uneven script and skewed perspective [Grade: C]
Cinema has often interrogated on the power and meaning of truth. What is it? How do we get to it? How do we accept it?... Read More
Venice Film Festival
Venice Review: Quentin Tarantino pays tribute to Sergio Corbucci, the second-greatest spaghetti western director, in ‘Django & Django’ [Grade A-]
The literal dream documentary for every film buff, especially those who take a distinct interest in the spaghetti western side of cinema. And who better... Read More
Venice Review: David Gordon Green expands the limits of trauma with ‘Halloween Kills’ [Grade: B]
‘Evil dies tonight’, or tomorrow – that’s the motto uttered at some point by every single character in Halloween Kills, David Gordon Green’s follow-up to... Read More
Venice Review: Audrey Diwan’s abortion drama ‘Happening (L’Événement)’ bares all but leaves its lead an empty vessel [Grade C-]
The initial idea for Audrey Diwan’s Happening (L’Événement) came from a famous French autobiographical novel, written by Annie Ernaux in 2000 about her own illegal... Read More
Venice Review: Ana Lily Amirpour’s ‘Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon’ is a vibrantly stylish, yet uneven ride [Grade C+]
Ana Lily Amirpour’s latest film, after a five-year absence due to her venturing into the world of TV, will take audiences on a stylish, hipster... Read More
Venice Review: Tim Roth and Charlotte Gainsbourg seethe in the Mexican heat of Michel Franco’s ‘Sundown’ [Grade: B]
Michel Franco returns to the Lido just one year after his New Order won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize, premiering his latest which also... Read More
Venice Review: ‘Scenes from a Marriage’ is a worthy retread with staggering performances from Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain [Grade: B+]
It’s not common for me to advise readers to watch a 294-minute limited series in one go. But Scenes from a Marriage, HBO’s new Ingmar... Read More
Venice review: ‘True Things’ cements Harry Wootliff as the master of new British drama [Grade: A-]
Three years after premiering her BAFTA-nominated debut feature, Only You, British filmmaker Harry Wootliff returns to the festival circuit with True Things, a mature and... Read More
Venice review: Isabelle Huppert rivets in this razor-sharp political drama, ‘Promises (Les promesses)’ [Grade B+]
Isabelle Huppert battles to keep her place in the mayoral office in Thomas Kruithof’s Les Promesses, also known by its English title Promises. It’s a... Read More
Venice Review: With ‘The Lost Daughter,’ Maggie Gyllenhaal exposes mother-daughter relations in their vile, discomforting essence [Grade: B]
Leda, a middle-aged comp-lit professor, arrives at a lavish Greek island accompanied solely by her books. Played by an overwrought Olivia Colman, she frets and... Read More
The Parrot Isn’t Saying Anything: How the 2024 U.S. Election Has Proven ‘Under the Silver Lake’ to be Right All Along 
Adrien Brody, Guy Pearce to Receive Cinema Vanguard Award from Santa Barbara International Film Festival for ‘The Brutalist’ 
2025 Oscar Predictions: ANIMATED FEATURE, DOCUMENTARY FEATURE and INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM (November) 
2025 Oscar Predictions: SUPPORTING ACTRESS (November)