‘The Testament of Ann Lee’ Review: Amanda Seyfried is Mother (Ann) in Mona Fastvold’s Miraculous Musical Drama [A] Venice
Religious dramas are not really my cup of tea, to use a British expression. I’m a big fan of Ingmar Bergman, but I’m not really... Read More
Reviews
‘Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere’ Review: Scott Cooper’s Uneven Snapshot at The Boss’ Crucial Album Features an Astonishing Jeremy Allen White [C+] Telluride
This musical biopic can be a tricky thing to get right, especially for a fan of the artist being portrayed in the film. The growing... Read More
‘Below the Clouds’ Review: Gianfranco Rosi’s Volcano Doc Erupts with Humanity [B+] Venice
Since the start of humanity, mankind has always been fascinated with the concept of time. The notion of past, present, future has often been analyzed... Read More
‘Hamnet’ Review: Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal Will Break Your Heart in Chloé Zhao’s Timeless Tale of Profound Loss and Boundless Love [A] Telluride
“All that lives must die,/Passing through nature to eternity.” -Hamlet Act One, Scene 2 Early in Chloé Zhao’s staggering Shakespearean fairytale, Hamnet, Agnes (Jessie Buckley)... Read More
‘Tuner’ Review: Dustin Hoffman’s Piano Lesson is so Tightly Wound it Plays Entirely Off Key [D] Telluride
In the new film Tuner, an aging piano tuner and his young apprentice and assistant trapeze around the Tri-State area fine tuning pianos mostly for... Read More
Telluride Dispatch #2: Parties Galore, ‘Bugonia’ and ‘Jay Kelly’
Yesterday was an easygoing two-film day, bookended by parties. I kicked things off at the Focus Features event, where Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal dropped... Read More
‘Landmarks’ Review: Lucrecia Martel’s First Foray into Nonfiction is an Indignant Look at Injustice in Argentina [B] Venice
The acclaimed filmmaker goes close to home with the story of an indigenous landowner killed by developers – and their subsequent, often kafkaesque trial At... Read More
‘The Wizard of the Kremlin’ Review: Jude Law’s Whiny Putin is Rare Highlight of Olivier Assayas’s Messy, Bloated Russia Drama [C+] Venice
The French director adapts an award-winning French novel about a fictional adviser to Vladimir Putin – to underwhelming results Most of what’s good in The... Read More
Telluride Dispatch #1: ‘La Grazia,’ ‘Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere,’ ‘Ballad of a Small Player’
The 52nd Telluride Film Festival began yesterday, August 29, and my ninth journey to this cinematic mecca started with a drive that felt like plunging... Read More
‘The Secret Agent’ Review: Kleber Mendonça Filho Returns with a Timely Tale of Brazilian Corruption and Persecution [A-] Telluride
One year after over-performing at the Oscars with the sleeper hit I’m Still Here, Brazil is poised to potentially do it again with another film... Read More
Utah Film Critics Association (UFCA) Nominations: ‘One Battle After Another,’ ‘Sinners’ Lead 
Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC) Winners: ‘Hamnet,’ ‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You’ Lead 
Philadelphia Film Critics Circle (PFCC) Winners: ‘One Battle After Another,’ ‘Sinners’ Fight It Out 
Boston Online Film Critics Association (BOFCA) Winners: ‘One Battle After Another,’ Wagner Moura, Rose Byrne and More