AwardsWatch

‘The Testament of Ann Lee’ Review: Amanda Seyfried is Mother (Ann) in Mona Fastvold’s Miraculous Musical Drama [A] Venice

Roberto Ruggio September 1, 2025

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

‘Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere’ Review: Scott Cooper’s Uneven Snapshot at The Boss’ Crucial Album Features an Astonishing Jeremy Allen White [C+] Telluride

Ryan McQuade August 31, 2025

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

Roberto Ruggio August 31, 2025

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

Sophia Ciminello August 31, 2025

“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

J Don Birnam August 31, 2025

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’

Mark Johnson August 31, 2025

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

Adam Solomons August 31, 2025

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

Adam Solomons August 31, 2025

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’

Mark Johnson August 30, 2025

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

J Don Birnam August 30, 2025

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

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