Life, Animated (2016)
Life, Animated is too intent on crafting an inspirational story of triumph over adversity.
Hidden Figures (2016)
Hidden Figures, the story of three black, female mathematicians making history in the sixties, is one hell of a crowd-pleaser.
Fences (2016)
When Fences gets caught up in the moment, it sings like the best cinema.
Moonlight (2016)
Moonlight: the poetic breaking through the quotidian in carefully-considered yet intuitive gestures.
Boys Don’t Cry: The Masculine Melodrama Of ‘Manchester By The Sea’
Manchester by the Sea’s protagonist represents the distillation of uncommunicative masculinity as well as its deleterious effects.
The Intertwining Identities of Lion
Lion is a tearjerker, but by the time it wants you to cry, it’s earned the tears.
The Fencer (2015)
Part underdog sports story, part post-war resistance narrative, The Fencer finds resistance in the smallest thrusts and parries.
James White (2015)
Along with another one of last year’s directorial debuts – John Magary’s The Mend – Josh Mond’s James White signals a new direction for New York indie cinema. Inspired by the improvisational energy of early Cassavettes and Jarmusch’s calculated coolness, James White offers an unconventional coming-of-age narrative that incorporates tragedy without allowing it to sublimate…
Cartel Land (2015)
Cartel Land was one of 2015’s most successful documentaries, earning a cavalcade of critical praise and even an Oscar nomination. It’s not hard to see why; Matthew Heineman’s film combines a contentious contemporary issue – Mexico’s fraught, cartel-dominated ‘drug war’ and tensions along the U.S.A./Mexico border – with kinetic, ‘can-you-fucking-believe-they-got-that-shot’ cinematography. It’s the kind of…
Trumbo (2015)
For a film about a screenwriter’s perseverance for creative expression, Trumbo is rarely as inspired or diligent. Based on the life of Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston), director Jay Roach’s biopic settles for a cordial yet straight-laced snapshot of 1950s Hollywood, unable to elevate political and libertarian motifs off the page. After being unjustly imprisoned for his…
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