More Like a Drug

A24

Review: Uncut Gems (dir. Josh and Benny Safdie, 2019)

The Safdie Brothers are not interested in why. They only care about what. What it is to be addicted. What it is to be obsessed. What it is to be 100% aware of your own flaws and stay steadfast on a path of destruction anyway. They showed us this a couple years ago in "Good Time," a story of a failed bank robbery and the ensuing chase from the perspective a grade-A horror of a man played by Robert Pattinson. I would've given them all Oscars, if I got to choose such things. And now they've... nearly... done it again.

Wrenches Thrown In the Works

20th Century Fox

Review: Ford v Ferrari (dir. James Mangold, 2019)

It seems impossible for any comment on James Mangold's latest crowd-pleaser Ford v Ferrari to not at least make one mention of Dads. And make no mistake, I couldn't help but think of how fucking much my Dad would've loved this movie. Perhaps the best part of the Ford v Ferrari Dad Movie discourse is that it is all in sincerity. People love it because of that. It is indeed a movie to love, something that feels like they just don't make 'em like that anymore. I cannot overstate how loud, fast, and FUN this movie is. I will watch this movie on rainy days for the rest of my life.

Someone to Hold Me Too Close

Netflix

My 18-month old boy was up from a nap and walking around making a bunch of noise as my wife and I watched the final few scenes of Marriage Story in our living room. Netflix had allowed us to experience this movie in pieces, a fact with which parents have to contend. And I felt so very moved because of all of that. There's just no other way to put it: Noah Baumbach's latest film is an honest, painful, lovely and loving experience. It is aptly titled. "It's what is is," to quote another recent Netflix conversation-starter and awards-contender. It is a common story, the story of most of us.

Taking What's Owed

STXfilms

Review: Hustlers (dir. Lorene Scafaria, 2019)

The hype is real for me. J. Lo's performance. The movie itself. A movie that critic David Sims of The Atlantic rightly called "a lush, lavish joy that's difficult to forget." And that's not just because it is one of the most visually striking films of the year (and not just because J. Lo, at 50, is some sort of freak-goddess of sexual power). In its way, Lorene Scafaria's film, based on the story of NYC strippers who took control of the excess of their excessive world and got way more than a stack of singles.

This Gun's for Hire

Warner Bros. Pictures

Review: Blinded by the Light (dir. Gurinder Chadha, 2019)

I am someone who loves. Full stop. It is hard to be a "critic" when you are that way. I have trouble being snarky or controversial. I have to actually try hard to not be nice about the movies, books, and songs I watch, read, or listen to. I love them all, and, honestly, I have the luxury of avoiding those media that I feel I might not like, so I do. With movies, I seek out what's driving the conversation of the moment and pounce, and the ones that don't feel as well-received I avoid.

Enjoying the Fiction of Things

Thoughts on Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood

Devouring the Oscars--BlacKkKlansman for Best Picture

In which I make the case for Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman for Best Picture. 

What was that?

A review of "Hereditary," the new horror film released by A24

Unpacking Alex Garland's 'Annihilation'

Thoughts on Alex Garland's brilliant take on Jeff Vandermeer's elusive novel.

The most wonderful time of the year...(Part 2)

On the abundance of great movies afforded me by Winter Break

The most wonderful time of the year...(Part 1)

On the abundance of great movies afforded me by Winter Break (and Movie Pass)

Ebbing begets flowing

On the ebbs and flows of Martin McDonagh's "Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri"

It's like coming home...

On the soul of Greta Gerwig's crowd-pleasing "Lady Bird"

Old, New, and (New and Selected)

Thoughts on Storytelling, "Blade Runner 2049", and "The Meyerowitz Stories"

The State of the Horror Address

Thought on the Horrors of September, "IT: Chapter One," and Aronofsky's "mother!"

Any (Large) Screen Will Do

Thoughts On Film Projection and a Review of Christopher Nolan's "Dunkirk"

Not What You Wish For

A Review of the new romantic comedy/drama The Big Sick.

Come Back, Will Ferrell

A Review of the new Will Ferrell comedy The House

The Anti-Damsels-in-Distress

A Review of Sofia Coppola's The Beguiled

Baby Driver

"Your name's Baby? B-A-B-Y baby?" 

A line spoken by Debora, played by the young English actress Lily James, 

doing the cutest damn little Southern accent imaginable.