No Gods Left Exclusives

Original criticism of motion pictures available here and nowhere else. Frequently writing on non-English film (Baltic, Chinese, & Korean, etc), slow and digital cinemas, and more.

Toronto International Film Festival 2025

Sholay

Experiences like Sholay are why we go to the movies.

Baltic Cinema

Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel

Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel resists the ordinary in favor of the idiosyncratic and renegade.

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The Penguin Lessons

An "anti-fascism" historical film whose idea of resisting demagogues is limited to letter writing and asking the paramilitary enforcer agents to kindly return the civilians they kidnap.

Marvel Cinematic Universe

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the most Kirbyesque the Marvel Cinematic Universe has ever felt.

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The Invisibles

There is something a little charming about [Andrew] Currie’s direction in its ability to maintain optimism and hope in Charlie’s darkest moments. Hopefully, that quality is contagious.

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Baltic Cinema

Motorcycle Summer

James Gunn

Superman

[James Gunn is] the last director standing in the superhero factory with anything left in a vision of heroism to tap into.

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28 Years Later

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Jurassic World Rebirth

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Into the Labyrinth

Chinese Cinema(s)

Shanghai Blues

Shanghai Blues will always be a brilliant romantic comedy.

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Spanish Language Cinema

Vera and the Pleasure of Others

Vietnamese Cinema

Detective Kien: The Headless Horror

Ugly people don’t exist in Victor Vu's worlds, for better and worse.

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Mickey 17

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Ash

Ash is the vision of a filmmaker reared on the hectic images of music videos. The ambition gets swallowed by its derivativeness.

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Final Destination Bloodlines

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Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning

This is Tom Cruise at this best, at his most vulnerable, and at his most ambitious.

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Shapeshifters, Religion, and Other Ghouls with Constantin Werner: Writer and Producer of In the Lost Lands

Werner gives his insights about co-writing with Paul WS Anderson, the challenges of producing the project, the differences between his screenplay and both Martin’s original text and the final film, the role of religion in the story, the filmmaking lessons he gleaned, and much more.

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Sinners

Ryan Coogler gets dangerously close to the horrifying center of American culture over the course of the single night — close enough for Sinners to dance with America’s original sin.

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In The Lost Lands

The sort of world one wishes they could give Ted Cruz a one-way ticket to.

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A Moving-Picture Analysis of the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off

A film critic’s analysis of the national American broadcasts of the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off, aired between ESPN and TSN.

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A Complete Unknown

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Nickel Boys

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Black Velvet

A genre-defiant drama about depression with a formalist flare, the Latvian-Lithuanian co-production Black Velvet uses some killer editing and funky cinematography to zero in on the strangeness and alienating effect of that unique sadness.

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Anna LOL

Anna may not feel anything, but any audience even half paying attention will. Anna LOL is a remarkable film, and it is one of the best Baltic films I have seen so far this year.