Reviews

A collection of 308 posts

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.

Ilya Naishuller

Heads of State

Already a relic from another time

Fritz on Fridays

Fritz on Fridays: Woman in the Moon

A blueprint for the blockbusters of today.

Paid-members only

No Gods Left Exclusive

Into the Labyrinth

Malaga Film Festival 2025

Moses

Fran Guijarro’s feature documentary is one of the most empathetic and humanistic documentaries I’ve ever seen.

Chinese Cinema(s)

Shanghai Blues

Shanghai Blues will always be a brilliant romantic comedy.

In Review Online

How to Train Your Dragon

2025's How to Train Your Dragon drags and loses its way under a strained and failed effort to make everything bigger and bolder.

Members only

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.

Paid-members only

No Gods Left Exclusive

Mickey 17

Sydney Film Festival

The Wanderer

Well-known portrait photographer takes director's chair in order to a create visually impressive short film about death and the afterlife - from the Sydney Film Festival

Fritz on Fridays

Fritz on Fridays: Rancho Notorious

The final 15 minutes of Rancho Notorious are spectacular.

Korean Cinema

The Old Woman with the Knife

For all their effort to hide age in the action, the filmmakers take the opposite approach to the symbolism.

In Review Online

Karate Kid: Legends — Jonathan Entwistle [Review]

Much like a child trick-or-treating in a small neighborhood and returning again and again to the same houses, the Karate Kid franchise will keep coming back until it no longer gets the goods it asks for.

No Gods Left Exclusive

Ash

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

Paid-members only

No Gods Left Exclusive

Final Destination Bloodlines

No Gods Left Exclusive

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning

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

Reviews

Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk — Sepideh Farsi

Fatima Hassouna might have had the brightest smile and biggest eyes in all of Gaza.

Reviews

Dandelion’s Odyssey

Yes, you read that right: this is an animated film without words about dandelion seeds traversing the cosmos in search of a new home.

Reviews

Fritz on Fridays: Hilde Warren and Death

The classic Langian game theory with fate expresses itself through Weimar-era anxieties about corrupted blood.

Baltic Cinema

GO TO: Faithful unto Death (2024) dir. Ivars Zviedris

Faithful unto Death will be having its North American premiere this Saturday, May 17, at the West Newton Cinema.

No Gods Left Exclusive

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.

Reviews

Fritz on Fridays: The Blue Gardenia

The Blue Gardenia challenges this narrative of complacency and Lang’s supposed wont to “sleepwalking through history.”

Chinese Cinema(s)

Striking Rescue — Siyu Cheng [Review]

Striking Rescue cinematographer Ai Yanjie loses sight of much of the action and regrettably tempers the blows of the stunt team.

Reviews

The Little Brother (Bratan)

The Little Brother is a travel film with a defying political undercurrent