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Pamela Anderson Delivers a Career-Best Performance in Gia Coppola’s ‘The Last Showgirl’
Features • Published on January 2025
Stars who once symbolized raw sexuality are finding impressive comebacks through stark, honest portraits of time’s merciless wheel. “The Last Showgirl” presents a Pamela Anderson who truly gets to show off her…
‘American Primeval’ Is an Ultraviolent, Hellishly Visceral Saga Through the Old West
American Primeval • Published on January 2025
The Western keeps finding ways to refresh itself. Netflix’s “American Primeval,” even in its title, wants to announce itself as a rougher, meaner, edgier Western that carries a kind of primitive attitude.
‘Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl’: Aardman’s Stop-Motion Duo Return With Delightful Adventure
Aardman • Published on January 2025
A movie like “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl” defines the idea of a feel-good experience. You could watch it as an upper on a rainy day. Younger viewers will get some…
‘The Fire Inside’: The Story of Boxer Claressa Shields’ Rise Is a Sobering Look at Overcoming Adversity Beyond the Ring
Barry Jenkins • Published on December 2024
There are underdogs and then there are underdogs who truly have all the cards stacked against them. Boxer Claressa “T-Rex” Shields was born with talent and in the least favorable conditions to foster…
‘Squid Game’ Season 2 Serves More Gory Satire With a Slightly Blunted Edge
Features • Published on December 2024
When Netflix’s “Squid Game” premiered in 2021, the world was still living through the aftershocks of the pandemic lockdowns and a general mood against our billionaire overlords was only getting stronger. The…
In ‘Babygirl,’ a Seductively Sharp Nicole Kidman Walks a Dangerous Line Between Fantasy and Power
Antonio Banderas • Published on December 2024
Our imaginations can be dangerous terrain because it is the only place where we are truly and absolutely free. Even more dangerous is when we cross that line from fantasy to reality. That…
‘A Complete Unknown’: James Mangold’s Enigmatically Engrossing Portrait of a Young Bob Dylan
A Complete Unknown • Published on December 2024
Bob Dylan has always been a mystery. So much has been written about the American music giant whose songs are a catalog of classics and who made history as the first songwriter to…
‘Nosferatu’: Robert Eggers’ Vivid Dracula Reimagining Drips With Gothic Terror and Erotic Tension
Bill Skarsgard) • Published on December 2024
Robert Eggers’ “Nosferatu” lives entirely in its gothic atmosphere. Most Dracula fans know that the inspiration behind this film is F.W. Murnau’s 1922 classic of the same name, considered one of the…
‘Mufasa: The Lion King’: Barry Jenkins’ Visual Elegance Is Not Enough To Redeem This Whimpering Franchise Expansion
Barry Jenkins • Published on December 2024
No one milks the franchise machine quite like Disney with their endless sequels and prequels. “Mufasa: The Lion King” is, as the title announces, a prequel to “The Lion King.” Not the…
‘Sonic the Hedgehog 3’ Bests Its Predecessors With More High-Octane Action and Heart
Ben Schwartz • Published on December 2024
You might walk into “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” expecting the usual gags and laughs from the last two movies based on the famous Sega game. Instead, this is a slightly darker, existential…
‘The Brutalist’: Brady Corbet’s Awe-Inspiring American Epic About the Immigrant Experience
Adrien Brody • Published on December 2024
In the style of some grand American novel, Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist” paints a sweeping portrait that attempts to encompass a whole panorama about this country through one life. Ambition, classism, capitalism,…
‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’: Tolkien’s World as a Sweeping Anime Adventure
Brian Cox • Published on December 2024
Some art forms and genres are made for each other. “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” is a stirring, gloriously entertaining new take on J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic fantasy…
‘Nickel Boys’: RaMell Ross Transforms Colson Whitehead’s Acclaimed Novel Into a Searing Human Chronicle of Survival
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor • Published on December 2024
Nations can have so many skeletons in the closet of history that only art can illuminate their bones. “Nickel Boys” could have easily sensationalized its material, which looks into the harsh, racist…
‘No Good Deed’: Lisa Kudrow and Ray Romano Are a Wonderfully Flawed Couple Unloading a Home With a Dark Secret
Abbi Jacobson • Published on December 2024
In a city like Los Angeles, those capable of buying an upscale house are part of a small group. The demand for a high-end 1920s Spanish-style property in Los Feliz becomes a darkly…
‘Maria’: Pablo Larraín Paints a Melancholic Portrait of Maria Callas Through a Towering Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie • Published on December 2024
The greatest among us can sometimes be complete enigmas. We would like to know what makes them tick. There may be clues along the way, but it can remain as mysterious as the…
Sweeping Adaptation of Gabriel García Márquez’s ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ Flows Between Grit and Fantasy
Features • Published on December 2024
“Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.” The opening line of Gabriel García Márquez’s…
‘Nightbitch’: A Feral Amy Adams Roars With Suburban Fury at the Woes of Modern Motherhood
Amy Adams • Published on December 2024
The frustrated white suburbanite has become a staple of American fiction. Every society has its woes, and having the perfect home in a pristine neighborhood doesn’t guarantee happiness. “Nightbitch” is another parable…
‘The Return’ Reunites Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche for a Stark Retelling of Homer’s Epic
Features • Published on December 2024
Uberto Pasolini’s “The Return” faithfully follows the final steps in Homer’s epic poem the “Odyssey.” Because we are used to knowing this story mainly as Greek myth, Pasolini’s stark approach feels more…
From ‘Challengers’ to ‘Queer,’ Writer Justin Kuritzkes on His Breakthrough Year in Film
Celine Song • Published on November 2024
This has been quite a year for writer Justin Kuritzkes. The playwright, novelist and screenwriter has been launched to the forefront of arthouse cinema with director Luca Guadagnino. Early in the year, Kuritzkes’…
Daniel Craig Is Phenomenally Tragic in Luca Guadagnino’s Hallucinatory Imagining of Burroughs’ ‘Queer’
Daniel Craig • Published on November 2024
In modern literature there are few figures like William S. Burroughs. He was a major talent defined by his place in the Beat movement and his tragic image as a man wrecked by…