There are people who will feel Gladiator II is a wholly unnecessary sequel to a standalone story that didn’t need a continuation. But didn’t it? Gladiator’s ending was emotional, powerful, but it did not provide closure. The death of Commodus…

The “hollywood dream” subgenre has some amazing movies that are legendary. Except they’re all almost entirely sad. Mulholland Drive, Sunset Boulevard, Sullivan’s Travels, Birdman, Boogie Nights, A Star is Born, Babylon, MaXXXine, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, etc. Even…

Bishop Robert Barron had quite the response to Conclave. He said: If you are interested in a film about the Catholic Church that could have been written by the editorial board of the New York Times, this is your movie.…

The Mist is a mostly straightforward movie that has a pretty negative view on human nature. When it seems the world is ending, how do people react? According to Stephen King and Frank Darabont—not well. Most of that negativity develops…

I found Emilia Pérez difficult to write about. Why? Jacques Audiard is not part of either the trans or Mexican communities. And both groups have had some very serious criticisms over Audiard’s often trope-ish and out-dated presentation of his subjects.…

With Heretic, Scott Beck and Bryan Woods challenge what we believe. Even though the film very specifically tackles organized religion and faith, Mr. Reed’s interrogation of Sisters Barnes and Paxton can apply far more broadly. Once Heretic ends, you should…

Black Swan explained I think we can all agree that when you first watch Black Swan the immediate questions you have are “How much was real? What was real? Why was Nina seeing what she saw?” There’s some good news and…

Anora is a different kind of coming of age story. It's about waking up from the American dream in order to s

Saturday Night is less a story and more a moment captured in time. And even though it’s about the first episode of Saturday Night Live, it feels representative of the show as a whole. As if Jason Reitman wanted to…

Smile 2 reminds people that celebrities often have people who support them as products but not as people

The end of Possession can leave you at a complete loss, asking yourself, “What did I just watch?” But don’t give up hope! Possession provides inroads that give us the context necessary to piece together what’s going on. I’m excited…