Reviews
New writing on the latest theatrical and streaming releases
A Traveler’s Needs
(Hong Sang-soo, 2024) | Dec 18, 2024
“While unhurried, A Traveler’s Needs is very much alive, dynamically so. Hong ensures the always-mesmerizing [Isabelle] Huppert is never not that, leaning into her otherness as a focal point instead of a foible. It’s a smart move, and an unsurprising one at that, considering the director’s decades-long fascination with the nuanced minutiae of communication.”
Maria (Pablo Larraín, 2024) | Dec 12, 2024
“Satisfyingly surreal and adequately odd, [Angelina] Jolie and Larraín’s tribute to La Divina and the days leading up to her passing shouldn’t be a disappointment for fans of the so-called Lady in Heels series, by any means.”
Nutcrackers (David Gordon Green, 2024) | Dec 4, 2024
“It’s also not all that funny, which is a real bummer for Stiller-heads and Frat Pack fans at large who suffer from a lack of good old-fashioned studio comedies. To say nothing of [David Gordon Green] defenders who’ve endured four hotly contested horror legacyquels in hopes of an eventual return to form.”
Dahomey (Mati Diop
, 2024) | Nov 29, 2024
“Diop isn’t searching for simple solutions. In fact, she leads one to believe there might not even be such a thing in a geo-socio-political-economic scenario as complex as this. It’s an intentional ambivalence: By capturing as many differing viewpoints as she can … Dahomey stands as a supremely thoughtful, enormously considerate documentary.”
Blitz (Steve McQueen, 2024) | Nov 21, 2024
“Despite feeling more than a little heavy-handed by the film’s end, failing to provide an unflinching look at the Blitzkrieg as promised by the title, McQueen’s overly sentimental Blitz still has value as a launching pad for its adolescent star.”