Wiithout any further rambling on my part, my favorite films of 2018, from Mandy to The Rider to Annihilation.
Movie Review: “Good Time,” with Robert Pattinson, Benny Safdie, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Taliah Webster, and Barkhad Abdi
In Good Time, there is only one way to read Connie’s Queens quest: that it’s his unchecked white privilege that causes him to literally hurt every person of color he comes across in the film.
Movie Review: “Ingrid Goes West,” with Aubrey Plaza, Elizabeth Olsen, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Wyatt Russell, and Billy Magnussen
It’s easier than ever now to manufacture your own identity—and Ingrid Goes West understands how essential destruction is to creation.
Movie Review: “A Ghost Story,” with Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara
The lofty emotional ambitions of A Ghost Story are ultimately impossibly pretentious and frustratingly unclear. And yes, the off-screen crap of alleged sexual harasser Casey Affleckcasts a shadow over the film.
Movie Review: Documentary “City of Ghosts,” from filmmaker Matthew Heineman
City of Ghosts may be the most impactful documentary of the year, an examination of the rise of ISIS in Syria and the attempts by civilian journalists Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently to combat them.
Movie Review: “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets,” with Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevingne, Clive Owen, Rihanna, and Ethan Hawke
“What in the actual fuck?” is something I have written down in my Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets notes, and I don’t exactly know to what scene I was referring because I honestly could have been referring to any of them.
Movie Review: “Landline,” with Jenny Slate, Abby Quinn, John Turturro, Edie Falco, Jay Duplass, and Finn Wittrock
Landline never really clicks together, relying so often on ‘90s-themed backward-gazing that its family drama fails to set itself apart.
Winter Is Here: “Game of Thrones” returns with an endgame in motion
After so many warnings, winter is here in Game of Thrones. The white raven has been sent. The Citadel has spoken. And sweet summer children—well, who knows how many of them will live to see the next summer?
Movie Review: “The Little Hours,” with Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza, Kate Micucci, Dave Franco, John C. Reilly, and Molly Shannon
Aubrey Plaza may legitimately be an unhinged maniac, and you will love her for it in The Little Hours.
Movie Review: “The Big Sick,” with Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter, Ray Romano, Anupam Kher, and Zenobia Shroff
The Big Sick is a film with an extremely particular religious and cultural point of view but universally honest, poignant things to say about love, and it is a soothing balm for the insanity of our world right now.
Movie Review: “Baby Driver,” with Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx, Jon Hamm, Lily James, and Elina Gonzalez
Baby Driver leans into its own narrative with adrenaline and zeal, and you’ll feel it.
Movie Review: “Kill Switch,” with Dan Stevens, Bérénice Marlohe, and Tygo Gernandt
Kill Switch is an R-rated action flick that invites the viewer to directly experience the protagonist’s journey of time travel, flashy guns, and drone warfare. It sounds more exhilarating than it actually is.
Movie Review: “The Book of Henry,” with Jaeden Lieberher, Naomi Watts, Jacob Tremblay, and Dean Norris
The Book of Henry will have its defenders, and I am not one of them. This movie is one confused “What the fuck?” sequence after another.
Movie Review: “Black Butterfly,” with Antonio Banderas and Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Antonio Banderas and Jonathan Rhys Meyers lean into the intimate premise of Black Butterfly and ratchet up the tension and anxiety quite well; this is an ideal VOD offering that relies more on twisty plotting and layered dialogue than bombast.
Movie Review: “Logan,” with Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Dafne Keen, Boyd Holbrook, and Stephen Merchant
In Trump’s America, Logan is the movie we need, a film that turns Wolverine from a typical X-Man hero into the kind of explicit social justice warrior these characters were meant to be.
Trailers of Interest: February 2017 edition
So far this month there have been a slew of trailers that have me marking down release dates on my calendar, and I've compiled my fab five here.
Reporter's Notebook: The many question marks of "The Great Wall"
Some of my The Great Wall notes make very little sense out of context, but it's also so weird that it could be like a strange, stream-of-consciousness poem you didn't know you needed.
Movie Review: “John Wick 2,” with Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Common, and Ruby Rose
John Wick knows everything there is to know about dying. Just like Maeve in Westworld, he’s fucking great at it.
The 5 scenes why your daughter should see "Long Way North"
Small movies like these need all the support they can get, which is why you should seek out Long Way North. The draw here for young girls will be Sacha, who is determined, resolute, and just bratty enough to be likable.
Movie Review: "Kicks," with Jahking Guillory, Mahershala Ali, and Kofi Siriboe
These are more than simply shoes, they're street-cred currency, and director Justin Tipping and his co-writer Joshua Beirne-Golden explore all the ways urban culture -- masculinity, sexism, childhood, and the drug war -- are tied up together in Kicks.