Top Films by Year
Top Films of 2020
Top Films of 2017
Top Films of 2015
Damsels in Distress (2012) – 6.5
Interesting that less than a dozen years ago a film could run wild with jokes about suicide. The humor also seemed dated, unless you’re still reading the Harvard Lampoon and watching Chevy Chase flicks. My viewing partner called it “stupid,” but I found it stupid funny. Greta Gerwig starred, with her trademark intelligent-naive affect, leading […]
Between Two Worlds – 6.5
A beatific Juliette Binoche is onscreen this entire film, which makes it worth watching if, like me, you relish her acting and beauty. The story of a journalist going undercover to do a book on cleaning ladies has a ring of truth, which it is, and the film reads more as social commentary than drama.
Vertigo (1958) – 5
Seeing Vertigo on critics’ lists of all-time best films, including Time’s last week, and not remembering if I’d seen it, we rented it for TV viewing. Our first reaction was that it must have been colorized, so garish were the reds and greens. Whatever the cause, it gave the film a very dated look, along with all […]
Theater Camp – 7
A lightweight but enjoyable piffle, with Adam Platt and Molly Gordon riffing on Woody Allen: those who can’t act, teach; those who can’t teach, teach summer camp. Not all the pokes at acting school land, at least not for outsiders, but you can’t go wrong with talented kid actors, and the let’s-put-on-a-show finale is worth […]
Afire – 7.7
A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Loser. Leon is an aspiring author who is insecure and nerdy: he always wears long black pants, even to the beach. The movie is about how he navigates among four self-assured companions at a seaside retreat. Answer: not very well. The characters are well drawn and Paula […]