Top Films by Year
Top Films of 2020
Top Films of 2017
Top Films of 2015
Rosewater – 4
Let’s hope Jon Stewart keeps his day job. I was never engaged and could have walked out at any point; I did so after about 70 minutes. Gael Garcia Bernal was an odd choice to play the lead; it felt like he was a tourist, floating through. When I think of how gripping Argo was […]
Magic in the Moonlight – 5
Very minor Woody Allen, to say the least. Absurd ending united Colin Firth and Emma Stone characters, although there was no reason to think they were meant for each other, or would last more than a few weeks in marriage. Colin Firth was either miscast or misdirected; in any case he was unconvincing and not […]
Skeleton Twins – 7
Wonderful acting by Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig conveys the closeness of twins. Everyday nature of the story was refreshing, but it also meant plot ran out of steam well before the ending. Still, a fine effort.
Gone Girl – 7
The movie delivered on the book’s strengths – original plot, interesting characters – as well as its weakness – a frustratingly unsatisfying ending. It’s hard to know how someone who hadn’t read the book would have been affected by the plot twists and turns; for us, we watched and mentally checked off how Ben Affleck, […]
Birdman – 2.5
A thoroughly unpleasant movie experience. After our friend Jeremy Shamos gets knocked out, we are left with five highly neurotic characters who have zero appeal among them. Director Inarritu heightens the unpleasantness with a distracting continuous-tracking camera shot. What’s funny is how reviewers complained that the theater-critic character was unrealistic, when the entire movie was […]