Top Films by Year
Top Films of 2020
Top Films of 2017
Top Films of 2015
Potiche – 7
A supremely silly, or supremely stylized – depending upon your tolerance for Francois Ozon – family comedy in which the characters say exactly what they are thinking, sans nuance or consideration, and no one gets too upset. Come to think of it, that’s a good definition of a sitcom, too. Here, the main attraction is […]
Hanna – 7.8
An action-packed chase movie, very much a la mode of Bourne Ultimatum, with Saoirse Ronan and Cate Blanchett in the Matt Damon and Joan Allen roles, respectively. The pseudo sci-fi premise, too, is similar – oh, those CIA experiments gone awry! – and the endings equally inconclusive, leaving patrons in the men’s room speculating about […]
Jane Eyre – 8
The very height of Romantic melodrama, portrayed flawlessly by Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender. Cary Fukunaga’s mise-en-scene borrows liberally from Vermeer and De la Tour, matching the spareness and directness of the love story: one girl, one man – and oh, a crazy lady up in the attic. Nobody does Masterpiece Classics like the British, […]
Paul – 7
A thoroughly genial chase film about a foul-mouthed alien, a sort-of bastard child ofE.T. and Borat. All the acting, or should I say mugging, was pitch-perfect, not only by the refreshingly unfamiliar British leads, but also by the reliable American supporting cast, such as Kristin Wiig, Bill Hader and Justin Bateman. This was not a […]
The Lincoln Lawyer – 6.5
There were enough clues that hung together well enough to keep the mind engaged, and the movie’s subtext – how the justice system is often corrupt and inefficient – is one I could certainly live with. In the end, though, how much more was here than in a good Law and Order episode? Much depended […]