Top Films by Year
Top Films of 2020
Top Films of 2017
Top Films of 2015
Petite Maman – 3
This one required a suspension of disbelief that I couldn’t quite muster. Or maybe it didn’t. Or maybe I missed something when the slow pace put me briefly to sleep. Two look-alike 8-year-old girls meet in the woods and I kept waiting–mercifully for only 1:18–for a plot to emerge. Three points for sincerity.
Cyrano – 8
It felt like an art museum, the Watteau gallery in particular, with soldiers parading and lovers dallying. By adapting a classic play, the movie suspended disbelief and even made the songs feel integral to the plot, which they were. Peter Dinklage, of course, is not a traditional Cyrano, but again, we weren’t looking for realism […]
House of Darkness – 6.5
Not for everyone, but if you came to it expecting Neil Labute’s typically cruel depiction of a male-female relationship you wouldn’t have been disappointed by Justin Long’s bumbling attempt at seduction or Kate Bosworth’s innocent iciness, not to mention the bloody denouement. With only one set and three actors (plus a cameo), this was evidently […]
Apples and Oranges – 1
A history of volunteers at Israeli kibbutzes, told through archival footage and ex post facto interviews, making no point, having no point of view, presenting no reason for its existence as a documentary film.
Stranger’s Arms – 7.5
Hate to call a movie “cute,” but this was adorable. No bad guys, no one got hurt, nothing really “happened,” just three 19-year-olds figuring things out in suburban Long Island, with a lot of beer, a little weed and some locals. This played like the low-budget first feature of recent film school grads, which it […]