Top Films by Year
Top Films of 2020
Top Films of 2017
Top Films of 2015
The Seed of the Sacred Fig – 7
A remarkable challenge to Iran’s theocracy, this Cannes Award-winning film not surprising earned director Mohammad Rasoulof an eight-year prison sentence. The first half was a compelling political drama, intertwined with family dynamics and believable characters. The second half went off the rails, so much so that streaming it on two separate nights we felt we […]
Black Bag – 5
A stylish espionage caper with fine performances by Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender that disguised the holes in the plot. I.e., I had no idea what happened by the end and wondered if the film, by Steven Soderbergh and David Koepp, was satirizing the genre. Put six very flawed spies around a table and see […]
Top Ten 2024
Year after year I say it wasn’t a great year for movies, and the fact that I can’t find ten titles for this list reinforce that view for 2024. On the other hand, the industry’s policy of withholding prestige films until December makes it hard to catch up with everything, and there are two possible […]
On Becoming a Guinea Fowl – 3
The characters in this Zambian movie about family might as well have been guinea fowl, so little did I relate to them. I waited in vain for a plot. The lead actress was good, but she didn’t relate either.
No Other Land – 6.5
Unremitting footage of Israeli bulldozers knocking down Palestinian homes made a depressing, discouraging point if not compelling cinema. All honor to the Palestinian-Israeli filmmakers who bravely documented the cruel destruction of a defenseless West Bank village, humanizing the Palestinians with their goats and chickens and dehumanizing the Israeli soldiers with their uniforms and tanks. Rather […]