Top Films by Year
Top Films of 2020
Top Films of 2017
Top Films of 2015
The Irishman – 7.5
Robert DeNiro is an emotional black hole at the center of this 3-hour gangster epic. He is the narrator, speaking (to whom?) from a wheelchair in his nursing home, but I never felt anything from or about his extraordinary journey from trucker to hitman to union boss to convict to relic, not from his relationships to […]
Meeting Gorbachev/ Apollo 11
During my Delta flight to Atlanta I caught up on two notable documentaries of summer 2019, one notable for its narrator, the other for not having one. I am a longtime fan of Werner Herzog’s films and inquiring mind, but not so much that I appreciated his equal billing with the former Soviet leader. Not […]
Pain and Glory – 8
In what is both the cleanest and most brightly colored movie of the year, Pedro Almodovar gives a hauntingly autobiographical glimpse of the creative process – its sources, its pressures, its resolutions. The incomparable Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz, plus the wildly coiffed Asier Exteandia, never let your intentions stray as the story flashes forward, […]
Parasite – 5.5
Bizarre. Part absurdist comedy, part horror film, part sociological commentary, none of it strikes an emotional chord or makes you think too much. The vibe is similar to Jordan Peele’s movies (Get Out and particularly Us), but there’s no one to root for and the story is full of holes: e.g., how can the son end […]
The Sound of My Voice – 8
A total upper of a movie. Her current Parkinson’s aside, Linda Ronstadt was presented as having a charmed life: great voice, wonderful friends, happy relationships, good career moves. And with it all, she was humble. None of the preening, drugs, breakups, bad managers and falls from grace that marked every other rock bio seen lately. […]