Top Films by Year
Top Films of 2020
Top Films of 2017
Top Films of 2015
Collective – 6.5
Bravo to the journalists of Sports Gazette who doggedly exposed scandal in the Romanian health system. Bravo to the young Minister of Health who tried to clean up the scandal. And bravo to the filmmaker who somehow managed to record the private deliberations of both. But as a film, this came across as an amateurish […]
Mank – 4
A thoroughly unpleasant two hours of snark, cynicism, cigarettes and a drunken boor, with nary a witty line to be heard nor a noble man in sight. Mank’s wife and secretary, who also look alike, are the only people who exude any decency. The story is a “who-cares?,” and it goes back-and-forth with flashbacks to […]
Borat the Subsequent Moviefilm – 7
Taken for what it is–a raunchy and absurdist political comedy–this sequel to Borat (the original moviefilm) was less offensive, less remarkable, less groundbreaking but still rather astonishing. By now I am more familiar with the acting talents and intelligence of Sacha Baron Cohen (see, e.g., Trial of the Chicago 7), but I still have no idea how […]
The Fight – 7.5
Perfectly competent account of the ACLU’s fight against abhorrent Trump policies, with a focus on the men and women leading the charge–very similar to Liz Garbus’s series last year about the New York Times reporters. More than a nuanced movie, it came across as a solicitation for the ACLU, certainly a worthwhile cause.
My Octopus Teacher – 7.5
Stunning photography, both above and underwater, made this a pleasure to watch, and the novelty of an octupus’s life, up-close and personal, made it fascinating. Like almost all nature docs, there was a fair amount of anthropomorphism: I submit that the title character was acting on (animal) instinct, not employing “intelligence” to teach his human […]