Top Films by Year
Top Films of 2020
Top Films of 2017
Top Films of 2015
Zama – 6
Sort of a cross between Last Year at Marienbad and Aguirre, Wrath of God, this Argentine period drama offered memorable still images – loved that tricorner hat! – but not much continuity or sensible plot. Life was pretty crummy in Spanish South America, and I was happy to have a shower afterward. A bit of […]
Mother! – 5.5
An intense two hours of close-ups of a bewildered Jennifer Lawrence’s face, as she copes with a haunted house and situations beyond her control. It’s not a movie that makes much sense, but neither does a Hieronymous Bosch altarpiece. Javier Bardem is only slightly nicer than he was in No Country for Old Men, but […]
Step – 7.5
Although this film takes place in Baltimore, it might as well be another country, so foreign to my personal experience is the world it shows, starting with sport? competition? of “step,” which is sort of like synchronized swimmng on land. This is one of those heartwarming documentaries that gets lucky, as we follow a group […]
Wind River – 7.9
If you think the West Texas of Hell or High Water was bleak, wait until you see Wyoming’s Wind River Indian Reservation in Taylor Sheridan’s follow-up film. Not only is it bleak topographically, economically and psychologically, we see it in the depth of winter, with snow blanketing all signs of life. But bleak can be […]
An Inconvenient Sequel – 6
Preaching to the choir, or more like droning to the choir, Al Gore is a plodding, un-nuanced presence to spend two hours with. The early scenes of global warming’s effects are bracing, but they are never really put in context and quickly give way to the former Vice President’s leadership training seminars. Shots of the […]