Drama 8/14

2filmcritics

Dec 22, 20204 min read

Mangrove ★★★1/2

The Mangrove 9, including reluctant Frank, go on trial at the venerable and Dickensian Old Bailey—lots of white wigs and disgraceful conduct

2filmcritics

Dec 10, 20204 min read

Mank ★★★1/2

It's the story of one man’s struggle to preserve his identity—as a person and as a writer—in a world committed to stripping him of it.

2filmcritics

Nov 22, 20203 min read

The True Adventures of Wolfboy ★★★

Paul, about to celebrate his 13th birthday, questions his self-worth; only his reason is unusual - he's covered with hair, like a dog.

2filmcritics

Nov 8, 20204 min read

The Vast of Night ★★1/2

McCormick and Horowitz can’t save this film, but they are entertaining and credible in their disparate roles.

2filmcritics

Oct 24, 20205 min read

Martin Eden ★★★1/2

It's standard film-making—a familiar tale, told chronologically—with some significant departures from the norm, esp. the change in setting.

2filmcritics

Oct 1, 20204 min read

"The Wild Goose Lake" ★★★

This Chinese thriller is film noir meets modern action movies: double-crossers, rain and fog, high-speed chases, unlikely escapes.

2filmcritics

Sep 25, 20203 min read

Cuties (“Mignonnes”) ★★★

Some see the final dance scenes—performed by 11-year-old girls—as exploitative, others as verging on child pornography. Decide for yourself.

2filmcritics

Sep 11, 20203 min read

I’m Thinking of Ending Things ★★★1/2

Kaufman's faux horror film explores existential angst. Buckley and Plemons are superb.

2filmcritics

Sep 7, 20203 min read

The Assistant ★★★

Kitty Green’s “The Assistant" is an 87-minute, single-point-of-view film, with a stellar performance from Julia Garner (Ozark); it works.

2filmcritics

Aug 23, 20203 min read

Palm Springs ★★★

The R-rated Romcom is alive and well in “Palm Springs,” a creative look at the 40-ish slacker and the woman who'll drag him into adulthood.

2filmcritics

Aug 14, 20203 min read

Sorry We Missed You ★★1/2

"Loach is strong on details; some of the best scenes are of Ricky’s “day at the office”: loading boxes under pressure, fighting traffic..."

2filmcritics

Aug 2, 20204 min read

The Painted Bird ★★★1/2

Horrific and lengthy, no uplifting message, notable for people who've walked out, it's about demonizing the "other," relevant to us now.

2filmcritics

Jul 20, 20204 min read

The Truth ★★★

There's a mechanical quality that can make it difficult to become involved. To the extent that’s not the case, credit the superb acting.

2filmcritics

Jul 10, 20203 min read

Bacurau ★★★1/2

Bacurau is not a simple Manichean melodrama, but a trenchant commentary on surprisingly themes: blatant racism & government disintegration.

2filmcritics

Jun 29, 20205 min read

Da 5 Bloods ★★1/2

Derivative, unfocused, politically superficial, and sometimes silly, “Da 5 Bloods” isn’t the epic Lee thought he was making.

2filmcritics

Jun 20, 20202 min read

“Beanpole” ★★★★

At the center of this compelling drama are two women, each damaged and traumatized by the war and its aftermath.

2filmcritics

Jun 14, 20203 min read

“Tommaso” ★★

As a whole, “Tommaso” is not captivating, not seductive, barely worth watching. Ferrara’s latest suffers from an overdose of causation.

2filmcritics

Jun 9, 20203 min read

L'Innocente ("The Innocent") ★★1/2

"L'Innocente" wallows in excesses of decadent aristocrats: a surfeit of wealth, of hedonism, of moralizing, of color, and of over-acting.

2filmcritics

May 22, 20203 min read

Bad Education ★★1/2

Hugh Jackman (playing against type as a closeted gay man) and Allison Janney may be just too good at playing bad guys.

Until the Birds Return (En attendant les hirondelles) ★★★

2filmcritics

May 10, 20203 min read

Until the Birds Return (En attendant les hirondelles) ★★★

Full of stories & actions that could have consequences but don't. Some will find it worthwhile; others—like some characters—will be bored.

Anora

The Wild Robot

Small Things Like These

Conclave

His Three Daughters

The Outrun

Megalopolis

My Old Ass

Red Rooms

Good One

Between the Temples

Alien: Romulus

Kneecap

Totem

Longlegs

A Quiet Place: Day One

Memory

Hit Man

Inside Out 2

Kinds of Kindness

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

The Fall Guy

Civil War

Challengers

La Chimera

Housekeeping for Beginners

The Beast La Be te)

All of Us Strangers

Io Capitano

The Teachers' Lounge

Perfect Days

Rustin

American Fiction

The Zone of Interest

Poor Things

The Holdovers

Maestro

Fallen Leaves

Eileen

May December

Saltburn

Anatomy of a Fall (Anatomie d'une chute)

Killers of the Flower Moon

Scarlet

The Royal Hotel

Showing Up

Past Lives

Bottoms

Frances Ha

Damsels in Distress

You Hurt My Feelings

Barbie

Oppenheimer

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Asteroid City

To Dub or Not To Dub: Rethinking the cineaste's aversion to dubbing

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
Master Gardener

Saint Omer

Hannah Ha Ha

The Whale

Ghost Tropic

Argentina, 1985

Linoleum

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio

Triangle of Sadness

All Quiet on the Western Front (Im Westen nichts Neues)

The Quiet Girl

Women Talking

White Noise

After Yang

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Aftersun

The Fabelmans

Living

The Banshees of Inisherin

Till

Decision to Leave

Tár

In Our Prime

God's Country

Barbarian

Funny Pages

Resurrection

Bad Luck Banging

Nope

Cha Cha Real Smooth

Kimi

Everything Everywhere All At Once

Mass

The Outfit

Top Gun: Maverick

A Chiara

Happening (L'Événement)

The Northman

King Richard

A Hero (Ghahreman)

CODA

Flee (Flugt)

Parallel Mothers (Madres paraleles)

Nightmare Alley

The Worst Person in the World

Drive My Car

Spencer

Licorice Pizza

Petite Maman

INTERVIEW with Warren Beatty’s Reds historical consultant, Robert A. Rosenstone

Bergman Island

Passing

The Lost Daughter

Belfast

tick, tick...BOOM!

The Power of the Dog

Pig

The French Dispatch

Bad Attitude: The Art of Spain Rodriguez

The Souvenir (Part One)

Dune

Black Bear

No Time to Die

Acasă, My Home (“Acasă”)

No Sudden Move

Quo Vadis, Aida?

Shiva Baby

The Green Knight

White on White

The Truffle Hunters

Zola

In the Heights

Riders of Justice

A Quiet Place Part II

There Is No Evil

Syndrome K

The Forty-Year-Old Version

Judas and the Black Messiah

Crip Camp

The Father

Promising Young Woman

News of the World

Nomadland

Minari

Another Round ("Druk")

Some Kind of Heaven

The White Tiger

One Night in Miami

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Mangrove

Mank

You Never Had It: An Evening with Bukowski

The True Adventures of Wolfboy

The Vast of Night

Martin Eden

Helmut Newton: The Bad and the Beautiful

The Wild Goose Lake

Cuties ("Mignonnes")

I'm Thinking of Ending Things

The Assistant

Palm Springs

Sorry We Missed You

The Painted Bird

The Truth

Bacurau

Da 5 Bloods

Beanpole

Tommaso

L'Innocente ("The Innocent")

The Painter and the Thief

Bad Education

Until the Birds Return

The Two Popes

The Lighthouse

Never Rarely Sometimes Always

Midsommar

Ford v Ferrari

American Factory

First Cow

Seberg

Ordinary Love

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

The Traitor/Il Traditore

Uncut Gems

Les Misérables

The Last Black Man in San Francisco

Bombshell

1917

Knives Out

Little Women

Marriage Story

Queen & Slim

The Irishman

Cold Brook

Jojo Rabbit

Parasite

Joker

Ad Astra

Pain and Glory

First Love

Downton Abbey

Monos

The Goldfinch

Late Night

Good Boys

The Farewell

Yesterday

Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood

They Shall Not Grow Old

Toy Story 4

Bad Times at the El Royale

Bob Wilson's Life and
Death of Marina
Abramovic

The Sisters Brothers

Gloria Bell

Us

Won't You Be My
Neighbor

Never Look Away

Capernaum

Everybody Knows

Shoplifters

Three Identical Strangers

Minding the Gap

Cold War

The Favourite

Creed II

If Beale Street Could Talk

Roma

Can You Ever Forgive Me

Green Book

The House with a Clock in its Walls

Wildlife

The Kindergarten Teacher

Free Solo

A Star is Born

Museo

Eighth Grade

BlacKkKlansman

Sorry to Bother You

A Ciambra

The First Purge

Piazza Vittorio

Loro 1

My Cousin Rachel

Black Panther

Marshall

Call Me By Your Name

I, Tonya

Mudbound

The Darkest Hour

The Post

The Shape of Water

Indiscretion of an American Wife (Stazione Termini)

Downsizing

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

INTERVIEW with "Blade Runner" Screenwriter Hampton Fancher

Lady Bird

Rome Adventure

Last Flag Flying

Mother!

Blade Runner 2049

Logan Lucky

Wonder Woman

Dunkirk

The Beguiled

Berlin Syndrome

Facing Windows

Baby Driver

Personal Shopper

INTERVIEW with "John Wick" Screenwriter Derek Kolstad

I Am Not Your Negro

Sing

Get Out

The Salesman

Toni Erdmann

Hacksaw Ridge

Hidden Figures

Fences

Arrival

Elle

Lion

La La Land

Hell or High Water

Manchester by the Sea

Moonlight

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Doctor Strange

Florence Foster Jenkins

Demon

Mia Madre

Indignation

Captain Fantastic

Weiner

2 FILM CRITICS

Bill and Dianne's Excellent Adventure

Reviewing Films, Together

4 STARS

4 STARS

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