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- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Hamlet
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- Dave on Review: The Chronology of Water (2025)
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- sheila on “I just love telling stories. That’s what we do and it’s a good business to be in, especially if you know you have talent.” –Jensen Ackles
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Tag Archives: reviews
Review: Tolkien (2019)
There’s so much that’s good here! Had some serious issues with aspects of it, but there’s a lot that is very good. Will be interested to hear from others their reactions, in particular Tolkien fans. My review of Tolkien is … Continue reading
For Criterion: “Love is Strange”: The Hot-Blooded Love Cry at the Cold Heart of Badlands
For Criterion’s “Songbook” column: I wrote about the use of Mickey & Sylvia’s “Love is Strange” in Terrence Malick’s Badlands: The Hot-Blooded Love Cry at the Cold Heart of Badlands.
Posted in Movies, Music
Tagged Badlands, drama, Martin Sheen, reviews, Sissy Spacek, Terrence Malick
4 Comments
Review: Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019)
It’s so good. I was hoping it would be since my feelings about Zac Efron are well-known. And I love Joe Berlinger’s stuff. He’s a documentary guy so this is a change-up. It’s so good. I went pretty long in … Continue reading
Review: Ask Dr. Ruth (2019)
I reviewed the fun and informative documentary about Dr. Ruth Westheimer, a juggernaut in the 1980s, but still going strong at age 90. I learned a lot about her life from this documentary, stuff I never knew. My review is … Continue reading
May-June 2019 Film Comment: on Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir
It was such a pleasure writing about Joanna Hogg’s latest film The Souvenir for Film Comment (I hadn’t realized it would be the cover story! I’m thrilled, not just for myself, but for the film, which I hope everyone sees). … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged drama, England, Joanna Hogg, reviews, Tilda Swinton, women directors
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Review: Wrestle (2018)
The opening shot of Suzannah Herbert and Lauren Belfer’s documentary Wrestle – which follows four members of a Huntsville, Alabama high-school wrestling team through their 2015-16 season – is a stunner. A green athletic field stretches far below, lit-up at … Continue reading
Review: Carmine Street Guitars (2019)
A documentary about the West Village staple: Carmine Street Guitars, a little storefront filled with the most gorgeous custom-made guitars, a stop-off place for every legendary guitarist in the world. My review of Carmine Street Guitars is now up at … Continue reading
Review: Fast Color (2019)
If you didn’t see Julia Hart’s Miss Stevens (2016) then I suggest you do. I think I mentioned it back then, in particular Lily Rabe’s wonderful lead performance. Fast Color is the Hart’s new film. I reviewed for Rogerebert.com.
Review: Wild Nights with Emily (2019)
I absolutely loved Madeleine Olnek’s Wild Nights with Emily, starring Molly Shannon as Emily Dickinson, Susan Zeigler as the famous (and famously erased) “Sue” of Dickinson’s poems, and Amy Seimetz (whom I just met last fall when we were both … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged biopic, comedy, Emily Dickinson, poetry, reviews, women directors
3 Comments
Review: The Haunting of Sharon Tate (2019)
Despicable. My review is now up at Rogerebert.com.

