Archive | December, 2019

Uncut Gems Review

31 Dec

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A blistering, full throttle descent into madness that manages to make a bunch of terrible men yelling over each other extremely entertaining. Sandler is a force in this film – you can see every one of this character’s impulses eating away at him from the inside, driving his every thought and action. It’s an incredible performance, especially from a body language perspective, its own high wire pressure cooker imbued with just the right amount of tragic comedy. Julia Fox holds her own and then some opposite him, clearly understanding both the ridiculous and brutally sad sides of the story in tandem. Daniel Lopatin’s score is brilliant, per usual.

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The Best Film Performances of 2019

29 Dec

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PERFORMANCES

15. (TIE) Antonio Banderas, “Pain and Glory” & Sienna Miller, “American Woman”
14. Jonathan Majors, “The Last Black Man in San Francisco”
13. Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein, “Booksmart”

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The Best Television Performances of 2019

27 Dec

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As is tradition, time to kick off my year end lists in television, film and music! Stay tuned for more.

15. Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle, “Pen15”

14. Michelle Williams, “Fosse/Verdon”

13. Regina King, “Watchmen”

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Little Women Review

25 Dec

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Little Women is a genuinely lovely, affecting film that exudes such warmth for its characters and their hopes, dreams, and fears. It’s driven both by an understanding of sisterhood and by an understanding of what it means to want something as an individual. It lives in the complexities of human emotion and love, and in its most striking moments, highlights the dichotomy of trying to be independently headstrong and the oftentimes soul-crushing loneliness that accompanies being human. It’s at its core an all enveloping hug of a film, one that modernizes the well-tread story in a way that feels genuine and befits Gerwig’s sensibilities.

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Portrait of a Lady on Fire Review

1 Dec

A film that is deeply in love with the women at its center, and in love with the idea of their love. It’s the type of rare film that has no desire and no space to explore the influence of men in their lives – any pain and conflict in this story is derived less from external forces and more from pure, unencumbered longing. That’s refreshing, to say the least. It’s also as immaculately crafted of a production as you’d expect – the colors are lush and vibrant without being overpowering, muted when they need to be and powerfully vivid in certain key moments. The use of music, and lack thereof, is striking and calculated in its effect. The performances are both stellar.

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