Rachel Morrison’s Love of Your Life was not the movie I was expecting.
From the film’s title and the marketing (especially the poster, which features a naked woman presumably about to go for a swim in the ocean), I figured it would be a female-oriented, swoony love story. And, to a degree, it is.
But the film is really about something else: trauma, grief, and the messy process of figuring out who you are after the life you thought you were going to have suddenly disappears.
Continue reading
Documentaries come in all shapes and sizes.
Over the years, we’ve seen everything from traditional historical retrospectives, concert films, and intimate portraits of celebrities, to sweet human-interest stories, hard-hitting investigative exposés, and explorations of offbeat subjects — some that leave you guessing about how real they actually are. Heck, in 2021, a movie called My Octopus Teacher won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.
And then there’s The History of Concrete, John Wilson’s weird and wonderful documentary about, yes, concrete. The stuff we walk on, build with, and generally don’t give a second thought to unless somebody trips over a sidewalk or a bridge collapses.
But if you’ve seen Wilson’s TV series, How To with John Wilson, which ended its run on HBO in 2023 and is currently available to watch on HBO Max, you know that the subject is really just the beginning. This is a filmmaker who could make a documentary about watching paint dry and somehow turn it into a hilarious, existential journey through the absurdity of being alive.
Continue reading
Poh Si Teng’s American Doctor is a film that’s designed to make viewers angry. Specifically, to make them angry at Israel.
Of course, it’s not unusual for a documentary to take a side and have a point of view. Usually, a clear perspective is a distinguishing factor for a documentary. And it’s not unusual for filmmakers to use selective editing to make their case.
But in the case of this documentary, the point of view borders on propaganda. (Not unlike NAZA, the controversial film that garnered a lot of attention at the recent Venice Film Festival, but we’ll talk about that one another time.)
American Doctor follows three American physicians — one Palestinian, one Jewish, and one Zoroastrian — who treated patients in Gaza during Israel’s military campaign that was in response to Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. But you wouldn’t know that cause-and-effect from watching the film. Through the experiences of Dr. Thaer Ahmad, Dr. Mark Perlmutter, and Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, the film shows viewers the destruction of Gaza’s medical infrastructure and argues that Israel and the United States bear sole responsibility for the humanitarian catastrophe that took place over the last three years.
So, yes, it presents the consequences of the Israel-Gaza war, which are real and undeniable. But it gives insufficient attention to the circumstances that led to the war in the first place or the responsibility that Hamas has for so much pain and suffering. That lack of important context means the film is, fundamentally, a prosecution of Israel — and its biggest weakness is the part of the story it leaves out.
Continue reading
To cut to the chase: I liked The Sun Never Sets. I didn’t love it, and I’m not sure I’ll be thinking about it much a week from now. But for most of its running time, I was perfectly happy watching it.
That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement, I know. But sometimes “likable enough” has to be a perfectly legitimate review.
Continue reading
Nobody was ever supposed to see Coyote vs. Acme.
Warner Bros. finished making the movie in 2023, but in November of that year, CEO David Zaslav said he would never release it (despite a reported cost of $70 million), instead deciding to put it on the shelf as a tax write-off of about $30 million.
The filmmakers and cast were understandably furious, and the decision sparked an enormous public backlash.
Surprisingly, the suits at WB eventually allowed director Dave Green to shop his film around, and after years of uncertainty, independent distributor Ketchup Entertainment rescued the movie and has now brought it to theaters.
Thankfully, it was all worth it.
Continue reading
One of my favorite things about the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World movies is what happens when the dinosaurs get off Isla Nublar, or whatever island or nature preserve they’re living on, and onto the mainland.
The Lost World: Jurassic Park gave us the T. rex stomping through San Diego, turning the city into prehistoric chaos. Jurassic World Dominion sent raptors and other assorted dinosaurs into Malta, where the streets became the setting of a giant chase sequence with creatures that really, really wanted to eat Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard — or anyone else they could find.
Those sequences work because there’s something inherently cool about watching dinosaurs in the real world. Put a velociraptor in a jungle or a contained environment and, sure, that’s scary. Put one in someone’s backyard and suddenly all hell breaks loose in a more relatable way.
David Robert Mitchell’s new sci-fi thriller The End of Oak Street takes that idea and runs with it — or, more accurately, shuffles along behind it.
Continue reading
There are few things more quintessentially American than Girl Scout Cookies.
Every winter, like clockwork, troops of girls appear outside supermarkets, in shopping malls, and on front porches, selling Thin Mints, Samoas, Trefoils, and Do-si-dos. For the girls, it’s not just about cookies; it’s a chance to learn a little something about business, perseverance, and themselves.
Cookie Queens, the charming new documentary directed by Alysa Nahmias, takes that annual ritual and turns it into a surprisingly engaging story. The film follows four determined young Girl Scouts as they set their cookie-selling goals and discover that reaching them can be about much more than simply moving boxes.
Continue reading
The new film One Night Only asks its audience to have a willing sense of disbelief, and there is perhaps nothing in it that’s more far-fetched than this: It wants us to believe that Callum Turner (Eternity) and Monica Barbaro (Top Gun: Maverick) can’t find anyone to sleep with — and on the horniest night of the year, yet.
If those two are striking out, then what hope is there for the rest of us?
The film imagines an alternate version of America where the right-wing government has outlawed premarital sex. Except, that is, for one 12-hour window — a glorious, state-sanctioned night every year when the country’s singles can finally let loose. Picture The Purge, but instead of everyone running around with assault rifles and other weapons looking to commit no-consequence crimes, they’re desperately hunting for condoms so they can get laid. It’s a ridiculous premise, and thankfully, the movie knows it.
Continue reading
If you’ve ever wondered what Anthony Bourdain was like before he became, well, Anthony Bourdain, then Tony is the movie for you.
Long before CNN and his globe-trotting culinary fame, Bourdain was simply Tony, “a spoiled, miserable, narcissistic, self-destructive, and thoughtless young lout” who was “badly in need of a good ass-kicking.” Don’t take my word for it; that’s literally how Bourdain describes himself in his 2000 book Kitchen Confidential.
In other words, this new film co-written and directed by Matt Johnson (BlackBerry) could almost be called “Portrait of the Chef as a Young Prick,” if A24 really wanted to take a risk.
Continue reading
Damage Control isn’t just the site of much of the action in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, it’s an all-too-obvious metaphor for a movie with a lot riding on its shoulders, coming after so many disappointing comic-book films — in the DC and Marvel cinematic universes — and an over-reliance on the multiverse and fan-pandering novelty.
The good news is that this hero is up to the task.
Brand New Day gets things back on track, delivering an emotionally rich and action-packed spectacle that’s bigger than previous outings and hugely satisfying, even if it feels a tad overstuffed.
Continue reading
