‘French Exit’ Resembles a Trans-Atlantic ‘Arrested Development’’
In deadpan funny ‘French Exit’ Michelle Pfeiffer and Lucas Hedges play a mother and son stubbornly resistant to the real world.
Chris Barsanti
Chris Barsanti is an habitual scrivener on books and film for the lucky readers of PopMatters, Film Journal International, Film Racket, and Publishers Weekly, and has also been published in The Chicago Tribune, The Millions, The Barnes and Noble Review, and The Virginia Quarterly Review. He is a member of the National Book Critics Circle and New York Film Critics Online. His books include Filmology: A Movie-a-Day Guide to the Movies You Need to Know, Eyes Wide Open 2013: The Year's 25 Greatest Movies (and the 5 Worst), and The Sci-Fi Movie Guide: The Universe of Film from 'Alien' to 'Zardoz'. His writings can be found here.
‘Coming 2 America’? Sure, Why Not?
Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall’s unasked-for sequel, ‘Coming 2 America’, clears its very low bar and reminds that Wesley Snipes is a damn movie star.
‘Soul City’ and the Southern Utopia that Never Was
Thomas Healy’s ‘Soul City’ shines a light on the obstacles Black activist Floyd McKissick faced to create an inclusive community in America.
‘The United States vs. Billie Holiday’ Makes Tragedy Tawdry
Lee Daniels’ melodramatic mess, ‘The United States vs. Billie Holiday’, squanders every chance to turn Holiday from a victim into a person.
Time-Transcending Paranoia in ‘The Parallax View’
Fear of unseen powers causing public tragedies was so widespread in 1974 America that filmmakers knew audiences would believe the corporate murder machine of The Parallax View.
How the Cultural Revolution Turned China Against Itself
Yang Jisheng's remarkable historical autopsy, The World Turned Upside Down, is scrupulous in detailing the Cultural Revolution's horrors and insanities but too often leaves out the human side of history.
Cerebral ‘Mank’ Is a Gabby and Stylized Origin Story for ‘Citizen Kane’
While this roustabout story about Herman Mankiewicz's battle to write the Orson Welles classic is clearly impressed with itself, Mank is easily David Fincher's best work since Zodiac.
Giddy and Buzzy ‘The Prom’ Compresses ‘Glee’ into a Single Film
Ryan Murphy's Netflix adaptation of the satirical musical about Broadway stars inserting themselves into a same-sex school dance controversy, The Prom, hits his sweet spots and his weaknesses.
Forest Whitaker Film ‘Ghost Dog’ Is a Sampler’s Paradise
Jarmusch's 1999 classic Ghost Dog, now in a Criterion edition, freely mixes and matches Bushido philosophy, Mafia and samurai flicks, Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, and lo-fi hip-hop into a sly and dreamy comedy about role-playing.
Best Picks for the DOC NYC Film Festival 2020
The virtual edition of the year's premiere documentary showcase, DOC NYC Film Festival 2020, begins streaming tomorrow, Wednesday, 11 November. Prepare to heap your queue up with this abundance of documentary offerings.
‘A Peculiar Indifference’ Takes on Violence in Black America
Pulitzer Prize finalist Elliott Currie's scrupulous investigation of the impacts of violence on Black Americans, A Peculiar Indifference, shows the damaging effect of widespread suffering and identifies an achievable solution.