Ridley Scott’s Low-Key ‘The Dog Stars’ Hides in Plain Sight
A welcome departure for Ridley Scott, slow and contemplative, The Dog Stars is a nuanced work of social commentary disguised as a survivalist film.
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Venice Film Festival 2026 Carefully Welcomes the Political in Filmmaking
Venice Film Festival 2026 embraced film’s political nature—though not without flinching—as we examine works by Paul Schrader, Shin’ya Tsukamoto, and an Oasis documentary.
Every Christopher Nolan Film Ranked from ‘Batman’ to ‘The Odyssey’
Christopher Nolan, today’s most ambitious director, lets us have our cake and eat it too by mixing avant-garde daring and maximalist spectacle.
‘The Odyssey’ Rocks the Boat of History
Christopher Nolan’s “blank check” epic, The Odyssey, is a curiously bold, dark, and surprising take on the dangerous ways in which we create history.
What Upholds Kokuho’s Mystique?
Highly praised, to a sycophantic degree, one might argue, Sang-il Lee’s lengthy drama, Kokuho, fails the artfulness of its subject.
‘Esta Isla’ (‘This Island’) Contains Multitudes
From its opening title, Esta Isla (This Island) embraces the complexity and contradictions of Fredric Jameson’s formulation of “third-world” society and Puerto Rico’s unique situation.
Ichi the Killer’s Scar Couture
Ichi the Killer transcends gangster archetypes, becoming a model of how agony can be elevated to art and self-destruction a powerful form of self-expression.
‘Tron’ Is ‘Hellraiser’ for the Whole Family
The Tron film series is more than a sci-fi adventure: it is a modern, neon-drenched reinterpretation of Hellraiser‘s horror mythos but with a more family-friendly vibe.
Michael Winterbottom’s ‘Shoshana’ and the Slow Death of the Prolific Auteur
Like Steven Soderbergh, director Michael Winterbottom has become very good at shapeshifting, making his work difficult to shoehorn into a genre.
Batman Returns’ Delirious Psychosexual Tension
The stitches, the shadows, the skin and the other psychosexual tension and animalistic identities of Batman Returns.
Outland’s Labor Politics Are As Brutal as Jupiter’s Moon
Sci-fi western Outland is literal in its depiction of corrupt corporations and worker exploitation, but it won’t give easy answers.
‘It Was Just an Accident’ Hides Life’s Extremes in Plain Sight
Jafar Panahi’s Palme d’Or-winning revenge thriller, It Was Just an Accident, slices into memory and the desire for revenge with a double-edged knife.