Film/TV
686 results
Page 32
Gender presentation in 'The Danish Girl'
A different way of looking at gender
By rearranging The Danish Girl's narrative into conventional “woman stands by her man [sic]” tropes, the filmmakers can do something far more radical: proclaim the power of the female gaze.
Articles
5 minute read
Todd Haynes's 'Carol'
Loved Carol, not Carol
Cate Blanchett fans will enjoy this vehicle, but Carol's engine misfires too often. Cate’s glowing character may be a lonely store clerk’s fantasy, but how might she have been treated in real life?
Articles
4 minute read
Tom McCarthy’s ‘Spotlight’ (second review)
Journalism’s rise and fall
Journalism was once a refuge for adventurers and drunks. Today, at its best, it’s become a moral role model even for the Vatican, as Spotlight compellingly demonstrates. But this is no time for self-congratulation.
Articles
8 minute read
'Bridge of Spies' and 'Trumbo'
Revisiting the Red Scare
Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies and Jay Roach’s Trumbo are reminders, instructive and nostalgic, that what scares us now happened before, and we survived.
Articles
5 minute read
A look back at 2015's best television
Looking at my list of my 2015 favorites, I still see shows featuring tortured men on the moral razor’s edge, torn between the two sides of their nature — but the cracks are beginning to show.
Articles
6 minute read
'A Very Murray Christmas' on Netflix
A snark-free holiday celebration
Bill Murray grew up, as I did, watching holiday specials of the ubiquitous variety shows of the '50s and '60s, and he celebrates them in his Netflix special, A Very Murray Christmas. The title encapsulates the overall vibe of the show, which both recognizes the cheesiness of the genre he’s recreating and sincerely respects it.
Articles
5 minute read
'Jessica Jones' on Netflix
The future of female superheroes (maybe)
The only thing more deadly than superheroine Jessica Jones's strength is her quick, very snide sense of humor.
Articles
3 minute read
Brian Helgeland's 'Legend'
Two for the price of one
Tom Hardy is extraordinary in Legend, Brian Helgeland’s biopic of the East End twins who dominated London’s crime scene in the 1960s. But a more searching film would have had more to say about the connections between high and low society.
Articles
4 minute read
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‘The Leftovers’ on HBO
Let the mystery be
The change of scene in season two of The Leftovers jolted the show from a meditation on grief into a crisis of conscience — and gave me hope that it won’t spiral into the incoherent plotting of creator Damon Lindelof’s previous show, Lost.
Articles
5 minute read
'East Jerusalem/West Jerusalem' at the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival
Make music, not war
East Jerusalem/West Jerusalem documents an eight-day collaboration between Israeli, Palestinian, and American musicians making an album in an East Jerusalem music studio. The project, led by Israeli singer/songwriter David Broza, shows what can be achieved when human interaction replaces politics.
Articles
4 minute read