'Downton Abbey,' Season Five

Downton Somnambuley

In previous seasons, the Facebook feed would light up on Sunday nights in January and February, gnashing over the latest twists and erupting in fury at spoilers. This year, one of the only statuses I remember about Downton Abbey was my former French teacher realizing that she had forgotten to tune in the previous night.

Alaina Johns

Mar 17, 2015 · Articles · 5 minute read

Leonard Nimoy: An appreciation

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t know Spock. And with his legacy of films and TV, Spock and Nimoy will live on, into the 23rd century and beyond.

Tara Lynn Johnson

Feb 28, 2015 · Articles · 3 minute read

The case against Oscar-bait biographies

Bio(nit)pic

My beef with biopics goes way back to when I was 11 and Gandhi beat E.T. for Best Picture.

Paula Berman

Feb 21, 2015 · Articles · 6 minute read

Top ten reasons you should watch the Oscars Sunday night

In honor of David Letterman — the Worst Oscar Host Ever — Armen Pandola presents a Top Ten list of reasons to watch the Oscars.

Armen Pandola

Feb 17, 2015 · Articles · 5 minute read

Iñárritu’s ‘Birdman’ (second review)

A bird’s-eye view

Few seem to have recognized that there’s a reason for handling Birdman’s entire narrative as a single take. That reason is simple: The filmmakers effectively personalize the camera’s perspective — someone, and not just something, is roaming around backstage at the theater.

Judy Weightman

Feb 16, 2015 · Articles · 6 minute read

'American Sniper' and 'Mr. Turner'

The eyes of Mr. Turner and an American sniper

How far can a movie go in representing the lives of real people?

AJ Sabatini

Feb 10, 2015 · Articles · 5 minute read

Richard Linklater’s ‘Boyhood’ (second review)

The inexplicable canonization of Boyhood

Linklater’s concept was ambitious, and I understand the urge to heap accolades on his inventiveness. I wish more established Hollywood filmmakers took such creative risks. But that alone was not enough to lift Boyhood up from an interesting experiment into a life-changing cinematic experience.

Paula Berman

Jan 31, 2015 · Articles · 5 minute read

Roberto Rossellini's 'Stromboli'

Once upon an isle

Roberto Rossellini’s restored Stromboli, a film as much about the director’s scandalous romance with Ingrid Bergman as about its plot of a woman struggling to escape a barren island in postwar Italy, has power and visual beauty despite its melodramatic elements.

Robert Zaller

Jan 30, 2015 · Articles · 6 minute read

Michael Mann's 'Blackhat'

Hacking into reality

The exponentially increasing interconnectedness and interdependence that computers and the Internet have wrought also allow the potential for damage to be ever more serious and substantial, with the real possibility of taking down not just a bank but an entire national economy, or the killing of not just a handful but thousands. In that dark sense, even Blackhat barely scratches the surface.

Mark Wolverton

Jan 24, 2015 · Articles · 5 minute read

'Mozart in the Jungle' on Amazon

Who the hell plays the oboe?

Amazon’s Mozart in the Jungle gives us that look through the eyes of a naif, a stand-in for the author of the 2005 memoir on which the show is based. The subtitle of that book — “Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music” — tells you a fair amount about the series’ irreverent take, but doesn’t convey the passion for the music that also shines through.

Judy Weightman

Jan 20, 2015 · Articles · 3 minute read