Memoir of a Snail: Shelled
We need to have a moratorium on movie protagonists named Grace. To be clear, I have nothing against that name per se. It’s a...
Heretic: American Pie
A couple of decades ago, I was growing impatient with Hugh Grant. I found him guilty of giving the same bumbling, stammering performance in...
Anora: Put a Ring on It
The first rule of dating a Russian oligarch is: Don’t ever ask where their money comes from. The title character of Anora breaks this...
Conclave: Election Season
Well, why don’t they make more movies about electing a pope? The procedure involves a small number of powerful men from all corners of...
We Live in Time: Scrambled Orders
We Live in Time is a romantic weeper with a gimmick: It tells its story out of order. There are solid reasons for movies...
Die With a Smile
The sequel to the 2022 horror hit, Smile 2 begins spectacularly, in a way that might make you wonder if you’ve gone into the...
Saturday Night: The Show Must Go On
Pauline Kael once described a film she reviewed as “coitus interruptus going on forever,” and that phrase came to mind when I was watching...
Apprentice: Apt Pupil
Last year I wrote that Sebastian Stan is best when he’s playing guys who are weak, small, and insecure. The word must be spreading,...
Joker: Put on a Happy Face
I didn’t weigh in on 2019’s Joker when it came out because I didn’t see it until the end of that year for awards...
Different Man: Face Time
Some actors have a face that you can’t forget, and of nobody is that truer than Adam Pearson. The London native has neurofibromatosis, which...
