Tag Archives: Reviews

A Filmgoer’s Guide to the Best Films of 2021

“The part about going to the movies that was so thrilling was not the film itself…but being around other humans, tearing up at the end and realizing that the people on either side of me were sniffling, too.” How Life Resumes, NTY, Melissa Kirsch, 2/19/22

Things change. As I write, the Academy Awards are a week away on Sunday, March 27. I usually post my annual, A Filmgoer’s Guide to the Best Films, well in advance of the Oscars. Since the event is approaching, the deadline for this review is here.

Award shows this year, those that didn’t cancel their in-person events, were delayed. The same was true of many of the films from 2021. Studios hoped people would feel safe enough to return to theaters in person so they postponed premieres. Most didn’t feel safe, including me. Continue reading

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A Filmgoer’s Guide to the Best Films of 2017

“Cinema, for me, has always been something like music composed with photographic images.” Roger Ebert 

Continuing the metaphor of cinema as music, 2017’s playlist featured all genres, tempos, and beats, from comic book heroines, car chases, psychological thrillers, to fantasies, historical events, satire, and romance. Apes waged war against people, countries battled each other on land, sea, and air, mothers and daughters argued, three billboards in Ebbing, Missouri asked a provocative question, and all the money in the world could not save the reputations of Kevin Spacey, Harvey Weinstein, and most recently, James Franco, and a long list of Hollywood men whom were exposed and called out by the #MeToo movement, which is changing the culture of the filmmaking industry and giving voice, long overdue equity, and opportunity to women, much like the change ignited by 2015’s #OscarsSoWhite. Continue reading

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