Mar 27Oscars 2022 Preview and Ballot ChoicesIf you ‘re here for some predictions to help your Oscar ballot, I’ll list those first, with a deeper-dive discussion following. (Reminder: the potential winners listed in the ballot are not necessarily my personal choices, just the ‘most likely’ predictions which have coalesced.) Best Picture: CODA Best Actor: Will Smith …Film9 min read
Nov 25, 2021Twelve Spiritual Lessons from the Gospel of Adele: A Track-by-Track Reflection on ‘30’If you see someone in public crying softly in a corner, check to see if they have headphones on: they are probably listening to the new Adele album. That may sound like the kind of thing you’d say about an Adele record— of course it’s going to give you “all…Adele29 min read
Nov 17, 2021In “Spencer,” Kristen Stewart Looks Back to Move ForwardKristen Stewart’s performance in “Spencer” is a stunning rebuke to the dismissals that greeted her earlier in her career. The off-handed and flinty equations of Stewart’s talent with the ‘Twilight’ phenomenon and its subsequent backlash and the clichéd derision that mistook her once ubiquitous tabloid coverage as proof she was…Film Reviews7 min read
Oct 15, 202110 Films that Intersect Latinx Heritage and LGBTQ History MonthsLatinx (or ‘Hispanic’) Heritage Month and LGBTQ History Month intersect (June is Pride Month; October focuses on history) and that brings to mind ten films that prominently feature queer Latinx history. I Carry You with Me (Te Llevo Conmigo) This film feels both intimate and epic, covering a time…Film5 min read
Apr 27, 2021Alternative Oscar Nominations: Who Should Have Been on the Awards Train to Union Station?Steven Soderbergh’s Oscar production immediately looked like it knew how to take the awards ceremony into the contemporary era, freshening up the ceremony with a dynamic opening tracking shot following Regina King as she carried an Oscar through Union Station. It felt like one of his caper movies was starting…Academy Awards13 min read
Apr 13, 2021In “Tina”, Love Has Everything to Do with It.At one point, towards the end of “Tina”, the beautiful and stirring new documentary about Tina Turner, her longtime partner Erwin Bach attempts to describe something ineffable: the depth of love, the charge of love he carries with him from his wife, the superstar who so often was described in…Film11 min read
Jan 6, 2021Seven Shows We Watched to Get Us Through the End of the Year (and the Start of a New One)What will the history books say we watched at the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021? That period when some among us gave no heed to travel warnings and indulged in international vacations and reunions, while the majority stayed home and with various levels of cheer, fear and…Film22 min read
Nov 18, 2020A Lion in Winter: Sophia Loren in ‘The Life Ahead’Sophia Loren is as evocative a name as we’ve ever had in film. Immediately you can picture those eyes which, in a single scene, can invite you, pierce you, warn you, restore you. That deeply resolute, honeyed voice. Cheekbones that enter the room first. A husky, conspiratorial laugh. A body…Film13 min read
Aug 12, 2020‘The Go-Go’s’: A Review of Their New Doc From a Fan As Old As They AreThe new doc ‘The Go-Gos’, much like the band’s music, is brisk, well-paced, and full of sudden depth charges. Getting to hear the entire band reflect from a position of hard-won sanity and sobriety adds a layer of calm to a frenetic burst of a story. …Film17 min read
Jul 23, 2020Naya Rivera: A Film Critic’s Appreciation of a TV StarI was much older than the target demographic for ‘Glee’, but I watched it semi-faithfully for these reasons: A) the intentionally diverse casting and primetime representation of many marginalized groups B) the clever reinvention and integration of pop songs and C) Naya Rivera. Truth be told, since the show could…Naya Rivera16 min read