Bill Goodykoontz

There Will Be Blood is a masterpiece; Daniel Day-Lewis' performance as a ruthless oilman is without flaw.

It is particularly rewarding to see Clooney outside his comfort zone of self-composed cool in The Descendants, Alexander Payne's beautifully gentle, funny and moving film.

It’s 3 hours and 35 minutes long (including a 15-minute intermission), and while it’s full and complete, it never drags or feels padded. It is, simply put, a great movie.

With Drive My Car, the journey is as satisfying as the destination. It’s great.

It's powerful stuff.

Simply put, Argo is why we go to movies.

Emotionally engaging from the start, bolstered by brilliant performances and held together by Song’s understated direction that weaves timelines together flawlessly, it’s more than just good.

Nothing is off the table when your status is threatened, no matter what your station in life. Parasite explores this in stunning fashion.

Dunkirk is a great movie, both an old-time inspirational war epic and at the same time very much a Christopher Nolan movie.

The whole movie is amazing.

McCarthy and his brilliant cast make hard work and truth-telling inspiring.

Birdman is a treat. But it's also more than that. It's a full-fledged wonder.

Marty Supreme is breakneck, it’s nerve wracking and it is above all entertaining as all get out. It makes you eager to see what Chalamet’s going to do next.

Of course, you could just watch this for the performances and it would still be one of the best movies of the year. But why sell yourself short? Watch it for everything that it is, a kind of miraculously unearthed treasure trove of music and politics and culture and soul. So much soul.

Though everyone is older this time around, and the themes are darker, harder to enjoy, the conversation is just as engrossing. So is the film.

Hamilton defies a cynical reading. It is a great show, and an important one. Right now the latter might be more a more crucial description that the former. Don’t miss it.

It makes you think. And that's invaluable.

"Three Billboards" is a really good movie filled with terrific performances, but what McDormand is doing here surpasses them all.

It’s only Fargeat’s second feature after 2017’s “Revenge.” That was a good movie. “The Substance” is a substantial leap forward and a film people will rightfully be talking about for a while.

What makes 56 Up, like the “Up” films before it, so remarkable is how it puts these stories together, giving us an ensemble of characters as interesting as any in a scripted drama.

Soul asks its audience to examine what in life truly is important. You never know what your spark might be, until suddenly you do. And it might not be what you think. Turns out you may have had it all along.

First Cow sneaks up on you a little bit. You become engrossed in these men and their relationship, then their business, then their survival. And that’s definitely not nothing. Far from it, in fact

There was a cry from Wallace fans when Segel was cast (some are still up in arms), but he’s terrific. So is Eisenberg, in an even more difficult role.

Carol is a simple story that sneaks up on you. Todd Haynes takes such care in the telling of it — and the gorgeous depiction of it — that it's impossible not to be moved.

Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret is a delightful film, just lovely.

What’s most remarkable about the film, which was shot in Iraq, are the performances. The cast members are not actors. They’re non-professionals, at least, acting for the first time. Yet their performances feel so genuine, so lived-in.

It's terrific. It's about many things, but dread infuses them all. You won't be grossed out. You'll be creeped out. And that's a lot more satisfying.

When telling the story of real-life heroes, it’s easy to lapse into clichés. What makes the terrific Only the Brave such a powerful movie is its abject rejection of them.