Portraying the same 1945 confrontation from the vantage point of the Japanese was an inspired idea. Unfortunately, the movie it inspired is something of a letdown.

Even after over four decades, Diva still impresses with Beineix’s masterful mix of highbrow and lowbrow. With the stunning new 4K restoration, Diva retains its well-deserved status as a late 20th-century movie masterpiece.

In the end, while I did struggle to follow its central narrative, Bi Gan has my admiration as a filmmaker, though I was hoping it would be a little more profound as it was artful in the end. He connects with you from an emotional standpoint

A timeless classic, full of excitement, humor, witty asides and memorable characters.

Once again, the Coens' tale of the damned is damn funny.

One of the most beautifully stark, yet provocative and powerful films of 2005 has to be Capote. Phillip Seymour Hoffman, who gives his finest screen performance to date, literally becomes Truman Capote through effete mannerism, nasaly voice & self-absorbed tone.

The film is a monumental achievement, rolling in like distant thunder and lightning seen through the treeline.

The lightning in a bottle you have to catch to make an epic love story work is chemistry between the leads. With one actor a relative novice, and the other trying to stretch himself and direct his first feature, the deck was stacked against them. But wow did they pull it off. Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper are terrific together.

This is brilliant filmmaking.

Julie Christie gives a fabulous performance of mysterious, unclear depth as Fiona.

Hamilton is a brilliantly shot and produced performance for posterity of one of America’s best contemporary musicals.

The Father is about the suffering of old age, the importance of connection, the sick encroaching of an affliction, and ultimately, death. It doesn’t sugarcoat things, despite its sugarcoated exterior. Like its French counterpart, Michael Haneke’s Amour, it’s not an easy watch, but it’s a necessary one, a film that examines the very essence of our humanity.

Cruz effortlessly holds the screen in a tricky performance: phlegmatic and ambivalent, radiating charisma and sophistication, making you feel for her despite some morally dubious acts.

After a strong takeoff, the film lands on dead grounds.

A true cinematic gem.

One of the funniest things I have ever seen was Dustin Hoffman weeping uncontrollably as he recounted how he never truly understood the inner pain and torment of what it felt like to be an ugly woman until he made “Tootsie.” I wouldn’t trade that thirty seconds for the entire film. Tootsie is funny enough and Hoffman truly does make an scary awe inspiring wreck of a woman, but people would have you believe this film was the Rosetta Stone of comedy, whereas it’s really just an ok film dominated by television actors and desperately lucky to have caught Bill Murray on a free afternoon.

In 1968, a variety show appeared on PBS that would permanently change the face of television. That program, created, produced, and hosted by openly gay African American Ellis Haizlip, was Soul! His niece, writer/director Melissa Haizlip, now tells the story of her uncle’s legacy in the enthralling, all-encompassing documentary Mr. Soul! 1960s television was full of white people. They were well-off posing as middle class, as in The Donna Reed Show and Mr. Ed, or the hillbillies featured in The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres, but everybody, from sitcoms to news to commercials, was white. Ironically, this same decade also saw the rise of the color television, yet programmers remained colorblind. Ellis Haizlip had a vision, though: a black show for black people. His connections in public broadcasting made it happen, and he went through a handful of hosts before taking on the duty himself. What emerged became one of the single most important broadcast series in the history of television. Of course, the powers that be eventually caught on, leading to the show’s demise. Yes, this is a basic summary, but honestly, it would be a disservice to go any deeper for anybody previously unfamiliar with this show or its content. Simply put, this was one of the most amazing things ever to appear on television, and that’s not hyperbole. Ellis’ connection to the Black Arts Movement brought in a wide range of artists, from Stevie Wonder, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, members from The Last Poets, to Amiri Baraka. Author James Baldwin, Minister Louis Farrakhan, and boxer Muhammad Ali all appeared, as well as actors Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier. BAM poet Nikki Giovanni frequently guest hosted. “In 1968, a variety show appeared on PBS that would permanently change the face of television.” Essentially, Melissa Haizlip has built a motion picture monument to Ellis and his vision. There’s a brief glimpse of his life, enough to understand where he was coming from and what he was doing. But, the movie is really about the show he created, where Gospel choirs would collaborate with poets and jazz musicians, sometimes all at once, and figureheads of black culture could come to express the beauty and experience of their lives. This wasn’t about denigrating others for their privilege, but rather a serious discussion of what was happening then and there. Haizlip wasn’t afraid to challenge his guests, either. We see Ellis question Farrakhan on the Nation of Islam’s position on homosexuality. The minister’s response can be interpreted in many ways, but Haizlip allowed for that. He addressed issues without anger, resentment, or provocation. He kept things low-key and relaxed, a social gathering where all were welcome no matter where they came from. This was not only the first program to fully embrace African American being, but also a landmark in arts programming, as in Nikki Giovanni’s in-depth conversations with James Baldwin. This was different, innovative, groundbreaking. Soul! ended in the wake of the Nixon administration, but its legacy lives on. About two-thirds of the series is available for streaming, and after watching just a few episodes, you understand why this show from fifty years ago deserves to be the subject of serious analysis today. To get the full story, though, you should watch Mr. Soul! and understand why Ellis Haizlip deserves and embodies that title.

We all know about this war, but until you actually see it, it’s difficult to grasp. That’s why 2000 Meters to Andriivka is so important, people need to know what is going on.

This movie is absolutely fantastic!

Please seek out The Human Voice as soon as you can. It is a short, shockingly beautiful exploration of the stages of abandonment.

You have to remind yourself constantly, this is real. There are no special effects.

There’s no question here that moviegoers will be treated to a completely enveloping, three-hour vacation from reality.

If Beale Street Could Talk is an immersive experience. Viewers will get wrapped up in Baldwin’s timely tale of love, perseverance, and prejudice.

The picture is a stylistically fearless rush; surreal one moment, satirical the next but never for a second dull, showy or overreaching.

At every turn, Marielle Heller provides nuanced, intimate framing and dialogue that is most interested in the little dramas that define who we are while never losing sight of its overarching narrative.

Wolfwalkers is a beautiful movie for fans of animation and families with young children. If you want to ween the little ones off Disney’s overproduced glitz and turn them on to alternative forms of animation and storytelling, Wolfwalkers is a great place to start.

The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open is a genuine social realist film and the fact that it is shot in real-time only heightens the sense of reality. Everything is authentic.

Our Father, The Devil is a deeply suspenseful and insightful film.

Little more than a travelogue designed to show off the grandeur of the Hermitage, with the silly actors in fancy costumes getting in the way of the paintings and sculptures on display.

Clearly, Gomorrah is supposed to represent the best of today’s European cinema...and if this is the best, I would hate to imagine the worst! Gomorrah is a boring mess focusing on how the mob in today’s Naples has its tentacles stretched far and wide

The film can be enjoyed on many levels, including getting just interplanetary on your favorite substance and waiting for the plethora of quotable lines.

All That Breathes is a powerful documentary with a message that needs to be felt down deep in the lungs.

The description of the actual re-claiming of the prison by the corrections officers and the national guard is told in horrifying detail, and the torture and punishment of the surviving prisoner are much worse. I dare you to watch it today and not get angry about the racial divide that existed in the 70s.

Ultimately, the filmmakers manage to sustain the public’s attention at all times while painting an informative, entertaining, and emotional picture of a choreographer, his friends and colleagues, and his most important work; and that might be enough for now.

There's a lot to enjoy, and plenty of potential, but none of it pays off. So we're left with what amounts to some very clever experimental cinema in the Lynch vein. Which, if you think about it, isn't all that bad.

Mission Impossible: Fallout is a worthy addition to the franchise and a fast pace thrill-ride. McQuarrie manages to keep the story, stunts, and structure fresh.

The results are by turns fascinating, horrifying, and maddening.

Wolfe's movie functions as an ode to Black culture, Black music, Black art; as a scathing treatise on the obstacles Black people have had to overcome (and are still overcoming) to be seen and heard and respected; as a celebration of jazz; as a showcase for two stellar performances and a majestic farewell to one of our greatest young actors.

Nearly all of the footage in the film is incredible, both in terms of content and restoration. The performances are like nothing else in Dylan’s career or anybody’s career.

Nomadland is a wonderful exploratory mission into real American life.

Like its central performance, Hope manages to convey and dissect so much with (seemingly) so little: the way real struggle makes us realize how much we love, truly see, and trust each other; the hidden reserves of human perseverance in the face of certain death; the healing power of art; and hope, of course. Hope and despair give life meaning, one unable to exist without the other.

Maybe if PETA tried being funny instead of comparing eating meat to the Holocaust, they’d have a bigger following.

The Banshees of Inisherin is a magnificent film telling a great, compelling story.

Do not, under any circumstance, approach this film lightly. Prepare to be depressed, agitated and shocked. And prepare to see a brilliant work of cinematic art.

Isn’t really about drugs. It’s about what motivates people to make hard choices. However, deciding whether or not to view this unique glimpse into a seldom seen world should be easy. It’s a must-see.

Rohrwacher’s work is brilliant and very much recommended.

Simultaneously offers priceless insight into the nation's past and a worrisome take on the future.

This much-ballyhooed gay cowboy melodrama is an inert disappointment.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is probably the best-animated superhero tale to do justice to the pulp comic book fan both in style and content. It upholds the spirit of Marvel Comics by juxtaposing the humanity of each hero and villain against the prerequisite kick-ass action sequences. At let’s face facts, the art direction is the true star of the film.

The framing, editing, and overall rhythm of the story brim with intelligence. When coupled with a star-making performance from McEwen, we have what should be a new LGBTQIA+ classic drama.

Not really a horror film at all, but a dark religious thriller with a creepy edge and a song in its heart. The film wittily mixes the starkest possible religious conflict with enchanting 70’s era folk music, creating the first comparative religions quasi-musical thriller.

Microcosmos is that rare film to lead us, to reiterate why the camera is just as important as the paintbrush, keyboard, pen, chunks of clay, and anything else that can be used to make art. This is art.

You’ll be holding your breath at times.

Murderball isn't a documentary played in the key of those Olympics stories that inspire you with sugary drivel, although it is ultimately inspiring.

Sasha deserves credit not only for making a riveting documentary but also for getting so darkly personal.

I really liked that Robert Greene chose to have the citizens of Bisbee play the roles of the strikers and deputies the reenactment. I feel that it really added something special to the documentary.

I can see why this movie scared so many people. I’m fairly liberal and I find Clint’s super-cop infinitely appealing. Imagine how this movie goes down with people who already have one foot in the door of the local militia or Klan auxiliary. Even Pauline Kæl would have to admit that politics aside, this is a pretty damn effective action movie. This is Clint at maybe his best looking and healthiest, and his Inspector Callahan is perhaps every rebel’s dream.

Good One is a carefully crafted character study. It’s brought to life by perfectly calibrated performances, led by the young but brilliant Lily Collias. This is one hike everyone should experience.

No wonder that cinematic auteurs like Martin Scorsese and Oren Moverman produced Diane. It brings to mind films like Kenneth Lonergan’s You Can Count On Me, produced by Scorsese, or Moverman’s Time Out of Mind (which also dealt with memories, identity and the limits of human compassion). Jones may lack a little of the former’s humor or the latter’s visual artistry, but perhaps it’ll come later. The hard skills are all here.

Economic struggle, crime, intimidation in a variety of forms, and, above all, the lack of affection and joie de vivre, are factors strongly influencing the course of the story. Hu Bo, who could have been a true artist of the cinema, put his spellbinding camerawork at the service of a brutal social exposition with plenty of anger and frustration. The effect is intimidating but very real.

Divine Love is beautifully shot and wonderfully acted, but for those who are on the religious persuasion it may be too blasphemous, and for those who do not subscribe to a defined religion, it may be too dogmatic and weird.

Eastwood tells the story at a pace well under the Hollywood speed limit, tosses in details so beguiling they seem about to sprout into motion pictures of their own and bathes his subjects in shadows as lovely as those in any Rembrandt.

The low-key, natural performances are dramatically offset by the mercurial and incandescent Lelia Goldoni, the emotional heart of the film.

This masterful documentary from David France weaves high-stakes storytelling and investigative reporting to expose the ongoing situation, resulting in an unforgettable film.

A courageous film, especially from a first-time director, and deserves all the audience support it can attract. It’s a People Story, and it’s About Something. However, it’s also something of a heavy sit.

The most beautiful thing about EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert is that in connecting us so intimately to the man and showing him in all his complexity, Luhrmann cuts through the baggage we bring and gives us a fresh look at one of the most fascinating and accomplished musicians who has ever lived.

Ruizpalacios, who did a more consistent job in his 2014 debut drama Gueros, combines adventurous theft, archaeology lessons, family aloofness, and a vitiated friendship all in one. The lens of cinematographer Damián García attractively captures all of this, but part of the energy accumulated during the journey wasn’t always canalized in the right direction.

Bleak, weirdly witty at times and unrelentingly suspenseful, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead is the cinematic equivalent of a perfect storm.

This is a film that gets savored through reflection as you put all the pieces together and realize the scope of its achievement.

Portman delivers a compelling and unabashed performance, one that is award-deserving.

To me, Say Anything is without a shadow of a doubt the most rewarding, funny, and likable romance of the last twenty years. It heralds the decency of romantic love against the gears of a cold, grinding mechanical world.

A languorous and poetic study of faith, grief, love, death and regret, set against the disheveled, but gorgeously framed, backdrop of Lisbon’s ghetto.

All you have to do is forget about watching the movie and let the movie watch you. Just listen to the thunder in the distance, overhear part of someone else’s life, and feast your eyes on vistas unseen until now.

The beauty of the film is just how genuine and down-to-earth the performances are and how Gyllenhaal maintains a natural, authentic tone throughout.

It feels strangely slight for Almodovar, but there's a richness that draws us in -- There's so much going on beneath the surface that you can hardly take it all in.

The film’s narrative arc demands attentiveness. It’s dense and talky, with a lot to absorb and almost no time to reflect. The deep meaning of the words blended with the pure, hyper-realistic filmmaking style of Ceylan, makes it a very rich experience.

Guzmán’s skills as a documentarian have not eroded one bit. His soft narration reminds one of Werner Herzog sans his, at times, metaphysical excesses. The director captures incredible footage of the protests as a functioning organism, a sublime wave of furious power.

Trier has created a masterwork, with layers of human drama and frailty (on a budget of less than $8M), soaring to the heights of unearned optimism only to crash into the inevitably of mortality.

Imagination spills across the screen in a bold, undeniable presence.

American Factory is an example of my favorite type of documentary. It’s one that merely documents. It has no agenda to push, even though one grows organically throughout.

Dispenses with all the flourishes and focuses purely on the story and the characters, the gentle humor and the heartrending moments. It all leads up to a wonderful final scene, a knockout punch that cements MacLachlan as one of cinema’s indie greats.

With unparalleled verisimilitude, Hirori captures both the helplessness and the resolve it takes to see past it, to hold on to a glimmer of hope, faint as it may be. Sabaya will leave you scarred, its images scorched forever into your mind.

Newnham and LeBrecht weave a narrative from multiple archival sources that capture the innocence, the subtle awakening, and ultimate determination of a small group of disenfranchised who suddenly realized that there was something to fight for.

I can go on and on about the multiple tiny lightning bolts Hansen-Løve catches in her bottle. Arguably the biggest lightning she caught was hiring Seydoux.

The story entertains from start to finish, and the filmmaker absolutely delivers another home run.

Atlantics can be seen as telling a haunting, tragic story. Despite its ethereal style, and a semblance of magical-realism, it is mostly grounded in the drama of reality.

A very, very good film that examines male ego in a way that’s almost more Sam Peckinpah than Sam Peckinpah himself.

If there is justice in this world, this is the movie that will get people talking again about the excitement of film.

Had these themes of accepting the consequences of actions, living up to one’s word, the moral weakness of youth been better capitalized on, or had a little fun been had, The Green Knight would have done a better job at earning itself a place in the storybooks.

With unprecedented access to overfilled, frenzied hospital rooms, as well as quarantined homes, Heineman makes one cringe at every prolonged beep of the vitals monitor, delves right into the patients’ eyes, their very souls. He imbues the documentary with the same sense of urgency and empathy that were evident in his previous docs Cartel Land and City of Ghosts. A tough watch but a necessary one, The First Wave marks the finest cinematic account of the COVID-19 pandemic yet.

A perfectly serviceable action movie…better than most, in fact. The entire premise is growing creaky, however, leading us to think we might want to leave this particular spy out in the cold a while, before he becomes completely tiresome.

Serious actors will find a whole new respect for these women and their individual contributions to film and theater, who fought through way through a system made for men and blazed a path for those who followed. And fans of one or all the dames will see the object of their fandom be real, open, and honest.

At the risk of being called an anti-Semite, I would like to propose a moratorium on Holocaust movies -- While it would be crass to discount the importance of the subject, at the same time one has to admit there is some degree of excess going on here.

All Speilberg really did was take a masterpiece, keep it a masterpiece, and add a little flair (and backstory). He took gold and made prettier gold.

The interaction between Hoffman and Linney makes following their characters from their winter of hard experience to a spring of renewed hope well worth the while.

As ambitiously artful as it is infectiously engrossing, Birds of Passage brings an invigorating worldview to a genre so often riddled with clichés, weaving an astute tale of fortune and destruction as it explores long-held indigenous traditions.

Technical elements are among the best this year. Photography, editing, music, production design, and costumes all add seamless period flavor to the puritanical stew that was London almost a half-century ago.

Its pace is unbearably slow at times and considering we’re watching a woman essentially wasting seventeen good years of her life chasing a man, tragic is the best way to describe the whole experience.