Reviews — In Reel Deep

'If Beale Street Could Talk'

It’s no Moonlight, but Barry Jenkins’s feature followup to that modern masterpiece is still brilliantly heart-wrenching and sadly beautiful.

Drama, ReviewsSteve CiminoJanuary 15, 2019Barry Jenkins, KiKi Layne, Stephan James, Regina King, Brian Tyree Henry

'Vice'

Though Adam McKay receives a few bonus points for degree of difficulty, his Dick Cheney biopic proves too massive to master.

Drama, ReviewsSteve CiminoJanuary 3, 2019Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Adam McKay, Steve Carell, Sam Rockwell

'They Shall Not Grow Old'

Peter Jackson brings the First World War to life in haunting, unforgettable fashion.

Documentary, Military and War, ReviewsAndrew JohnsonDecember 21, 2018Peter Jackson

'Roma'

It’ll soon be trite and lazy to say “Roma is a special film,” but that won’t make it any less true.

Drama, ReviewsSteve CiminoDecember 12, 2018Alfonso Cuarón, Yalitza Aparicio

The Film World's Library of Alexandria

So long, FilmStruck, We hardly knew ye.

Filmstruck Chronicles, FeaturesAndrew JohnsonNovember 29, 2018

'Widows'

Steve McQueen’s latest is a dark and desperate heist movie that forgoes “neat and tidy” and is all the better for it.

'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs'

It is very strange to stream a new Coen brothers movie on Netflix, but this six-part collection of short films is as memorable and engaging as anything they’ve released on the big screen.

Westerns, ReviewsSteve CiminoNovember 23, 2018Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, Tim Blake Nelson, Liam Neeson, Brendan Gleeson, James Franco, Tom Waits

'Dr. Seuss' The Grinch'

It could have been oh-so-much worse. In the end, the 2018 iteration of The Grinch is a pleasant if wholly unnecessary re-imagining of the tale done best by Boris Karloff and company in 1966.

'The Front Runner'

It’s a complicated story to tell in two hours, but ultimately Jason Reitman can’t pin down what makes the saga of Gary Hart so nuanced and fascinating.

Drama, ReviewsSteve CiminoNovember 11, 2018Hugh Jackman, Jason Reitman, Vera Farmiga, J.K. Simmons, Alfred Molina, Toby Huss, Bill Burr

There's a Whole Movie (Within a Movie) Before Kong's Big Moment

The outsized moments of an outsized monster loom large, some 85 years after King Kong first hit theaters.

Filmstruck Chronicles, FeaturesAndrew JohnsonNovember 5, 2018

The Platonic Ideal of Film Noir

To see Out of the Past is to understand countless carbon copies, riffs, and takeoffs in pop culture.

Filmstruck Chronicles, FeaturesAndrew JohnsonOctober 30, 2018Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas, Jane Greer

'The Sisters Brothers'

It’s hard to say whether Jacques Audiard’s Western will excite or irritate fans of the genre, but it’s worth going on the journey to find out.

Westerns, ReviewsSteve CiminoOctober 26, 2018John C. Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix, Riz Ahmed, Jake Gyllenhaal

'Halloween'

Even after resetting 40 years of post-original nonsense, this rebooted sequel is as disposable as the rest.

Horror, ReviewsSteve CiminoOctober 23, 2018Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, David Gordon Green, Danny McBride

'Passage' to Politics

A partial reunion of the cast of Casablanca tells a story about the real-life history forming the backdrop of the cinematic history.

'A Star is Born'

The first hour of Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut is pretty much perfect. And, despite a few missteps, the rest isn’t bad either.

Drama, ReviewsSteve CiminoOctober 10, 2018Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga, Sam Elliott, Andrew Dice Clay

'Venom'

This Tom Hardy-led comic book movie is as dumb as you’d expect, but it could’ve been so much worse.

Action and Adventure, ReviewsSteve CiminoOctober 6, 2018Tom Hardy, Jenny Slate, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed

'To All the Boys I've Loved Before'

Though Netflix’s overall movie strategy remains unclear, this adorable teen romance is a big step in the right direction.

Reviews, Romance, ComedySteve CiminoSeptember 1, 2018Netflix, Lara Condor, Noah Centineo, Israel Broussard, John Corbett

'BlacKkKlansman'

2018 has been a remarkable year for black filmmakers, and Spike Lee’s addition to the cultural conversation does not disappoint.

Drama, ReviewsSteve CiminoAugust 17, 2018Spike Lee, John David Washington, Adam Driver, Topher Grace

'Blindspotting'

This Oakland-centric film from writing duo Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal is unsubtle and uneven but teeming with the passion of a story that needed to be told.

Drama, ReviewsSteve CiminoAugust 4, 2018Daveed Diggs, Rafael Casal, Carlos López Estrada, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Ethan Embry

'Eighth Grade'

No teenage dramedy has depicted middle-school anxieties, or social media, quite as well as Bo Burnham’s terrific feature debut.

Comedy, Drama, ReviewsSteve CiminoAugust 2, 2018Bo Burnham, Elsie Fisher, Josh Hamilton