Limited Releases

Frances McDormand plays Fern in Chloé Zhao's "Nomadland," reviewed here by Critic Speak critic Danny Baldwin.

Review: “Nomadland”

Critics who write with their politics first have all too conveniently positioned “Nomadland,” the Oscar frontrunner of the case-sensitive Moment, as an indictment of individualism. But that’s frankly too easily; to position Frances McDormand’s Fern as a squeaky cog in the dirty machine of American capitalism is, frankly, to deny the real nuance of the …

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Review: “Cell”

In the years since George Romero singlehandedly created the zombie genre with 1968’s “Night of the Living Dead,” he befriended and partnered with horror fiction magnate Stephen King for 1982’s “Creepshow,” a delightfully cheesy and colorful chiller anthology. And though King has gone on to write and even direct more movies, he never tried his hand …

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review knight of cups

Review: “Knight of Cups”

At what point does an auteur’s “signature style” cross over into becoming a game of directorial Mad Libs? That’s the question I wrestled with for most of Terrence Malick’s “Knight of Cups,” a typically gorgeous effort from the reclusive filmmaker that nonetheless employs his trademarks—shots following characters from behind and hushed voiceover the most recognizable …

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Pilou Asbaek stars in Tobias Lindholm's "A War," here reviewed by film critic Eric Beltmann.

Review: “A War”

Curious name, “A War.” The setting of Tobias Lindholm’s miniature combat film is very specific—Afghanistan’s Helmand Province, where a group of Danish soldiers try to keep the peace—and yet that title, with its assertive indefinite article, suggests a deliberate distancing, presenting instead a military operation that might stand in for many battles and maybe all …

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Review: “Inherent Vice”

One wonders if there was something more than tobacco in the cigarettes used to burn the cue marks into the celluloid prints that filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson specially requested for the release of “Inherent Vice,” as it often seems that marijuana is part of the movie’s physical DNA. Protagonist Doc Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix), a questionably-licensed …

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Review: “Citizenfour”

Perhaps the most surprising thing about the new documentary “Citizenfour” is that it does not require that the viewer have a positive opinion of its subject, the highly controversial NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, in order to be effective and vital. Make no mistake, the film hardly criticizes or even questions the ethics of Snowden’s extensively …

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Review: “The Tale of Princess Kaguya”

Just when all film animation was starting to look the same—one endless barrage of carefully focused-grouped CGI, designed to attract hoards of young American families—one finds renewed hope for the form in Laika’s latest elaborate stop-motion effort, “The Boxtrolls,” and Isao Takata’s “The Tale of Princess Kaguya,” which may be the most visually striking movie …

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Review: “Whiplash”

“Is perfection worth any price?” is the primary question posed by Damien Chazelle’s “Whiplash,” the rare Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner that fully lives up to the mountain air hype. Set at the fictional Shaffer Conservatory, a Juiliard-esque Manhattan breeding ground for instrumental wunderkinds, the film follows drummer Andrew (Miles Teller) as he is berated …

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Review: “Rage”

No contemporary actor has been able to foster as singular a screen persona within as diverse a filmography as Nicolas Cage. Consider the variety of motion pictures that could all be labeled “Nicolas Cage movies” (as opposed to simply “movies starring Nicolas Cage”): the sobering “Leaving Las Vegas,” for which Cage won an Academy Award; …

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