- Dawson City: Frozen Time (17, A-): Y’know how It’s a Wonderful Life is about the historical power of one person? – ½/18
- Imagine that over a city, an industry, and the people living in it. An essay rippling with emotion. The path to immortality is so precarious.
- Lucky (17, C): Epitaph for Stanton the most substance it has. Has its moments, but sorely lacking in ambition or individuality. – 1/3/18
- Menashe (17, B+): Pairs well with After the Storm in parsing a man’s self-perceptions and communal standings. Handsomely shot. – 1/3/18
- Lady Bird (17, B+): No tweet, but I saw it with my family and it was the loveliest thing in the world. Talking about it after was even better. – 1/3/18
- I, Tonya (17, B+): Tilt-a-whirl of tones and POVs not always stable but endlessly risky. And when it works, it fuckin’ works. – 1/5/18
- Smart perspectives on personal and tabloid “truth”. Keeps track of individual culpability amidst the deck(s?) stacked against you.
- The best coincidence in the world was watching I, Tonyathe weekend of all these skating trials for the Winter Olympics.
- Casablanca (41, A+): The roses are thornier than I expected. Moral, romantic, political landscapes deeply intwined, beautifully layered. – 1/8/18
- Confessions of a Nazi Spy (38, C): Historical value supersedes artistic merits, but it’s a fascinating object. Can we get a remake? – 1/9/18
- Three Billboards (17, C-): Fine, write characters you hate. Hire and direct actors who hate them too. Be lazy about it. Spout politics years behind on police discourse. Have a childish notion of hate and racism. And win awards for it too, why don’t you? Fucker. – 1/9/18
- The Post (17, B+/A-): Fine, I walked in with the film’s politics, but fuck was that tense and galvanizing. Ace direction. Kay! – 1/11/18
- Nashville (75, A+): How can a film this massive have such a full view of everything and everyone it looks at, and shoot it so casually? – 1/12/18
- I forgot Haven Hamilton straight up performed a song about a man telling his mistress they can’t run away together cuz of his kids. Absolutely wild.
- The Force (17, B): Fuller examination of police POV than I’m used to seeing, if less personalized than Whose Streets?. Nice sound. – 1/14/18
- There’s one fantastic scene in the middle of trainees debating if a police shooting was justified. Never reaches that level of complex dynamics again
- Valerian & 1000 Planets (17, C-): Visual concepts impress, can’t overcome astonishing flat leads, plot, “romance”. – 1/14/18
- Dane Dehaan’s voice is way too deep and masc for how skinny and gaunt he is
- A smart film would have DeHaan mingling in the crowd as a prostitute
- Hollywood is so afraid of black characters/actors in major roles they’ll kill off an amorphous blob with barely any explanation
- @tsodeman13 on the romance in Valerian: “That’s straight nonsense”
- Paddington (15, B): Quick as a whip and completely, repeatedly hysterical. Quality stylization. Lovely cast (Kidman!) – 1/15/18
- By the Time it Gets Dark (17, B-): Formal, generic storytelling conventions singular & unexpected. As a whole, not much I’m jazzed about. – 1/16/18
- Call Me By Your Name (B+/A-): Imperceptibly shifts from good to great, nimbly realized and so vibrantly, powerfully felt. A miracle. 1/18/18
- And yes, @tsodeman13 and I did immediately single out Michael Stuhlbarg as soon as we walked out of the theater. Everyone and everything in that film was incredible. Beautiful in every way.
- The Exorcist (73, A-): Age reveals technical seams, yes, but also proves what a scary, sturdy, thematically dense film this is. – 1/19/18
- Bataan (42, B): Refusal of spectacle in battle, death sequences has visceral impact. Characters never materialize, dialogue weak. Unusual mood. – 1/20/18
- Phantom Thread (17, B+): Not all of it’s new, not all of it’s flexible, but the final synthesis is really something to behold. – 1/21/18
- The Meyerowitz Stories (17, B+): Squid and the Whale all grown up, with interwoven strands of familial resentment. Cast, writing a huge boon. – 1/22/18
- Adam Driver’s pouty, emotive musician is already my favorite cameo of Meyerowitz Stories. What a lovely ensemble this is
- Gloria (14, B+): Could’ve also been called Good Time. Bewitching look at rocky courtship, with stellar leads. Leaves a refreshing aftertaste. – 1/23/18
- Félicité (17, A-): Deeply specifies its story and region, complicates a winding narrative with characters who refuse easy readings. – 1/23/18
- The Selfish Giant (13, A): Synthesis of formal intimacy, specificity of environment, shaping of character, yields a fucking masterpiece. – 1/26/18
- The Post (17, B+/A-): Even sharper and more graceful on second viewing. Amazing that this film in this year only limped to two nominations. – 1/27/18
- Paddington 2 (18, B): The boyfriend and I cried a little at the end. Warm, absurd, hilarious, stretching in new ways. Lovely and lovable. – 1/27/18
- @tsodeman13: “Why didn’t you give that an A. You said you loved Paddington and didn’t give it an A? What kind of bourgeoise bullshit is that”
- Evangelion 1.11 (07): No tweet, but lord was that an experience. 1/27/18
- Happy Death Day (17, B): Roethe’s a star in the making. Would that more genres flex so much inventiveness by Groundhog Daying it. 1/31/18
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