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[AFI Fest Review] Buzzard

In an episode of my podcast, The Cinephiliacs, colleague Vadim Rizov noted a humorous but mostly essential statement when describing his disappointment with the...

[AFI Fest Review] The Iron Ministry

While not technically made under the auspices of the Harvard Sensory Ethnography Lab, The Iron Ministry, directed by associated member J.P. Sniadecki, begins wi...

[Review] Beyond the Lights

The heady, emotional lyrics of Nina Simone’s Blackbird keep rising up under the skin of Gina Prince-Bythewood’s Beyond the Lights, revealing the earnest, strivi...

[AFI Fest Review] American Sniper

The thirty-one-month gap between the theatrical releases of 2011’s J. Edgar and this year’s Jersey Boys marked the longest such stretch in the forty-three-year-...

[Review] Thou Wast Mild & Lovely

She is not kidding when she says: "To those who feel that their cruelty is too cruel, their sadness too sad, I dedicate this film: an embrace." Writer/director ...

[AFI Fest Review] The Salt of the Earth

At one point early in Wim Wenders' new documentary, The Salt of the Earth, the co-director details his deeply emotional connection to photographer Sebastiao Sal...

[Review] Dumb and Dumber To

Not even the movie that started it all can save the fledgling career of the Farrelly brothers. Despite reading an interview of them speaking about how great the...

[Review] Always Woodstock

The feature debut of writer/director Rita Merson is mired in convention. Think to yourself about five cinematic tropes that could be found in a romantic dramedy...

[AFI Fest Review] Song of the Sea

Song of the Sea, the latest animated feature from The Secret of Kells director Tomm Moore, opens with a dreamlike sequence that quickly lays the foundation for ...