Send Help and Sam Raimi’s Genre Movie Joy
Are you desperate for genre movie escapist fun amid all this hell lately? Who isn’t? Sam Raimi’s Send Help is just what the doctor ordered.
390 Article(s) by: Eileen Jones
Page 1 of 20Next
Eileen Jones is a film critic at Jacobin, host of the Filmsuck podcast, and author of Filmsuck, USA.
The Testament of Ann Lee Is the Wild Shaker Musical You Crave
When it comes to The Testament of Ann Lee, you’re either someone who wants to see a long, sometimes harrowing musical about the woman who founded the Shaker religion, or you’re most definitely not. Hopefully you are.
No Other Choice Is Another Masterpiece by Park Chan-wook
Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice is a shocking, innovative, and darkly comic film about the pressures of life under capitalism. It’s more proof that the Oldboy director is nothing less than a cinematic master.
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple Is Weird, Wild, and Fun
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, the latest entry in the British zombie franchise, ups the ante with a Jimmy Savile–inspired satanic cult and mesmerizing performances from Ralph Fiennes and Jack O’Connell.
The Unlovable Ping-Pong Wizard of Marty Supreme
Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme stars Timothée Chalamet as an obnoxious, nerdy young 1950s ping-pong hustler who somehow cons everyone around him. It’s flashy, fast, and made with so much talent it’s a shame they forgot to make much of a case for Marty’s appeal.
Avatar: Fire and Ash Cannot Be Stopped — Don’t Even Try
Avatar: Fire and Ash is not a good movie. But with its massive box office success, Big Jim Cameron is undeniably giving the people what they want. And what they want is skimpily dressed giant blue aliens.
The Real Reason We’re All Annoyed With Quentin Tarantino
With nothing but a new cut of Kill Bill to offer, Quentin Tarantino has gone into semiretirement right as American cinema is fighting for its very life. And to make matters worse, he won’t stop talking smack.
RIP Rob Reiner — a Mensch Who Made the Films We All Love
Rob Reiner and his wife were killed yesterday. While Donald Trump tweets out a disgraceful, mocking memorial, we’re celebrating a man who made a decade of great cinema as well as a liberal mensch who stood in stark contrast to the inhuman cruelty of MAGA.
The German Take on Gotham
Fritz Lang’s masterful visual depiction of class stratification in Metropolis remains unrivaled by its would-be inheritors.
Netflix Won’t Give Wake Up Dead Man the Release It Deserves
Wake Up Dead Man is another crowd-pleasing entry in writer-director Rian Johnson’s Knives Out murder mystery franchise. It’s the kind of movie that should be crushing it with audiences on the big screen. But Netflix would rather you see it on their streamer.
Netflix’s Jay Kelly Eulogizes an Industry It’s Killing Off
Noah Baumbach and George Clooney’s Jay Kelly is a Netflix dramedy about the death of Hollywood stardom and the theatrical experience. Ironically, with Netflix’s acquisition of Warner Bros., the call is definitely coming from inside the house.
The Running Man Trips Across the Starting Line
Edgar Wright’s dystopian satire, The Running Man, tries to play it safe and ends up pleasing no one.
Predator: Badlands Keeps the Hunt Alive
Predator: Badlands delivers a fresh spin on the nearly 40-year-old franchise by delving deeper into the alien society at the heart of the franchise. Judging by the impressive box office performance, it’s a rare hit in an otherwise dismal movie season.
Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein Is Dead Flesh Reanimated
Guillermo del Toro’s long-awaited Frankenstein adaptation for Netflix is a big, bloated mess. Much like Frankenstein’s Creature, it’s dead matter, crudely stitched and bolted together.
Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon Is a Film for Musical Superfans
Richard Linklater must have extraordinary pull to get big-screen releases for his two esoteric period movies this year, because only a small group of avid American musical superfans will find Blue Moon interesting.
The Springsteen Movie Is an Emotional Workout for Depressives
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere is the kind of well-done, serious drama that used to be commonplace in American filmmaking and now is vanishingly rare.
Bugonia Is Yorgos Lanthimos at His Best
In Bugonia, Emma Stone plays a kidnapped pharmaceutical CEO trying to convince her deranged abductors that she’s not a sinister alien in disguise. As a portrait of our political impasse, it’s a shocking, wild ride with an ending you won’t see coming.
1960: The Year the Modern Horror Film Was Born
A combination of the breakdown of the Hollywood studio system, the decline of censorship, and the rise of wildly — and luridly — creative filmmakers across the world looking to cash in on sex and violence made 1960 the year of the modern horror film.
Channing Tatum’s Roofman Is a Bummer of a Feel-Good Movie
In Roofman, Channing Tatum plays a real-life lovable burglar and family man trying to make it in America. But while writer-director Derek Cianfrance clearly wanted a lighthearted, feel-good movie, Roofman is instead a dark exploration of American pathos.
Hollywood Could Use Another Robert Altman Right Now
The Criterion Channel’s retrospective on Robert Altman, the auteur behind masterpieces like Nashville, M*A*S*H, and The Long Goodbye, is a reminder that, not long ago, Hollywood backed maverick filmmakers ready to shake up the medium and the culture at large.