Agatha Christie Deserves Better Than Kenneth Branagh’s A Haunting in Venice
An Agatha Christie murder mystery has once again been made a mess by director Kenneth Branagh, this time with A Haunting in Venice.
244 Articles by: Eileen Jones
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Eileen Jones is a film critic at Jacobin and author of Filmsuck, USA. She also hosts a podcast called Filmsuck.
The Changeling Desperately Wants to Be a Very Important and Very Scary Show
LaKeith Stanfield is great in Apple TV+’s new horror-fantasy series The Changeling, based on the best-selling novel. The show itself, though, is a convoluted mess.
Telemarketers Is a Fantastically Wild, Scam-Filled Gem
The new HBO docuseries Telemarketers is a wonderfully weird trip through a scammer call center that swindled money for police and lined the pockets of a clutch of entrepreneurial creeps. You should watch it right away.
Rowland Brown’s Brutal Portraits of the Life of Crime
The gritty 1930s crime dramas of Rowland Brown offer contemporary movie watchers something they won’t easily get elsewhere: an adult ability to look directly at an infinitely corrupt world without flinching.
Strange Planet’s Socially Awkward Blue Aliens Are Now on TV
Making the leap from four-paneled comic to animated series, Nathan W. Pyle’s Apple TV+ show Strange Planet drowns its unique and subtle charms with far too much plot, character, and story. It’s unfortunately boring as hell.
The Joyous Blast of Pee-wee Herman Will Be Deeply Missed
Paul Reubens and his brilliant character Pee-wee Herman offered viewers a kind of weird, joyful, hilarious television and film that we aren’t lucky enough to get very often.
It’s Kind of Amazing That Barbie Manages to Be as Good as It Is
With a clever opening sequence and an excellent cast, Barbie manages to overcome cumbersome plotting and feminist pieties to provide a delightful spectacle of funny moments that add up to something pretty good.
Christopher Nolan’s Martyrdom of Saint Oppenheimer
Oppenheimer ignores the darker sides of the life and work of J. Robert Oppenheimer in order to deliver a crowd-pleasing, blockbuster spectacle.
Steven Soderbergh’s New Crime Series Full Circle Is Off to a Bumpy Start
The new neo-noir series Full Circle, directed by Steven Soderbergh, has big ideas to share about class, race, nationality, and crime. But so far it’s a slog to watch.
The Bear’s Second Season Is Yet Another Triumph
FX’s second season of The Bear gives both dignity and drama to the realities of work.
RIP Alan Arkin, Hollywood’s Last Brilliant Mensch
Actor, director, musician, and certified New York “red diaper baby” Alan Arkin (1934–2023) was the rare Hollywood talent whose onscreen genius grew out of his own innate warmth and kindness.
Boots Riley’s I’m a Virgo Is a Blast of Fresh Air
I’m a Virgo is a superhero satire about a 13-foot-tall black teenager making his way in Oakland. It’s far more wild and surprising than almost anything we normally see on TV.
Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City Will Please His Fans and Infuriate His Skeptics
Asteroid City dials up the “Wes Anderson” to 11, leaving an emotional void in its wake.
Elemental Takes Pixar’s Propaganda to a Whole New Level
The once great animation studio continues its fall with Elemental, another clumsy Pixar parable about the joy of finding a career.
Jennifer Lawrence’s No Hard Feelings Is a Class-Conscious Comedy That Almost Works
Jennifer Lawrence is a fantastic comic actor. So it’s too bad that No Hard Feelings trades in the raunchy laughs for feel-good sentimental dramedy.
The Crowded Room Is a Mystery Series With No Mystery
The highly hyped new crime series The Crowded Room could’ve been an unsparing take on extreme mental illness in a society that’s never been equipped to deal with it. Instead, it gives away its only source of suspense far too early.
How Hollywood’s Anti-Communist Crackdown Made TV and Movies Bland and Boring
The conformity of 1950s film and television was the result of the successful McCarthyist purge of leftists — and their genres — from the entertainment industry. The life of socialist screenwriter Very Caspary shows how it was done and what was lost.
You Hurt My Feelings Is a Slice-of-Life Comedy for Rich People With No Problems
Even with a cast led by the hilarious Julia Louis-Dreyfus, You Hurt My Feelings struggles to find a single laugh in this comedy of manners about affluent New Yorkers learning the value of “little white lies.”
Long Before Daniel Penny Killed Jordan Neely, There Was Death Wish
It’s been nearly 50 years since Charles Bronson first mowed down New York muggers in Death Wish. But defenses of the recent killing of Jordan Neely suggest that the film’s reactionary, Wild West–style vigilante violence still holds the imagination of many.
Sisu Is Splendid Anti-Nazi Mayhem
Do you want to see a bunch of Nazis get the bloody, gory treatment they deserve in the wilds of Northern Finland? Of course you do. Then go see Sisu.