Where the Crawdads Sing Is Pure Book Club Sentimentalism
Reese Witherspoon’s book club made the 2018 novel Where the Crawdads Sing a hit. The new film adaptation, just like the book it’s based on, is pure bathos of the mushiest kind.
386 Article(s) by: Eileen Jones
Eileen Jones is a film critic at Jacobin, host of the Filmsuck podcast, and author of Filmsuck, USA.
Persuasion Is the Goofy Jane Austen No One Asked For
Netflix’s Persuasion tries and fails to bring Fleabag’s irreverence to Jane Austen.
The Strenuous Comedy of Thor: Love and Thunder
Taika Waititi’s second Thor film doubles down on his trademark mix of silliness and somberness. It still works — but it might not survive another sequel.
Baz Luhrmann Is Giving Us a Good, Clean Elvis for the 21st Century
Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis tries to sell audiences on a sanitized version of the King, missing the much weirder, wilder, and messier truth of his life and career.
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande Has a “Magic Sex Worker” Problem
Critics are fawning over Good Luck to You, Leo Grande for its “brave” sex positivity. But the crowd-pleasing comedy is actually anxiously prescriptive, and it relies on an angelic and selfless sex worker to teach a middle-aged woman how to love her body.
Jurassic World: Dominion Is a New Low for a Never-Ending Franchise
The latest Jurassic Park sequel is exhausted and running on fumes. Big, loud, annoying fumes.
Danny Boyle’s Pistol Sells Punk — and the Sex Pistols — Short
How can someone take a band as exciting, wild, and innovative as the Sex Pistols and make such a conventional, paint-by-numbers miniseries? With Pistol, Danny Boyle found a way.
David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future Has Me Missing His Early Stuff
David Cronenberg’s latest film, Crimes of the Future, is a return to the “body horror” genre. It brings back the gross-out gore that first made his career in the 1970s — but without the thrills.
“We’re New — We Don’t Have Any Customs”
Two films about the Tennessee Valley Authority stress its utopian promise and the lives that had to be destroyed to fulfill it.
Top Gun: Maverick Is Another Military Recruitment Video Disguised as a Movie
The hotly anticipated sequel to Top Gun, the 1986 movie that made Tom Cruise a star, is raking in cash, great reviews, and even Oscar buzz. Don’t be fooled — it’s the same glorified military recruitment video that the original was.
The Bob’s Burgers Movie Sides With Working-Class Eccentrics
The cult-favorite TV show Bob’s Burgers is now a movie — and it works, even if its low-key charms don’t always dazzle on the big screen.
Hollywood Never Fully Appreciated Ray Liotta’s Immense Talent
Ray Liotta has died suddenly at the age of 67. He should have been a major star — but after his greatest role in Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas, we never really got a chance to see everything he could do.
Men Is Terrifying — Until It Succumbs to Its Big Ideas
Alex Garland’s Men is a horror movie about how awful it is to be a woman. But he’s so intent on driving this point home that all the terror drains out of the film by the end, and only annoyance at the didactic exercise remains.
The Firestarter Remake Fails to Ignite
Stephen King’s original Firestarter novel was a product of post-Watergate rage toward the CIA. But horror production company Blumhouse’s second adaptation can’t keep the flame alive.
The Staircase Is the Natural Next Step in Our True-Crime Watching Spree
True crime has come a long way from the cheap, lurid days of America’s Most Wanted. The new HBO Max series The Staircase, starring Colin Firth and Toni Collette, has the posh cast and opulent production values that showcase the genre’s evolution.
The Northman Is an Honorable Failure
I wanted to love Robert Eggers’s follow-up to The Witch and The Lighthouse, but maybe a big-budget Viking saga just isn’t the right fit for a wonderful weirdo like him?
You Won’t Be Alone Is Inspired and Mesmerizing Folk Horror
The debut folk horror film You Won’t Be Alone, set in 19th-century Macedonia, is an amazingly mature piece of work that weighs the overwhelming, bloody brutality of the world against its strange enchantments.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent Is Lovingly Made for Sloppy-Sweet Fans Only
The real-life Nicolas Cage has long since embraced the loony, overacting, movie star persona fostered by young, social media–savvy fans who’ve generated a million memes in his honor — and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is a gift to them.
Everything Everywhere All at Once Is a Rare Triumph
It might seem like the most compelling aspect of Everything Everywhere All at Once is its fast-paced, cleverly controlled chaos. But when the wacky fun fades, a portrayal of extraordinary emotional complexity is revealed.
Apollo 10 ½ Reeks of Nostalgia for an Overly Familiar Time
Richard Linklater’s latest autobiographical film, Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Childhood, is a doting tribute to middle-class family life in the suburbs of Houston. Good luck making it through the whole unbearably sentimental movie in one sitting.