Robert Redford Knows Too Much
In the 1970s, the public flocked to movies about the US government’s shadowy misdeeds.
362 Articles by: Eileen Jones
Eileen Jones is a film critic at Jacobin, host of the Filmsuck podcast, and author of Filmsuck, USA.
Peter Pan & Wendy Is Another Lifeless Disney Remake
Even a respected auteur like director David Lowery can’t save Peter Pan & Wendy, yet another bland live-action adaptation of a Disney classic — this time with a dash of 2020s pop feminism.
Beau Is Afraid Is a Referendum on Director Ari Aster, Cinema’s Latest Wunderkind
Critics adore artsy auteur filmmaker Ari Aster, director of hits like Midsommar and Hereditary — they’re even willing to pretend his new surrealist comedy Beau Is Afraid is hilarious. It’s not.
Dead Ringers Resurrects Old-Fashioned Body Horror for Prestige TV
In the reboot of David Cronenberg’s Dead Ringers, Rachel Weisz plays twin gynecologists slowly unraveling. The gorgeous, chilly atmosphere — and Weisz’s double performance — are mesmerizing.
Harry Belafonte’s Promising Career as a Film Star Ended Before It Really Began
Harry Belafonte, who died earlier today at age 96, was well known for his groundbreaking music career and civil rights activism. But in his early years, he appeared poised to become a major film star. We revisit two of his forgotten early classics here.
Beef Is a Portrait of Our All-American Rage
Beef tells the story of a chance road-rage encounter that blossoms into a modern feud. Director Lee Sung Jin says it’s about “how hard it is to be alive,” but the show’s cross-class fantasy logic points at the powder keg of growing alienation in our society.
Renfield’s Ingenious Premise About Standing Up to a Vampire Boss Bleeds Out
In Renfield, Nicholas Hoult is a delight as Dracula’s much-abused personal assistant. But even Nicolas Cage as the Count himself can’t keep the movie on track.
Ben Affleck’s Air Is a Deranged Corporate Folktale About a Sneaker
Air’s origin story about the Michael Jordan–endorsed sneaker is far too high on its own supply.
Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations Gets a Gritty 21st Century Reboot
Steven Knight’s new adaptation of Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations adds drug addiction, the slave trade and even sadomasochistic sex. But lurid flourishes alone can’t save this adaptation.
John Wick: Chapter 4 Is the Bloody Finale We’ve Been Waiting For
In John Wick: Chapter 4, Keanu Reeves’s puppy-avenging assassin returns for one last fever dream of violence and mayhem, giving viewers a final chance to watch John Wick seek the kind of revenge on the wealthy and all-powerful that we all dream about.
Emily Is Not the Biopic Emily Brontë Deserves
Emily Brontë is one of the most uniquely brilliant women writers who ever lived, the perfect subject for a feminist biopic. She deserves better than the shallow pop feminism of the new movie Emily.
Party Down Is Back and Starkly Funny About Our Terrible Times
The first two seasons of Party Down were both honest and affectionate as the series satirized the lives of Hollywood aspirants working dead-end jobs. The show’s long-delayed third season retains that winning formula.
65 Treats Bad Health Insurance as a Permanent Factor Across Space and Time
While 65 starring Adam Driver isn’t a good movie, it does paint a dystopian portrait of terrible health insurance across the universe that is, unfortunately for us Americans, all too believable.
Audiences Crave Gruesome Black Comedy. Cocaine Bear Delivers.
Cocaine Bear, a pretty mediocre black comedy about a bear that goes on a cocaine-fueled rampage in 1980s Georgia, is wildly successful with critics and audiences alike. It’s testament to a real craving for dark, gruesome, off-the-chain laughs right now.
Hello Tomorrow! Is Old-Hat Retrofuturism
Apple’s new series Hello Tomorrow! tries to milk Mad Men postwar pathos from a Jetsons premise. But “difficult men” prestige TV has run out of gas.
Women Talking’s Pop Feminism Can’t Confront the Messy Reality of Women’s Oppression
Sarah Polley’s film Women Talking depicts the brutal true story of rape in a Mennonite colony. It’s a poor fit for the oversimplified, “you go, girl” feminist message of its framing.
Knock at the Cabin Summons a Half-Baked Apocalypse
M. Night Shyamalan’s latest low-budget horror movie, Knock at the Cabin, is so overstuffed with exposition that even the end of the world is a letdown.
Poker Face Is the Working-Class Columbo We’ve Been Waiting For
Rian Johnson and Natasha Lyonne’s new detective show, Poker Face, is a brilliant working-class riff on Knives Out.
The Pale Blue Eye Is So Incoherent, It’s Almost Impressive
There’s a real dearth of Hollywood adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe’s work. Unfortunately, The Pale Blue Eye is far from the film that Poe deserves.
You Don’t Have to Suffer Through Avatar: The Way of Water. Just Don’t.
For three whole hours, Avatar: The Way of Water evokes Important Issues — imperialism, colonialism, racism, sexism, ransacking the environment for commodifiable resources — in the silliest, shallowest way possible.