THE RULES OF THE GAME (1939)
As my Independent Study in World Cinema continues, I dive deep into Jean Renoir's tragicomic critique of French society on the eve of the Second World War.
THE SILENT PARTNER (1978)
We're finishing our "Christmas-Adjacent" marathon with Daryl Duke's unjustly forgotten crime thriller.
WEEK 3: IMPEACHY KEEN
In this week's edition of my blog/newsletter, I'm offering quick takes on Promising Young Woman, Pretend It's a City, WandaVision, Locked Down, and a bunch of other stuff I was watching when I should have been writing.
DEADWOOD 1×09: "NO OTHER SONS OR DAUGHTERS"
New clothes, new pianos, new ventures, new relationships, new governments: On a relatively quiet episode, everyone in DEADWOOD is grappling with the possibility of change.
MAKING GOD LAUGH: THE UNAFFILIATED CRITIC'S PLAN FOR 2021
In which—brazenly, and despite a poor track record at this sort of thing—I announce what I'm planning to review, and other changes coming in the new year.
OTHER RECENT POSTS
BLOG
WEEK 2: SEDITION EDITION
In this week's blog/newsletter, I share a few thoughts on the white supremacist attack on Washington D.C., as well as a few links to the thoughts of much smarter people than I.
January 11, 2021
DEADWOOD
DEADWOOD 1×08: "SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN"
After many years, I'm taking up my Deadwood reviews right where I left off, with an episode that asks whether this brutal place could possibly be a place where family can thrive.
January 10, 2021
BLOG
WEEK 1: NEW YEAR, OLD HABITS
This week's blog post/newsletter includes quick thoughts on Sylvie's Love, Doctor Who, and Dickinson, as well as some thoughts on the difference between making New Year's Resolutions and implementing them.
January 4, 2021
BLOG
WEEK 52: TAINT MISBEHAVIN'
In the first of a new weekly blog series (and ersatz newsletter), I discuss what I've been watching, and writing about, and thinking about, during 2020's "Holiday Taint."
December 28, 2020
THE UNENTHUSIASTIC CRITIC
CHILDREN OF MEN (2006)
The Unenthusiastic Critic watches the perfect movie for Christmas 2020: Alfonso Cuarón's dystopian (but strangely hopeful) nativity story.
December 24, 2020
INDEPENDENT STUDY IN WORLD CINEMA
GRAND ILLUSION (1937)
My long neglected Independent Study in World Cinema resumes with Jean Renoir's unfailingly humane masterpiece.
December 15, 2020
THE UNENTHUSIASTIC CRITIC
MOONSTRUCK (1987)
The Unenthusiastic Critic is looking for the holiday spirit in Norman Jewison's Christmas-adjacent romantic comedy.
December 8, 2020
THE UNENTHUSIASTIC CRITIC
SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS (1957)
This #Noirvember, we're serving a cookie full of arsenic, as The Unenthusiastic Critic enjoys her first viewing of Alexander Mackendrick's cynical cinematic masterpiece.
November 29, 2020
THE UNENTHUSIASTIC CRITIC
DANCES WITH WOLVES (1990)
In 1990, Kevin Costner's epic western was widely hailed as major progress in Hollywood's representation of indigenous people. But what will The Unenthusiastic Critic make of it 30 years later?
November 17, 2020
THE UNENTHUSIASTIC CRITIC
THE STRANGERS (2008)
There's no place like home, as The Unenthusiastic Critic's 2020 Halloween Movie Marathon concludes with Bryan Bertino's harrowing home-invasion thriller.
October 29, 2020
THE UNENTHUSIASTIC CRITIC
HEREDITARY (2018)
What's scarier than family? So we're talking about Ari Aster's breakthrough horror movie this week, as The Unenthusiastic Critic's Halloween movie marathon continues.
October 23, 2020
THE UNENTHUSIASTIC CRITIC
REBECCA (1940)
We're headed back to Manderley as The Unenthusiastic Critic's 2020 Halloween Movie Marathon continues with Hitchcock's Oscar-winning suspense classic.
October 15, 2020
THE UNENTHUSIASTIC CRITIC
THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE (2001)
The Unenthusiastic Critic's Halloween Movie Marathon continues with Guillermo del Toro's classic wartime ghost story.
October 8, 2020
THE UNENTHUSIASTIC CRITIC
PHANTASM (1979)
The Unenthusiastic Critic's 2020 Halloween Movie Marathon gets underway with a viewing of a creepy cult classic.
October 1, 2020
LOVECRAFT COUNTRY
IT'S A "STRANGE CASE" OF JEKYLL IN HYDE PARK ON A CHALLENGING LOVECRAFT COUNTRY
Questions of identity, duality, and transformation abound in a disturbing and surprisingly complicated episode of Lovecraft Country.
September 22, 2020
THE UNENTHUSIASTIC CRITIC
DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS (1995)
This week we're revisiting Carl Franklin's sorely under-appreciated neo-noir, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this month.
September 14, 2020
LOVECRAFT COUNTRY
LOVECRAFT COUNTRY GETS LOST DOWN A GIANT PLOT HOLE IN "A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE"
With its weakest hour yet, Lovecraft Country turns in a story that is at turns dull, derivative, and disturbing (but not in a good way).
September 12, 2020
LOVECRAFT COUNTRY
LOVECRAFT COUNTRY HITS ITS STRIDE, AND JURNEE SMOLLETT SHINES, IN "HOLY GHOST"
Jurnee Smollett gives a stunning performance in the strongest, most emotionally compelling episode of Lovecraft Country so far.
September 6, 2020
THE UNENTHUSIASTIC CRITIC
SPIRITED AWAY (2001)
This week we're getting Ghibli with it, as we sit down for The Unenthusiastic Critic's first viewing of Hayao Miyazaki's weird and wonderful animated classic.
September 2, 2020
LOVECRAFT COUNTRY
IN "WHITEY'S ON THE MOON," LOVECRAFT COUNTRY INTEGRATES ITS HEROES INTO A BURNING HOUSE
In its second episode, Lovecraft Country tackles racism as a tool of capitalism, and asks the important question: Whose birthright is America, really?
August 30, 2020
LOVECRAFT COUNTRY
MISHA GREEN WELCOMES US TO LOVECRAFT COUNTRY, WHERE ONLY MOST OF THE HORRORS ARE HUMAN
Taking a genre-fiction approach to serious subjects, Lovecraft Country promises to be a thrilling guided tour through the racist horrors of America.
August 23, 2020
FILM REVIEWS
WAITING FOR THE BARBARIANS (2020) LANGUISHES AT THE PERILOUS BORDER BETWEEN FILMS AND NOVELS
Great films are rarely made from great books, and Ciro Guerra's film of J.M. Coetzee's novel underlines the perils—and even the pointlessness—of many literary adaptations.
August 16, 2020
THE UNENTHUSIASTIC CRITIC
BATMAN (1989) AND BATMAN & ROBIN (1997)
This week, we're watching a dynamic duo of movies: the film that started Hollywood's love affair with superheroes, and the film that almost ended it.
August 11, 2020
FILM REVIEWS
RADIOACTIVE GENERATES LIGHT, BUT LITTLE HEAT
Marjane Satrapi tries—but not, ultimately, hard enough—to build something interesting around the standard biopic formula.
August 6, 2020