The cycle of violence is not a subject filmmakers have ever shied away from. There are plenty of films like “City of God” that try and show such gratuitous violence that we almost become desensitized to it, we expect it. However, there is no film like “City of God” that tells this kind of story in rich, visual detail using some very compelling visual storytelling techniques.

Somehow I didn’t have a review of the Marvel movie that started it all on this site, so in honor of “Endgame,” I’m pulling this one from the archives dated May 2, 2008, which, you know, was the day it came out. I’ve done better work, but there are a lot of points here that speak loudly to the future success of Marvel Studios.

While the title of mob masterpiece most often goes to “The Godfather” for its stunning drama and dark beauty, something must be said for honesty. Those two points belong to Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas.”

Films rarely capture real life, relatable moments, let alone with any kind of regularity, but Tamara Jenkins’ “The Savages” does it.

Futuristic Dystopias are exciting to imagine, and there’s a certain thrill to seeing filmmakers execute a vision of what could be. Alfonso Cuarón, however, ruins all that fun in “Children of Men.” The world in 2027 is bleak, chaotic and hopeless, and the Mexican-born, London-based director puts us in the thick of the mayhem. Based […]

“Call Me by Your Name” recounts a magical whirlwind of a summer young romance in the ‘80s, but shares very few qualities of most films that have told a similar story. Luca Guadagnino’s film fits squarely in the definition of arthouse rather than in the mainstream or even “indie” mold of nostalgic romantic comedy.

Damien Chazelle’s debut feels somewhere between a Jim Jarmusch indie and an Astaire-Roger musical. Here’s a filmmaker with a deep love of the movie musical trying to make it work on a shoestring budget. The musical genre begs for rich production, so Chazelle tries to circumvent it with a nontraditional script; the central relationship is […]

The surest way to ruin a great, original comedy is to give it a sequel. Fortunately, in all the ways that “Pitch Perfect 2” is pointless, it’s equally harmless. The movie knows it’s a studio cash-grab, and the effort behind it shows, but the care-free attitude from the onset also appropriately lowers expectations.

Maybe it wasn’t impossible, but in 2011 it seemed highly likely that the aging Tom Cruise and the “Mission: Impossible” series could keep going after three films spanning 10 years (and all earning merely “decent” marks). Then “Ghost Protocol” hit theaters and made doubters bite their tongues. That being the case, “Rogue Nation” keeps those […]

The battle for equal rights for women is far from over well into the 20th century, but it’s hard to imagine anything happening today that would make a spectacle of it like the  Battle of the Sexes did.

Although I haven’t read R.J. Palacio’s best-selling book, it’s pretty easy to see why “Wonder” has caught on with kids and adults alike. Its message is clear and simple, conveyed in a way kids can understand with some of the nuance that will resonate with adults. The film follows suit in the hands of someone […]

In a time of strong female images and an ever-growing, ever-graying definition of feminism, a film like “Professor Marston and the Wonder Women” feels especially important. Both the origin story of comics’ biggest female superhero and a portrayal of a norm-shattering romantic relationship decades ahead of its time, Angela Robinson’s film is robust and maybe […]

A winning concept can completely carry a genre film, and “A Quiet Place” has exactly that. Bryan Woods and Scott Beck’s idea of a family that must live in total silence in order to survive a monster/alien threat is the rare seed for a story that can blossom into an enthralling moviegoing experience. John Krasinski, […]

The union of Wes Anderson and stop-motion animation continues to be an ideal match. In 2009’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” Anderson showed what he could create using a medium that gives its author total control over every detail and every tiny movement; it amplified his comedy and creativity. This proves true once more in “Isle of […]

Among other things, Steven Spielberg is known for transporting audiences into brave new worlds, and in “Ready Player One,” based on the novel by Ernest Cline, that world is the massive virtual simulation of the OASIS, where humans in a broken world plug in and become anything they want to be. A master at stoking […]