Alexander Payne’s film is subtly attuned to the way that class constricts people’s lives.
When Hudson is singing her heart out, not so much approximating Aretha’s voice as channeling her soul, the effect is transportive.
The film becomes overrun by an increasingly preachy and tiresome series of life lessons about race, class, and love.
The main character is too often pushed to the sidelines so that the filmmakers can indulge tired family-drama tropes.
Kenneth Lonergan is keen to frustrate the therapeutic trajectory of Manchester by the Sea’s premise.
Liza Johnson’s film is generally taken with comfy gags that celebrate these men’s ownership of pop culture.
The top-notch packaging reveals Argo for what it really is: a coolly realized, wildly reckless actioner.
Unlike many soap operas, Deception’s murder mystery isn’t an engine that drives the plot; it’s, quite decidedly, the plot in and of itself.
The film emerged from Toronto as virtually every pundit’s Best Picture frontrunner.
Undeniably rousing, but deeply irresponsible, Argo fans the flames surrounding historical events likely to still remain raw in the memory of many viewers.
Damages back-slips noticeably during its third season, but never so much that the show is worth writing off.
Any native of a downtrodden city will tell you that there’s an undeniably authentic quality to the work here.
Unfazed, the injustice of the world within and without Damages continues apace.
The writers have acknowledged our new understanding of Patty as an enigma in order to tease us with what seems to be a process of humanization.
Nancy Drew is almost charming when she’s out snooping in the boonies, but she doesn’t make a whole lot of sense nosing around Hollywood wearing Bree Van De Kamp’s hand-me-downs.
One of the best-looking films of 2005 doesn’t exactly get the red-carpet treatment from Warner Home Video.
The dichotomy between Murrow and McCarthy is emblematic of Good Night, and Good Luck’s fixation on contrast.
Before parodying your action superstar image, don’t you first have to be an action superstar?