Screen
For its director and young star, ‘Precious’ is ready to pop
Precious is hardly the feel-good movie of 2009, but the people...
Rediscovered country
It opens like any other western: Sepia soaked still photographs of settlers in wagons traversing a wild frontier while title cards credit the actors, the...
Direct action
As the human toll of global climate change comes into clearer view, attempts to find political or market solutions frustrate many environmentalists who call...
Baldwin blues
“The story of the Negro in America is the story of America. It is not a pretty story.”
—James Baldwin
By the time James Baldwin...
X marks the spotty
Like a car mechanic tasked with repairing a UFO or a political pundit faced with explaining Donald Trump’s cabinet appointments, critically appraising the third...
The cinematic sampler
As far as cinema is concerned, 2021 opened not with a bang but with cautious optimism. For starters, moviegoing has returned with AMC, Cinemark...
Despite cast, ‘Nine’ is a bore
How can a movie starring six Academy Award-winning actors be such a bore...
Crank it up
There are three perfect scenes in Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials. Not “good” scenes. Not “great” scenes. Three perfect scenes. Now, as a whole, The Scorch Trials is not a perfect movie. Nor is it a great one. But it is very good, and most of that has to do with ...
A sea of spider-people
Watching Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is the single closest feeling I’ve had to the first time I cracked open a comic book, beginning a...

















