Film
The book’s conceit is that D.A. Miller watches films he’s seen earlier in life with enhanced perception because of the possibilities offered him through the DVD lens.
Billie is a stunning new documentary about Billie Holiday, one of the greatest jazz vocalists of the 20th century.
A Glitch in the Matrix is nowhere near as unhinged as a Dinesh D’Souza “documentary,” but it’s mentally taxing to watch so many people describe the real world like it’s Minecraft.
Despite its potential for black comedy or moral sermonizing, 4×4 remains a gripping suspenser.
We’re desperate for some frothy good spirits, so welcome Barb & Star’s turquoise ‘n’ hot pink assault, forgive it for being mildly funny more often than wildly funny, and enjoy its modest pleasures.
Over 75 segments from the Berlin Wall have found their way to the U.S., providing the subject for The American Sector, an amusing, quirky, and meditative road-trip/scavenger hunt.
The Dig is suffused with a very English (and problematic) sense of history: why it matters, how it can be taken for granted, and the odd way that certain elements of the past are valorized while others are kept buried.
This film offers a much more nuanced and self-reflective conversation about authorship, authenticity, creative inspiration, and the role of film criticism than any of its detractors are willing to admit.
Defiant and tonally offbeat, French Exit mirrors, in a sense, its female protagonist, who doesn’t give a damn what the world thinks of her.
Sundance’s strengths for me this year (as in the past) were the festival’s documentaries.
The Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll at Mid-Year: Warming Up a Riff — How It Happened, and Why It Matters