Looking over reviews of this at least on here suggests that I have a stronger admiration for the project that most, and as I discuss with director Theo Anthony on the podcast, I think that's because I find the style of the film not easily boxed in. Reviews seem to suggest that one subplot is too many, or Anthony does better with his humans than his history (or visa versa). I find the variety of it all to be what…

Discussed with Ms. Agnès and her co-conspirator here on the podcast. If my delight in this one is reserved perhaps because Gleaners is and continues to be such a revelation, that even though this has its own unique contours, it perhaps cannot tap that. But what I found so provocative was the was AV and JR crafted their characters and the emotional journey I felt with her. Whether the Godard part was staged (other interviews suggest not), her emotional outburst…

For years, Hollywood and the surrounding Culture Wars have asked a question: Do Critics Matter? It's a frankly boring question, but the main anxiety has developed out of a growing disconnect between Rotten Tomatoes Favorites and the American Box Office. But Disney and their expanding intellectual properties have put a new spin on this story: critics don't matter, but studios deliberately position / design films to harness their words in order to enter The Cultural Conversation. Their movies are no…

Edgar Wright would have never fit the 70s New Wave: he belongs at Warners in the 30s. Baby Driver colors inside the lines, but this is a stark contrast from other recent Hollywood films praised being "different enough." He wants the image on screen to matter more than the cultural conversation that occurs afterwards. He's rather cast a David Byrne than a emotive performance (perhaps to a slight detriment when the gears change). He wants to create tone and rhythm…