Phantom Thread is a exquisite film of elevated aesthetics that drape over a scintillating story of tumultuous potential discord. There is infinite richness within the despair, spun by Daniel Day-Lewis re-teaming with his There Will Be Blood director Paul Thomas Anderson, as the fictional 1950s tailor of status. Mundane in some moments and mysterious in others, the sum of the literal and figurative details within the stitches and seams of this film make it one of the year’s best.
Read MoreThough the day job work was no longer in the way, good times with family and friends was the better thing to do than lock myself in a room on a laptop and write. Three of these films are cracking my Top 20 of 2017 and possibly even my final “10 Best” list. A year-end bang like that deserves to be talked about, and I couldn’t keep sitting on them without getting something out to you. To get the good word out there, here are some quick hot take capsules of the films with full reviews in the works.
Read MoreSoaringly endearing elements of romance enrapture with a heading spoonful of the perverse for good measure. Fantastical triumphs of mortal spirit over evil forces are applied to inhuman oddities with jarringly violent consequences. This is a film of stark peculiarity that challenges your safe zones and clashes with your sense of normalcy for the themes at play. It asks you to relish in an abnormal spectacle that dazzles with vintage style and extraordinary boldness.
Read MoreMartin McDonagh’s new film puts prickly in the pastoral glazing its country charm with absolute acid every chance it gets. Part stern crime drama and part small-town chicanery, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri displays the next level of McDonagh’s talent and potential. Always the sharp storyteller since his roots on the Irish stage, McDonagh’s writing prowess elevates a premise that would fall flat as pure farce in other hands
Read MoreMichael Glover Smith’s words of mounting depth and weight turn idle chatter into soapboxes that eventually become proverbial fortifications built around questioned principles and shattered wills. The ensemble of performers delivers on the required heavy lifting from the director to make the multitude of human flaws believable yet still approachable. Mercury in Retrograde is a hidden gem.
Read MoreI do my best to write professional grade film criticism fit for a formal audience, becoming best friends with a thesaurus and using my big boy words. By day, I'm an elementary school educator. At work this year, I've been organizing a special field trip for 5th graders to see Wonder after they've been reading the novel all fall. This second "student-friendly" movie review is for them and other younger readers. Revised, this review scales down my review down from an 11.6 Flesch Kincaid readability level to a comfy 4.4 average.
Read MoreIn her solo feature directorial debut, Greta Gerwig has stepped in and pushed this cinematic species tremendously forward with the dramedy Lady Bird. The film destroys any notion of the “manic pixie dream girl” fakery. Lady Bird is a cornucopia woven with striking candor and filled with delightful oxymorons artfully composed to challenge taboos and stereotypes. Let’s give each oxymoron a life lesson and a paragraph or two along the way.
Read MoreRichard Linklater operates between free-wheeling fun and poignant realism with little middle ground. No matter which parallel, the quality of his romps on one side or his character studies on the other are equally and rightfully celebrated. It has reached the point where you have to ask if we’re getting "Party Linklater" or "Serious Linklater." Contrary to the little middle ground previously mentioned, Last Flag Flying tries both.
Read MoreBright as the summer is sunny, thoughtful as the literature being referenced, and raw as the emotions running through it, Princess Cyd is a pertinent and inspiring triumph from writer and director Stephen Cone. We are privy to private moments, yet welcomed in for sake of common ground and personal growth. The sublime polish and volume of empathy amid this film’s themes is utterly magnetic.
Read MoreThis entire film is a head-turning and striking first impression if you missed Noel’s single season on Saturday Night Live four years ago. As aforementioned with a passion project like this, you beg and wonder how autobiographical a wild story like this has to be. No matter if it’s true or entirely created, the appreciation measures the heavily positive same. The jokes come from all angles and hit with every effect from belly laugh to full cringe.
Read MoreThe 53rd Chicago International FIlm Festival brings over 1,000 films of all genres and sizes to our fair city. There are premieres aplenty, between those making their world, North American, or Chicago debuts. Opening with a red carpet premiere of Marshall, peaking with the centerpiece of Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird, and closing with the Oscar contender The Shape of Water from Guillermo del Toro, the 53rd CIFF fills the AMC River East 21 for two weeks. For the fourth year in a row, Every Movie Has a Lesson has been granted press credentials to cover the CIFF and here are my capsule reviews.
Read MoreThe discolored and dingy tile grout at the bottom of a swimming pool and the imagery effect of rippling water seen under the surface bending the images above perspective starkly symbolize the many warped dimensions of Liquid Truth. The truth in the title is as slippery as the water in director Caroline Jabor’s simmering social commentary. The film may be foreign from Brazil, but it typifies all too many social media ills that would explode in a parallel fashion here in this country.
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