Joker, director and co-writer Todd Phillips’ dark and violent attempt to tell the origin story of one of the nastiest comic book villains of all time, is, like the character at the centre of it all, hard to define, but leaves an indelible impression.
Roger Waters Us + Them, the latest concert film from the singer, songwriter, instrumentalist, and Pink Floyd co-founder, is more or less what one might expect at this point, but the material (both old and new) is delivered with a renewed sense of vigor, purpose, and passion.
A bittersweet and transformative look at a landscape that could forever be altered or lost thanks to a xenophobic campaign promise run amok, the documentary The River and the Wall looks at both the ecosystems that could be destroyed thanks to the building of Donald Trump’s wall along the U.S./Mexico border and the futility of constructing such an edifice in the first place.
Monos, Colombia’s selection for Oscar contention in the Best Foreign Language Film category this year, is one of the few films that could be most adequately described as barbaric without that word taking on a negative connotation.
With his latest documentary, Diego Maradona, filmmaker Asif Kapadia does for deified and vilified footballer what he previously did for Formula One driver Ayrton Senna and pop music superstar Amy Winehouse, with equally eye opening, insightful, and empathetic results.
A satisfyingly twisty and original take on traditional gumshoe and time travel tropes, In the Shadow of the Moon is the rare sort of film that keeps redefining audience expectations while the core story is still unfolding, right up until the final scene.
The unabashedly corny, earnest, and well intentioned Canadian tearjerker The Meaning of Life never rises above its relentlessly manipulative subject matter, but it’s not entirely without merit.
With Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice, documentarians Jeffrey Friedman and Rob Epstein have created a thorough and engaging overview of the singers career, reminding viewers why she was so successful and how her contributions changed the game for women in the industry.
Not much more than another standard tale of a young person learning to get over a tragic loss and believe in themselves through the help of a magical creature, Abominable doesn’t break any new ground in animated storytelling whatsoever, but at least it’s cute, enjoyable, and has a lot of heart.
Swerving around many of the cliched potholes modern day biopics about famous performers all too frequently and gleefully drive over at full speed, Judy smartly profiles its larger-than-life subject and talent at a couple of fixed, well chosen points in time rather than mounting a standard riches to rags tale.
