Movie review by Greg Carlson As a reflection on our perilous political landscape, “Bugonia,” from the ever curious and boundary-stretching auteur Yorgos Lanthimos, joins several other 2025 releases that have something to say about a deeply divided populace and the fine line between order and chaos. Landing somewhere between “One Battle After Another” and “Eddington” […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Noémie Merlant, working from a script she wrote with Pauline Munier and her “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” collaborator Celine Sciamma, directs herself in “The Balconettes” (the clever/cheeky English-language retitling of the original French “Les femmes au balcon”). An antic and frantic feminist horror-comedy thriller, “The Balconettes” nods to […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Now available on Amazon Prime following its world premiere last month as the opening night selection of the Toronto International Film Festival’s golden anniversary, “John Candy: I Like Me” is a heartfelt and star-studded appreciation of the late actor, who died in 1994 at the age of 43. The movie’s […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Dream-factory documentarian Alexandre O. Philippe connects with a Hollywood legend in “Kim Novak’s Vertigo,” the latest in a series of features exploring the filmmaker’s many movie-related passions and obsessions. In my 2022 review for the fascinating and accomplished “Lynch/Oz,” I wrote, “Philippe has continued to develop a confident storytelling voice […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson The multiple meanings of the title location in Mercedes Bryce Morgan’s “Bone Lake” cover the sex and death spectrum that will flummox Diego (Marco Pigossi) and Sage (Maddie Hasson) as soon as they discover their well-appointed getaway rental has been double-booked to Will (Alex Roe) and Cin (Andra Nechita). Well […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson “One Battle After Another,” the brilliant new masterwork from Paul Thomas Anderson, joins Wes Anderson’s “The Phoenician Scheme” on the short list of the year’s best films. Along with the shared directorial surname and the perfect casting of Benicio del Toro, the two movies balance rich text/subtext with vital father-daughter […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Filmmaker Melanie Oates follows 2019 feature debut “Body and Bones” with another thoughtful and well-observed drama in which the challenges and limitations of the small town put pressure on a young woman yearning for something greater than provincial dead-ends. In “Sweet Angel Baby,” which premiered last year in the Toronto […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson As a follow-up to “The Whale,” a raucous adaptation of the first novel in Charlie Huston’s Henry Thompson series was a good choice for eclectic auteur Darren Aronofksy, whose bold visions have attracted a devoted following. Since the mentaculus mania and stark monochrome of “Pi” announced the arrival of an […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Now available on HBO after a theatrical debut earlier this year at Tribeca in the Spotlight Documentary section, “Dear Ms.: A Revolution in Print” considers the groundbreaking impact of the famous feminist magazine through the lenses of three talented moviemakers. Each of the episodes dives into a different topic with […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson “Misericordia” premiered at Cannes in 2024 and is now available to see in the United States on the Criterion Channel and other streaming services. In the sharp and thought-provoking thriller from “Stranger by the Lake” writer/director Alain Guiraudie, the viewer is introduced to Jérémie (Félix Kysyl), a mysterious and inscrutable […]