In a Sprawling New Season, Orange Is the New Black Betrays Itself

Since last November, we’ve been asked to understand, if not necessarily sympathize with, the furious resentments of the racists, misogynists, homophobes and plutocrats who have brought us to this point of political calamity. The fifth season of Orange Is the New Black (Netflix) appears to be its own kind of…

Trey Edward Shults’s It Comes at Night Is a Horror Triumph

A red door is, biblically speaking, a sign of protection, an echo of the blood rubbed on posts and lintels during Passover to keep God from smiting you and your home. But like most things that the Bible insists are positive, the red door also comes with an undercurrent of…

Our Picks for the Oak Cliff Film Festival

The Oak Cliff Film Festival crew is sitting in the back of Wild Detectives, bantering over the recent uptick in interest for slow-core Soviet cinema. They just showed Tarkovsky’s Stalker, a challenging piece of stitched-up long shots, and each has theories on why the crowds were so large. One thing…

The Chilling My Cousin Rachel Harrows a Dopey 19th-Century Misogynist

The trailer for Henry Koster’s 1952 adaptation of My Cousin Rachel channels hysteria as the voiceover asks, “Was she woman or witch? Madonna or murderess?” Unfortunately, the film itself proved far tamer than the marketing suggested. The novel’s author, Daphne du Maurier, who also penned The Birds and the psychological…

The 12 Best Movies From the 2017 Cannes Film Festival

The 2017 Cannes Film Festival wrapped up last Sunday with a slate of generally predictable (and perfectly worthwhile) awards. And while it may have been a somewhat lackluster year for the festival’s main competition, there were plenty of cinematic treasures to be found on the Croisette – even a couple…

Here’s All the TV Not to Miss in June Before the World Ends

It’s summer! Time to stay inside and watch TV! Duh! I’m Dying Up Here (Showtime), June 4 Peak TV giveth, and Peak TV taketh away. And sometimes Peak TV confuses the shit outta ye. Case in point: this new drama about LA’s stand-up comedy scene in the ’70s. I mean,…

Give a Chance to Hank Azaria’s Brockmire, That Prick

For some reason, I can’t bring myself to hate Jim Brockmire. Played by comedian Hank Azaria, best known for his voice work on The Simpsons, Brockmire wears a perpetually wounded and somewhat confused expression, the look of a man coming off a bender who can’t find his car. His loud,…

Again With the Sad Clowns: The Missed Opportunities of I’m Dying Up Here

I’m Dying Up Here premieres June 4 on Showtime Mythologies are built on pain. It’s why nations remember the invasions they’ve suffered better than the ones they’ve perpetrated, why religions celebrate their martyrs, and why Disney princesses – among the most privileged individuals in their respective kingdoms – sing about…

Brad Pitt and War Machine Pick at the U.S.’s Afghan Mess

With his bow-legged power-walk, low-boil narcissism and tough-guy snarl, Brad Pitt is the comic ghost in David Michod’s all-too-real War Machine. The film, which is premiering on Netflix this week (and also getting an extremely limited theatrical release), was inspired by the late Michael Hastings’s book The Operators: The Wild…

Churchill Squanders History and an Ace Brian Cox Performance

There will always be, it’s become clear, one more Winston Churchill story to tell: one more slant on a weekend, a summer, a year in the life of the 20th century’s most formidable leader, a man whose history includes two world wars and speeches so glorious that future dramatizations were…

Wonder Woman Emerges to Save the World But Risks Losing Herself

Perhaps Wonder Woman’s greatest superpower is enduring for the past 75 years as a wildly unstable signifier. Director Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman, starring Gal Gadot in the title role, further adds to this complicated, contradictory cluster of signs and symbols. Forged from deeply feminist sympathies, the character debuted in All…

Cannes 2017: All Hail the Super-Pig of Bong Joon-ho’s Okja

In the run-up to this year’s festival, Bong Joon-ho’s Okja was one of the most mysterious titles in the Official Selection lineup. Now that people have seen it, Okja has turned out to be…one of the most mysterious titles in the Official Selection lineup. What is it, exactly? A children’s…

Paris Can Wait Squanders Diane Lane – and Lots of Nice Dinners

Where are the goddamned roles for Diane Lane? Since her career launched, with a starring role as a precocious 13-year-old American girl in Paris in 1979’s A Little Romance, Lane seems to have confounded casting directors: Is she the button-nosed embodiment of joie de vivre or the anarchist post-punk tempest…