“For those of us who grew up on Murphy’s comedy, it feels like a glorious homecoming. He hasn’t exactly made it easy to be a fan over the years, and few are less adept at disguising their contempt for weak material. What a thrill it is to watch him reconnect with his joy of performance, to once again bask in the glow of that naughty, contagious smile.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 10/24/2019

“The scatological humor and old-timey camera trickery suggest an Adam Sandler comedy directed by Guy Maddin. All this rib-nudging phallic imagery and hopped-up masculine energy make The Lighthouse feel like the world’s most elaborate penis joke, cackling at the erect, elongated title structure and the seamen stuck inside, ready to blow.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 10/23/2019

“Bong’s films turn ideology into action. Think of the class warfare allegory in Snowpiercer as the disenfranchised in the back fought their way to the front of the train, or the giant reptile monster in The Host growing out of a U.S. Army base’s reckless pollution. His stories are his political stances, and every shot in Parasite is some sort of argument.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 10/18/2019

“Wood’s collegial approach runs counter to the deliberately provocative content of the pictures being made, and to my mind gives the work short shrift. These are complex films worthy of further discussion than all this anecdotal back-patting. I mean jeez, it’s a two-hour documentary about Quentin Tarantino movies that never once mentions women’s feet.” – North Shore Movies, 10/18/2019

“The bad boy melodramatist from Madrid turned seventy last month, and this is the kind of picture an artist makes when they’re getting on in years and taking stock of things. It’s a gentle, episodic movie about mending fences and making peace, and how part of getting older is realizing there are some things you should apologize for and some you still shouldn’t.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 10/16/2019

“Enormous fun to watch even if it has no real reason to exist, El Camino is an agreeably stripped-down affair, more like an epilogue to the series than a standalone feature of its own. Written and directed by Gilligan, the movie conjures that familiar Breaking Bad mojo of characters constantly escaping out of a dangerous situation into an alternative that’s infinitely worse.” – North Shore Movies, 10/12/2019

“Attempting to inflate this tawdry true crime tale into some sort of metaphysical meditation, Hawley leaves out the diaper detail, which is a shame because the movie’s so full of shit it could’ve used one. It’s impossible not to wonder what the hell he was trying to get at here, overloading every scene with show-offy camera tricks and empty intonations.” – North Shore Movies, 10/10/2019

“An oddball, archly comic examination of the 2016 Panama Papers scandal, this is in many ways a typical Soderbergh picture, in that it’s a sardonically amusing tale of economic malfeasance fixated on process and procedure. But it’s also weirdly half-baked and under-realized, the most slapdash of the director’s efforts since his 2002 Full Frontal.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 10/10/2019

“A monotonous slog that won’t stop patting itself on the back for being ‘edgy’ when really it’s just another dull corporate product gussied up with adult-ish affectations and dorm room philosophizing about ‘society, man.’ Joker carries on as if it’s imparting some sort of serious social commentary while being extremely careful not to actually say anything at all.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 10/03/2019

“A diabolically funny romp that sends clichés careening into each other with a prankster’s perversity. Two innocent lovers flee from an ever-expanding gallery of peculiar criminals during an evening of slapstick misunderstandings that come to gruesomely amusing ends. The movie doesn’t have a thing on its mind besides mayhem and I enjoyed it enormously.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 10/02/2019