At least we can all argue about movies again. — This piece comes from my newsletter, “No Content for Old Men,” which includes reviews of the latest movies and streaming suggestions every Friday morning. You can subscribe to here. It’s comforting, in an odd way, to realize we’ve returned to place culturally, politically, even physically where we can get angry…

This awards season the movie industry can anoint a hollow imitation or the genuine article. — This piece comes from my newsletter, “No Content for Old Men,” which includes reviews of the latest movies and streaming suggestions every Friday morning. You can subscribe to here. Judas and the Black Messiah should win the Academy Award for Best Picture. It’s as simple as that. Director Shaka King’s…

Does a truly Great Movie really require two viewing to appreciate? — This piece comes from my newsletter, “No Content for Old Men,” which includes reviews of the latest movies and streaming suggestions every Friday morning. You can subscribe to here. Every year I feel like I have to write this same intro, about a movie that has been hyped for months…

When I discovered the project, it read like a diary of his younger self. And a lesson to never stop pursuing your dreams. — It’s funny how most children come to believe they know everything about their parents. I certainly thought I did. My dad was, after all, the most pragmatic person I’d ever met. His world was governed by facts and figures, his days by surgeries and schedules. When he came home from…

And it was so worth it. — It’s been two months since the quarantine caused society to pick up its ball and go home, and now, even if you don’t live in a state that has reopened, one can feel things starting to change. The virus is just as deadly, just as mysterious, just as contagious as…

From zero to hero back to zero, we’ve found the limits of an uncompromising auteur A million words could be written — and they no doubt have — about the utterly fascinating career of Tom Hardy. Never in the history of Hollywood has a movie star of his wattage been…

A fully loaded cast elevates this pure popcorn entertainment to among the year’s best movies — This week the New York Times Magazine released a long, hoping-to-be-definitive profile of Adam Sandler, the first such story the comedic megastar has agreed to in over 20 years. I’ve been slamming Sandler as a talented slacker for YEARS, including probably the harshest review I’ve ever written, but one line…

Bring your tissues to Trey Edward Shults new movie, which redefines vulnerability — What is the true meaning of vulnerability? It’s a question I debated with a group of friends while driving back from Joshua Tree last weekend (a trip which, I now feel the need to clarify, did not involve hallucinogenics…hi mom). …

‘Miracle’ meets ’Field of Dreams’ at 200 mph — There’s a scene in Miracle I’ll never forget. (Either because it’s an effective scene, or because I watched this movie about the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey triumph somewhere between 20 and 200 times per year growing up.) American hockey coach Herb Brooks is walking on the street and passes by…