Author Archives
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“Resurrection” is the can’t-miss Criterion of the year.
“The day the world almost ended at 8 p.m., a tree fell down. No one heard it, but later I saw it.” – Andrew J. Eisenman No one knows what to do with the film spoken of as “Bi Gan’s… Read More ›
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“Hamlet” is a fun shadow play of its own ambition.
Times are so tough that even Hamlet no longer dreams of shadows. Instead, as Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal; Bait) says of the Prince he dreamt his whole life of playing “Hamlet is someone who is grieving the illusion that… Read More ›
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“Reminders of Him” makes it work.
Reminders of Him is a needlessly self-conscious film. Like the Nicholas Sparks canon before this Colleen Hoover wave (It Ends with Us; Forgetting You), the film plays melodrama as grounded drama, which often drives stray target-audience members, like unaware boyfriends,… Read More ›
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“A Little Prayer” is a big treat on Blu-ray.
I arrived in the city of Winston-Salem last year at the same time as A Little Prayer, one of the best films of 2025, and a film about the people here. It was a real local sensation, going on an… Read More ›
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“The Man Who Wasn’t There” has its day in court via a new 4K UHD restoration from The Criterion Collection.
What happens when a reliable man decides to become unreliable? Should he be held to account? Who’s to say? The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001) is finally getting its day in court, entering the Criterion Collection on February 24th, 2026…. Read More ›
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“Magellan:” Everything is Magellan now.
In the opening shot of Magellan (2025), an Indigenous Malaysian woman walks into a stream, filling a vessel. Suddenly, she spots a white man past the fourth wall of the proscenium and takes off running. She shouts through her village… Read More ›
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Edward Yang’s “Yi Yi” gets a boost to 4K UHD as it enters The Criterion Collection
Life is like a dyad-god, both finite and infinite. Your life is finite because it ends, but Life goes on regardless of how you live yours. Few things narrow as quickly as the infinite possibilities of a newborn’s life, except… Read More ›
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“The Voice of Hind Rajab” masterfully utilizes subtle dramatization to portray the real experiences of those who try to save lives in Gaza.
When the world first stopped to hear the voice of Hind Rajab, the little girl from Gaza hiding from bullets in her family’s car, Kaouther Ben Hania was standing frozen in the airport. Now, she’s delivered a masterpiece that asks… Read More ›
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A Conversation with “The Voice of Hind Rajab” director Kaouther Ben Hania.
EoM Contributor Andrew J. Eisenman recently spoke with filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania about her latest film, The Voice of Hind Rajab. They discuss where Kaouther was when she first heard about Hind Rajab, making a film about helplessness, how to… Read More ›
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“Wicked: For Good” stays too close to the source material to gain any real altitude.
It’s common wisdom that all the good songs of Wicked (2003) are in the first half. But if the majority of songs in the anti-fascist melodrama of Act 2 were as silly and energetic as “Dancing Through Life,” the whole… Read More ›
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Boxing movie “Christy” polishes everything about Christy Martin’s story to a bland finish.
It is not impossible for a white, male director to tell great stories about identities they do not share. This year, PTA directed One Battle After Another (2025); two years ago, Scorsese delivered a masterpiece in Killers of the Flower… Read More ›
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“31 Candles” illuminates male loneliness.
“Have you talked to [Redacted] lately” is a question that many mothers love to haunt their single children with. “What about [Redacted],” “I just ran into [Redacted] at the grocery store,” “[Redacted] was at church today,” or, as kicks off… Read More ›
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The Onion’s mockumentary short “Jeffery Epstein: Bad Pedophile” is courageously funny.
The famed satirists at The Onion have joked their way into becoming a widely-read newspaper in just over a year of physical publication, to which, for disclosure, this author is a proud subscriber. They’ve also resurrected their video production team,… Read More ›
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“Megadoc” brings the long messy tale of the making of “Megalopolis” to the big screen.
Megalopolis is a film about Great Debates by Great Men. It has inescapable original sins for which the public will not even grant it the graceful reputation of “fine.” It debuted in a time when the efficacy of debates is… Read More ›
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Micro-feature “Good to See You” rides French New Wave like the 7 Line.
There are few places more wonderful in the world than Central Park in New York City, and Good to See You (2025), the newest independent micro-feature from writer/director Jonah Feingold (At Midnight; EXmas) is on a mission to make sure… Read More ›
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“Detonation! Violent Riders” explodes upon impact via 88 Films.
Content Warning: The following review discusses scenes of sexual violence. A sweaty biker gang leader with a head shaved in the shape of a swastika huffs fumes from a plastic bag, swearing revenge and delivering exposition at the same time…. Read More ›
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“You Can Count on Me” is a downhome Criterion Collection release.
The best small-town dramas welcome the viewer back to a place they remember but never visited. The town itself has nothing and everything to do with this film, serving as a setting, a cage, and a refuge depending on who… Read More ›
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“Eephus” hits a homer on Blu-ray.
Eephus (2024), now out on Blu-ray, is a great American movie because, like America’s Favorite Pastime, it captures the ways we can be and have forgotten how to be — communal, patient, and honorable, surprisingly loud, and sometimes surprisingly quiet… Read More ›
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“Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story” twists itself in knots.
There have been a slew of films hiding their true premises in their trailers this year — not spoiler-level twists, just selling the public a different idea. Abraham’s Boys is right there with Sinners, Materialists, 28 Years Later, and The… Read More ›
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“Absolute Dominion” washes out.
Absolute Dominion (2025), when pitched, sounds like the left-wing equivalent of an evangelical Lionsgate film that’s obviously a money-laundering scheme, but its impressive direction, a great concept, and a more cohesive politic leave you knowing that it could have been… Read More ›