Seattle Times

It's not exactly cheerful holiday viewing, but this "Macbeth" is nonetheless a gift.

Posted Jan 31, 2022

4/4

Parallel Mothers (Madres paralelas) (2021)

Generations pass, this wise movie tells us; family endures.

Posted Jan 17, 2022

3.5/4

The Lost Daughter (2021)

It's the kind of movie that haunts you for a while afterward, like clouds that hang in the sky long after the storm has passed.

Posted Dec 23, 2021

2.5/4

The Tender Bar (2021)

The movie isn't terrible, but too often it feels Hollywood-bland; a missed opportunity, served neat.

Posted Dec 22, 2021

4/4

The Matrix Resurrections (2021)

Wachowski has taken the familiar and modified it in such a way to make it seem new. It's a brilliant act of transformation.

Posted Dec 21, 2021

4/4

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

Those who meticulously study the Marvel universe will find lots to happily debate here, but those of us with a more casual connection to superhero movies will simply have a rollicking good time.

Posted Dec 15, 2021

3.5/4

Nightmare Alley (2021)

This "Nightmare Alley" is a gorgeous exercise in style and mood.

Posted Dec 14, 2021

3.5/4

West Side Story (2021)

If you know the original "West Side Story" pretty well, watching this one is fascinating, like getting reacquainted with an old friend who now looks quite different.

Posted Dec 2, 2021

3/4

Julia (2021)

"Julia" is full of irresistible clips and interviews with its subject, trilling and burbling with her trademark enthusiasm, reminding her viewers that anything was possible and that mistakes are how cooks learn.

Posted Nov 24, 2021

3/4

House of Gucci (2021)

"House of Gucci" is no masterpiece, but it's often crazy good fun.

Posted Nov 23, 2021

2/4

Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)

The humor, such as it is, seems like it's being doled out in a dropper. A drip here, a splat there.

Posted Nov 18, 2021

4/4

The Power of the Dog (2021)

It's a unique ride of a movie, beautiful and disturbing and haunting - in other words, it's a Jane Campion film. Here's hoping we don't have to wait 11 years for the next one.

Posted Nov 17, 2021

3.5/4

King Richard (2021)

"King Richard," though perhaps a tad overlong, is as irresistible as the young legends at its center; you watch with pleasure, thinking of the many future champions it might inspire.

Posted Nov 16, 2021

3.5/4

Belfast (2021)

"Belfast" is brief, tidy and lovely; a heartfelt story of family and home, and how where the former is, the latter resides.

Posted Nov 10, 2021

3/4

Spencer (2021)

You watch wishing this story, in the real world, could have had a different ending; and marveling at how Stewart finds new, close-to-the-bone layers in a character we thought we already knew.

Posted Nov 4, 2021

2/4

Antlers (2021)

"Antlers" dulls its edge and blunts its point with its clichéd scares.

Posted Oct 28, 2021

3/4

Eternals (2021)

It's a different kind of superhero movie; not to everyone's taste, but made for us all.

Posted Oct 27, 2021

3.5/4

Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)

[Washington plays] Rawlins as a mixture of canny private eye and wary out-of-towner. In her best role to date, Beals communicates some of the hothouse seductiveness of film noir's best bad girls.

Posted Oct 26, 2021

3.5/4

Last Night in Soho (2021)

Though Wright can't quite sustain the tension through the final half-hour, "Last Night in Soho" is full of dark pleasures.

Posted Oct 26, 2021

3/4

The Electrical Life of Louis Wain (2021)

Ultimately, "The Electrical Life of Louis Wain" is made enjoyable by its human and feline actors, despite the sadness of the material, and it left me wanting to know more about its subject, which I suppose is the point.

Posted Oct 19, 2021

3.5/4

The French Dispatch (2021)

"The French Dispatch" is an elegant ode to good writing, and to those who quietly stand behind the words.

Posted Oct 18, 2021

4/4

Dune (2021)

Just see it. It's remarkable.

Posted Oct 14, 2021

3/4

The Last Duel (2021)

Scott, who knows a thing or two about how to mount sweeping historical epics, is in his element here.

Posted Oct 11, 2021

2.5/4

Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021)

The picture's stylistic excesses... leave the viewer feeling pulverized by the time the closing credits roll.

Posted Sep 30, 2021

2.5/4

No Time To Die (2021)

"No Time to Die" has moments of pleasure, lots of them, but ultimately it feels heavy in a way a Bond movie shouldn't; its pacing is off and it can't quite sell the earnestness and even sentimentality of much of its storyline.

Posted Sep 30, 2021

3/4

East of the Mountains (2021)

It's a small-scale intimate movie solidly anchored by Skerritt's disciplined, deeply felt work. It's one of the best performances of his career.

Posted Sep 21, 2021

3/4

The Card Counter (2021)

The filmmaker's trademarks - guilt, redemption, a soul in torment - are all here.

Posted Sep 9, 2021

2.5/4

Flag Day (2021)

Clearly, the picture is a labor of love by the Penns, but too often it just feels labored. There's a sense of everyone trying too hard.

Posted Aug 26, 2021

3.5/4

Ailey (2021)

You leave "Ailey" hoping that, somewhere, he's watching still.

Posted Aug 26, 2021

Cool as Ice (1991)

Try to imagine Vanilla Ice in the Marlon Brando role in The Wild One. Somebody did, and this is the embarrassing result.

Posted Aug 13, 2021

2.5/4

Free Guy (2021)

There's nothing new here, but thanks to Reynolds it's worth stepping out to a theater to enjoy a tasty summertime treat.

Posted Aug 10, 2021

3.5/4

The Suicide Squad (2021)

Gunn masterfully mixes humor and bloodshed and manages to give a surprising number of characters room to develop their personas. And when it comes to staging set pieces, he's at his best.

Posted Aug 5, 2021

2/4

Stillwater (2021)

For most of its length, "Stillwater" goes along as a meticulous examination of its central characters. And then suddenly near the end it jumps the tracks.

Posted Jul 27, 2021

1.5/4

Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins (2021)

It's as though Schwentke was operating from a checklist of expected action-movie clichés and hurries through them all.

Posted Jul 22, 2021

3/4

Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain (2021)

Bethany Jean Clement

The redemption here - if there may, please, please, be some - is in the celebration of his life, and in the fact that all the love for him clearly cannot do anything but continue on.

Posted Jul 14, 2021

3.5/4

Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It (2021)

Moreno, now in her late 80s, thoughtfully walks us through a life that encompassed both enormous success and constant struggle.

Posted Jun 17, 2021

3/4

Luca (2021)

Maybe not every Pixar movie can be "Up." For now, we'll just let adorable be enough.

Posted Jun 15, 2021

4/4

In the Heights (2021)

Maybe I didn't exactly dance down the aisle on my way out of the theater, but rest assured that I did so in my heart.

Posted Jun 9, 2021

3.5/4

Cruella (2021)

"Cruella" feels like a wildly imaginative superhero movie, but with fashion instead of superpowers.

Posted May 26, 2021

3/4

A Quiet Place Part II (2021)

Bring on Part III, quietly.

Posted May 25, 2021

3.5/4

The Dry (2021)

You watch waiting for rain and hoping it doesn't come, so you can stay in "The Dry" a little bit longer.

Posted May 20, 2021

3/4

Bhaji On the Beach (1995)

The scenes in Blackpool are vibrant, funny and finally quite complex and powerful.

Posted May 10, 2021

3/4

The Paper Tigers (2021)

It's a fun, satisfying picture.

Posted May 5, 2021

2/4

French Exit (2021)

"French Exit" isn't without its pleasures; but you watch it dreaming of the movie it might have been.

Posted Apr 6, 2021

2.5/4

The United States vs. Billie Holiday (2021)

"The United States vs. Billie Holiday" isn't quite worthy of the performance at its core.

Posted Mar 2, 2021

4/4

Nights of Cabiria (Le Notti di Cabiria) (1957)

Fellini and Masina's unique collaboration appears to demolish the wall between life and art, film and audience.

Posted Feb 28, 2021

3.5/4

Minari (2020)

In creating a filmic love letter to his own family, Chung has crafted one for us all.

Posted Feb 24, 2021

The Half of It (2020)

It's a wistful charmer.

Posted Feb 20, 2021

4/4

Nomadland (2021)

Zhao shows us the difficulty of this life - the endless laundromats, the cramped bed in the van, the cold, the possessions left behind - but also its beauty and freedom.

Posted Feb 11, 2021

2.5/4

The Little Things (2021)