Rounders (1998)::rating::4::rating::4::rating::4

I n his review, Roger Ebert compared Rounders to Rocky, and it's certainly apropos: Over the course of the film, poker player Mike McDermott (Matt Damon) gets demolished in a high-stakes game, staggers away in humiliation, and slowly hones his talent for one last shot at the title. At the same time, Rounders also sent my mind to Bull Durham,…

ByTodd WoffordMarch 15, 20220Comments

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Ranking the Best Picture Nominees (2021)::rating::5

W ith the Oscars fast approaching, it's time to take a closer look at the nominees. It's a boatload of fun to rank things, so let's make a list, shall we? Note: This isn't necessarily based on what I think will win Best Picture, but more how much I connected with each film. And now,…

ByTodd WoffordMarch 13, 20220Comments

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Licorice Pizza (2021)::rating::5

L icorice Pizza is an eccentric, shapeless masterpiece. It follows Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman), a precocious, entrepreneurial teenager, as he hustles his way through the San Fernando Valley, circa 1973. As Gary bounces from one quirky, cockeyed ambition to the next, the plot bounces with him, like a balloon on a string. The only through line…

ByTodd WoffordMarch 10, 20220Comments

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Summer of Soul (2021)::rating::4.5

T he Harlem Cultural Festival was a massive musical happening, spread over six weeks of 1969's sweltering summer. Tens of thousands concert-goers crammed into Harlem's Mount Morris Park to hear an all-star lineup of Black musicians, but they ended up with even more than that: This marked a socio-political crossroads, when Black music took on…

ByTodd WoffordMarch 7, 20220Comments

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The Batman (2022)::rating::3.5

M att Reeves' The Batman is a sweeping, three-hour elegy on just how miserable it is to be Batman. For much of the film, Robert Pattinson's Dark Knight looks on the verge of a nervous breakdown: Black eye makeup streaks his dour face; strands of unkempt hair drape downward in all directions, as if Bruce Wayne just…

ByTodd WoffordMarch 4, 20220Comments

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Drive My Car (2021)::rating::5

F or much of Drive My Car, Misaki (Tōko Miura) chauffeurs Yusuke (Hidetoshi Nishikima) to and from his job as a theater director. He listens to cassettes of his late wife narrating Chekov's Uncle Vanya, and an eerie tranquility emanates from her voice. Misaki drives in silence, with a look of passive melancholia frozen on her…

ByTodd WoffordFebruary 28, 20220Comments

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House of Gucci (2021)::rating::2.5

A fter 160 minutes of House of Gucci, I can confidently say I have no idea what the hell I just watched. Is this a gloriously trashy piece of pop art--the Borgias of Melrose Place? Or, are we watching a fumbling stab at legitimate Oscar bait, wherein people get boozy and holler at each other, while mascara…

ByTodd WoffordFebruary 25, 20220Comments

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Encanto (2021)::rating::4.5

A s a parent to a toddler, I can now assess the landscape of children's movies with a much higher degree of confidence. My verdict: From a story standpoint, most animated fare is designed to be disposable at best, and shamelessly lazy at worst. The savvier filmmakers will distract you with millions of colors over…

ByTodd WoffordFebruary 24, 20220Comments

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City of Angels (1998)::rating::2.5

C ity of Angels is one of the strangest romantic films to emerge from the 90s. As a date movie, it's ponderous and wild-eyed to the point of being deliriously goofy. Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan, two of the era's biggest stars, don't work at all as a supernatural couple. Finally, the film capitalizes on the…

ByTodd WoffordFebruary 23, 20220Comments

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Superbad (2007)::rating::4

T een movies centered around graduation are always bittersweet affairs. Look beneath the flow of booze and morally flimsy sexcapades, and you'll find an undercurrent of yearning, regret, and deep anxiety. There's a strange proto-nostalgia, as pseudo-adults desperately try and cup the sand as it slinks down the hourglass. Few films have ever bottled that…

ByTodd WoffordFebruary 18, 20220Comments