The Moviegoer: A Roundup of Hobbit Reviews
The Moviegoer: Gangsters, Imposters, Motors, and other Awards Season Notes
The Moviegoer: A Portrait of President Lincoln
Can Faith in the Better Story Sustain Us? Survival and Significance in “Life of Pi”
Stories are an important signal of faith’s existence, but are they wondrous and hopeful enough?
The Moviegoer: In the Shadow of Skyfall
The Moviegoer: “Wreck-it Ralph” Could Use some Fixing from Felix
I often felt bored for much of the film’s duration, particularly the second act, which drags especially.
The Moviegoer: Bernhardt “Bernie” Tiede, Angel of Death?
The Moviegoer: Movie Making and the Politics of the Exfiltration Thriller
The Moviegoer: Sinister Images
The Moviegoer: Looper, Selfhood as Travel Agency, and Intergenerational Responsibility
A Lost Cause?: The Master and the Search for Desire’s Anchor
P.T. Anderson’s recent film sheds light on two souls who find themselves both adrift and trapped by their own desires.
The Moviegoer: The Law Made Arbitrary
Lawless seems to take the perceived incoherence of civilization’s manner of order, and ascribe it to a more cosmic lawlessness.
The Moviegoer: “The Queen of Versailles” and Living the Dream
Greenfield’s documentary is a favorite of the year for me precisely because she avoids the ruthless desire for a scapegoat, and somehow manages to humanize these lost souls in a way that discourages self-righteous disgust.
Live Free or Die Hard? Walter White’s Spectacular Imaginative Failure
How Walt’s descent into badness is a flight of imagination that is crashing to the ground.
The Moviegoer: “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia,” and Narration as the Longing for Innocence
You need to watch Anatolia close enough to narrate the details for yourself; you may, like me, need–more than that, desire–to watch this film more than once. All the while, the film asks: What are we to make of this phenomenon?
