CATCHING UP WITH FILM - FILM CRITICISM WITH AN EYE ON A PERSONAL CANON

Despite a raging pandemic, films were indeed released in 2020, and some great ones too. I don't know know what I would have done without movies in general during this trying time, and these movies are just a small fraction of the ones that entertained and thrilled me and even give me hope. 7 La Llorona (dir. Jayro Bustamante) This Guatemalan horror story is a slow burn, but one that delves into its country’s history of dictatorships and genocide in a creepy yet pointed manner

Despite a raging pandemic, films were indeed released in 2020, and some great ones too. I don't know know what I would have done without movies in general during this trying time, and these movies are just a small fraction of the ones that entertained and thrilled me and even give me hope. 13 My Octopus Teacher (dir. Pippa Ehrlich & James Reed) This movie has been vilified on film Twitter as being self-indulgent navel gazing. It didn’t get much more love when it won the Acade

Despite a raging pandemic, films were indeed released in 2020, and some great ones too. I don't know know what I would have done without movies in general during this trying time, and these movies are just a small fraction of the ones that entertained and thrilled me and even give me hope. 25 Wolfwalkers (dir. Ross Moore & Tomm Stewart) These Cartoon Saloon films manage to feel mythic in a way that the old Disney films and the best Studio Ghibli films do. Wolfwalkers feels li

2020 was a rough year for movies in general. Outside of film critic and cinephile circles, I can’t think of a single movie that captured the imagination of a lot of people who aren’t as rabid about film as I am. But even the crap year that 2020 was had a silver lining: the abundance of films directed by women and people of color. If even half the films that came out last year had come out in theaters and reached bigger audiences, it would have been seen as a true sea change.