Category Archives: Movies

Review: The Conjuring: Last Rites

Posted on October 17, 2025 by philipbrasor

I have not followed the Conjuring franchise so far and was taken aback by the conceit that it is based on the adventures of a real life married couple, Lorraine and Ed Warren, who performed exorcisms starting in the 1950s … Continue reading →

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Review: Eephus

Posted on October 16, 2025 by philipbrasor

Because of Hollywood, American movies are considered the default cinematic form, meaning any other kind needs to be qualified first; but there are enough American movies that fall outside the perceived Hollywood norm to constitute their own collective genre. This … Continue reading →

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Review: Holy Cow and Brand New Landscape

Posted on October 10, 2025 by philipbrasor

Work, as the Nazis used to say, will make you free, though it depends on which end of the whip you’re on. A lot of it has to do with milieu. Louise Courvoisier’s continually surprising coming-of-age tale, Holy Cow, is … Continue reading →

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Review: Grand Tour

Posted on October 9, 2025 by philipbrasor

Portuguese critic-turned-director Miguel Gomes is comfortable with anachronism. It was the most obvious narrative device in his era-splitting breakthrough Tabu, and in his latest movie it’s essentially a theme. The title refers to a famous travel itinerary available to Europeans … Continue reading →

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Review: One Battle After Another

Posted on October 3, 2025 by philipbrasor

Though I’ve little use for wholesale creative comparisons, the critical observation that Paul Thomas Anderson is this century’s Stanley Kubrick makes a certain kind of sense, if only because no other contemporary director comes close to Kubrick’s playful eclecticism, especially … Continue reading →

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Review: Julie Keeps Quiet

Posted on October 2, 2025 by philipbrasor

Sports movies usually have a common narrative arc about overcoming adversity, one which this Belgian film refuses to follow almost constitutionally. The title character, played by Tessa Van den Broeck, is a teen tennis prodigy. Everyone knows she’s on the … Continue reading →

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Review: Midas Man and Becoming Led Zeppelin

Posted on September 26, 2025 by philipbrasor

Midas Man, a biopic about Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein, received a qualified rave review from veteran rock critic Greil Marcus this summer. Marcus saw the movie at a film festival in California, and at the time it had not been … Continue reading →

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Review: I Saw the TV Glow

Posted on September 25, 2025 by philipbrasor

Now that he’s dead, all us habitual moviegoers live in the shadow of David Lynch if only because Lynch was the predominant filmmaker of the last 40 years or so whose vision was not only unique but impossible to get … Continue reading →

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Busan International Film Festival 2025, Sept. 22, part 2

Posted on September 22, 2025 by philipbrasor

As usual, I retreated earlier than usual on my last day of the festival. I leave tomorrow morning very, very early, and I’m hoping the subway gets me to the airport on time. The first train is 5:21 am, and … Continue reading →

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Busan International Film Festival 2025, Sept. 22

Posted on September 22, 2025 by philipbrasor

It struck me yesterday that this may be the first edition of BIFF I’ve attended where there is not one new Hong Sangsoo movie. In fact, usually there’s two. It’s difficult to believe they didn’t invite his newest, What Does … Continue reading →

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