A History of Hit Men at the Movies

In honor of Hit Man, which comes to Netflix on Friday, I wrote about cinematic hit men. We think of them as impervious and super-cool, but very often these characters fail to live up to our lofty impression of them. Why is that? My thoughts are here.

The Grierson & Leitch Podcast: 'The Killer,' 'Anatomy of a Fall' and 'Pain Hustlers'

On this week's episode, we tackle two good new films ... and also a crummy Netflix flick. Which are which? Listen here and find out.

The Greatest Erotic Thrillers

Rolling Stone asked me to contribute to its list of the best erotic thrillers ever made. I was very happy to write about Double Lover, Gone Girl, Damage, The Handmaiden and Bad Education. Check it out.

The Grierson & Leitch Podcast: Our Big Fall Film Festival Preview and 'Dr. Strangelove'

On this week's episode, we select the films playing in Venice, Telluride and Toronto that we're most excited about. Then, we go back to 1964 to discuss Dr. Strangelove. Where does it rank among my favorites of Stanley Kubrick? Listen here:

'Fight Club' Jokes Still Pack a Punch

The new comedy Bottoms riffs on Fight Club, telling the story of a female fight club at a high school. Nearly 25 years after that David Fincher film came out, it's still used as a go-to joke in movies and TV shows. Why is that? I offered some thoughts here.

When the MCU Actors Weren't in the MCU

There's a whole crop of world-class actors starring in the Avengers films. But for MEL, I decided to spotlight their best non-MCU work. Take a look.

The Grierson & Leitch Podcast: Frances, Fincher and 'Red, White and Blue'

On this week's episode, which is our 250th, we review three new movies: Nomadland, Mank and the latest in the Small Axe anthology. Lots of good discussion, and you can hear the whole thing down below. 

'Mank' Review

It is strange to be lukewarm on a David Fincher film. His movies are so obsessively crafted that they elicit strong reactions. But after two viewings, I feel pretty darn mixed on Mank. I dove deep in my MEL review.

'Fight Club' and Male Bonding

I saw Fight Club on opening night October 15, 1999. Today, I look back at a movie that still packs a punch. My piece is up at SyFy.

Five Replacements for 'A Quiet Place Part II'

So, for Vulture, we're going to start doing a regular series called "The Replacements." The idea: Blockbuster season was supposed to begin this weekend, and big movies were set to arrive on a regular basis from here on out. Well, things have changed, so we'll be suggesting alternative flicks for that week's postponed event movie. First up: Our picks for films that scratch that itch if you were wanting to see A Quiet Place Part II. Hope you enjoy.

The Best Buddy-Cop Movies

Wow, this is shocking: I realized I never mentioned that, back in August, Will and I ranked the finest buddy-cop movies ever made. You can see that over at Vulture.

Brad Pitt, Genre Star

Brad Pitt has received multiple Oscar nominations for his acting, but some of his most indelible work has been in genre material. For SyFy, we looked at his five best roles.

A Brief History of Good (and Bad) Movie Makeup

I didn't have a chance to post this over the weekend -- it was a busy time, folks -- but for MEL, I selected some examples of memorable old-age makeup in movies. What distinguishes the good from the bad? Read on.

Some Thoughts on 'The Girl in the Spider's Web'

What are "soft reboots"?

How did The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo construct its awesome title sequence?

Why does The Girl in the Spider's Web have a One Perfect Shot problem?

I answer all that, and more, over at MEL.

The Grierson & Leitch Podcast: 'Cameron Post,' Pooh and 'Zodiac'

On this week's episode, we talk briefly about The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Christopher Robin, even Better Call Saul. But we spend most of our time on our Reboot segment, where we dissect Zodiac. Check out the whole show down below.

When Bombs Become Cult Favorites

For this week's Debate Club, we look back at five films that crashed and burned at the box office, only to be resurrected by audiences over time. (I had to write the Brazil capsule, naturally.) Check out the whole list here.

The Grierson & Leitch Podcast: Elvis, Nixon, Warren Beatty and Lisbeth Salander

Many things to dig into in this week's edition of the Grierson & Leitch podcast. We review Elvis & Nixon. I speak briefly about The Huntsman: Winter's War and A Hologram for the King. And then we feature two films in our Reboot segment: The Parallax View and David Fincher's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I was glad to see Tattoo again, by the way -- that movie really is exceptional. You can hear the whole podcast here.

The Best Movies to Lose the Best Picture Oscar

I've often said that the worst thing that can happen to a good movie is to win Best Picture. Once you've been given that Oscar, everybody complains that you're not that great of a film: The accolade simply invites people to nitpick. With that in mind, for Rolling Stone I decided to rank the 25 best movies that were nominated for Best Picture but lost. This is an enormously difficult task, by the way, which meant leaving off plenty of worthy contenders. Also, my No. 1 pick is going to annoy lots of folks. Hey, sue me, it's my list.

The Best Movies of the Decade (so far): My Ballot

You may remember the other day I mentioned that The Dissolve had asked me and other critics to contribute ballots to their poll of the best films of the decade (2010-2014). (You can see the master list, with write-ups, of Nos. 50-26 here. Nos. 25-1 are right here.)

For those interested, I decided to publish my ballot below.

Doing some quick number-crunching, I see that 10 of my Top 20 films ended up in the overall Dissolve Top 50. If some of my picks surprise you, well, they surprised me, too -- but I decided to go by instinct and not overthink my choices. If nothing else, this will help give me a guide for "Best of the Decade" lists in about four years, which will be here quicker than you think.

1. Inside Llewyn Davis
2. The Turin Horse
3. The Master
4. Boyhood
5. City of Life and Death
6. Lourdes
7. Shutter Island
8. Elena (the Andrei Zvyagintsev film)
9. It's Such a Beautiful Day
10. The Social Network
11. The Clock
12. Compliance
13. Let the Fire Burn
14. Blue Is the Warmest Color
15. Shame
16. Leviathan (the Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Véréna Paravel film)
17. Upstream Color
18. Take Shelter
19. Room 237
20. Before Midnight

'Gone Girl' Review

One of the most anticipated movies of the fall, Gone Girl, opens on Friday. I went long on my review for Deadspin, trying to capture all the different feelings I have about this fascinating film. (Specifically, I dug into the fact that director David Fincher divides his output into two categories: films and movies.) My review is here.