George Clooney and the Modern Actor-Turned-Director

In honor of The Midnight Sky, I ranked 12 movie stars who made the transition to filmmakers. Where does Clooney rank? The answer is over at MEL.

The Worst Genre Films of 2018

Sorry, bad movies, but you were bad. Our list of the worst is up at SyFy.

What's James Franco's Greatest Performance?

Will and I put on our thinking caps to rank every James Franco role. Well, not every one. C'mon, we have lives, too. Our findings can be found at Vulture.

The Grierson & Leitch Podcast: Let's Review 'Disaster Artist,' 'Shape of Water' and 'Wonder Wheel'

As luck would have it, all three movies we talk about on this week's podcast are ones I haven't written about elsewhere. So I have much to say about James Franco's film about the making of The Room, Guillermo del Toro's fantasy romance, and the latest from Woody Allen that everybody hates. You can hear the whole thing down below.

Toronto 2017: The Wrap-Up and the Rankings

I am fearful that 2017 is going to be the year of the B+ for me. For most movies, a B+ is a very respectable grade, indicative of a film that's of fairly high quality. But a B+ is also the grade I assign films that aren't quite amazing, that don't quite wow me. Toronto had a lot of B+ movies, when I was really hoping for something more.

Will some of the movies on my ranked list end up getting a higher grade on second viewing? It's very possible. But I note that the top two films on my list came from earlier festivals. And I should also say that I'm excited to catch up with Bodied, Dark River, Downsizing, Ex Libris, Foxtrot, Sweet Country and I, Tonya down the road.

In the meantime, let's hear it for Lean on Pete, the third and best film yet from director Andrew Haigh. It's the Kelly Reichardt movie of the year: I saw shades of Meek's Cutoff, Wendy and Lucy, Night Moves and Certain Women in this beautiful, tough coming-of-age story. Sadly, it's not arriving in theaters until 2018. Regardless, put it on your radar.

45. Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! 
44. Three Christs
43. The Summit
42. Suburbicon
41. The Mountain Between Us 
40. Papillon
39. Redoubtable
38. 55 Steps
37. Marrowbone
36. 1%
35. Mom and Dad
34. Professor Marston & the Wonder Women 
33. Stronger
32. Roman J. Israel, Esq.
31. A Ciambra
30. In the Fade 
29. Unicorn Store
28. Chappaquiddick 
27. Thelma
26. Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood
25. Caniba 
24. Novitiate
23. Battle of the Sexes
22. The Death of Stalin 
21. I Love You, Daddy
20. The Day After
19. The Rider
18. The Square
17. Beats Per Minute
16. First Reformed 
15. Lady Bird 
14. Mudbound
13. Zama
12. The Shape of Water
11. The Killing of a Sacred Deer
10. The Other Side of Hope
9. The Disaster Artist
8. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
7. The Florida Project
6. Happy End  
5. Brad's Status
4. mother!
3. Lean on Pete
2. Loveless
1. Call Me by Your Name

The Best of Modern Exploitation

Like the ol' saying about what constitutes art, you know an exploitation movie when you see it: blood, guts, boobs, severed limbs, the works. For Rolling Stone, I helped put together a list of the greatest modern exploitation films. That means anything from 1995 to the present: Showgirls, Grindhouse, Crank, I Saw the Devil.... You can check out the whole list here.

Sundance 2015: 'True Story' Review

True Story, as you might imagine, is based on a true story. In 2002, celebrated New York Times writer Michael Finkel got himself fired for fudging the facts on a profile piece he was writing. Hoping to revitalize his career after the scandal, he discovered that a man in Oregon had been using his name while on the run. (He was wanted for the murder of his wife and three children.) Finkel decided to meet this man.

In the film, Jonah Hill plays Finkel and James Franco plays the man, Christian Longo. True Story is involving and intriguing -- but only to a point. I liked the movie, but it easily could have been better. I reviewed True Story for Screen International.

Toronto 2012: 'Spring Breakers' Is Terrific

I'm fascinated by Harmony Korine's career, which I've discussed before. Even his Trash Humpers, which I couldn't stand, has several disturbing ideas percolating under the surface. Now comes Spring Breakers, which I think is his most complete work. And, yes, James Franco is totally nutso in it. Here's my piece over at Deadspin.

'rise of the planet of the apes' review

I think a running theme in a lot of reviews for Rise of the Planet of the Apes will be "Wow, what a pleasant surprise." That's code for "We all kinda assumed it was going to be bad." But, no, it's actually pretty smart and assured, although it does have a few problems. Nonetheless, in a summer of pretty bad studio movies, Rise is one of the few bright spots. I reviewed the film for Screen International.

james franco bombs as academy awards host

I was rooting for James Franco and Anne Hathaway at the Oscars. But they tanked, especially Franco. I try to figure out why over at Yahoo.