Sundance 2019: 'Monos' Review

Monos received a special jury award at Sundance, where it competed in the World Cinema Dramatic competition. I saw the film early in Los Angeles; its Lord of the Flies-esque story is pretty affecting. My review is up at Screen International.

Sundance 2019: 'Native Son' Review

Ashton Sanders, one of the three actors who played the lead character in Moonlight, is great in this modern-day retelling of the Richard Wright novel. My Screen International review of Native Son is here.

Sundance 2019: 'Share' Review

Filmmaker Pippa Bianco made an acclaimed short a few years ago called Share, about a high-school student who has to contend with a viral video about some embarrassing things that happened to her at a party (that she can't even remember). Now it's been developed into a feature. I reviewed the film for Screen International.

Sundance 2019: 'The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind' Review

Chiwetel Ejiofor makes his directorial debut with this perfectly solid, slightly dull true-life drama. I reviewed The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind for Screen International.

Sundance 2019: 'Blinded by the Light' Review

Bruce Springsteen songs are marshaled to help tell the story of a young British-Pakistani man who feels lost in his nowhere town. Blinded by the Light was one of the big acquisitions at Sundance. It's a crowd-pleaser, even if it's also a little slipshod. My review is up at Screen International.

'Alita: Battle Angel' Review

Apparently, Alita: Battle Angel is going to lose a ton of money. And like other big-swing sci-fi films like Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, there are plenty of ideas here, just not very good execution. I reviewed the film for Screen International.

Sundance 2019: 'Wounds' Review

Me: "I'm reviewing Wounds tonight."

Colleague [who had already seen it]: "Oh, god, good luck."

I didn't go into Wounds with high expectations, but I was still disappointed. How can a movie with Armie Hammer, Dakota Johnson and Zazie Beetz be bad? Read on.

Sundance 2019: Ranking the Best and Worst of the Festival

At this year's Sundance, there wasn't much consensus about which films were "good" or "bad." Sure, most people liked The Last Black Man in San Francisco and The Souvenir, but you could just as easily find someone who hated The Lodge as someone who loved it. Ditto for Wounds or To the Stars.

As always, how you feel about a festival depends on what you saw -- and what you couldn't fit into your schedule. I'll catch up with Apollo 11, American Factory, The Sound of Silence and others soon enough. But for now, here's my ranking of what I saw, including links to individual reviews...

25. Wounds
24. Velvet Buzzsaw
23. After the Wedding
22. Honey Boy 
21. Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile
20. Blinded by the Light 
19. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
18. Them That Follow
17. Fighting With My Family
16. Birds of Passage
15. Untouchable
14. Native Son
13. Official Secrets
12. Share
11. The Farewell 
10. Give Me Liberty
9. Luce
8. Jawline
7. Monos
6. To the Stars
5. The Last Black Man in San Francisco
4. Clemency
3. The Lodge
2. The Souvenir
1. Leaving Neverland

For the second straight year, the best film I saw at Sundance was a harrowing look at child sexual abuse that will eventually air on HBO. I've been asked a lot if Leaving Neverland is "hard to watch." I suppose it is. But, as with all good films, there are ample rewards that make it more than worthwhile. Also, I was thrilled the U.S. Dramatic Jury Prize went to Clemency, a deceptively straightforward drama that grows and builds in beautiful ways. And kudos to World Cinema winner The Souvenir, which A24 will be putting out this year.

Robert Wyatt - "Shipbuilding"

As I often say, one of the side benefits of going to a festival is being introduced to (or reminded of) some great song that's included on one of the films' soundtracks. So, hello, Robert Wyatt's cover of this Elvis Costello gem. Nice to meet you.

Sundance 2019: Michael Jackson and Harvey Weinstein Face the Music

For MEL, I wrote about the eerie similarities between Leaving Neverland and Untouchable. Michael Jackson and Harvey Weinstein were very different monsters ... but their strategies for praying on their victims had disturbing amounts of overlap. My essay is here.

(This great artwork is by MEL's own Sam Dworkin.)

Some Thoughts on 'Conversations With a Killer'

I watched the new Netflix docuseries about Ted Bundy, and I have some thoughts ... about handsome serial killers, The Killing of America and Some Kind of Monster. My piece is up at MEL.

Sundance 2019: 'Them That Follow' Review

Them That Follow embeds us with an extreme Pentecostal community, one that engages in snake-handling. This tense drama is well-acted, but it's also a bit suffocating, as I explain in my Screen International review.

Sundance 2019: 'Official Secrets' Review

Between movies like Spotlight and The Post, we've become accustomed to true-life dramas like Official Secrets. This Gavin Hood film still works pretty darn well, though, starring Keira Knightley as whistleblower trying to keep the U.K. and U.S. from invading Iraq in 2003. You can read my review here.

'Miss Bala' Review

I didn't love the original Miss Bala, but I much prefer it to the remake, which stars Gina Rodriguez as a woman who finds herself in a desperate situation that just keeps getting worse. My review is up at Screen International.

Sundance 2019: 'Fighting With My Family' Review

I was pleasantly surprised by Fighting With My Family, not least of which because Florence Pugh is great in it. She's been excellent in her previous work, but she gives a movie-star performance here. My review is up at Screen International.

'Press Play With Madeleine Brand': Talking About the New Michael Jackson Documentary

I'm still at Sundance, but I got on the phone to talk to the great Madeleine Brand about Leaving Neverland. You can hear our conversation here.

Sundance 2019: 'Give Me Liberty' Review

"Like the passengers in the van which is Give Me Liberty’s primary form of transportation, viewers of this compassionate, sometimes disjointed drama need to hang on and go along for the ride, no matter the bumps and unexpected detours that may occur." That's the opening line of my review, which you can read here.

Sundance 2019: 'After the Wedding' Review

Susanne Bier's After the Wedding was Oscar-nominated. Now comes the English-language remake starring Julianne Moore and Michelle Williams. Stick with the original. My review is up at Screen International.

The Grierson & Leitch Podcast: Looking Back at '25th Hour' and 'Galaxy Quest'

I'm at Sundance. Will is home. So for this week's episode, I asked him a little about Serenity. Then we did two Reboot films: 25th Hour and Galaxy Quest. Hope you enjoy.

Sundance 2019: 'Honey Boy' Review

As a Shia LaBeouf fan, I was curious about Honey Boy, which is based on his own contentious relationship with his father. Alas, the movie doesn't quite work.

Sundance 2019: 'To the Stars' Review

Small but lovely, To the Stars was one of the Sundance films that was screened for me in advance of the festival. I'm glad people here in Park City are enjoying it as much as I did. My review is over at Screen International.

'Cold Pursuit' Review

Liam Neeson drives a snowplow in Cold Pursuit, which wants to be a bizarro revenge thriller. It doesn't quite get there. I reviewed the film for Screen International.

Slamdance 2019: 'High Flying Bird' Review

I'm usually down when Steven Soderbergh decides to go low-budget and experimental. But I was disappointed by High Flying Bird. I explain why over at Screen International.

Sundance 2019: 'The Lodge' Review

The Lodge is probably the most divisive film of this year's festival. Put me in the "huge, huge fan" category. Riley Keough is terrific in this deeply unsettling horror movie. My review is up at Screen International.

Sundance 2019: 'Leaving Neverland' Review

Leaving Neverland is four hours. It needs that much time to tell its story, which is devastating. I reviewed the documentary for Screen International.

'The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part' Review

I much preferred the first part. For Screen International, I reviewed The Lego Movie 2.

Sundance 2019: 'Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile' Review

Greetings from Park City. I reviewed the new Ted Bundy biopic, which stars Zac Efron as the serial killer. Extremely Wicked has a clever premise, but only so-so execution. I get into all that here.

Le Tigre - "Get Off the Internet"

This song is getting more and more real with each passing year.

Some Thoughts on 'Glass'

Glass really annoyed me, for personal reasons, which I get into over at MEL.

My Interview With Chris Smith, Director of 'Fyre'

Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened gives us the blow-by-blow account of what went wrong with 2017's Fyre Festival. For MEL, I spoke with Chris Smith, the director of American Movie and Jim & Andy. We talked about Instagram, millennials and what the media got wrong about the festival debacle. Hope you enjoy.

The Grierson & Leitch Podcast: 'Glass,' 'Fyre,' Sundance and 'What We Do in the Shadows'

Lots to cover in this week's podcast. We both rip on Glass and praise Fyre. (No, not the Hulu documentary. The other one.) I give a little Sundance preview, and then we look back at What We Do in the Shadows. Hear the whole episode down below.

Nicholas Britell - "Agape"

This Beale Street soundtrack is just an absolute killer.

Keanu Reeves' Best Genre Movies

We salute Mr. John Wick over at SyFy.

My LAFCA Awards Presentation for Steven Yeun

On Saturday at the InterContinental in Century City, I was given the enviable task of presenting the Los Angeles Film Critics Association's Best Supporting Actor award to Burning's Steven Yeun. (All our winners, and runners-up, are here.) Here's what I said from the stage:

Movies teach us how to spot monsters. They’re the creatures who have horns on their head or hockey masks on their face. But in real life, they’re not so easy to recognize because they look like us. And sometimes they come bearing a smile. Even worse, they may not be monsters at all—it just depends on your perspective.

Ben, the enigmatic playboy of Lee Chang-dong’s Burning, doesn’t enter the story until the half-hour mark, but once he does, he recalibrates this magnificent film’s internal rhythms. Ben doesn’t achieve this with a machete or an evil plan. All he needs is a noncommittal grin and a slightly condescending air. 

Like so much of Burning, Ben is a bundle of mysteries, whether it’s the origins of his wealth or his intentions with Hae-mi, the film’s leading lady. Those mysteries float and linger within the character, and they’re brought to remarkable life by Steven Yeun.

Yeun plays Ben like a disguise, inviting us to project our own feelings and assumptions onto him. Jong-su, the film’s ostensible hero, views Ben as a romantic rival, and there’s something archetypal about Yeun’s portrayal: For many insecure guys, Ben represents that cooler, more confident and sophisticated man that we can’t ever hope to compete with. But is that superiority? Or is there something far more menacing behind his eyes?

Yeun seduces us in this film, refusing to give up his character’s secrets. Ben could be a psychopath or just a guy who likes torching greenhouses. He may be someone who’s never cried—or just the kind of person who says that to try to impress others. He may be Burning’s monster or maybe its most misunderstood character. Ben’s mysteries remain—but what I know for sure is that Steven Yeun is an absolute killer in this incredible film.

Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in congratulating our Best Supporting Actor winner, Mr. Steven Yeun.

To have him and director Lee Chang-dong, whose Burning won Best Foreign-Language Film (alongside Shoplifters), in attendance was a thrill. May that film continue to find its audience.

(Photo by Matt Harbicht.)

The Most Anticipated Movies of 2019

Every year, Rolling Stone previews 50 films worth getting excited about for the new year. Always a pleasure to take part in this list. Check out the whole thing here.

The Grierson & Leitch Podcast: 'The Upside,' Oscar Nominations and 'Idiocracy'

We're back! On this week's episode, we differ on The Upside, which was a surprise No. 1 hit over the weekend. Then, we make our predictions for the Oscar nominations. And then we confess to each other that we don't really like Idiocracy. Hear the whole thing down below.

My Interview With Robert Englund

The new issue of Revolver is devoted to dreams and nightmares. What a perfect time to speak to Mr. Freddy Krueger himself, Robert Englund. We talked about what keeps him up at night, among other things.

Some Thoughts on 'Sex Education'

This Netflix series got good reviews ... although I'm not sure why. I talk about that over at MEL.

The Worst Sci-Fi Remakes

Egads, these are bad .... and they're over at SyFy.

The History of the Geezer Buddy Comedy

In honor of The Last Laugh, I wrote about Hollywood's fascination with old guys palling around with their old buddies. It's over at MEL.

Snail Mail - "Pristine"

It just feels like
The same party every weekend
Doesn't it? Doesn't it?

The 2019 Movies That Aren't Based on Anything

Adam Sandler and the Safdies! Brad Pitt and James Gray! Matthew McConaughey and Harmony Korine! New Jordan Peele! Whatever Knives Out is! So much Robert Pattinson! Here's my preview of this year's most intriguing (and completely original) films.

My Interview With Lucas Hedges

For Screen International, I chatted with the very talented, very young Lucas Hedges. We talked Boy Erased, Ben Is Back and learning how to deal with downtime. (He's as bad with it as I am.) Hope you enjoy.

Sharon Van Etten - "Comeback Kid"

"I'm getting Kate Bush/Siouxsie Sioux vibes from this," notes one YouTube commenter. I agree. I've had a hard time connecting with Sharon Van Etten's earlier work, but this one has a little more juice to it.

The MEL Movie Awards

These are very silly, but I had fun writing them. Hope you enjoy.

The Best Sci-Fi Remakes

Debate Club is back for 2019. Over at SyFy, we sing the praises of some darn good remakes.

Is Netflix Telling the Truth About 'Bird Box' Being a Phenomenon?

I talk about that over at MEL, and I also have thoughts about Susanne Bier's career and why I wouldn't make it too long in a post-apocalyptic thriller.

Best of 2018: The Top 10 Movies of the Year

On June 18, I was angry and depressed. This is not an uncommon state since Trump became president, but I felt it acutely that day as more information was becoming available regarding the administration's "children in cages" immigration policy. Looking back at my social media posts from the period, it's clear I'd been in a funk for days, but I was especially frustrated by how meaningless my sadness and rage were. I was furious about the country's direction, but I was also powerless. What was the point of getting so worked-up if, ultimately, I couldn't do anything about it? I'm not someone who's comfortable being angry; I don't like how it leaves me feeling out of control. As best I can, I usually try to push past those emotions in order to focus on a constructive way of handling the problem. But Trump is a toxin, and my usual workarounds were insufficient.

So that night I was sitting at home alone, utterly at loose ends, when I decided to just blurt something out on Twitter.

Being angry all the time is exhausting and corrosive. Not being angry feels morally irresponsible.

— Tim Grierson (@TimGrierson) June 19, 2018

Within 30 minutes, I could tell that something was happening. The tweet was being retweeted like crazy, helped by the fact that Stephen Kinsella, an associate professor of psychology, gave it a signal boost by cleverly noting, "Siri, describe 2018 in one tweet please." Pretty soon, Kinsella and I were being inundated by commenters, who were offering suggestions about the best way to handle my dilemma.

Anybody who has a tweet go viral will soon experience the worst of Twitter, but I was pleasantly surprised by how generally positive and thoughtful the responses were. For the most part, people were letting me know that they felt the same way that I did -- and they weren't sure what to do, either. (That said, the comments I probably most appreciated were from people of color, who politely chided me for just now being aware that lots of folks have to learn to live with impotent anger.)

I write many things throughout the year: movie reviews, profile pieces, essays, lists. It is very likely that nothing I wrote in 2018 was as widely read as that tweet, which took me about 30 seconds to compose. That's an odd realization. On the one hand, I'm touched that anything I put out into the world could strike a chord with total strangers. But it's also a bit bittersweet to witness something of yours become so embraced by the culture that it stops being "yours." I've seen people online reference that tweet like it was a common expression -- it's now just something on the internet that's used as a shorthand to describe a specific mood. (I've never been to Portugal, but my words have. It's also the subject of a chapter in a forthcoming book.) And with each new global turmoil -- Brazil's election of Jair Bolsonaro, the ongoing Brexit debacle -- the tweet would find a fresh wave of visibility. My words were depressingly timely, over and over again.

Because that viral tweet has been part of my life for six months now, I've spent a lot of this year trying to figure out exactly why it resonated and what, if anything, I've learned from the experience. I'm not sure I have any good answers. All I know is I'm pleased to have heard from so many responders who essentially said, "Thank you for expressing how I've been feeling." I'm glad to have been able to help others in some small way. Futility isn't as crippling when you know there are others out there like you.

What I'm less proud about is that I haven't solved the conundrum I articulated. And by that, I mean I didn't do a lot to affect change in the world. I voted, to be sure, but compared to my incredible wife (and many of her friends), who went out and canvassed for Katie Hill, successfully flipping California's 25th district blue, I was too consumed with work to be as politically active as I should have been. I'm ashamed of that and need to do better in the future. I put out a feeling in the world, but I didn't act on it. I'm still not sure what to do with my anger.

* * * * *

Since my principal job is to write about movies, not bemoan the state of the world -- although it's funny how often those two interests intersect -- let me now offer my picks for the best films of 2018...

1. Burning
2. You Were Never Really Here
3. Annihilation
4. Widows
5. Cold War
6. Life and Nothing More
7. Roma
8. Mission: Impossible - Fallout
9. Makala
10. Let the Sunshine In

Looking at my picks, what stands out most strongly is that five of my Top 10 films are foreign-language, the highest total since 2015. And I've included links to Life and Nothing More and Makala's respective home pages since they're the two movies I imagine are the least well-known on my list. They're both remarkable, saved from distribution oblivion thanks to awards. (Makala won the Grand Prize at Cannes Critics' Week in 2017. Life and Nothing More took home the John Cassavetes Award at the Independent Spirit Awards.)

My Nos. 11-15 were almost as beloved, with each film, at one point or another, seemingly a lock for my Top 10. Alas, there just wasn't room for (in order of preference) Private Life, Hereditary, If Beale Street Could Talk, Lean on Pete and Amazing Grace. (And if The Tale had gotten a theatrical release instead of airing on HBO, it probably would have landed on my Top 10.) Why didn't your favorite movie make the list? Because I am a bad person.

* * * * *

Professionally, 2018 was a year where I did my best to be grateful for all the terrific places where I get to write. I'm extremely lucky.

Take Screen International. Once again this year, I covered Sundance, Cannes and Toronto for the publication, including getting to write about Burning after its premiere. Also at Cannes, I wore a tux to see Lars von Trier's The House That Jack Built; amusingly, my review ended up being Screen's most-read of 2018. (People can't get enough of Matt Dillon serial-killer flicks, apparently.) I adore the entire team over there, especially my wonderful editor Finn Halligan, and it's an honor to be their Senior U.S. Critic.

Over at Paste, I got to write one of my favorite annual pieces, which is a deep-dive overview of True/False. This year's festival was especially strong, and I tried to do it justice, which required more than 6,200 words.

MEL continued to see its profile rise in 2018, which makes me incredibly happy. The staff and its freelancers are writing smart things on a daily basis, and I was thrilled to cross off some bucket-list interview subjects. I got to have a long conversation with Steve James. I interviewed Frederick Wiseman from Paris while he sat on a park bench and looked back on his career. Andrew W.K. was remarkably open about his struggles with mental health. Morgan Neville and I chatted about Won't You Be My Neighbor?, and the amount of traffic that piece generated suggested just how much viewers hungered for a film like that. And I talked to a bunch of sportswriters about the legacy of Jerome Holtzman and the save stat. I am eternally grateful to my editor and friend Josh Schollmeyer for giving me the latitude to write about so many different things over at MEL. (Being given the opportunity to write about Cannes entirely from the perspective of what it's like to watch nothing but subtitled movies for a week was a real blessing.) Looking forward to seeing what transpires for MEL in 2019.

And David Fear remains such a pleasure to work with over at Rolling Stone. I started the year spending time with Sebastián Lelio and Daniela Vega to discuss A Fantastic Woman, which ended up winning Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars. (I was so glad I asked Lelio about that Alan Parsons Project song.) From there, I praised Annihilation and our era of trippy sci-fi films, and then proceeded to hang out with Lynne Ramsay and Joaquin Phoenix (during an earthquake) to talk You Were Never Really Here. (I'll always treasure the moment Phoenix introduced me to Ramsay by saying, "He didn't like our movie." You damn liar, Joaquin.) Other highlights: speaking with F. Murray Abraham after the passing of Milos Forman; dissecting the themes and allusions in Janelle Monae's Dirty Computer film; losing my mind over the Academy's brief flirtation with Best Popular Movie; interviewing Tilda Swinton and Olivia Colman (not at the same time); and revisiting Dogville.

My old pal Will Leitch and I spent another year hosting our weekly film podcast. Our collaboration didn't end there: We very much enjoy doing Debate Club over at SyFy when we're not contributing epic lists for Vulture. (We have a couple coming out in 2019 that are especially major and will definitely not elicit any argument online.) And don't forget: We even have a shirt.

I was tickled to contribute to the Los Angeles Times in 2018, examining the strange case of Bohemian Rhapsody, The Other Side of the Wind and The Nutcracker and the Four Realms: three movies with muddled directorial authorship. (If we had waited a little longer, I could have included Amazing Grace in there as well.) And over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, I spent some time with John Cho to talk about fatherhood and Searching.

In terms of unexpected treats, AM New York asked me to write about the significance of Paul Simon's farewell tour, which gave me an excuse to interview smart music writers about the man's legacy. Oh, and there was the time John Carpenter sorta did an interview with me for Revolver. (He was more interested in the Brett Kavanaugh hearings.) And I did some Q&As I was pleased with, including speaking to the Boy Erased team and Morgan Neville for his other documentary, They'll Love Me When I'm Dead.

And that's enough. I hope you all have a great 2019. Thank you for reading what I write. And may someone look at you the way Kristen Stewart looked at Cate Blanchett at Cannes this year.

We're a couple weeks away from knowing what will win the Palme d'Or, but right now this seems like a lock for best picture. #Cannes2018 pic.twitter.com/h6wNy4gYmb

— Tim Grierson (@TimGrierson) May 8, 2018

Crosby, Stills & Nash - "Helplessly Hoping"

Who would have imagined that a CSN song would be featured in the year's best sci-fi film? What an odd year 2018 was.

Best Genre Movies of 2018

We pick the five best for SyFy.

Some Thoughts on 'Vice'

Wow, did this movie annoy me. I talked about smug laughter (and Todd Snider and The Unknown Known) for MEL.

What's Robert Zemeckis' Best Film?

Will and I are over at Vulture today ranking the Oscar-winning director's best (and worst) films. I'm guessing most people will be OK with our pick for No. 1. You can check out the whole list here.

Some Thoughts on 'Bumblebee'

Why is Optimus Prime lame now? How happy are people that Michael Bay didn't direct the new Transformers film? And what's up with "The Touch"? I answer those questions, and more, for MEL.

Some Thoughts on 'Aquaman'

Superhero movies shouldn't be goofy. That's my problem with Aquaman, which I talk about over at MEL.

Some Thoughts on 'Welcome to Marwen'

The movie will sink like a stone, and it's not very good, but Welcome to Marwen is an interesting bad film. I talk about that over at MEL.

Manic Street Preachers - "Nobody Loved You"

A friend of mine and I have been talking about Manic Street Preachers a little lately. So I've been thinking of this song.

The Grierson & Leitch Podcast: The Best Films of 2018

It's that time of year again. Will and I reveal to each other (for the listener's enjoyment, I hope) our Top 10 lists. Hear the epic episode down below.