8.5
THE CIRCUS Criterion Blu-ray Review
The Blu-ray for THE CIRCUS by Criterion is a stellar, detailed release of Charlie Chaplin’s 1928 film.
Posted by: Ken Bakely
8.5
4.5
CORPORATE ANIMALS Review
You can see the movie that Corporate Animals wants to be, as there are instances when its wild mixture of satirizing capitalism, horror comedy and peculiar banter create some moments that succeed in being uniquely funny.
Posted by: Ken Bakely
6.5
FUNNY GAMES Criterion Blu-ray Review
The Criterion edition of Funny Games restores, and adds more context to, a still-polarizing film.
Posted by: Ken Bakely
7.5
WILD NIGHTS WITH EMILY Review
Wild Nights with Emily poses fascinating questions on how popular understandings in history are formed and often manipulated.
Posted by: Ken Bakely
5.5
YARDIE Review
Inspired direction can’t save Yardie from a formulaic script.
Posted by: Ken Bakely
Ken’s 2019 Oscar Predictions
In my introduction to last year’s Oscar predictions, I refer to the 2017–18 awards season as “one of the most tumultuous” in recent memory, a superlative that would almost seem too weak when discussing the events of this year. Each
Posted by: Ken Bakely
8.5
24 FRAMES Criterion Blu-ray Review
The Criterion edition of 24 Frames is a fittingly superb tribute to a great artist.
Posted by: Ken Bakely
6.5
THE STANDOFF AT SPARROW CREEK Review
The Standoff at Sparrow Creek is formally and aesthetically fascinating, even when its script feels a little incomplete.
Posted by: Ken Bakely
Ken’s Top 10 Films of 2018
Continuing our 2018 wrap-up spectacular is Ken Bakely‘s top 10 films of 2018.
Posted by: Ken Bakely
5.5
THE QUAKE Review
Though the movie is capable, it’s missing the extra push to keep it away from using to the familiar tropes it wants to avoid.
Posted by: Ken Bakely
6.5
FAIL STATE Review
Shebanow’s driving energy is always apparent although sometimes it’s left, frustratingly, just out of reach.
Posted by: Ken Bakely
7.5
FIRST MAN Review
It’s a movie with an unwavering faith in the lessons we can learn from the past, but it shuns inappropriate nostalgia or uncritical revisionism.
Posted by: Ken Bakely
7
SADIE Review
Sadie is, above all, a meditation on life spent without access: to money, to answers, to safe outlets for confusion and anger.
Posted by: Ken Bakely
7.5
TEA WITH THE DAMES Review
The film’s greatest asset is its ability to convey the lively spirit of the conversations without feeling selective or artificially emphasizing points, beyond spare bursts of archival footage or the occasional question posed from Michell himself.
Posted by: Ken Bakely
8
COLD WATER Criterion Blu-ray Review
Cold Water is an absorbing, pensive look at what such desires feel like on the inside, with its handheld close-ups on faces and careful observance at objects and structures, as if to seek answers from everything in equal measure.
Posted by: Ken Bakely
5.5
OPERATION FINALE Review
Operation Finale is the historical film at its most safely crafted, even as individual production elements, such as Alexandre Desplat’s pushy score – heavy on everything from marimbas to choirs – suggest departures from a cookie-cutter approach that aren’t reflected onscreen.
Posted by: Ken Bakely
