Ethan Hawke in "First Reformed"

by Chris Feil

Paul Schrader’s First Reformed is a bit like running a psychological and spiritual marathon, an unflinching look at despair in the modern era but told with the style of Tarkovsky and Bresson to lend its concerns a punishing timelessness. All the critical hosannas it has received are spot on, but rest assured that this is one tough, bruising sit. What keeps us from running away from the trauma is the absorbing honesty of Ethan Hawke’s showcase performance.

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NYFF: "First Reformed" and "Let the Sunshine In"

by Murtada

First Reformed
A middle aged priest in crisis sits down with a young man suffering from his own disillusionment with the status of our current world. Once the pleasantries are done with and the futility of existence and our doomed world become the topic of conversation, the alarm sirens start going off. It took the audience at the New York Film Festival screening a few moments to realize that the sirens are not part of the movie unfolding, but an actual false fire alarm asking us to vacate the cinema.

That’s how deeply engrossing Paul Schrader’s First Reformed is...

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Splendid Sally makes "Maudie" a delight

by Murtada

If you are a fan of Sally Hawkins then Maudie is a gift full of joy made just for you. Hawkins plays real life folk artist Maud Lewis, a smart lively woman who’s hunched with crippled hands from arthritis, as she finds solace and purpose in becoming an artist. Maud works a housekeeper for a hardened reclusive bachelor, Everett Lewis (Ethan Hawke). Of course she thaws his heart and they eventually couple up. The film is a two-hander even as Hawkins is its unquestionable center and beam of delight...

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May!

And you... and you... and you... you're gonna love May! 🎵

That's my promise to you readers. We're planning to work our asses off this month for you after a slow April. When you feel energy comin' off the blog, given back in the form of comments, shares, donations, good vibes, or subscriptions, won'cha?

May is the month of the Virgin Mary, emerald birthstones, Tauruses and Geminis, and all sorts of ultra specific things you can celebrate on this very day if you're feeling festive.

10 things work celebrating on this day in history (May 1st) after the jump including Batman and our third living 100 year-old movie star...

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Stage Door: "Dead Poet's Society"

Andy Warhol's prescient statement 'in the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes' has been requoted to death. If he had been even more specific in his prophesies he could have added '...and every movie made in the 80s and 90s movie will become a stage play.' The latest film to make the jump is Peter Weir's boy's school drama Dead Poet's Society which was a big hit with the public and Oscar in 1989. For those who've never seen it (I'm sure you're out there somewhere) Robin Williams plays an unconventional teacher who convinces high school boys to "carpe diem / seize the day!" but this inspirational message has unintended tragic consequences when one boy's dream (Robert Sean Leonard) clashes with his reality in the form of a disapproving father. In the new play film actors Jason Sudeikis and Thomas Mann (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, The Stanford Prison Experiment) get those two marquee roles...

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