Film Reviews Rye Lane (2023) This rom-com from newcomer Raine Allen Miller just might be the meet-cutest film of the year.
Film Reviews Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning (2023) Here's a preview of Overstreet's thoughts on the latest Mission: Impossible movie.
Film Reviews The Balcony Movie (2022) Pawel Łoziński offers us the privilege of meeting his neighbors in a documentary full of chance encounters and surprises.
Film Reviews How to Blow Up a Pipeline (2023) Daniel Goldhaber's film about desperate measures for desperate times is one of the year's most critically acclaimed films, and it's now available for rental on AppleTV+ and other streaming platforms.
Film Reviews Return to Seoul (2023) If we don't know the context we came from, or the biology from which we were born, we might face particular challenges in figuring out who we are. That's the idea that drives Freddie on an erratic journey of self-discovery and reinvention in this riveting film.
Film Reviews All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (2023) This Oscar-nominated documentary exposes corporate cruelty from a voice of experience and a heart of compassion.
Film Reviews Overstreet Archives: Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie (2002) A flashback to a curious moment at the crossroads of Christianity and the big screen: a VeggieTales movie that actually scored "fresh" on... wait for it... Rotten Tomatoes.
Film Reviews The Quiet Girl (2023) No, this isn't about a girl who doesn't speak. Cáit has plenty to say throughout. This is, instead, a movie about the extraordinary power of people who have the patience and generosity to listen — to the soft-spoken, the uncertain, and the insecure.
On Movies & Media Overstreet's Favorite Films of 2022 — Part Three: The Top Ten The day has finally come — I've seen enough films from 2022, and spent enough time reading about them, talking about them with thoughtful moviegoers, and writing about them that I'm ready to post my favorite films of 2022. (Just in time for the Oscars!)
On Movies & Media Overstreet’s Favorite Films of 2022 — Part Two: Top-Ten-Worthy Runners-Up This list of fifteen more represents all of the movies that I cannot believe I’m not including in my final Top Ten list.
On Songs & Albums Overstreet's Favorite Recordings of 2022: The Top Ten This year, my countdown of the previous year's best music has been a marathon of four posts: Honorable Mentions, #36 through #21, #20 through #11... and now this one. Here are my ten favorite albums of 2022. Sample tracks from each one and see if any of them speak to you. Then, post notes about your
On Songs & Albums Favorite Recordings of 2022: #20 – #11 Are you up for a treasure hunt? Here we go with one of the last two parts of my 2022 musical review.
On Movies & Media Overstreet's Favorite Films of 2022 — Part One: Honorable Mentions The Academy Awards are about to hand out a bunch of Oscars, and they're going to throw around the term "best" a lot. That's a relatively meaningless term. I want to know about the films that moved and inspired you. Here's Part One of a three-part post on my own favorite films of 2022.
Film Reviews Is this the "best first film" for very young children? This Oscar-nominated animated short is a rare wonder that will likely become an early-childhood treasure for young viewers and families.
Film Reviews Living (2023) The great Bill Nighy is masterful in a strangely simplified adaptation of "Ikiru."
On Songs & Albums Favorite Recordings of 2022: #36 – #21 You're likely to find some new favorites here in this wildly diverse list of albums and selected tracks from my favorite 2022 recordings.
On Songs & Albums Favorite Recordings of 2022: Part One — Honorable Mentions As I'll need some time to prepare my post on my Top 30 Favorite Recordings of 2022, I hope that this substantial feast of "Honorable Mentions" leads you to many hours of new musical discoveries.
Film Reviews Twas the season of "comfort food" movies... A flashback to the '80s: Here's a new reflection on a "comfort food" movie worth revisiting during the holidays.
Journal A conversation with Frederick Buechner in my quiet, snowbound house Wondrous things can happen at Christmastime. And so it was that I found myself in deep conversation with the late Frederick Buechner just before Christmas. I wrote it down, and as it's probably relevant for many of us, I'm sharing it.
Film Reviews Overstreet Archives: The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) Ten years ago, I wrote about The Muppet Christmas Carol for another website, marking the film's 20th anniversary. Here, at the film's 30th anniversary, I'm bringing that review to Looking Closer.
Film Reviews The Wonder (2022) On the week that I watched The Wonder , I had a challenging encounter with a stranger that brought the movie's central tension vividly to mind. It seems that the best way I can highlight my admiration for the movie is to share my experience alongside my review.
On Books & Writing All-Stars: Steven D. Greydanus and 20+ years of extraordinary writing on film Star-gazing again, I'm pointing to one of the brightest in the cosmos of criticism: Steven D. Greydanus. I'd be hard-pressed to think of a critic who has had a more consistently inspiring influence on me over the last 20 years of my engagement with film and with film essays.
Film Reviews My Father's Dragon (2022) The source material, a 1948 children's book by Ruth Stiles Gannett, is whimsical and funny, and has clearly influenced storytellers for generations, but it's a meandering and episodic tale that lacks a certain gravity. Can Cartoon Saloon storytellers revise it into something resonant?
Film Reviews All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) Do we need another epic war movie in 2022? Yes, if it serves to strip away any sense that battlefields are about heroes or glory. All Quiet has always been about telling the truth, and this new German-made adaptation on Netflix is no exception.
Film Reviews Tár (2022) Director Todd Field's return to the big screen is an unforgettable spectacle. And it is, almost inarguably, the greatest performance of Cate Blanchett's remarkable career. Some will call it a masterpiece. I'm not so sure.
