Chad Hartigan First impressions of The Threesome Chad Hartigan's fourth feature finds him once again dodging genre conventions and finding something singular, as he plants intriguing characters in messy situations and chooses grace over ruin.
Boys Go to Jupiter First impressions of Boys Go to Jupiter In recent years, the highlights for me have been lower-budget, higher-creativity movies. Here's another one—a weird, hilarious, unpredictable musical running on a deep current of sadness.
13th It's not too late: Ava DuVernay's 13th is shock treatment for America's conscience From the Looking Closer Archives: Here's my original review of Ava Duvernay's astonishing Netflix documentary, which I originally wrote for Christianity Today.
Seth Worley First impressions of Sketch One of 2025's brightest surprises, bound to become a new family favorite, Seth Worley's film understands the dangers of suppressing imaginations, even those that disturb us.
Alex Garland In 2003, 28 Days Later revitalized a genre, cautioned us about viruses and rage, and divided Christian film critics From the archives at Looking Closer, here's my original review of 28 Days Later, along with reactions from critics I quoted in my Film Forum column at that time.
Eva Victor First impressions of Sorry, Baby In this free post, I urge everyone to call up a friend and make plans to see Sorry, Baby, while it's still in theaters. If it's too late, rent and stream it. It's one of 2025's best.
Brad Pitt F'ing up: Thoughts on F1 on an IMAX screen These notes may include some spoiler-ish comments. But the movie's so predictable, does it matter? Here are my thoughts—more importantly, my concerns—about the summer's biggest IMAX adrenaline rush.
James Gunn Time to catch up! Here are some overdue notes on Superman. I'm late to the party. But then, the party would not have enjoyed my take on James Gunn's Superman. Here's the first of several catch-up reviews I plan to post this week.
Constance Tsang First impressions of Blue Sun Palace One of my favorite films of 2025, and perhaps the most promising directorial debut, focuses on women struggling for survival, companionship, and hope in the dangerous context of a massage parlor.
Steve McQueen Only twelve years ago, 12 Years a Slave won Best Picture at the Oscars My notes on this film were originally published at Looking Closer on November 2, 2013. It's time to republish them.
The Phoenician Scheme First (and second) impressions of The Phoenician Scheme After two viewings (and more on the way), here are my notes on Wes Anderson's latest—his first led by Benicio Del Toro , and, more importantly, his first to feature Michael Cera and Mia Threapleton.
Satire Galaxy Quest (1999) More than a quarter-century later, this Star Trek spoof remains a gold standard for sci-fi satire. With the announcement of a new Star Wars spoof, maybe it's time to remember what's possible
Danny Boyle First impressions of 28 Years Later Danny Boyle returns to direct the third episode of the series he began in 2002. This one features the best performances in the series so far, but in service of what? What does this movie love?
Harvey Weinstein All the Pretty Horses (2000) For 25 years, I've wanted to see a movie that Harvey Weinstein destroyed. Here are my original notes on the wreckage of Billy Bob Thornton's Cormac McCarthy adaptation, and dismaying footnote.
Carson Lund First impressions of Eephus I'm back from a long, hard road to offer my overdue review of one of the year's funniest movies: an elegiac comedy about America’s declining traditions and communities.
Stephen King First Impressions of The Life of Chuck Despite its charming dance numbers, Mike Flanagan's feature film based on a Stephen King short story thinks it's so much more profound than it is.
Isaiah Saxon First impressions of The Legend of Ochi What mash-up of movies will you find in this odd, surprising fantasy? Is it Gremlins meets Into the West? E.T. meets The Neverending Story? Princess Mononoke meets The Secret of Roan Inish?
J.J. Abrams 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) From the archives at LookingCloser.org, here's my original 2016 review of a thriller that I saw on a memorably surprising night as I celebrated my completion of my MFA in creative writing.
On Becoming a Guinea Fowl First impressions of On Becoming a Guinea Fowl The new film from Rungano Nyoni, director of "I Am Not a Witch," is an early but strong contender for my favorite film of 2025.
Michael Fassbender Don't miss a chance to open Soderbergh's Black Bag of tricks In his best work since the peak of the Oceans trilogy — maybe since 1998's Out of Sight — Steven Soderbergh surprises us with one of the year's best films.
Documentaries No Other Land: these filmmakers are risking their lives so you will watch their movie This Oscar-winning documentary should be seen and discussed by every American, as we are supplying the resources for cruelty and erasing whole communities.
The Brutalist First impressions of The Brutalist Brady Corbet's extravagant epic, which follows a Holocaust survivor who flees to the U.S only to find himself "tolerated" and exploited by a perversely abusive patron, is ambitious and frustrating.
Poetry By My Lights: a super-sized surprise package for the 2nd week of January Typos. Seitz on Anderson. World Party. Favorite writers share lists of favorites. Strong voices on Conclave, Homestead. Good poems. My latest moviegoing. A personal update. And freewriting.
Surprise Packages By My Lights: a surprise package for the first week of 2025 A new year: new ambitions, new sights and sounds, new prayers... and new writing!
Animation First impressions of Flow Director Gints Zilbalodis and co-writer Matīss Kažathe invite us into an animated vision of a flooded world in which animals reflect the dangers of who we are and the glory of who we can be.
