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 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."
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.
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.
On Movies & Media Looking Closer All-Stars: Sarah Welch-Larson on The Rings of Power Star-gazing, I'm highlighting Sarah Welch-Larson as the first Looking Closer "all-star" — a writer whose wisdom and wit set her apart as exceptional in guiding us to the best in art and culture. Here, she finds her way to insight about why Amazon's The Rings of Power is such a fascinating and frustr
Film Reviews Nothing Compares (2022) It has taken three decades — 30 years to the month! — for the truth to come into focus. In the early '90s, Sinead O'Connor risked her career to speak truth to power. She was condemned by Christians, by pop culture, by almost everyone. And now we've seen her laments justified, her prophecies coming t
On Books & Writing Two new essays in one week: The Enlightened Replicant and the Liberated Marionette New writing is heating up my laptop these days. I have two new essays — my first ever contribution to my favorite film-essay website, Bright Wall Dark Room, and the second in my new series on faith and fantasy at The Rabbit Room, a reflection on Disney's 1940 feature Pinocchio.
On Movies & Media Where Did My Community Go? Marcel the Shell Offers Insight at The Rabbit Room After posting my initial review of Marcel the Shell With Shoes One here at Looking Closer, I've contributed a second consideration of the film (after seeing the film twice more) to the wonderful website hosted by my friends at The Rabbit Room.
Film Reviews The Duke (2022) Roger Michell's final film* is an endearing epilogue to an impressive career, but even the headliners Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren can't make this one memorable.
Film Reviews Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (2022) The great Leslie Manville proves that she can make even a cloying crowdpleaser like this worth watching. You might find this "power of positive thinking" fairy tale a blessed relief it is from the punishing darkness and violence of almost everything else this summer. (Or, if you're like me, you migh
