film commentary
Brea Grant (Best Friends Forever) Talks Gareth Evans’ The Raid 2
The actress and writer-director is a kid in a candy shop watching this spectacular, brilliantly choreographed Indonesian-set action movie.
Craig Johnson (The Skeleton Twins) Talks Rob Marshall’s Into the Woods
A late-night conversation between a director and his musical theater-loving boyfriend about the Sondheim movie adaptation they just saw.
Jim Hemphill (The Trouble with the Truth) Talks Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper
A filmmaker who became a director because of Clint Eastwood considers the retired actor's latest effort behind the camera.
Sheldon Candis (LUV) Talks Rupert Wyatt’s The Gambler
A USC film school alum tries his luck with a movie set at his alma mater and starring one of his favorite Hollywood actors.
Daniel Schechter (Life of Crime) Talks Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash
As you watch a movie, your mind registers a million different thoughts. Here's how one filmmaker processed this year's big Sundance-winning film.
Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko) Talks David Fincher’s Gone Girl (and Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut)
Memories of early Fincher and the passing of another great director, and connecting the dots between two twisted, satirical thrillers about marriage.
Onur Tukel (Summer of Blood) Talks David Wnendt’s Wetlands
One of the most shocking and controversial movies of the year inspires not an enraged critical attack — but a cartoon.
David Lowery (Ain’t Them Bodies Saints) Talks Jonathan Liebesman’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Pondering the latest (disappointing) exploits of the half-shell heroes, and what kind of movies kids deserve and get.
Joe Swanberg (Happy Christmas) Talks Jake Kasdan’s Sex Tape
The director of V/H/S and Autoerotic can't get up any enthusiasm for this new "analog" comedy.
Michael Tully (Ping Pong Summer) Talks J.C. Chandor’s A Most Violent Year
The increasingly versatile New York-based writer-director creates a very grounded, textured thriller set in Gotham in the early 1980s.
Chad Hartigan (This is Martin Bonner) Talks Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne’s Two Days, One Night
The latest pared-down picture from the sixtysomething Belgian brothers is realism at its very best.
Alex Ross Perry (Listen Up Philip) Talks Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
As the second of the Kiwi director's Tolkien trilogies ends, a look back at the scope and impact of this epic body of work.











