Sign up for the Film Comment Letter today to get original film writing delivered to your inbox every week! >>

Published by Film at Lincoln Center

Michael Sragow

Just Deserts

By Michael Sragow
October 25, 2021
Shifting sands: Denis Villeneuve’s Dune typifies the current mania for world-building over character-building

Film Comment Recommends: Wife of a Spy

By Michael Sragow
September 20, 2021
Cloak and dagger: Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s engrossing World War II tale embeds an exposé of Japan’s bio-weapons program in the drama of a couple’s dueling loyalties

Richard Rush and The Stunt Man

By Michael Sragow
June 28, 2021
Man on wire: no director ever lived up to his last name better than Rush did in the Peter O’Toole-starring The Stunt Man

Home Movies: Cattle Annie and Little Britches

By Michael Sragow
May 8, 2020
Lamont Johnson, USA/Mexico, 1981; Kino Lorber, DVD & Blu-Ray

TCM Diary: Marie: A True Story and A World Apart

By Michael Sragow
April 21, 2020
Bursting bubbles: Sissy Spacek and Barbara Hershey star in two exemplary ’80s films about resourceful women standing up for their beliefs

TCM Diary: Coma

By Michael Sragow
April 7, 2020
It’s serious: Michael Crichton’s 1978 smash is a brisk, scary, clever thriller about a body-snatching scam featuring a magnetic Genevieve Bujold

Deep Focus: The Hunt

By Michael Sragow
March 12, 2020
The great divide: you can’t keep a canny exploitation movie down, and this one has a hook that’s a doozy

Deep Focus: The Way Back

By Michael Sragow
March 6, 2020
Yo teach: the Ben Affleck vehicle wants to be Manchester by the Sea on the hardwood, but it’s more like Hoosiers with a hangover

Deep Focus: Come and See

By Michael Sragow
February 28, 2020
Hell on earth: Elem Klimov's 1985 war movie has few rivals in laying bare the horrors of man's favorite sport

Deep Focus: The Call of the Wild

By Michael Sragow
February 21, 2020
A dog’s life: this flimsy adaptation of Jack London’s 1903 classic plays like any old mid-level, live-action Disney movie

Deep Focus: Downhill

By Michael Sragow
February 14, 2020
Love on the skids: Julia Louis-Dreyfus possesses the ideal toolkit for this comedy-drama remake of Ruben Östlund’s 2014 Force Majeure

Deep Focus: The Rhythm Section

By Michael Sragow
January 31, 2020
Zero sum: the Blake Lively/Jude Law espionage thriller induces a dreary, exhausting claustrophobia

Deep Focus: Color Out of Space and The Turning

By Michael Sragow
January 24, 2020
Facing fears: in two new updates of horror classics, the sublime becomes ridiculous, and the ridiculous becomes a trip

Deep Focus: Weathering with You

By Michael Sragow
January 17, 2020
Turbulent skies: Makoto Shinkai’s sixth feature-length cartoon oozes visual lyricism and primal yearning

Deep Focus: Like a Boss

By Michael Sragow
January 9, 2020
Make-up test: the Tiffany Haddish vehicle is the kind of would-be edgy movie that will never alienate any segment of its target audience

Deep Focus: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

By Michael Sragow
December 20, 2019
Lost in space: J.J. Abrams’s nonsensical film contains so many resurrections it’s a wonder the release wasn't pushed back to Easter

Deep Focus: Richard Jewell

By Michael Sragow
December 12, 2019
Man on fire: Paul Walter Hauser’s inspired performance keeps Clint Eastwood’s latest from becoming a screed

Deep Focus: Daniel Isn’t Real

By Michael Sragow
December 6, 2019
Jung at heart: Adam Egypt Mortimer’s febrile, erratic phantasmagoria, centers on a troubled young man and his evil “shadow” archetype

Deep Focus: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

By Michael Sragow
November 22, 2019
A man apart: a remarkable performance from Tom Hanks partially redeems Marielle Heller’s gimmicky film

Deep Focus: Honey Boy

By Michael Sragow
November 8, 2019
Daddy dearest: Alma Har’el’s debut fiction feature is a wonderful movie with a raw, brilliant script by star Shia LaBeouf