Michael Sragow

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

Deep Focus: The Kill Team

By Michael Sragow

October 25, 2019

Killing in the name of: in his gutsy first feature, Dan Krauss tells a tale of American war-making gone very wrong

Deep Focus: Gemini Man

By Michael Sragow

October 11, 2019

My own worst enemy: in Ang Lee’s sci-fi fiasco, Will Smith plays a glorified hit man staring down the barrel of a callow version of himself

Deep Focus: The King

By Michael Sragow

October 4, 2019

It’s not good to be the king: David Michôd’s revisionist take on Shakespeare turns Prince Hal into a wannabe pacifist who can’t live up to his own standards