Michael Sragow

Deep Focus: Green Room

By Michael Sragow

April 14, 2016

Show's over: punks meet hardcore violence in Jeremy Saulnier's latest

Deep Focus: Demolition

By Michael Sragow

April 6, 2016

All better now: courting the true madness of grief, Jean-Marc Vallée can't escape the clutches of cliché

Deep Focus: The Dark Horse

By Michael Sragow

March 31, 2016

Chess is life: writer-director James Napier Robertson tells a true story of redemption through the game of kings and a bravura lead performance

Deep Focus: Born to Be Blue

By Michael Sragow

March 24, 2016

My funny valentine: Ethan Hawke soulfully inhabits a somewhat fictionalized version of Chet Baker in this effective portrait of a jazzman

Deep Focus: Fireworks Wednesday

By Michael Sragow

March 17, 2016

What the maid saw: Asghar Farhadi's slow-burning, ambiguous family drama deftly plays all sides

Deep Focus: Eye in the Sky

By Michael Sragow

March 10, 2016

Closed circuit: Gavin Hood crafts a tense, globe-hopping thriller that gives full berth to the moral complexities of drone warfare

Interview: Jan Troell

By Michael Sragow

March 4, 2016

Pioneer spirit: the Swedish auteur speaks about his classic tales of unsettled lands, The Emigrants and The New Land

Studies in Light and Place

By Michael Sragow

March 3, 2016

The production designer Jack Fisk on catching life unawares with Terrence Malick

Deep Focus: Zootopia

By Michael Sragow

March 3, 2016

Animal kingdom: Disney's imaginative animators have fashioned a light-hearted but detailed social commentary

Deep Focus: Triple 9

By Michael Sragow

February 25, 2016

Graceless under fire: John Hillcoat's dirty-cop story perks up with the shootouts but fades as a drama

Deep Focus: The Witch

By Michael Sragow

February 18, 2016

Pilgrim's progress: Robert Eggers's tale of religious fervor and the supernatural is atmospheric and authentic

Deep Focus: A War

By Michael Sragow

February 11, 2016

Land of confusion: Danish director Tobias Lindholm reworks the war movie with another immersive film built up from the details of experience

Deep Focus: Hail, Caesar!

By Michael Sragow

February 4, 2016

Let us now praise businessmen: the Coens' whisper-thin caper keeps an ironic remove while lampooning the system

Deep Focus: Bleak Street

By Michael Sragow

January 21, 2016

Arturo Ripstein's ripped-from-the-headlines murder yarn fails to pierce the surface of its grim details

Deep Focus: 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

By Michael Sragow

January 14, 2016

What happens when the maximalist behind the Transformers franchise applies his whisper-delicate touch to politicized recent history?

Deep Focus: Chimes at Midnight

By Michael Sragow

January 7, 2016

His majesty: Orson Welles's adroit vision of Shakespeare has a vitality and richness rare among adaptations

Review: The Clan

By Michael Sragow

January 4, 2016

(Pablo Trapero, Argentina/Spain, 2015)

Deep Focus: The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum

By Michael Sragow

December 30, 2015

Kenji Mizoguchi’s exquisite melodrama explores the sorrowful lot of an actor's wife—but never at her expense

Deep Focus: The Revenant

By Michael Sragow

December 24, 2015

The elements of style: Alejandro G. Iñárritu's pioneer revenge saga claws its way to the snowy ends of the earth, but to what end?

Deep Focus: Star Wars: The Force Awakens

By Michael Sragow

December 17, 2015

Rey of light: the anticipation might focus on J.J. Abrams as he labors to orchestrate a sequel for all time—but keep your eye on the new star