Published by Film Society of Lincoln Center

Michael Sragow

Deep Focus: Ben-Hur

By Michael Sragow
August 18, 2016
Blood and sandals: the third adaptation of Lew Wallace’s Christ parable is unredeemable

Deep Focus: Pete’s Dragon

By Michael Sragow
August 10, 2016
Human touch: David Lowery breathes poignancy and life into this fantastical tale of a wild child

Deep Focus: Suicide Squad

By Michael Sragow
August 4, 2016
The B Team: director David Ayer can't make this DC Comics rogues gallery work together

Deep Focus: Jason Bourne

By Michael Sragow
July 28, 2016
Run to me: Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass pick up the trail on action cinema's enduring Mr. Short-Term Memory

Deep Focus: Ghostbusters

By Michael Sragow
July 14, 2016
Sisters are doing it for themselves: Paul Feig's much-discussed remake showcases the comic talents of its stars but flubs the action

Deep Focus: Zero Days

By Michael Sragow
July 7, 2016
Info wars: Alex Gibney's latest exposé blusters about the shadowy world of cyber warfare

Deep Focus: The BFG and Life, Animated

By Michael Sragow
June 30, 2016
Dream works: two films set in or around the Disney universe that attempt to captivate and connect

Deep Focus: Hunt for the Wilderpeople

By Michael Sragow
June 23, 2016
Kiwi haikus: the director of What We Do in the Shadows returns with a charming tale of unlikely kinship

Deep Focus: Finding Dory

By Michael Sragow
June 16, 2016
Deep feelings: Andrew Stanton's follow-up to Finding Nemo manages to be poignant and playfully self-referential

Deep Focus: De Palma

By Michael Sragow
June 9, 2016
Private audience: the oft-controversial auteur walks us through his work in Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow's detailed documentary

Deep Focus: The President

By Michael Sragow
June 2, 2016
Bill of rights (and wrongs): Mohsen Makhmalbaf's political parable preaches without persuading

Deep Focus: Alice Through the Looking Glass

By Michael Sragow
May 26, 2016
Tweedledum and tweedledumber: the follow-up to Tim Burton's reimagined Alice in Wonderland replaces good old-fashioned nonsense with self-help cant

Deep Focus: The Nice Guys

By Michael Sragow
May 19, 2016
The hustle: Shane Black's disco-era private-eye flick fails to deliver on the promise of its off-kilter odd-couple pairing

Deep Focus: Money Monster

By Michael Sragow
May 12, 2016
Profits before people: without the performances (or plausibility) to back up its critique, this high-concept financial crisis revenge fable fails to deliver

Deep Focus: Captain America: Civil War

By Michael Sragow
May 5, 2016
Coalition building: more than a series of setpieces, the latest Marvel film offers up taut storytelling and legitimate drama

Review: A Bigger Splash

By Michael Sragow
May 3, 2016
(Luca Guadagnino, Italy/France, 2015)

Interview: Tom Skerritt

By Michael Sragow
April 29, 2016
The strong, talkative type: on working with Robert Altman, Hal Ashby, Tom Hanks, and Seth MacFarlane

Deep Focus: Viktoria

By Michael Sragow
April 28, 2016
Chip off the old bloc: Maya Vitkova’s Soviet-era tragicomedy satirizes commie kitsch and the new woman

Deep Focus: Tale of Tales

By Michael Sragow
April 21, 2016
Magical thinking: Matteo Garrone adapts three 17th-century Neopolitan fables, warts (and fleas and sea monsters) and all

Deep Focus: Green Room

By Michael Sragow
April 14, 2016
Show's over: punks meet hardcore violence in Jeremy Saulnier's latest