Articles by J. Don Birnam

There are no living directors (and perhaps not even dead ones) who can combine the utter originality of Steven Spielberg’s projects with his pinpoint perfection when it comes to technical and emotional moviemaking. Few filmmakers have been able to so entertain audiences, while wowing them with effects and adventure, pulling at the emotional heartstrings, and showcasing persistently original, intelligent content. In short, Steven Spielberg, even when remaking a movie, is […]

Great, timeless detectives are hard to come by, and many world-renowned authors have tried but failed to achieve Sherlock Holmes/Hercule Poirot-levels of gumshoe immortality. It is too soon to tell whether Rian Johnson’s Benoit Blanc, played with sarcastic aplomb by Daniel Craig in the Knives Out movies, will become an icon among movie detectives or be forgotten in the annals of murder mystery history, for Glass Onion, the second entry in […]

Director Sam Mendes returns to the big screen with Empire of Light, which he described at the Telluride Film Festival world premiere as his most personal film yet. The film stars Oscar winner Olivia Colman as Hilary Small, who manages a local movie theater in a Southern English coastal town. Eventually, Hilary develops a romantic relationship with a new staffer named Stephen (Micheal Ward) who works the ticket booth. He […]

Two-thirds of the way through the 160-minute runtime of Cate Blanchett’s new festival vehicle Tár, the titular protagonist Lydia Tár is seen with her face bloodied, her eye swollen, and her nose broken. She is battered because of an excursion gone wrong, but that is beside the point — these broken features are emblematic of what is required to reach the pinnacle of success in most industries, particularly for women, […]

Canadian director Sarah Polley (Away With Her, Take This Waltz) has made her best film yet with Women Talking, the first feature she has directed in a decade. The movie had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival last week, and it’s based on Miriam Toews‘ 2018 novel, which follows eight Mennonite women as they debate whether to leave their religious colony after being repeatedly drugged and raped by […]

Kudos to director Alejandro González Iñárritu for bravely bucking the “90 minutes is too long to sit still” trend that defines our restless, unfocused generations. His new film Bardo (or False Chronicles of a Handful of Truths) — the title itself augurs length — screened this past week at both the Venice and Telluride Film Festivals, clocking in at a whopping 174 minutes, almost as if to say: “don’t @ […]

The subgenre of animal horror has featured sharks, tarantulas, alligators, and even dinosaurs, but not since Scar dug his claws into Mufasa have lions been as scary as the one hunting humans in the new Idris Elba movie Beast, which hails from Icelandic director Baltasar Kormakur and roars into theaters this weekend courtesy of Universal Pictures. Beast opens by paying homage Steven Spielberg‘s Jaws, giving us just a glimpse of the […]