In more ways than one, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is a movie about how your boss thinks it’s okay to die at work. Obviously it’s not the preferred outcome, but it’s a plenty acceptable one.
PositionEditor-at-Large
JoinedMay 27, 2017
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A throwaway joke in a 105-minute film watched nearly four years ago in a city I’ve only been to twice stands firm like a monolith in the wavy goop of my brain. It is nothing; it is everything.
Fran Hoepfner on Nomadland, Lovers Rock, Malmkrog, Undine, The Human Voice, The Truffle Hunters, Night of the Kings and more from this year's (remote) New York Film Festival.
I'm not here to ask whether or not Some Like It Hot holds up. Of course it holds up! For crying out loud, what a bad question.
On stars, myths, violence, selective nostalgia, and Slow West.
Maggie Smith won the first of her two Academy Awards for her titular role in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and it’s easy to see why the girls in the film worship her—I worship her, too.
"It's just life. That takes a tremendous amount of bravery and Kelly has that as a filmmaker."
In late 2014, I walked into a movie theater at 9 in the morning to watch Force Majeure at a film festival in Belgium, running on a combination of jetleg and a strong Americano. The movie’s subtitles were in French only, and mon français est bon mais pas super. Still, I sat enrapt, dumbfounded and aghast.
Fran Hoepfner on The Irishman, Uncut Gems, Marriage Story, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Parasite, First Cow, and other highlights (and not so highlights) from the New York Film Festival.
In The Birdcage, jokes aren't simply clever bits of wordplay, but rather a continual give and take. This is the May touch—no one ever fully wins an argument; instead, it’s a constant battle for the last word.
The Warriors is about living with—through, during—the night, a lesson we all learn as kids, and carry with us as we sleep. It’s not so much about the fear of what’s behind, but about running as fast as possible toward what’s on the other side.
Let us thirst again, we beg. It’s one of the few things we have left.