Adam Driver – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

PAPER TIGER (NYFF 2026) – Review by Diane Carson

September 29, 2026October 3, 2026 Diane Carson Adam Driver, Gavin Goudey, James Gray, Miles Teller, Paper Tiger, scarlett johansson

A get rich quick scheme tears a Jewish family apart in 1986 Queens, New York. Ex-NYPD cop Gary Pearl and his brother Irwin, an engineer, husband and father, become involved with Russian operatives. Quickly becoming a nightmare, it begins as a beneficial financial agreement to follow federal regulations in disposal of oil drums containing toxic waste at the Gowanus Canal. When the Russian criminals opt for illegal dumping, which they always intended, the entire Pearl family, including Irwin’s two sons, become a threat to be intimidated into capitulation or eliminated.

Reviews

MEGALOPOLIS – Review by Susan Granger

September 25, 2024September 29, 2024 Susan Granger Adam Driver, aubrey plaza, Dustin Hoffman, francis ford coppola, Giancarlo Esposito, Jason Schwartzman, Jon Voight, Laurence Fisbburne, Mary Beard, Megalopolis, Nathalie Emmanuel, Roman Coppola, Shia LaBoeuf, Talia Shire

Francis Ford Coppola’s passion project Megalopolis is a futuristic fable about the downfall of the American Empire. The 85 year-old auteur envisioned the dystopian concept 40 years ago, writing, revising and re-casting it, spending $120 million to make it, using funds he’d made from Apocalypse Now, The Godfather, etc. and his California wine business. Archaic references to the fall of Rome are everywhere, along with Shakespearean dialogue, peppered with quotes from Greek/Roman/Sapphic poets. Adam Driver even delivers Hamlet’s famous “To be or not to be…” soliloquy in its entirety.

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FERRARI – Review by Susan Granger

January 3, 2024January 5, 2024 Susan Granger Adam Driver, Enzo Ferrari, Erik Messerschmidt, ferrari, Michael Mann, penelope cruz, Shailene Woodley

If racing cars is your passion, perhaps you might enjoy Michael Mann’s Ferrari, but I found it frustrating in so many ways. It’s ostensibly a deep dive into the pivotal summer of 1957 when Italian industrialist Enzo Ferrari (Adam Driver) almost lost control of the prestigious automobile company he and his wife Laura (Penelope Cruz) founded in Modena. Enzo Ferrari is still in mourning; his 24 year-old son died the previous year. Given the opening montage of careening cars, one might assume he died in a fiery crash but – no – eventually, it’s revealed that Dino had muscular dystrophy. Crashes consume other characters later on.

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WHITE NOISE – Review by Susan Granger

December 12, 2022December 18, 2022 Susan Granger Adam Driver, Don Cheadle, Don DeLillo, greta gerwig, noah baumbach, White Noise

Advertised as an absurdist comedy, Noah Baumbach’s White Noise is neither fanciful nor funny. Adapted by Baumbach from Dom DiLillo’s minimalist satire, it revolves around how a Midwestern family in the 1980s copes with an environmental disaster and their fears of death.

Reviews

WHITE NOISE – Review by T.J. Callahan

December 7, 2022December 8, 2022 T. J. Callahan Adam Driver, Don Cheadle, greta gerwig, noah baumbach, White Noise

White Noise is just that – a bunch of white noise. Psycho babble. Constant talking over one another about the state of the world and the well being of one particular family in 1985 America. Jack and Babette are an existential Mike and Carol Brady. Divorcées with a blended family who must learn to get along with each other as well as the ever changing world. While grappling with consumerism on the home front, the tackle fear and the unknown when forced to evacuate their neighborhood due to an Airborne Toxic Event,

Reviews

WHITE NOISE – Review by Diane Carson

December 2, 2022December 18, 2022 Diane Carson Adam Driver, Don Cheadle, Don DeLillo, greta gerwig, noah baumbach, White Noise

In White Noise, Noah Baumbach again, and comically, proves he knows exactly how to excavate the dynamic inner workings of a family and the dysfunctional society which empowers its members. At face value, the ironically named Gladney family offers a spectrum of amusing individuals. Central is J.A.K. i.e., Jack, Professor of Hitler Studies at the College-on-the-Hill, proudly lectures in the classroom.

Reviews

HOUSE OF GUCCI – Review by Susan Granger

November 30, 2021December 4, 2021 Susan Granger Adam Driver, al pacino, House of Gucci, Jared Leto, jeremy irons, lady gaga, ridley scott

Ridley Scott’s extravagant melodrama House of Gucci delves into what led to the 1995 murder of Maurizio Gucci, scion of the Milan-based fashion family.

This sordid saga of love, backstabbing and betrayal begins as Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga), an accountant at her father’s trucking company, sets her sights on bespectacled Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver), whom she meets at a disco party. Although he’s smitten, his suave, snobbish father Rodolfo (Jeremy Irons) spots her as a crass, social-climbing gold-digger.

Reviews

HOUSE OF GUCCI – Review by Liz Braun

November 24, 2021November 24, 2021 Liz Braun Adam Driver, al pacino, House of Gucci, Jared Leto, lady gaga, ridley scott

Every bit as plastique and fabulous as a knock-off designer handbag, House of Gucci is a wildly entertaining soap opera about people fighting over money, from director Ridley Scott. .Based on a real-life story of greed and betrayal and tragedy, in the telling here it is busy and beautiful to look at. There are a couple of leaps in the storytelling that don’t quite add up and a complaint might be lodged about some of the more melodramatic bits — but it’s all so visually dazzling and fun to watch that none of these quibbles add up to much.

Reviews

HOUSE OF GUCCI – Review by Diane Carson

November 20, 2021November 21, 2021 Diane Carson Adam Driver, al pacino, House of Gucci, Jared Leto, jeremy irons, lady gaga, ridley scott

House of Gucci chronicles unpleasant events regarding this fashion brand. Based on Sara Gay Forden’s 2001 book The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed, the four elements emphasized in her title pinpoint the essence of the drama. Announced on screen as “inspired by true events,” it has, nevertheless, received extensive Gucci family criticism, the book and the film. No wonder, for no one comes off admirably depicted.

Reviews

THE LAST DUEL – Review by Susan Granger

October 12, 2021October 17, 2021 Susan Granger Adam Driver, ben affleck, Jodie Comer, matt damon, ridley scott, the last duel

In 14th century France, a cleric stated: “Rape is not a crime against a woman. It’s a property matter.” The rape in this sprawling story is described from three distinct perspectives with a slashing duel-to-the-death looming as the inevitable conclusion.

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