ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

Female Film Critics 24/375

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Reviews 

FANTASY LIFE – Review by T. J. Callahan

T. J. Callahan , , , , , , ,

Fantasy Life is about manifesting happiness and the effort it takes to get there. It’s about family dynamics amidst a mainstream look at wrestling with mental health issues. It’s about privilege and guilt. The film, which won accolades at SXSW, is also very down to earth, so to speak, in its dialogue with sex talk at the family dinner table and bodily function assessments in the boudoir as we follow these angst ridden characters through four seasons of their lives.

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Reviews 

BOSTON STRANGLER – Review by Valerie Kalfrin

Valerie Kalfrin , , , , , , , , ,

The Hulu crime drama Boston Strangler is a decent journalism time capsule that aligns more with 2015’s Spotlight than with a suspenseful thriller like Silence of the Lambs. A mood piece with a core mystery much like 2007’s Zodiac—complete with similar gray-green cinematography and lighting—the film focuses more on the women journalists who broke the story of this real-life 1960s serial killer than the investigation itself. The insider’s view of the newsroom and the sexism these women faced proves compelling, although true crime fans will find the procedural details and ambivalent resolution frustrating.

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Reviews 

SPIN ME AROUND – Review by Rachel West

Rachel West , , , , , , , ,

Allison Brie reteams with Aubrey Plaza and writer-director Jeff Baena for Spin Me Round, which despite a cast of comedic talents, fails to deliver on its wacky premise. When Tuscan Grove Italian chain restaurant manager Amber (Brie) is selected to attend a prestigious training program for staff in Italy, she dreams of being swept off her feet in a romantic European adventure. However, the trip turns out to be different than she expected. With elements of a thriller, dark comedy, violence, and slapstick humour, Spin Me Round is one complicated mess that can’t figure out if it wants the audience to be in on the joke.

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Reviews 

THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK – Review by Susan Granger

Susan Granger , , , , ,

Let’s examine what went wrong with The Many Saints of Newark, made 14 years after one of TV’s most controversial, yet celebrated series The Sopranos concluded. Problem is: despite its superficial authenticity, there’s no Sopranos without the late James Gandolfini – so the effect is hollow – at best. Remember what Tony says to his psychiatrist, Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco), in the series premiere? “I feel like I came in at the end. The best is over.”

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Reviews 

THE ART OF SELF DEFENSE – Review by Diane Carson

Diane Carson 0 Comments , , ,

The Art of Self Defense is a movie at war with itself. Though billed as a satiric comedy on destructive hypermasculinity, it lacks the wit and insight to skewer its target with anything approaching a gratifying, substantive critique. At best a cartoonish lampoon, it exaggerates its nerdish protagonist and lacks needed, nuanced development.

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Interviews SPOTLIGHT 

SPOTLIGHT AUGUST 2018: Emily Mortimer, Actress, Producer, Screenwriter and Loyal Feminist Colleague

Leslie Combemale 0 Comments , , , , , , , ,

awfj spotlight black little Emily Mortimer stars in Isabel Coixet’s The Bookshop, opening August 24. The indie drama is the latest triumph in Mortimer’s extraordinary career as a feminist actress-producer-screenwriter who hasn’t let the daunting challenges of dealing with the male-dominated movie business harden her heart.

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Commentaries General Archives Movie of the Week Reviews Women on Film 

AWFJ Movie of the Week, Dec. 29-Jan. 4: A MOST VIOLENT YEAR

Nikki Baughan 0 Comments , , , , , , , , , ,

Opening Jan. 2, AWFJ’s Movie of the Week is A Most Violent Year, writer/director J.C. Chandor’s follow up to Margin Call and All Is Lost which stars Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain as a couple fighting to achieve their dreams in the violent surrounds of New York City, 1981. Read on…

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