michael fassbender – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

BLACK BAG – Review by Nadine Whitney

March 15, 2025March 15, 2025 Nadine Whitney Black Bag, cate blanchett, david koepp, michael fassbender, Pierce Brosnan, steven soderbergh

David Koepp and Steven Soderbergh step into the world of British Intelligence with the spy thriller-romantic drama Black Bag. Starring Michael Fassbender as the cerebral George Woodhouse and Cate Blanchett as his glamourous and capable wife, Kathryn St. Jean: Black Bag is a winning combination of style and game playing reminiscent of John le Carré. The puzzles are plenty in Black Bag and the world of these fundamentally untrustworthy people in charge of a shadow milieu that goes beyond conventional politics and morals is a blast to inhabit. Black Bag proves Soderbergh has a lot of juice left in his genre game and it invites the audience to play with him. Go to the party.

Reviews

BLACK BAG – Review by T.J. Callahan

March 11, 2025March 11, 2025 T. J. Callahan Black Bag, cate blanchett, michael fassbender, steven soderbergh

Black Bag: Something’s are best kept under the rug. If you are looking for a liar, just spike the Chana Masala. In Black Bag, that’s how a legendary intelligence agent tries to ferret out a mole within the bureau. By inviting the prime suspects to a dinner party like an Agatha Christie mystery, he’s sure one will speak the truth. But what if the traitor turns out to be his Mata Hari wife?

Reviews

THE AGENCY – Review by Susan Granger

December 12, 2024December 14, 2024 Susan Granger cia, Jeffrey Wright, Jez & John-Henry Butterworth, michael fassbender, Paramount/Showtime, richard gere, The Agency

Combine CIA secrets with undercover espionage and toss in some big-name studs and you should have an intriguing new spy series, right? Unfortunately with The Agency, it doesn’t add up. Using the code name ‘Martian,’ Michael Fassbender plays a world-weary CIA field agent abruptly summoned from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to his London base after six years of undercover work, leaving behind his lover, activist Sami Zahir (Michael Fassbender)

Reviews

KNEECAP – Review by Jennifer Green

September 3, 2024 Jennifer Green hip hop, irish films, Irish Language Law, JJ Ó Dochartaigh, Kneecap, Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh, michael fassbender, Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap, Naoise Ó Cairealláin, Rich Peppiatt, Ryan Kernaghan

It’s rare that a film can be edgy and entertaining, and at the same time educational. Ireland’s early submission to the International Oscar race, Kneecap is an in-your-face romp packed with sex, drugs and Irish hip hop, starring the real-life members of the band at its heart. It might be a tough sell to aging Academy voters, but it’s a raucously fun ride, and one with a serious message about preservation of the Irish language and the impact years of fighting has had on the Irish people.

Festivals Reviews

KNEECAP (Melbourne IFF 2024) – Review by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

August 20, 2024August 20, 2024 Alexandra Heller-Nicholas DJ Próvaí, Gaeilge, J.J. Ó Dochartaigh, Kneecap, Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh, Melbourne IFF 2024, michael fassbender, Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap, Naoise Ó Cairealláin, Rich Peppiatt, sony classics

Belfast lads Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh and Naoise Ó Cairealláin are charming nogoodniks suddenly put on a mission when fate teams them up with until-then meek schoolteacher J.J. Ó Dochartaigh. That mission? To save, protect and champion the indigenous Gaeilge language, which becomes both a badge of honour and a fiercely wielded marker of identity when brought to life in the intoxicating music of their newfound hip-hop act, Kneecap. Performing under the names Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí, the trio become the unlikely heroes of a passionate cultural movement to save Gaeilge.

Reviews

NEXT GOAL WINS – Review by Nadine Whitney

November 13, 2023November 13, 2023 Nadine Whitney American Samoan soccer team, elisabeth moss, Kaimana, michael fassbender, new zealand films, Taika Waititi

The best one can say about Next Goal Wins is it’s cute. The worst would require a complete breakdown of where Taika Waititi is stumbling as an artist. Too many jokes far too often that many of them just fail to land. There is some great writing, some wonderful performances, but Next Goal Wins is a cluttered mess which could have benefitted from slowing its madcap pace. It certainly isn’t the worst thing either Waititi or Michael Fassbender have done, but it is also far from the best. Waititi has scored his own goal by being remarkably repetitive. Next Goal Wins is not a winner.

Movie of the Week Reviews

AWFJ Movie of the Week, August 29 – September 2: The Light Between Oceans

August 28, 2016June 8, 2020 Dorothy Woodend 0 Comments alicia vikander, Derek Cianfrance, drama, michael fassbender, Pam Grady, rachel weisz, Romance, The Light Between Oceans, thelma adams

Opening Sept. 2, AWFJ’s Movie of the Week is The Light Between Oceans,
The season of serious films kicks off with a new cargo of epic stories, sweeping vistas and major actors. One film has every single one of these things – Derek Cianfrance’s The Light Between Oceans. Read On…

Reviews Women on Film

AWFJ Women On Film – Fish Tank – Cynthia Fuchs reviews

January 16, 2010 Cynthia Fuchs andrea arnold, awfj women on film, cynthia fuchs, fish tank, katie jarvis, michael fassbender, movie reviews

In Fish Tank, director Andrea Arnold’s follow-up to her mesmerizing Red Road, the primary and much-repeated point is that limited