Category: Review

Unsane Steven Soderbergh (2018) [av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Tennyson-180×180.jpg’ attachment=’77’ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] Steven Soderbergh’s newest film is part One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, part Stephen King’s Misery. But make no mistake: in its heart of hearts the film it is most akin to is Sleeping with the Enemy—and the novelist… Continue reading Unsane

Love, Simon Greg Berlanti (2018) [av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Tennyson-180×180.jpg’ attachment=’77’ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] In a number of ways, the new teenage coming-of-age movie Love, Simon is a traditional comic story. No, it’s not laugh-out-loud funny with crazy over-the-top high-jinks, which is what Hollywood generally thinks has to be in a comedy,… Continue reading Love, Simon

A Wrinkle in Time Ava DuVernay (2018) Madeleine L’Engle’s beloved young adult classic, winner of the Newberry Award upon its publication in 1962, was my wife’s favorite book as a child, so I knew very well that no matter what, we would be seeing Disney’s new film version of the novel this weekend. Besides, I’ll… Continue reading A Wrinkle in Time

Ruud’s Rankings: The Top Ten Films of 2017 The Oscars, Hollywood’s annual self-congratulatory wing-ding, is ready to air this coming Sunday evening, so it’s time once again for the obligatory “top ten” list. Let me first issue a disclaimer: I did not see all of the movies that came out this year. First, I skipped… Continue reading The Top 10 Films of 2017

Black Panther Ryan Coogler (2018) [av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Shakespeare-180×180.jpg’ attachment=’76’ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] Ruud Rating 4 Shakespeares [/av_image] Chadwick Boseman has so convincingly made a career out of playing iconic African American figures—Jackie Robinson, James Brown, Thurgood Marshall—that it should come as no surprise that in Black Panther he transcends the… Continue reading Black Panther

Phantom Thread Paul Thomas Anderson (2017) [av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/SusannTennyson.jpg’ attachment=313′ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] [av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”] Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest offering, Phantom Thread, seems at first to be a strange choice for a Best Picture nominee. Though critics have been effusive about the film, actual audiences have been less… Continue reading Phantom Thread

I, Tonya Craig Gillespie (2017) [av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/3-12.jpg’ attachment=313′ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] Three Tennysons/Half Shakespeare[/av_image] [av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”] Just in time for the winter Olympics, Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl) revisits the big story of the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer: the worldwide scandal featuring American figure skaters… Continue reading I, Tonya

Hostiles Scott Cooper (2017) [av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Tennyson-180×180.jpg’ attachment=’77’ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hov Hostiles, the new western directed and co-written by Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart, Black Mass), begins with a stark quotation from D.H. Lawrence: “The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic and a killer.” While this does seem to sum… Continue reading Hostiles

The Shape of Water Guillermo del Toro (2017) [av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/3-12.jpg’ attachment=313′ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] Three Tennysons/Half Shakespeare[/av_image] [av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”] With 13 Academy Award nominations, announced yesterday, The Shape of Water leads all other films of 2017. Released on December 22, Guillermo del Toro’s romantic horror-fantasy has had… Continue reading The Shape of Water

The Post Steven Spielberg (2017) [av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/3-12.jpg’ attachment=313′ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] Three Tennysons/Half Shakespeare[/av_image] [av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”] When first-time screenwriter Liz Hannah wrote the original screenplay for The Post in 2016, it was in response to her reading of Katherine “Kay” Graham’s memoir Personal History. Hannah, inspired by… Continue reading The Post