Modern Times

May 22, 2020 — Walking, like breathing, is something we do without thinking, an activity so common that pedestrian has as its second meaning uninspired, ordinary, dull. But when this action appears in a movie, it is revealed as more than the original mode...

May 15, 2020 — Directors, actors, and critics look back on their most memorable moments in movie theaters, and the BFI spotlights the best of Japanese cinema.

May 8, 2020 — The opening and closing credits in a film are a form of housekeeping, fulfilling a legal obligation to compile the names of cast and crew who made the final product possible. Visionary designer Saul Bass saw the aesthetic potential in...

May 4, 2020 — “You’ve never seen prairie grass with the wind leaning on it, have you, Diz?”Jean Arthur asks this poetic, expressively peculiar question of Thomas Mitchell in Frank Capra’s 1939 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and we understand her yearning for truth...

Apr 20, 2020 — This month sees new books by and about Woody Allen, Miranda July, and Michael Snow as well as fresh translations and collections of criticism.

Apr 13, 2020 — The director of House, dozens of experimental films, and thousands of commercials returned again and again to the devastation of the Second World War.

Apr 10, 2020 — This week we’re reading Peter Wollen on Performance, Thomas Elsaesser on puzzle movies, David Bordwell on how movies work, and more.

Mar 25, 2020 — As the Austin festival announces its award winners, many are wondering whether the entire festival circuit will be going online.

Mar 24, 2020 — Edgar Wright, Rian Johnson, and Natasha Lyonne have some home viewing recommendations.

Mar 19, 2020 — Of the dozens and dozens of lists of streaming recommendations, here are a few that have caught our eye.