Reviews

In Showing Up, art isn’t easy, but it’s not the hardest part.

In their fourth collaboration, director Kelly Reichardt and Michelle Williams reunite to bring a sensitively-rendered portrait of a working artist to the screen. Cinema is typically more interested in depictions of budding geniuses, dramatically troubled, foolishly unrecognized who go on to break history with blockbuster shows, but that’s never been Reichardt’s territory. Instead, working from a script written with frequent collaborator Jon Raymond, she centers the narrative in present-day Portland in the week leading up to a working ceramicist’s show at a neighborhood gallery show. What the film eschews in terms of fireworks are easily lifted by the rich textures that it observes.

Reviews

Michael B. Jordan gets back into the ring with Creed III

The only bad part about heading into a new installation of the reliably entertaining Creed movie franchise is the grim realization that you’re about to watch some big dudes mess up Michael B. Jordan. It’s the cost of doing business in a boxing drama, but he has such a nice mug it’s a shame to see it smashed up. Stepping behind the camera to take over the series from Ryan Coogler, though, Jordan gives himself more of a break from the pummeling of the ring while giving his audience another compelling chapter in a big-hearted boxing saga.

Reviews

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania dutifully ushers in a new villain for Marvel’s next phase

I’d found myself pretty gloomy about the state of Marvel over the recent muddle of Phase Four, particularly with the soggy storytelling of Thor, Doctor Strange, and even Wakanda Forever. The latest Ant-Man installation makes small gestures toward levity and a modest leap toward introducing the Next Big Threat for earth’s mightiest heroes to assemble around.