January 5, 2018

Welcome to TFCA Friday, a weekly round-up of film reviews and articles by TFCA critics.

Reviews and features by: Peter Howell (PH), Chris Knight (CK), Barry Hertz (BH), Gilbert Seah (GS), Susan G. Cole (SGC), Kate Taylor (KT), Radheyan Simonpillai (RS).

Opening this Week

Phantom Thread (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)

“I wish Anderson had done more with Manville, who improves every film she’s in, but increasing her screen time might have meant fewer moments with Luxembourg-born actress Krieps, who vaults to the A-list with a performance that recalls a young Meryl Streep” — PH

“Walk into Phantom Thread expecting a portrait of a testy male genius as portrayed by another testy male genius, but be gifted with a stealth drama about the hidden lives of the women who suffer in his shadow. Yet even that hopeful theory doesn’t quite work” — BH

“Moves fluidly but feels impossibly precise; it swoons while keeping things prickly; it spins a straightforward narrative but leaves you grappling with so much mystery” — RS

“I have many nice things to say about Phantom Thread, but in the end the story didn’t quite have the depth to hold my attention” — CK

“Paul Thomas Anderson’s best movie” — GS

The Post (dir. Steven Spielberg)

“Spielberg frequently unleashes his inner Frank Capra, a career-long temptation. He goes in for such cornball character tropes as a nervous newshound (Bob Odenkirk) dropping dimes at a pay phone, and a sweet little kid selling lemonade to sweaty scribblers, making a tidy profit on the side” — PH

“Love All the President’s Men? Here’s the prequel​” — KT

“Here, when a news reporter reads the court’s decision defending a free press, Spielberg makes sure the music swells enough to make your eyes roll” — SGC

“Watching Streep and Hanks hash out what they’re going to do is so entertaining it’s a wonder it’s not illegal; how have these two never shared the screen before?” — CK

2018 is upon us!

PH lists the movies he’s looking forward to this year

While BH takes a peek at both ends of the spectrum (good and bad)