L’Avventura, rw (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960): 4/5

I hadn’t seen this in 25 years, and I was surprised how much plot it had. Devastating ending, bringing home the theme of fluidity of identity.

Strangelove, rw/2001, rw (Kubrick, 1964/1968): 5/5

A two-night Kubrick fest with Rosa. Now she knows…

Idiocracy (Mike Judge, 2006): 3.5/5

No movie better predicts today’s hellscape.

Wicker Man (Robin Hardy, 1973): 5/5

Lots of great sex and death. Way better than I imagined it would be.

First Reformed (Paul Schrader, 2018): 5/5

Will feel very familiar to fans of Taxi Driver, but it remains absolutely gripping throughout and includes several bravura sequences. Best ending of the year.

Thoroughbreds (Cory Finley, 2018): 1.5/5

Hard to buy the nihilism of these beautiful kids.

American Animals (Bart Layton, 2018)L 2/5

Has there ever before been a heist movie where one of the participants is secretly hoping the whole plan will fall through after all? That’s the hook here, I think, but I just watched it for my new BFF Barry Keoghan, who was … pretty good!

Upgrade (Leigh Whannell, 2018): 2.5/5

Not as fun as I wanted it to be.

Breaking Away, rw (Peter Yates, 1979): 3.5/5

I hadn’t seen it since I was 12, but I remembered it better than I currently remember Thoroughbreds from last month. Simple story, well told.

Won’t You Be My Neighbor (Morgan Neville, 2018): 2.5/5

I never got Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, and I don’t get this doc. His eyes have the clarity and determination of a suicide bomber.

Avengers: Infinity War (The Russo Bros. (sigh), 2018): 2.5/5

Robert Downey, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Don Cheadle, Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Idris Elba, Peter Dinklange, Benicio Del Toro, Gweyneth Paltrow, Josh Brolin, and William Hurt (to just name the actors I like) waving their hands around in front of a green screen. State-of-the-art entertainment.

Murder Party (Jeremy Saulnier, 2007): 3/5

Watched this debut feature in anticipation of Hold the Dark, which now I can’t bring myself to watch.

Ozark, Season 1 (Bill Dubuque, 2017): 3/5

Good storytelling, with tensions from within the family and without. Would have been even better at 8 eps instead of 10.

Pickpocket, rw (Robert Bresson, 1959): 5/5

This time, what struck me was the tension, wrought from the simplest and most static images.

La Collectionneuse (Eric Rohmer, 1967): 3.5/5

The third of the Six Moral Tales, and the first feature-length. A pretty realistic view of young people—full of ideas about themselves and others but actually completely clueless. Rohmer is Veronica’s current favorite director, as she chases the dragon of Call Me By Your Name.

La Boulangére de Monceau, 22 mins. (Eric Rohmer, 1963): 3.5/5

This short, the first of the Six Moral Tales, already delivers Rohmer’s ur-protagonist—one who thinks he knows who he is but who breezily acts in the opposite way when it serves him. All in about a quarter the time of the other five.

Mandy (Panos Cosmatos, 2018): 4.5/5

Despite its familiar plot terrain, this movie delivers more than enough colorful, silly, gonzo, acid-laced, exploitation-level thrills to satisfy.

Brute Force (Jules Dassin, 1947): 2.5/5

Full of clichés and expressionist, homoerotic posing—but the escape sequence in the last 20 minutes is a knockout. Hume Cronyn shines as a petty, sadistic chief guard.