The Death of Louis XIV (Albert Serra, 2016) -- 2/5
This is the kind of film that would be little harmed if most of its scenes were reshuffled in random order. I felt like I was staring at studies of the same (albeit gorgeous) Renaissance painting for 2 hours. Eschewing narrative is fine, but SOME dynamism should take its place. This is the wrong medium for stasis. Only watch if you're a Jean-Pierre Leaud completist! 

The Blackcoat's Daughter (Oz Perkins, 2017) -- 3/5
Or: The Consequences of Having Don Draper as Your Father 

It Comes At Night (Trey Edwards Schults, 2017) -- 2.5/5
Underwhelming "artsy" "horror" film. Very little here that actually deviates from the survivalist template. 

A Ghost Story (David Lowery, 2017) -- 3/5
Liked the idea of a silent ghost as the protagonist; liked the representation of said ghost as a sheet with two eyeholes. What I didn't get was the central relationship. We just see so little of the husband and wife together prior to the car accident that their mourning across separate planes of existence functions purely on an abstract level. 

mother! (Darren Aronofsky, 2017) -- 3/5
Just like the sink, I was NOT braced. 

The Gift (Sam Raimi, 2000) -- 3/5
Southern Gothic supernatural thriller with a STACKED cast. (Cate Blanchett, Greg Kinnear, Hilary Swank, Keanu Reeves, Katie Holmes, J.K. Simmons, Giovanni Ribisi.) Atmospheric with eerie frames a'plenty.

William Gibson: No Maps for These Territories (Mark Neele, 2000) -- 1/5
Superficial interview in the backseat of a car about nothing 

The Beguiled (Don Siegel, 1971) -- 3/5
Discomforting stuff. I, too, have no interest in seeing the re-make. I also just don't care for the basic premise. (Yes, it's a man being objectified for once, but only in the service of depicting women as sex-starved maniacs.)  

Aimee and Jaguar (Max Faberbock, 1998) -- 2/5
Based on a true story about a love affair between two women (one a Good German, the other a Jew) amidst WWII. Sorry, but there's just no competing against Carol or Blue is the Warmest Color, or the Willow/Tara relationship on Buffy. 

Better Than Chocolate (Anne Wheeler, 1999)  --1/5
See above. 

Southside With You (Richard Tanne, 2016) -- 1/5
Before Sunrise 
Before Sunset
Before White House

The Electric Horseman (Sydney Pollack, 1979): 2/5

A confrontation between Redford’s scruffy and soulful 70s and Fonda’s buttoned-up and self-satisfied 80s. Radically, the 80s win.

The Squid and the Whale, rw (Noah Baumbach, 2005): 4.5/5

My father wasn’t an intellectual, but he certainly was a narcissist. I recognized a lot here and laughed more than a couple of times.

The Meyerowitz Stories (Noah Baumbach, 2017): 4/5

My father wasn’t an artist, but he certainly was a narcissist. I recognized a lot here and laughed more than a couple of times.

Sinister (Scott Derrickson, 2012): 3/5

Delivers some Halloween-appropriate chills before its overblown last act.

Nocturama (Bertrand Bonello, 2016): 2/5

A beautiful and boring critique of late capitalism.

Raw (Julia Ducournau, 2016): 2/5

A beautiful and boring critique of late adolescence.

Le Cercle Rouge, rw (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1970): 4/5

Tarantino naming his production company after Godard is certainly an obfuscation of the fact that the French movies he really borrows from the most are Melville’s elaborate, tri-focused gangster movies: this one, plus Le Deuxieme Souffle and Army of Shadows (freedom fighters acting like gangsters). Granted, they are likely both indebted to The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

Brawl in Cell Block 99 (S. Craig Zahler, 2017): 3/5

Never over-reaches its authentic B-movie ambitions. As such I give it the compliment of rating it a B.

Stranger Things, Season 2 (The Duffer brothers, 2017): 2/5

More action and fewer character moments and Spielberg quotes.

Atomic Blonde (David Leitch, 2017): 2.5/5

I certainly enjoyed watching Theron knee people in the face and get kneed in the face by people (who wouldn’t), but the one thing her character can’t defeat is the absurdly complicated plotting.

This is Us, Season 1 (Dan Fogelman, 2016): 4.5/5

Expert middlebrow.