A Journey Through Cinema’s

PAST, PRESENT, and FUTURE

25 in 25 #19: “Zodiac” (2007)

January 29, 2026

Zodiac is a film that unfolds less like a conventional narrative than like a slow infection. It seeps in quietly, with one of the most disturbing opening scenes, before taking up permanent residence in the mind. On first encounter, it can even feel withholding—cool, procedural, resistant to the familiar beats we expect from true-crime cinema.…
The Disappointment of “Song Sung Blue”

January 24, 2026

Pauline Kael’s reputation as a revered film critic rests not merely on taste but on nerve. Her refusal to bow before Citizen Kane—a film embalmed by decades of reverence—remains one of the most liberating gestures in American criticism. Kael reminds us that criticism is not a moral obligation to admire greatness but an honest reckoning with…
The Quiet Power of “Sentimental Value”

January 17, 2026

There is a particular stillness that defines Sentimental Value—a stillness that does not signal emptiness, but accumulation. This is a film made of layers: of time pressing down on space, of memory embedded in architecture, of emotion stored rather than expressed. From its opening moments, it announces itself as a work uninterested in urgency. Instead, it…
Between Grief and Fury: The Cinematic Crossroads of the 2026 Best Picture Race

January 15, 2026

In most years, the Best Picture race functions like a polite procession: a few respectable prestige dramas, a technical marvel or two, perhaps one crowd-pleasing juggernaut that reassures everyone the Academy still enjoys a healthy box-office narrative. These races feel less like debates than foregone conclusions, the outcome often legible months in advance. But once…
25 in ’25 #20: “Superbad” (2007)

January 4, 2026

There are comedies that succeed because they are funny, and then there are comedies that succeed because they understand something essential about the moment in which they appear. Superbad does both—and that dual achievement is precisely why it became an instant classic. Released in the summer of 2007, Superbad didn’t creep its way into cultural memory; it detonated. Almost…