Soderbergh’s latest film is the best film I’ve seen all year so far, aside from Companion. Soderbergh famously churns out pretty good to pretty great films quickly and efficiently, with a high degree of skill. His skill is on display here. Most scenes in this movie consist of people talking in rooms. Soderbergh’s camerawork makes these scenes thrilling. There’s a scene in which Cate Blanchett has a hostile therapy session with Naomi Harris. At first, whenever the camera shows both…

This classic queer indie film has one of the most iconic shots I’ve ever seen. River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves are two hustlers sitting at a diner. Phoenix is in love with Reeves, and Reeves only thinks of Phoenix as a friend. We see them as if we are at the table with them. Then we see them through the window of the diner. This is a simple and often used filming technique. Looking through a window can mean many…

Until The Hateful Eight, Jennifer Jason Leigh was known to be, perhaps, the best American actress not to receive an Academy Award nomination. She got Oscar buzz for this movie in 1995, but the nomination ultimately went to her costar, Mare Winningham. In Georgia, Leigh plays a drug addicted failed punk singer who has a strained relationship with her more successful folk singer sister, Mare Winningham, the titular Georgia. The movie is very independent, very slice of life, very wise…

Classic rom com about 37-year-old widow, Cher, who falls in love with the brother of her fiancé. Cher gives a classic movie star performance. The most memorable moment in this movie is Cher rolling her eyes after asking Nicolas Cage where the Met (Metropolitan Opera) is. That’s power. Cher’s star power does not overwhelm the movie. She is the main character, but the setting of New York City and the community of Catholic Italian Americans also matter. That community includes…