Movie Reviews
Film and television reviewed the way I’d want to read them — with a rating that means something, an honest accounting of what works and what doesn’t, and craft notes for writers who want to understand how the machinery operates.
Each review includes a craft notes section for writers — specific observations about structure, character, world-building, and what the film does that you can actually use. Not theory. Technique you can steal.
Romance (40)
May 19, 2026An American in Paris (1951)
Vincente Minnelli's 1951 Gershwin musical. Gene Kelly as American painter in Paris. Won six Academy Awards including Best Picture.
May 19, 2026Annie Hall (1977)
Woody Allen's 1977 romantic comedy. Diane Keaton title role. Won Best Picture against Star Wars. Defined modern romantic comedy.
May 19, 2026Before Sunrise (1995)
Richard Linklater's 1995 single-night Vienna romance. Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy. Spawned two sequels every nine years. Walking and talking.
May 19, 2026Brief Encounter (1945)
David Lean's 1945 British middle-class adultery drama. Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard. Railway station meetings. Rachmaninoff score.
May 19, 2026But I’m a Cheerleader (1999)
Jamie Babbit's 1999 American satirical romantic comedy about a high school cheerleader sent to a conversion therapy camp by her parents who fall in love with another resident. Natasha Lyonne and Clea DuVall star in the canonical queer-cinema cheerleader film.
May 17, 2026Casablanca (1942)
Curtiz's 1942 wartime romance. Bogart, Bergman, Henreid. The most quoted American film ever made. Holds every position it took during shooting.
May 19, 2026Christmas in Connecticut (1945)
A magazine columnist who has fabricated her domestic Connecticut life must host a war hero and her publisher for Christmas.
May 19, 2026Crimson Peak (2015)
Guillermo del Toro's 2015 Edwardian gothic. Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston, Jessica Chastain. Visual maximalism over plot.
May 19, 2026Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Michel Gondry's 2004 memory erasure romance. Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet. Charlie Kaufman screenplay. Practical effects, beach erosion.
May 16, 2026Ghost (1990)
Jerry Zucker's 1990 supernatural romance. Swayze, Moore, Goldberg. The pottery scene, the subway ghost. Holds up better than expected.
May 18, 2026Gigli (2003)
2003 Martin Brest crime comedy with Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. Career-damaging flop during Bennifer tabloid frenzy.
May 19, 2026Holiday Inn (1942)
A singer retires to a Connecticut farm and converts it into an inn that only opens on holidays, leading to a rivalry with his former dance partner.
May 19, 2026In the Mood for Love (2000)
Wong Kar-wai's 2000 1960s Hong Kong romance. Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung. Unfulfilled longing. Cheongsam parade. Slow motion.
May 19, 2026La La Land (2016)
Damien Chazelle's 2016 Hollywood musical. Stone, Gosling. Almost won Best Picture before envelope correction. Audition song.
May 18, 2026Look Who’s Talking (1989)
1989 Amy Heckerling comedy with John Travolta and Kirstie Alley. Bruce Willis voices a sarcastic infant narrator.
May 19, 2026Love Actually (2003)
Multiple intertwined London relationships unfold across the five weeks leading up to Christmas, from the Prime Minister to schoolchildren.
May 17, 2026Meet Joe Black (1998)
Brest's 1998 three-hour fantasy drama. Pitt as Death taking a vacation, Hopkins as the dying man hosting him. Critics hated it. The film has aged better than expected.
May 19, 2026Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
A department store Santa claims to be the real Kris Kringle, and a lawyer must defend him in court.
May 19, 2026Moulin Rouge! (2001)
Baz Luhrmann's 2001 jukebox musical. Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor in turn-of-century Paris. Maximalist visual assault.
Jun 6, 2026Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)
Jim Jarmusch asks what eternity feels like after centuries of it. A gorgeous, melancholy 8/10 vampire mood piece reviewed at Master of Worlds.
May 19, 2026Out of Africa (1985)
Sydney Pollack's 1985 Karen Blixen Kenya romance. Streep, Redford. I had a farm in Africa. Won seven Academy Awards.
May 19, 2026Rebecca (1940)
Hitchcock's 1940 Daphne du Maurier adaptation. Manderley as character. Joan Fontaine. Won Best Picture, Hitchcock's only one.
May 19, 2026Reds (1981)
Warren Beatty's 1981 John Reed biopic. American journalist who covered the Russian Revolution. Beatty directed, produced, starred, co-wrote.
May 19, 2026Remember the Night (1940)
A prosecutor takes a shoplifter home to Indiana for Christmas after her trial is delayed, and they fall in love.
May 19, 2026Roman Holiday (1953)
William Wyler's 1953 Rome romance. Audrey Hepburn debut and Oscar. Gregory Peck. Vespa rides, ice cream, journalistic ethics.
May 14, 2026Sleepless in Seattle (1993) — Review
Nora Ephron's foundational early-1990s romantic comedy. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Empire State Building. An Affair to Remember homage. 8/10.
May 19, 2026The African Queen (1951)
John Huston's 1951 WWI East Africa adventure. Bogart and Hepburn down a river to torpedo a German gunboat. Bogart's only Oscar.
May 19, 2026The Apartment (1960)
An ambitious insurance clerk lends his apartment to executives for their affairs, until he falls for the boss's mistress at Christmas.
May 19, 2026The Bishop’s Wife (1947)
An Episcopal bishop praying for help with his cathedral project receives an angel who arrives to assist, though not in the way expected.
May 19, 2026The English Patient (1996)
Anthony Minghella's 1996 wartime romance epic. Ralph Fiennes, Kristin Scott Thomas. Won nine Academy Awards including Best Picture.
May 19, 2026The Holiday (2006)
Two women in unhappy relationships swap homes for Christmas across the Atlantic and find new romance during the holiday.
May 19, 2026The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
Two Budapest shop employees who can't stand each other are unknowingly falling in love through anonymous correspondence.
May 19, 2026The Theory of Everything (2014)
James Marsh's 2014 Stephen Hawking biopic. Eddie Redmayne won Best Actor. Hawking's first marriage perspective.
May 19, 2026Top Hat (1935)
1935 Astaire-Rogers peak. Irving Berlin score. The Cheek to Cheek number is canonical. Their fifth collaboration and their best.
May 19, 2026Walk the Line (2005)
James Mangold's 2005 Johnny Cash biopic. Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon as Cash and June Carter. Witherspoon won Best Actress.
May 18, 2026Wedding Crashers (2005)
2005 David Dobkin comedy with Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn as divorce mediators who crash weddings to pick up bridesmaids.
May 19, 2026West Side Story (1961)
1961 Robbins-Wise adaptation of the Sondheim-Bernstein stage musical. Romeo and Juliet on Manhattan streets. Won ten Academy Awards.
May 14, 2026What Women Want (2000) — Review
What Women Want made $374 million worldwide. Mel Gibson hearing women's thoughts. Helen Hunt. Nancy Meyers directing. Chicago advertising industry setting.
May 14, 2026When Harry Met Sally (1989) — Review
Rob Reiner romcom with Nora Ephron screenplay. Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan across twelve years. Foundational New York romantic comedy. 8/10.
May 19, 2026White Christmas (1954)
Two singers join a sister act and follow them to a Vermont inn run by their former Army general, where they stage a Christmas show to save it.