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.
Satire (13)
May 19, 2026Being There (1979)
Hal Ashby's 1979 satire with Peter Sellers as gardener mistaken for political sage. Final film of Sellers' great period.
May 19, 2026Catch-22 (1970)
Mike Nichols' 1970 Heller adaptation. Alan Arkin as Yossarian. Substantial source material that the film handles only partially.
May 19, 2026Critical Care (1997)
Sidney Lumet's 1997 medical satire. James Spader as resident in end-of-life care system. Helen Mirren, Anne Bancroft.
May 19, 2026Don’t Look Up (2021)
Adam McKay's 2021 climate-denial satire. DiCaprio, Lawrence, Streep, Hill. Heavy-handed but the targets earn it.
May 17, 2026Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Kubrick's 1964 Cold War satire. Sellers in three roles, Scott as Buck Turgidson. The film that established what political satire could do on film.
May 19, 2026Idiocracy (2006)
Mike Judge's 2006 dystopian satire. Average man wakes in 500-years-dumber future. Cult standing built through home video.
May 19, 2026In the Loop (2009)
Armando Iannucci's 2009 spin-off from The Thick of It. British and American officials bumble toward Middle East war. Tucker.
May 19, 2026M*A*S*H (1970)
Robert Altman's 1970 Korean War satire. Sutherland and Gould as wartime surgeons. Spawned the TV series. Anti-war through black comedy.
May 19, 2026Network (1976)
Sidney Lumet's 1976 TV news satire. Paddy Chayefsky screenplay. Peter Finch's I'm mad as hell speech. Predictive and ferocious.
May 19, 2026The Hospital (1971)
Arthur Hiller's 1971 medical satire. Paddy Chayefsky screenplay, George C. Scott as suicidal chief of medicine. Won Best Original Screenplay.
May 19, 2026The Player (1992)
Robert Altman's 1992 Hollywood satire. Tim Robbins as studio executive. Opening tracking shot, sixty-five star cameos.
May 19, 2026They Live (1988)
A drifter discovers sunglasses that reveal the wealthy elite are alien creatures controlling humanity through subliminal messaging.
May 19, 2026Wag the Dog (1997)
Barry Levinson's 1997 political satire. Hoffman and De Niro fabricate a war to bury a presidential scandal. Mamet co-wrote.