David Edelstein

Chief Film Critic for New York Magazine and Fresh Air

David Edelstein appears in the following:

In The Northern Ireland Period Thriller '71,' No One Dies Well

Friday, March 06, 2015

The film is about an English private who is cut off from his unit in the middle of a riot in Belfast in 1971. It's a conventional and smashingly good chase melodrama, but it's also a tragedy.

Comment

'Maps To The Stars': Either The Funniest Horror Movie, Or The Most Horrific Comedy

Friday, February 27, 2015

In the film about a toxic Hollywood, John Cusack plays a self-help guru whose clients include Julianne Moore. It's full of anxious shoptalk and name dropping, druggy kids and druggier grown-ups.

Comment

In These Six 'Wild Tales,' Humans Morph Into Destructive Forces Of Nature

Friday, February 20, 2015

The Argentinean film co-produced by Pedro Almodovar is up for an Oscar for best foreign language film. It features a drunk teenager who runs over a woman and an angry bride at a glitzy Jewish wedding.

Comment

Second 'Spongebob' Movie Is A Nonsensical, Loud, Choppy Triumph

Friday, February 06, 2015

The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water is visually an eyesore — a kaleidoscope of bright, mismatched colors, and in 3-D to make your headache stronger. The movie makers hit the bull's-eye.

Comments [1]

The 'Selma' Criticism For How It Portrays Lyndon B. Johnson: Is It Fair?

Friday, January 09, 2015

The film about Martin Luther King's marches for voting rights is being accused of alleged historical inaccuracies. Critic David Edelstein says that's "not entirely" fair, and it's still a great movie.

Comment

In A 'Depressing' Year For Films, Edelstein Finds Some Greats

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Film critic David Edelstein says in 2014 none of the great material came from Hollywood studios. But, he says, it was a "wonderful year" for indie films. He names Boyhood as the best of the year.

Comment

The Strange World — And Life — Of 'Mr. Turner'

Friday, December 19, 2014

The biopic of landscape painter J. M. W. Turner depicts a man whose mind is barely engaged by anything other than his work. He's a mystery, and his art is magically indefinite — just like the movie.

Comment

Depicting An Unstable Era, 'Inherent Vice' Never Jells, But It's Addictive

Friday, December 12, 2014

The film, based on Thomas Pynchon's novel, is set in 1970 in a beach town south of Los Angeles. With wonderful actors, it's like a gorgeous stoner art object: groovy, campy, dreamlike and funny.

Comment

Prayers And Holy Water Can't Exorcise The Terrifying 'Babadook'

Friday, December 05, 2014

In the Australian chiller, a bogeyman announces himself in a rhyming, pop-up book on a 7-year-old's shelf. But the real horror is that the boy's mom, a grieving widow, is battling psychic demons.

Comment

Benedict Cumberbatch Lifts Above Biopic Formula In 'Imitation Game'

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Cumberbatch stars as British mathematician and World War II code breaker Alan Turing in a film directed by Morten Tyldum and co-staring Keira Knightley as Turing's comrade in arms.

Comment

'Foxcatcher': A Bloated True-Crime Story Based On Wealthy Heir John du Pont

Friday, November 14, 2014

The film is based on du Pont's fraught relationship with two Olympic wrestlers. Wealth isn't enough — his identity hinges on winning. It's a fascinating case study, but as drama, it's one sick joke.

Comment

'Interstellar': A Good Old-Fashioned Chunk Of Sci-Fi Silliness

Wednesday, November 05, 2014

Christopher Nolan's film stars Matthew McConaughey as an astronaut who takes his ship through a wormhole to another galaxy to find a home for earth's inhabitants. It's cool, awe-inspiring and goofy.

Comment

'Citizenfour': A Paranoid Conspiracy Documentary About Edward Snowden

Friday, October 24, 2014

Laura Poitras' new film isn't artfully shaped like her other documentaries. But she captures scenes as history is being made — and it will make you look both ways when you're on the street.

Comment

'Birdman' Follows A Film Actor Frantic To Prove Himself Onstage

Friday, October 17, 2014

The choreography by Alejandro Iñárritu, who directed 21 Grams and Babel, will wow you. But the story about a washed-up actor about to bring off his Broadway debut is an "empty masterwork."

Comment

In 'Whiplash,' A Young Drummer Plays Till He Bleeds

Friday, October 10, 2014

Director Damien Chazelle's second film centers on the agony of a drummer in a high-powered music school. The movie ties you into knots: The fear of failure is omnipresent. So is the jazz vibe.

Comment

'Gone Girl': A Gripping Film That's More Fun Than The Book

Friday, October 03, 2014

Based on a screenplay by author Gillian Flynn, the movie is sensationally effective. It's made like a classic noir — evenly paced, with an elegance that in context is deeply perverse.

Comment

British Coalminers Strike With A Gay Coalition In 'Pride,' A Crowd-Pleaser

Friday, September 26, 2014

The film is based on a true story about the '80s strike Margaret Thatcher vowed to break. It's full of the Britain's best actors, and nearly every line makes you cackle or puts a lump in your throat.

Comment

A Detective's 'Walk Among The Tombstones' Is Gripping But Unsatisfying

Friday, September 19, 2014

In the '70s, novelist Lawrence Block created New York private investigator Matthew Scudder who chases extreme bad guys. Liam Neeson now plays the character the new grisly film directed by Scott Frank.

Comment

In 'The Drop,' Mob Bosses Bully Sad Characters At A Bar In Brooklyn

Friday, September 12, 2014

The film based on Dennis Lehane's short story Animal Rescue is supposed be a thriller, but the narrative doesn't have much urgency. The reason it's worth seeing? James Gandolfini is at his peak.

Comment

In A Brilliantly Disorienting Film, A Teenager Is 'Starred Up' To An Adult Prison

Monday, September 08, 2014

The British drama depicts remarkable characters, including an angry teenager who meets two father figures behind bars. It's a prison film that's shattering beyond physical violence.

Comment