Amy Nicholson
@theamynicholson.bsky.social
Film critic of the LA Times and host of the podcast Unspooled. Say hello with your favorite movie and why -- or a picture of a standard poodle. IG/Letterboxd: @theamynicholson
In the spirit of Zeus’ law, I’m honored to welcome Emily Wilson to the land of film criticism. As she’s learned, it’s an adventure that sails smack into islands of musky internet trolls and clashes with cinematic and literary titans. I'm here to broker a truce. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
Yes, Emily Wilson, Odysseus has been changed for the movie. Deal with it
Critical swords are clashing, but there's a way to cut through the debate and really talk about how we review art.
latimes.com
Recorded right before the news about Kavinsky 💔 Crank up that soundtrack
You can map the millennium’s sexual pessimism on Wilde’s films: the needy online dater in “Her,” the scheming honey pot in “Richard Jewell,” the compromised tradwife in “Don’t Worry Darling.” This and “The Invite” hint at a fresh appreciation for naked vulnerability www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
Review: Provocative and sly, 'I Want Your Sex' celebrates the fine art of sloppy mistakes
A return to features after 12 years, Gregg Araki's ticklish comedy about a bad boss spanking her employee stars Olivia Wilde and Cooper Hoffman.
latimes.com
BRAND NEW DAY is burdened by the plot needs of the MCU. But Cretton seizes small moments to put his stamp on this installment. Just as Zendaya’s aspirationally chill MJ insists she won’t work for some “soulless corporation,” he’s quietly made a humanist super-flick www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
Review: 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day' finds its nimble hero tangled by franchise upkeep
Marvel is showing its age, but Tom Holland highlights the humanity of a lovelorn, workaholic Spider-Man whose arachnid hormones are surging.
latimes.com
Can you like THE ODYSSEY while struggling with what Nolan tweaks? Absolutely. Let's hash that out with smart and funny USC Classics professor Lucas Herchenroeder on a special episode of Unspooled. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
The Odyssey (with Lucas Matthew Herchenroeder)
Podcast Episode · Unspooled · July 25 · 1h 4m
podcasts.apple.com
Oh THAT'S why I always thought the horse had wheels
HER PRIVATE HELL will be some moviegoers’ public one. Both times I’ve seen it, a fraction of the audience has walked out. This, I suspect, suits Nicolas Winding Refn just fine. To him, mass appeal is for rubes. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
Review: Hot faces fill the erotic thriller 'Her Private Hell,' but the plot is never in focus
'Drive' director Nicolas Winding Refn's first feature in a decade finds him still fixated on sizzling neon and chilly characters. He's got his kinks.
latimes.com
Our @theamynicholson.bsky.social finds THE ODYSSEY a "monument to movie craft" — "one that engraves marvelous images onto the ancient oral poem" even as it sacrifices some of its hero's moral complexity: "Nolan refuses to tremble before the canon." Her review: www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
Review: Christopher Nolan’s 'The Odyssey' is a mighty Trojan horse of his thematic obsessions
Generously sized and steered toward realism, the director's take on Odysseus is epically satisfying, even if it skimps on the character's ego and lust.
latimes.com
Tell me, Christopher Nolan, when did it first rosy-fingered dawn on you that your favorite type of protagonist — a tormented sinner-hero — was a specialty of the ancient Greeks? www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
Review: Christopher Nolan’s 'The Odyssey' is a mighty Trojan horse of his thematic obsessions
Generously sized and steered toward realism, the director's take on Odysseus is epically satisfying, even if it skimps on the character's ego and lust.
latimes.com
The uncanny valley is right between the Rock's silicone-padded pecs. We see so many intimate angles of them that I got distracted trying to find his nipples. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
Review: The titanically misguided live-action remake of 'Moana' is missing the heart in its ocean
Never enchanting or magical, this wan redo from 'Hamilton' director Thomas Kail of the beloved 2016 Disney animated movie is totally lost at sea.
latimes.com
GAIL DAUGHTRY AND THE CELEBRITY SEX PASS is a screwball joy. The tourism board should study how David Wain sells a tacky California vacation. Hollywood Boulevard hasn’t looked this fetchingly sleazy since PRETTY WOMAN. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
Review: We're off to see a great screwball comedy in 'Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass'
The deliriously zany ensemble comedy stars Zoey Deutch as a small-town sweetheart who flies to Los Angeles hoping to sleep with Jon Hamm.
latimes.com
I’ll admit I snorted at TikToks of teens gussied up in suits to see a Minions movie. After watching MINIONS & MONSTERS, I understand. It treats kids with the same respect that Charlie Chaplin did their great-grandparents. Subconsciously, fans are returning the favor. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
Review: 'Minions & Monsters' is a daffy summer comedy over 100 years in the making
A 'Minions' prequel, clever and funny, rewinds to the silent era to showcase the classic Hollywood movies that inspired its manic yellow horde.
latimes.com
The best weapon in the “Jackass’” arsenal isn’t the taser, the beehive or the booby-trapped latrine. It’s the explosion of relief when a prank ends. It’s a shame that for the first time in two and a half decades of cringe comedy, the guffaws feel forced. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
Review: They're finally too old for it in the middling clip reel 'Jackass: Best and Last'
After four gross-out features that occasionally reached cinematic greatness, Johnny Knoxville and the gang gather for a hasty and underwhelming final hurrah.
latimes.com
I’d love to see Milly Alcock’s Supergirl in a grotty, silly “Animal House”-style comedy, out-drinking a galaxy of alien squids. She even passes out on a toilet with aplomb. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
Review: A hot mess, 'Supergirl' has a rowdy spirit but a too-terrestrial plot
Craig Gillespie directs the louche party girl, played by Milly Alcock, in a spinoff sequel that thrives on chaos but settles for convention.
latimes.com
THE DEATH OF ROBIN HOOD is tedious spin on a Wolverine movie Jackman has already made. During a week when the canted economy just created its first trillionaire, I can’t fathom why Sarnoski felt we needed this amoral, apathetic version of Robin Hood now. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
Review: Dour and dull, 'The Death of Robin Hood' steals our time to give to the gloom
Promising director Michael Sarnoski misses the bulls-eye with this violent, dreary take on the 13th century renegade. Even Hugh Jackman can't save it.
latimes.com
Once more, the toys are horrified to face their obsolescence. Kids get older; a plastic T. rex stays the same age range. “I can’t go through this again,” Jessie the cowgirl says. Neither can I, but here we are. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
Review: AI meets angst in 'Toy Story 5,' in which the gang and the plot feel obsolete
The fifth entry finds the series pulling the same old heartstrings as Jessie, Buzz and Woody once again feel irrelevant. So does the franchise.
latimes.com
We loved seeing all the MIDSOMMAR fans dress up for our ‘Bleak Week’ screening at the Egyptian 🌼🌞🌼 Watching the Director’s Cut in a sold out, members-only crowd followed by a Q&A with Ari Aster & Amy Nicholson? Perfect.
THE FURIOUS: In five years, Keanu Reaves will be brawling like this. (Although after decades of popularizing advancements in fisticuffs, he’s earned the right to relax.) www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
Review: Get knocked out by the innovative fighting style of 'The Furious,' the future of action cinema
Ignore the rote kidnapped child plot and gape at the creative fight choreography in this Asian action spectacular, which could kick off a revolution.
latimes.com
Decades after Steven Spielberg unveiled his signature shot — a face amazed at wonders we can’t see — he seems wearied by his awareness that today’s moment of revelation would look like a person staring down at their phone. latimes.com/entertainmen...
Review: In Steven Spielberg's 'Disclosure Day,' the aliens are here — but the wonderment isn't
Emily Blunt and Josh O'Connor race around the Midwest trying to expose UFOs in a hectic adventure that lacks intelligent life.
latimes.com
The sixth SCARY MOVIE is as lazy, dumb and offensive as the rest. But Regina Hall and Anna Faris are hilarious, as is Teyana Taylor in the cleverest opener since Drew Barrymore answered the phone. I’d watch six more with her. But like Hall & Faris, she deserves better www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
Review: The new 'Scary Movie' is cringey, crass and salvaged only by its devoted cast
The sixth installment of the spoof series is actually the best one yet (not a huge compliment), with daffy turns by stars Anna Faris and Regina Hall.
latimes.com
As He-Man, Nicholas Galitzine's himbo charm gets him through this silly, fan-service-y reboot unharmed. (Whew! The rising actor has real potential.) Bizarrely, Jared Leto's plummy, baritone Skeletor voice is the best thing he's done in years. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
Review: Muscling past a flat script, a big-screen 'Masters of the Universe' embraces its own silliness
Powered by copious sarcasm, 'Bumblebee' director Travis Knight and star Nicholas Galitzine modernize the ’80s macho man as sensitive and self-aware.
latimes.com
For ten minutes, POWER BALLAD is a platonic rom-com about two dissatisfied artists enjoying a banger of a bonding session. Then it's a total bummer. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
Review: 'Power Ballad' is a one-scene wonder with a terrific start and a sloppy second act
Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas have great creative chemistry in 'Once' director John Carney's latest musical. Pity this punishingly cruel comedy keeps them apart.
latimes.com
20-year-old Kane Parsons is start of a *new* new wave of filmmakers raised online and ready to reinvigorate the industry. His BACKROOMS is a surrealist painting in motion, like staring at Salvador Dali’s wasteland of melting clocks until they make gut-sense. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
Review: The eerie 'Backrooms' is a doorway into a new kind of Hollywood spellbinder
Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve star in the debut of Kane Parsons, who has adapted his viral videos into a captivating and mature maze of emotions.
latimes.com
Enough gracking. Here's what was GOOD at this year's Cannes: www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
10 Cannes movies worth looking out for in a year of disappointments
Not every returning auteur brought their A-game, but we found enough to like, including strong work from Pedro Almodóvar, Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Jane Schoenbrun.
latimes.com
This year's Cannes competition: long meh-sterpieces, no masterpieces www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
At Cannes, the search goes on for a knockout — or at least a decent ending
Disappointing offerings included such anticipated titles as "Her Private Hell," Nicolas Winding Refn's first film in a decade, and Hirokazu Kore-eda's "Sheep in the Box."
latimes.com
