Words to Describe Art and Literature: Words to Describe a Movie

It’s a highly cerebral, formally complex film about unbridled emotion. New York Times (Aug 5, 2021)

The director Jamila Wignot grapples with this question, too, in this compelling film about the legendary dancer, director and choreographer — the one who brought Black culture into the dance mainstream. Washington Post (Jul 21, 2021)

Whereas all these movies focus on complex relationships between women, “Amulet” digs the deepest into gender dynamics. New York Times (Jul 29, 2020)

“Intruders,” a distasteful thriller with a bludgeoning sensibility and little common sense, turns a cozy family home into a clockwork house of horrors. New York Times (Jan 14, 2016)

But the documentary short films, which are being screened theatrically in select cities around the country Jan.31, provide some of the year's best and most dramatic, emotional, amusing, and heartrending stories. Salon (Jan 29, 2020)

Steven Spielberg’s “Ready Player One” is a dystopian story of a future America in which success in an enormous online virtual-reality game with a pop-culture focus is the source of real-world rewards. The New Yorker (Jan 19, 2019)

But its images went beyond the merely factual, often achieving the emotional impact of a drama. The Guardian (May 6, 2020)

The movie is impeccably crafted and consistently engaging. New York Times (Sep 17, 2020)

At one point, she tried her experiment by playing passages not from LordJim but from Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak, the book that launched the epic film. A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age

The images, taken from digitally-restored film reels that sat in the National Archives for decades, are disturbingly graphic. New York Times (May 27, 2021)

The film is troubling, riveting, claustrophobic and darkly hilarious. The Guardian (Apr 21, 2017)

The historical film, which first premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September and is released next week, is Netflix’s latest major movie offering featuring a Hollywood star. Reuters (Oct 31, 2018)

The film is not groundbreaking or innovative in technique or form, but is rather a perfect piece of craftsmanship. The Guardian (Feb 23, 2018)

Her project, like Ms. Shinde’s insightful movie, is a resounding victory. New York Times (Nov 25, 2016)

At once introspective and observational, “Anna” is a road movie about an unresolved interior journey; its true subject is its maker’s mental state. New York Times (Nov 14, 2018)

Craig Laurance Gidney’s “A Spectral Hue” also mixes art and a haunting, this time at an African American artists’ colony, and “Experimental Film,” by Gemma Files, deals with a mysterious, possibly cursed movie. Washington Post (Oct 19, 2020)

In short: This is another bold, offbeat and entertaining genre film from modern Hollywood's most consistently visionary mainstream director. Los Angeles Times (Mar 28, 2015)

Mileage will almost certainly vary, but Leos Carax’s “Annette,” which opened the Cannes Film Festival last month, is certainly one of the most original movies of the year. Seattle Times (Aug 16, 2021)

His third feature, and the first to receive theatrical release in the U.S., is a wickedly droll, picaresque tale. Los Angeles Times (Jan 21, 2016)

Kubrick’s masterpieces include his first world war classic, Paths of Glory, one of cinema’s most powerful anti-war movies, and his Roman epic, Spartacus, both of which starred Kirk Douglas. The Guardian (Jul 12, 2019)

Some critics found the story predictable, but most said the movie was an easy, entertaining watch. New York Times (May 16, 2020)

“Weekend,” Andrew Haigh’s astonishingly self-assured, unassumingly profound second feature, is just such a film. New York Times (Sep 22, 2011)

It’s an ever-shifting performance and as realistic a depiction of adolescence as any in recent film. New York Times (May 1, 2015)

The film’s sweet, soft finish is both refreshing and startling. New York Times (May 28, 2015)

This film is so relevant right now, because it's about what happens when we are lied to. Salon (Feb 13, 2020)

The new film by George Miller is visually riveting and technologically stunning. Los Angeles Times (May 28, 2015)

Houston co-starred in the 1992 romantic thriller “The Bodyguard” and made several other movies. Reuters (Apr 22, 2020)

During a season when the majority of movies are sappy and overwrought with emotion, this unexpectedly delightful comedy is fun, weird and relatable in the best ways. Time (Dec 19, 2016)

A propaganda film showing Mussolini's visit to Berlin in 1937 is juxtaposed with extracts from Charlie Chaplin's satirical film The Great Dictator. The Guardian (Oct 14, 2010)

And still the films that did get nominated are sensational. Seattle Times (Apr 20, 2021)

This is, I think, one of the stunning films of our time. New York Times (Jun 14, 2018)

One of the most intense, suspenseful films of the year isn't a thriller. Salon (Oct 28, 2018)

Yet this version becomes trite as you watch — not because of the Chicago setting but because no individual character is fresh. New York Times (Dec 11, 2016)

Both films use their respective genres — a silky, cosmopolitan romance in one case, an uproarious satire in the other — to get at unspeakable tragedy. Washington Post (Jan 16, 2019)

Both of your movies are violent, visceral and unsettling. New York Times (Oct 13, 2020)