1. Parasite – Bong Joon Ho and Jin Wan Han (original) A transcendent crime story that balances the books on the inherently corrupt capitalist/class system. With elements that go back as far as Crime and Punishment and High and Low, this film uses a structural sequence similar to the o

1. Green Book: a predictable racism-in-America story gains strength until the two payoff scenes at the end bring tears to your eyes. Proves the truth of the old cliché that it’s the “emotion picture business.” The trick is that this is a modern day “Pride and Prejudice” between a whit

1. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri: master of the transcendent crime story (In Bruges), writer-director Martin McDonough creates another masterpiece, with a brutal and sometimes funny story of a justice battle that can’t be won, played out in one irony bomb after another, wi

Oscar night is fast approaching. Here are my thumbnail breakdowns, in order of preference, of this year’s contenders. 1. Arrival: A female myth in which a woman’s ability to see holistically instead of divisively is matched by the story’s structure, and results in a personal and globa

Oscar nominations are out, which makes this a good time to review and learn from the Best Films of 2015. In this breakdown, John Truby crystallizes the essence of 16 talked-about films under consideration, in order of preference (from his Top Picks to those films that are over-rated a

Here’s my annual ranking of films hoping for Oscar gold, from best to worst. Films that earned nominations for either Picture or Writing, Original or Adapted, have a star. *1. The Grand Budapest Hotel: a story within a story within a story about the wonder of storytelling in a magical

Critics are calling this a banner year for films. I call it a banner year for over-rated films. Studios wait until the end of the year to release their serious Oscar hopefuls, and critics are so glad to review movies that aren’t about superheroes, they compete by piling on super