#Pick of the Day
Pick of the Day: “La Madrina: The [Savage] Life of Lorine Padilla”
A loving tribute to a South Bronx matriarch, “La Madrina: The Savage Life of Lorine Padilla” sees the former “First Lady” of the Savage Skulls gang telling her incredible life story....
Pick of the Day: “Roar”
In the new show from “GLOW” creators Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch, a tall, statuesque blonde model becomes an actual trophy wife. A Black author realizes no one can see or hear her. A...
Pick of the Day: “You Won’t Be Alone”
In reviews and ads, “You Won’t Be Alone” is being marketed as a horror pic — which isn’t untrue, but also isn’t exactly accurate. It’s more of a dark...
Pick of the Day: “Pachinko”
An epic story relayed in Korean, Japanese, and English, Apple TV+’s “Pachinko” is — like many of the best stories of recent years — both universal and highly specific....
Pick of the Day: “Finding Kukan”
Here are a few factoids about “Kukan,” the 1941 documentary about China during Japan’s WWII invasion and occupation: Its title is a term that refers to perseverance in the face of...
Pick of the Day: “The Principles of Pleasure”
“So many people are left out of the pleasure conversation,” we’re told early on in “The Principles of Pleasure.” A three-part docuseries exploring how “sex, joy,...
Pick of the Day: “Life & Beth”
There are some experiences in life that color everything that follows: a heartbreak, a humiliation, a success, a surprise. Amy Schumer’s new show, “Life & Beth,” portrays its...
Pick of the Day: “Minx”
Tired of seeing headlines about how to “find your thin within” and “snag a spouse,” a young feminist vows to create a publication worthy of its women readers in “Minx,” an HBO Max comedy...
Pick of the Day: “Phoenix Rising”
During the rise of #MeToo in 2017, “Westworld” actress Evan Rachel Wood spoke out about being raped and abused. She reiterated those claims the following year in testimony before Congress...
Pick of the Day: “Lucy and Desi”
Long before she herself served as an inspiration for comedy fans on “SNL,” Amy Poehler grew up watching “I Love Lucy,” and in “Lucy and Desi,” the multi-hyphenate pays loving tribute...
Pick of the Day: “Fresh”
Your mileage may vary on “Fresh.” A rom-com-horror hybrid exploring the modern dynamics of power, dating, gender, and sex via a pretty twisted allegory, it’s sure to be polarizing...
Pick of the Day: “The Dropout”
Amanda Seyfried follows up her Oscar-nominated portrayal of silver screen legend by taking on the role of a Silicon Valley fraudster in “The Dropout.” The “Mank” actress heads...
Pick of the Day: “Fannie Lou Hamer’s America”
For the most part, the documentary “Fannie Lou Hamer’s America” is made up of archival footage, photographs, and recordings. The few talking head interviews included were filmed decades...
Pick of the Day: “Somebody Somewhere”
After years of memorable supporting turns in the likes of “Unbelievable,” “Camping,” and “Patti Cake$,” Bridget Everett is finally leading her own show. She stars...
Pick of the Day: “Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street”
Marilyn Agrelo traces the radical roots of “Sunny Days” spent with Elmo, Bert, and Big Bird in “Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street.” The HBO doc examines how creators, artists,...
Pick of the Day: “Anne Boleyn”
Over the past few years, there have been an increased number of historical dramas that employ color-blind, or color-conscious, casting. Sometimes these projects feature people of color yet completely...
Pick of the Day: “The Slow Hustle”
“It’s Baltimore — don’t be surprised by anything that takes place here,” we’re warned early on in “The Slow Hustle.” The HBO doc sees Sonja Sohn, best...
Pick of the Day: “Adrienne”
I saw “Waitress” at an art-house theater when I was in high school, and it instantly became one of my favorite movies. A few months after seeing the bittersweet dramedy about a pregnant...
Pick of the Day: “Writing with Fire”
“I believe that journalism is the essence of democracy,” announces Meera Devi, the central protagonist of Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh’s “Writing with Fire.” Devi is...
Pick of the Day: “The Sex Lives of College Girls”
“The Sex Lives of College Girls” isn’t nearly as raunchy as its eye-catching title suggests. The HBO Max comedy is unapologetically horny, yes, and considerably more invested in...
Pick of the Day: “Sort Of”
A selection at TIFF this year, the Toronto-set “Sort Of” adds a much-needed perspective to the ubiquitous “20-something trying to figure things out” subgenre of comedy. Like...
Pick of the Day: “Cusp”
Ahead of “Cusp’s” world premiere at Sundance, directors Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt told us that they hope audiences will “think about what it actually looks like to...
Pick of the Day: “Night Raiders”
Marking Danis Goulet’s feature directorial debut, “Night Raiders” is a dystopian sci-fi take on the history, and possible future, of colonialism and authoritarianism. It’s a bleak...
Pick of the Day: “The Dilemma of Desire”
Described by director Maria Finitzo as “a film about power, and how power is easily taken when the truth is replaced with a lie,” “The Dilemma of Desire” puts the clitoris under a microscope...
Pick of the Day: “Beans”
“You need to be able to stand up for what’s important to you,” a 12-year-old Mohawk girl is told in “Beans.” Tracey Deer’s coming-of-age drama tells the story of Tekehentahkhwa,...
Pick of the Day: “Mark, Mary & Some Other People”
From the very beginning of their relationship, Mary (Hayley Law) and Mark (Ben Rosenfield) do things a little unconventionally. In the opening scenes of “Mark, Mary & Some Other...
Pick of the Day: “Passing”
“Passing” is a complicated term. Whether it relates to race, gender, or sexual orientation, it connotes posing, pretending, striving to be something you’re not. On the other hand,...
Pick of the Day: “Insecure”
“The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black Girl” served as Issa Rae’s calling card in the industry, but it’s “Insecure” that launched her into another stratosphere. Now...
Pick of the Day: “Found”
Like Amanda Lipitz’s first documentary, “Step,” a portrait of a girls’ step dance team during their senior year at a Baltimore high school that took home a Special Jury Award for...
Pick of the Day: “Bergman Island”
“Do you think you can create a great body of work and raise a family at the same time?” asks Vicky Krieps in “Bergman Island.” Writer-director Mia Hansen-Løve identified this...
Pick of the Day: “Introducing, Selma Blair”
Selma Blair holds no illusions about her place in Hollywood. Whether it’s “Cruel Intentions,” “Legally Blonde,” or “Hellboy,” she’s best known standing...
Pick of the Day: “The Rescue”
E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin are back with another crowd-pleasing, jaw-dropping look at a death-defying mission. They’re following up their Oscar-winning portrait of rock climber Alex...
Pick of the Day: “Prism”
A prism can be a lens, a way of seeing. In the figurative sense, it can be a tool that refracts and deconstructs ideas. In the literal sense, it breaks down white light into a rainbow. A prism is not...
Pick of the Day: “Delphine’s Prayers”
Similar to her previous two features as a solo director, “Chez Jolie Coiffure” and “The Two Faces of a Bamiléké Woman,” Rosine Mbakam’s latest doc gives an...
Pick of the Day: “Hester Street” 4K Restoration
The old and the new collide in Joan Micklin Silver’s beloved “Hester Street.” The Oscar-nominated 1975 portrait of Jewish immigrant life in turn-of-the-century New York has received...
Pick of the Day: “Maid”
In one of the early episodes of the new Netflix limited series “Maid,” the main character laments that she will need someone to watch her toddler daughter while she goes to interview for...
Pick of the Day: “Nuclear Family”
Two women should be able to have children with the help of a sperm donor, a person who provides genetic material but has “no rights and no responsibilities” in the children’s lives....
Pick of the Day: “I’m Your Man”
A researcher finds herself serving as an unenthusiastic participant in someone else’s study in “I’m Your Man.” A sci-fi rom-com from Emmy-winning “Unorthodox”...
Pick of the Day: “El Planeta”
“Girls” was populated with entitled, feckless, but ultimately fascinating female characters. “Arrested Development” followed a formerly wealthy family willfully ignoring just...
Pick of the Day: “My Name Is Pauli Murray”
If there were any justice in this world, Pauli Murray would be a household name on par with Martin Luther King or Gloria Steinem or Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She was an activist and legal scholar whose...
Pick of the Day: “Y: The Last Man”
“Y: The Last Man’s” title really should have been retooled. I haven’t read the DC Comics series it’s based on, but the TV adaptation is about a lot more than the last...
Pick of the Day: “Language Lessons”
Described as a “weird little movie made in a very weird time about finding friendship in strange places and accepting love even when you think you may not be worth it” by writer,...
Pick of the Day: “Rare Beasts”
If you, like me, are a fan of the Billie Piper show “I Hate Suzie” — its anti-heroine lead, its focus on the messiness of feminism in theory vs. practice, its general acidity...
Pick of the Day: “The Chair”
Though it’s decidedly less glamorous, academia isn’t entirely dissimilar from Hollywood. The wealthy and powerful minority convince themselves that meritocracy governs the system, and the...
Pick of the Day: “CODA”
From start to finish, “CODA” is a delight. Siân Heder’s second feature is heartfelt, laugh-out-loud funny, and everything I’d hoped it would be after reading about its...
Pick of the Day: “Materna”
Jean (Kate Lyn Sheil), Mona (Jade Eshete), Ruth (Lindsay Burdge), and Perizad (Assol Abdullina) are four very different women with no connection to one another, besides the fact that they are on the...
Pick of the Day: “The Macaluso Sisters”
A fun day at the beach has unforeseen ripple effects in “The Macaluso Sisters,” Emma Dante’s adaptation of her play of the same name. Comprised of three parts that catch up with the...
Pick of the Day: “Pray Away”
As moving as it is infuriating,” “Pray Away” sees director Kristine Stolakis taking a sobering look at the ongoing toll of conversion therapy. The doc explores the “ex-gay...
Pick of the Day: “Lorelei”
First-time feature director Sabrina Doyle told us that “Lorelei” is the result of her desire to “make a film about working-class people that shows their resilience, their inner...
Pick of the Day: “The Pursuit of Love”
The new miniseries “The Pursuit of Love” features two storytelling tropes that tend to annoy me: the juxtaposition of the free spirited woman and her wallflower best friend, and the woman...
Pick of the Day: “Playing with Sharks”
I’d never heard of Valerie Taylor before “Playing with Sharks,” but Sally Aitken’s loving tribute makes a compelling case for why the pioneer in underwater filmmaking and...