Is This Thing On?

• Director: Bradley Cooper
• Writer: Bradley Cooper, Will Arnett, Mark Chappell
• Starring: Will Arnett, Laura Dern, Andra Day, Bradley Cooper, Christine Ebersole, Ciarán Hinds, Sean Hayes, Amy Sedaris

Grade: A-

You don’t need me to tell you that tragedy plus time equals comedy. This is essentially the formula for Bradley Cooper’s third directorial effort, Is This Thing On?, and it continues the actor-director’s streak of simple but effective character studies. But, rather than leveling up his production budget, Cooper has chosen to scale back and create a more intimate, personal story that still caters to his sensibilities as a storyteller.

Sentimental Value

• Director: Joachim Trier
• Writer: Joachim Trier, Eskil Vogt
• Starring: Renata Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Elle Fanning

Grade: A-

Beloved international auteur Gustav Borg (Stellan Skarsgård), the ersatz lead character of Sentimental Value, has written what may be his best, and possibly last, film, and he’s written it especially with his daughter Nora (Renata Reinsve) in mind for the lead role. For any actor, this would be seen as a no-brainer decision to gain some bona fide recognition. But Nora rejects his film, without even reading the script, and the remainder of Norwegian director Joachim Trier’s latest film presents an intriguing, nuanced look at why.

Train Dreams

• Director: Clint Bentley
• Writer: Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar
• Starring: Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones, William H. Macy, Kerry Condon, Clifton Collins Jr., Will Patton

Grade: A

In the entire history of the universe, since matter was first created, the time which humans have occupied on Earth has been microscopic. And the average life span of an average human fractures that already tiny number into an even smaller percentage. In other words, the modern world which you or I are seeing and experiencing is just a small bit of what’s come before and what will come after. This is, ostensibly, a review of Clint Bentley’s Train Dreams, the best film of the year, but because it’s a film that spoke to me on a deeper, more human level than any film in a long time, I feel it warrants a more philosophical and personal discussion.

It Was Just an Accident

• Director: Jafar Panahi
• Writer: Jafar Panahi
• Starring: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr

Grade: A-

Getting any film made, even under the best of circumstances, is a small kind of miracle. For auteur Jafar Panahi, getting a film made under the Iranian regime is another kind of miracle entirely – not to mention an active act of resistance. Panahi has faced difficulties making films before (his last film, No Bears, was made while he was under house arrest). But It Was Just an Accident is as openly critical towards his government as possible, and presents a moral and existential quandary that anyone can relate to when living under fear.