Levi on Film

“Superman,” 2025, directed by James Gunn ★★★ ½ ☆ ☆ After nearly 20 years in the modern superhero era — led by the insidiously happy Mickey Mouse and his puppeteer Bob Iger – it’s hard to believe that aggressively earnest, morally affirming filmmaking feels refreshing, but somehow writer-director James Gunn’s “Superman” does. The new version of Superman (a tonally consummate David Corenswet) taps into what has made Superman a sustaining cultural symbol and seeks to teach us about the value and simplicity of a nuanced, steadfast moral compass. This ultimately amounts to what feels like a welcome pendulum swing from billionaire playboy Tony Stark or, even worse, Zack Snyder’s overserious, Christ-burdened version of Superman. Like much of Gunn’s work and franchise filmmaking at large, there’s a level of overstuffing in “Superman” that sometimes weighs down its emotional core, but its successes far outpace its stumbles. Gunn wisely follows a recent trend of forgoing the superhero origin sto...

“Anora,” 2023, directed by Sean Baker ★★★★ ½ If Sean Baker’s oeuvre is seen as a large-scale examination of class divides and how they present themselves in sex work, as seen in 2021’s "Red Rocket" and 2015’s "Tangerine", then it would appear that his newest, the snappy, brazen, and emotionally sweeping “Anora”, is his magnum opus. Although it only takes place over the course of two short weeks, its relentless effusivity, humor and bittersweet self-awareness make “Anora” feel like a classical epic. Some may find the emotional whiplash of its peaks and valleys hard to swallow, but its psychological adhesiveness will leave few wondering why it snagged the Palme d’Or at the Cannes film festival earlier this year. Anora, or “Ani” as she prefers to be called (a fiery, spellbinding Mikey Madison), is a Russian-speaking stripper at an upscale Manhattan club. Thanks to her second language, she finds herself in a private room with Ivan “Vanya” Zakharov, the fresh-faced and i...

“I Saw the TV Glow,” 2024, directed by Jane Schoenbrun ★★★★ ★ It’s hard to overstate what an exciting moment in time it is to witness the true beginning of Jane Schoenbrun’s career. Their debut feature, "We’re All Going to the World’s Fair", is fascinating as a unique piece of internet-infused horror filmmaking that begged to be peeled back and examined. "World’s Fair", though, was limited by its minimal budget and its vague subject matter in a way that made it more inscrutably personal despite its emotional evocations. While "I Saw the TV Glow" still captures Schoenbrun’s unique brand of eerie unreality, it expands on "World’s Fair"’s ideas exponentially and presents them in ways filmgoers have never seen on this scale. There are traces of a lot of other filmmakers here—Schoenbrun has been open about their inspiration from David Lynch, which shows, and audiences will likely find themselves drawing a number of comparisons to David Cronenberg’s ...

“The Zone of Interest,” 2023, directed by Jonathan Glazer ★★★★ ★ It’s hard to know what to expect from " The Zone of Interest" when watching it for the first time. It’s a “Holocaust movie” – a loaded phrase that, in itself, implies undue dramatization, exploitation, and sterilization of a genocide. " Schindler's List " , " T he Boy in the Striped Pajamas " , and " Life is Beautiful" have all seen their fair share of criticism, and rightly so; there’s something insidious about using the real-life death of millions as a basis for entertainment. So when audiences first sit down to watch “ The Zone of Interest” , they may be appropriately skeptical. " The Zone of Interest" , however, isn’t designed to entertain. It feels bad to watch. There’s not even a traditional narrative structure – just a series of vignettes, seen from afar, obscuring and implying the most ghastly crimes behind a large, cement wall. The wall divides the infamous A...

  “Rebel Moon -- Part One: A Child of Fire,” 2023, directed by Zack Snyder ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ Zack Snyder, the ultimate auteur of bro-ey slow motion and brooding superheroes, is in a difficult stage in his career. Following the infamous “Zack Snyder’s Justice League”, many associate him with overindulgent runtimes and an unfriendly, cultish fanbase. One would hope that he could use the opportunity that is “Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire” to redeem his public image and craft an original series of  sci-fi films that take him a step forward, away from the DC fanboys and forgettable zombie flicks. Unfortunately, though, “Rebel Moon” far too closely resembles its beginnings as a rejected “Star Wars” script, solidifies Snyder as a pathological mimic, and had a longer, R-rated director's cut planned even before its release (an obvious attempt by Netflix to repeat the unrepeatable fan-generated hype around “Zack Snyder’s Justice League”). It’s almost tragic considering how much poten...

  “Skinamarink,” 2023, directed by Kyle Edward Ball ★★★★ ½ It’s no surprise that “Skinamarink” director Kyle Edward Ball got his start on the internet. On his YouTube channel, Bitesized Nightmares, Ball visualizes viewer-submitted bad dreams in under ten minutes with minimal dialogue, practical effects, and a hazy, retro aesthetic that seamlessly conceals his low budget. Not unlike Jane Shoenbrun’s 2021 film “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair” , Ball understands how to get under the audience’s skin in a way only comparable to the fear experienced exploring the depths of the internet late at night. “Skinamarink” expounds on these methods and ideas greatly in Ball’s feature film debut, elongating the structure he honed making online shorts to 100 minutes. At first this length can feel excessive, with uneventful and purely static moments overstaying their welcome. But as the terror starts to mount, the intentionally patient atmosphere feels worthwhile. Ball sometimes undermines the ...