Film Reviews – The Leavitt Lens

Da Five Bloods

Release Date: June 12th, 2020 Director: Spike Lee | MPAA Rating: R | LeavittLens Rating: 7.5/10 Spike Lee has managed to make a career out of films that largely speak above and beyond their frames, working on a variety of cultural levels. Yet he has managed this sort of vision using (and often adding to)Continue reading “Da Five Bloods”

Get Out

Release Date: February 24th, 2017 Director: Jordan Peele | MPAA Rating: R | LeavittLens Rating: 9.5/10 Throughout Hollywood history, it has often taken filmmakers multiple years–sometimes decades–to effectively hone the ability to immerse an audience into a character’s mind. The vicarious eye of film, as Jon Boorstin would term it, is one that can takeContinue reading “Get Out”

Parasite

Release Date: October 5th, 2019 Director: Bong Joon-Ho | MPAA Rating: R | LeavittLens Rating: 9.5/10 There are few films whose title is able to reference not only important themes within the context of the story, but also turn into a reflexive commentary on the audience experience itself. Not only does Bong Joon-Ho’s Best PictureContinue reading “Parasite”

Ad Astra

Release Date: September 20th, 2019 Director: James Gray | MPAA Rating: PG-13 | LeavittLens Rating: 8/10 In watching a film adorned with the Latin maxim “to the stars,” one mightexpect to drift into transcendent spectacle, to encounter an endeavor akin to theimmensity of space itself. Yet in James Gray’s Ad Astra, there remains a contrarianContinue reading “Ad Astra”

Knives Out

Release Date: November 27th, 2019 Director: Rian Johnson | MPAA Rating: PG-13 | LeavittLens Rating: 8.5/10 It seems clear in the opening minutes of Knives Out that the audience will receive exactly the mystery they expect. A seemingly premature death of anoteworthy millionaire. An eccentric cast of characters , many with their ownmotives for murderContinue reading “Knives Out”

The Last Black Man In San Fransisco

Release Date: June 7th, 2019 Director: Joe Talbot | MPAA Rating: R | LeavittLens Rating: 7.5/10 “Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood” -T.S. Eliot Eliot penned these words in 1929, referencing how contextual knowledge of an artist or poet can sometimes limit the richness of his experience in reading. The more you knowContinue reading “The Last Black Man In San Fransisco”