Family Films Editor · Animation & Family
Lisa covers animation and family filmmaking, with an emphasis on the craft and emotional ambition of studio and independent animation alike.
45 reviews published on Celluloid
★★★★½
Alejandro González Iñárritu's Amores Perros (2000) endures as a defining drama landmark from Mexico, with scores that still shape how audiences discover cinema from the region.
Essential viewing — a certified classic.
★★★★½
Michael Haneke's Amour (2012) endures as a defining drama landmark from France, with scores that still shape how audiences discover cinema from the region.
Essential viewing — a certified classic.
★★★★½
Can Ulkay's Ayla (2017) endures as a defining drama landmark from Turkey, with scores that still shape how audiences discover cinema from the region.
Strongly recommended — a staple of its national cinema.
★★★★½
Abdellatif Kechiche's Blue Is the Warmest Color (2013) endures as a defining romance landmark from France, with scores that still shape how audiences discover cinema from the region.
Strongly recommended — a staple of its national cinema.
★★★★☆
Paulo Morelli's City of Men (2007) endures as a defining drama landmark from Brazil, with scores that still shape how audiences discover cinema from the region.
Strongly recommended — a staple of its national cinema.
★★★★½
Matteo Garrone's Gomorrah (2008) endures as a defining crime landmark from Italy, with scores that still shape how audiences discover cinema from the region.
Essential viewing — a certified classic.
★★★★★
Roberto Benigni's Life Is Beautiful (1997) endures as a defining comedy landmark from Italy, with scores that still shape how audiences discover cinema from the region.
Strongly recommended — a staple of its national cinema.
★★★½☆
Genevieve Nnaji's Lionheart (2018) endures as a defining drama landmark from Nigeria, with scores that still shape how audiences discover cinema from the region.
Strongly recommended — a staple of its national cinema.
★★★★½
Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927) endures as a defining sci-fi landmark from Germany, with scores that still shape how audiences discover cinema from the region.
Essential viewing — a certified classic.
★★★★½
Paul King's Paddington 2 (2017) endures as a defining family landmark from United Kingdom, with scores that still shape how audiences discover cinema from the region.
Essential viewing — a certified classic.
★★★★★
Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (1994) endures as a defining crime landmark from United States, with scores that still shape how audiences discover cinema from the region.
Essential viewing — a certified classic.
★★★★½
Michel Hazanavicius's The Artist (2011) endures as a defining romance landmark from France, with scores that still shape how audiences discover cinema from the region.
Essential viewing — a certified classic.
★★★★★
Frank Darabont's The Shawshank Redemption (1994) endures as a defining drama landmark from United States, with scores that still shape how audiences discover cinema from the region.
Essential viewing — a certified classic.
★★★★½
Andrew Stanton sends Woody and Buzz up against a screen-obsessed kid and a frog-shaped tablet, and Pixar finds fresh heart in the oldest fear in the franchise.
Celluloid Pick family viewing — the year's biggest animated event.
★★★★½
Sebastian Schipper's Victoria (2015) endures as a defining crime landmark from Germany, with scores that still shape how audiences discover cinema from the region.
Strongly recommended — a staple of its national cinema.
★★★★½
Maïlys Vallade adapts Amélie Nothomb's novel into animated childhood wonder — Loïse Charpentier's Amélie carries weighty ideas about identity with open eyes.
Tender, vivid, and surprisingly deep.
★★★½☆
Andrew Legge's found-footage WWII sci-fi asks what two sisters would do with a radio that hears tomorrow — and the answer turns alarming.
Inventive, chilly, and divisive in the best way.
★★★★☆
The Minions crash a monster-movie lot in the year's most affectionate animated comedy — funny, fast, and surprisingly sincere about classic Hollywood craft.
The best Minions movie since the original — ideal family viewing with genuine cinephile Easter eggs.
★★★★☆
Pablo Berger's silent animated gem about a dog and his robot companion says more about friendship and loss than most films manage with dialogue.
A modern animated classic — bring tissues.
★★★★½
Christopher Sanders' adaptation of Peter Brown's novel pairs lush animation with Lupita Nyong'o's voice work in a survival story that earns every tear.
Essential family viewing — a modern animated masterpiece.
★★☆☆☆
A magical age-swap premise set among the ruins of Ephesus can't quite justify its own running time.
Cute idea, thin execution.
★★☆☆☆
A time-travel gimmick can't disguise that this family spy franchise has nothing new left to do.
Kids might enjoy it; everyone else can skip it.