This week sees the release of two epic studio boondoggles of recent months, one of which will disappear while the other is studied for generations to come, and, on the very other end of the spectrum, Criterion’s rerelease of Jean-Pierre Melville’s masterpiece Army of Shadows. But you know I have to talk about Little Women. Lady Bird announced Greta Gerwig as a fully-fledged voice, but Little Women reveals her as a genius in the making. It’s not just the unorthodox way she approaches her source material but how she makes what could just be a film-school exercise (if you present cozy nostalgia as a parenthetical to present-day misery, is it still cozy?) into something accessible and emotionally effective (the best review I can give it is that my mom came into it blind and just thought that Little Women was always structured that way). It helps that in just two years she’s grown immensely as a stylist, working with Olivier Assayas’ go-to DP Yorick Le Saux to create images that are painterly but not content to remain as staid as a canvas. And it helps even beyond that that she remains a pro working with actors young and old, the stars of tomorrow and the best character actors of today joined in excellence. I’d say I hope she makes more movies like this, but really I hope this is just the first of many mutations to the Gerwig style that keep me on my toes for each movie.

All the Pretty Horses (Mill Creek)
Army of Shadows (Criterion)
Beau Geste (Kino)
Beyond the Door (Arrow)
Breach (Universal)
Cats (Universal)
Dolittle (Universal)
Little Women (Sony)
Terror Train (Scorpion)
Wimbledon (Universal)