A.A. Dowd, or Alex to his friends, is a writer and editor based in Chicago. He has held staff positions at The A.V. Club and Time Out Chicago, and is a member of the National Society of Film Critics.
Film critic A.A. Dowd makes the case that Sean Baker's tragicomedy Anora is the best film of 2024, before sharing his other picks for the year's finest.
As good as Netflix's Ripley series turned out, the best adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's bestseller is still the 1999 version of The Talented Mr. Ripley.
Here, Robert Zemeckis' latest movie with Tom Hanks, finds the director still stranded in the digital abyss that ruined The Polar Express, Beowulf, and others.
Whether it's his last movie or not, Juror #2 is a perverse spin on 12 Angry Men that ranks among the strongest of director Clint Eastwood's late-career efforts.
The comic-book movies of 2024 have thrown a spotlight on villains and antiheroes with mixed results. Does it signal a looming bust for the once-popular genre?
Tragically canceled after just one season, My So-Called Life nonetheless became a hallmark of TV drama that launched the careers of Claire Danes and Jared Leto.