Hammer to Nail

(We here at Hammer to Nail are all about true independent cinema. But we also have to tip our hat to the great films of yesteryear that continue to inspire filmmakers and cinephiles alike. This week, “The Curbside Criterion” continues...

New Directors/New Films is coming back for its 54th edition. Since 1972, it has showcased work from the likes of Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Kelly Reichardt, Pedro Almodóvar, Souleymane Cissé, Jia Zhangke, Spike Lee, Lynne Ramsay, Michael Haneke, Wong Kar-wai,...

Argentinian director Laura Casabé (The Returned) premiered her latest feature, The Virgin of the Quarry Lake, at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival (where I reviewed it). Based on two short stories—“Our Lady of the Quarry” and “The Cart”—by author Mariana...

(Photo credit Mike Coppola/Getty Images) After truly independent filmmaker Sean Baker won the freeking Palme d’Or at Cannes this year, he was fast-tracked to Oscar nominations galore! Amazing! Tonight, Baker won Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay, Editing and Directing...

Michael Angarano is back in the director’s seat for his sophomore feature. Sacramento is a coming-of-age road trip comedy that stars Angarano and Michael Cera as old friends Rickey and Glenn who take an impromptu road trip to the titular...

“You know, you’re Irish, so when I’m saying Dédalus you’re probably thinking Joyce.” It’s early December in Avelino and Arnaud Desplechin isn’t really talking Ulysses. The French director’s latest, Spectateurs!, reintroduces the his own Dédalus: an intrepid cinephile who already...

The 2025 Academy Awards take place on Sunday, March 2, and as always, 15 short films compete across 3 categories—animation, documentary, and live action—for the golden statuette in their respective areas. Every year, I watch all of them and then...

(Check out Don Lewis’s movie review of Louder Than You Think: A Lo-Fi History of Gary and Pavement Jed I. Rosenberg’s doc on the early days of the band Pavement. It’s available now to own or stream via Factory 25. Seen it?...

Miguel Gomes, the Portuguese filmmaker behind Tabu, Arabian Nights, and The Tsugua Diaries, is back with a black-and-white-shot odyssey that toggles eras, cultures, and styles. Grand Tour, billed by MUBI as a “melodrama and screwball comedy with a cat-and-mouse chase...

In 2021, zero states banned transgender health care for adolescents. Now in 2024, 24 states ban lifesaving transgender healthcare for adolescents. What happened? Prominent medical experts and organizations, including the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the American...