Ella Taylor
Ella Taylor is a freelance film critic, book reviewer and feature writer living in Los Angeles.
Born in Israel and raised in London, Taylor taught media studies at the University of Washington in Seattle; her book Prime Time Families: Television Culture in Post-War America was published by the University of California Press.
Taylor has written for Village Voice Media, the LA Weekly, The New York Times, Elle magazine and other publications, and was a regular contributor to KPCC-Los Angeles' weekly film-review show FilmWeek.
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At Middleton is far from the first film to make use of either the brief-encounter or the college-transition dramatic tropes — but sisters Vera and Taissa Farmiga in fine form, the film breathes some new life into the genre. -
Sebastian Lelio's latest film, Gloria, is a celebration of its title character, an older single woman looking for life and love in a modernized Chile more focused on individual rights than on familial obligations. (Recommended) -
The unsparing German drama Generation War follows a group of childhood friends as they fight in battle, care for the sick, strive for fame, and try to survive during World War II. (Recommended) -
In The Truth About Emanuel,her second film about teen angst, director Francesca Gregorini (Tanner Hall) trains her eye on Emanuel (Kaya Scodelario), a tightly wound adolescent whose mother died giving birth to her. -
The fact-based film about four Navy SEALS in Afghanistan is resolutely anti-heroic until the very end, when triumphalism creeps in. -
Or three: Dickens' wife, mistress and mother-in-law orbit the Victorian literary titan in a film that critic Ella Taylor says is wonderfully perceptive about the price of loving a man who never quite grew up. -
Written and directed by Neil LaBute (In the Company of Men), Some Velvet Morning focuses on the less-than-happy reunion of a married man and his former mistress. Stanley Tucci and Alice Eve star. -
Portraying author P.L. Travers and Walt Disney, Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks re-create the backstage drama that got Mary Poppins from the page to the screen in Saving Mr. Banks. Colin Farrell, Paul Giamatti and Jason Schwartzman also star. -
The Israeli drama S#x Acts digs deep into issues of sex and consent when a teenage girl, looking for the approval and acceptance of her peers, entertains the attentions of various boys. (Recommended) -
The documentary follows the life, career and recent re-emergence of musician and riot grrrl, Kathleen Hanna, from her beginnings with Bikini Kill to her latest venture, The Julie Ruin.
