indieWire

Tomatometer-approved publication
Rating Title/Year Author
D The Stand-In (2020) Kate Erbland One of the biggest disappointments of 2020, ... given the windfall of prime material and talent that went into the creation of such a messy, mirthless, and just plain mean final product, there's no other way to put it. EDIT
Posted Dec 8, 2020
B- The Go-Go's (2020) Kristen Lopez "The Go-Go's" is an entertaining and well-put together package on a musical group who should command the respect of their male peers. EDIT
Posted Dec 3, 2020
B- Let Them All Talk (2020) David Ehrlich Soderbergh's latest experiment might be the only thing in history that makes being on a cruise ship look like fun (an especially impressive feat in the middle of a pandemic that's made these floating super-spreader events seem even deadlier than usual). EDIT
Posted Dec 3, 2020
C- Godmothered (2020) Kate Erbland [Y]ou can almost believe in the power of wishes coming true, before "Godmothered" yanks that all way, revealing the hollowness at the center of, well, believing. EDIT
Posted Dec 2, 2020
B- Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions (2020) Ryan Lattanzio This is a sweet and soothing kickback for what is, for many out there, an otherwise lonely and isolating holiday season. EDIT
Posted Dec 1, 2020
B The Prom (2020) Jude Dry With a star-studded cast, dazzling design, and thrilling dance numbers, "The Prom" is the best of what Murphy can offer Hollywood - a taste of the past with its eyes on the future. EDIT
Posted Dec 1, 2020
D Jiu Jitsu (2020) Tambay Obenson While Cage finally appears about 40 minutes into the film as an eccentric expert swordsman who makes paper hats in his spare time, the levity of his very presence provides some measure of a relief. EDIT
Posted Nov 25, 2020
D- Superintelligence (2020) David Ehrlich The only way to outsmart the system is to watch something else instead. EDIT
Posted Nov 25, 2020
C+ The Croods: A New Age (2020) Kate Erbland On its own merits it's a charming throwback - not necessarily a "new age," but the remnants of a classic one. EDIT
Posted Nov 23, 2020
B- Black Beauty (2020) Kate Erbland As the wild horse and the heart-broken girl slowly bond, "Black Beauty" transforms into a heart-warming tale of the power of love. EDIT
Posted Nov 23, 2020
B 69: The Saga of Danny Hernandez (2020) Eric Kohn "'69: The Saga of Danny Hernandez" manages to lay out the fragments of the Tekashi story well enough to cast a valuable spotlight on the nature of his fame. EDIT
Posted Nov 20, 2020
B Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020) Eric Kohn A stagey chamber piece with occasional flashes of musical intensity and thematic depth to spare. EDIT
Posted Nov 20, 2020
C+ Girl (2020) Kate Erbland Thorne, however, remains compelling throughout, and even when "Girl" struggles to zero in on what it's trying to say, its star stays grounded in the deeper meanings. EDIT
Posted Nov 20, 2020
B- A Cops and Robbers Story (2020) David Ehrlich Always engaging in broad strokes thanks to the remarkable biography of its subject, "A Cops and Robbers Story" is at its best in the brief moments when it drills down on the particulars of Pegues' experience on either side of the law. EDIT
Posted Nov 20, 2020
C Shawn Mendes: In Wonder (2020) Ryan Lattanzio It's a pity that the documentary vehicle that surrounds him isn't more forthcoming about the man beneath the wife beaters and airtight skinny jeans who sends so many swooning, but surely must, at times, feel lonely late at night like the rest of us. EDIT
Posted Nov 20, 2020
B+ The Twentieth Century (2019) David Ehrlich These performances and several others resonate against Dany Boivin's sets like echoes, and that cohesiveness allows "The Twentieth Century" to achieve a degree of centrifugal force that holds your attention even after your eyes glaze over. EDIT
Posted Nov 20, 2020
A Collective (2019) Eric Kohn No matter the devastation they have to face, "Collective" demonstrates the potential for moral courage to endure, under even the most dire efforts to snuff it out. No matter who runs the show, the work goes on. EDIT
Posted Nov 20, 2020
C- Happiest Season (2020) Jude Dry All of these orbiting characters can't dress up the wooden chemistry between Stewart and Davis, which stands in stark contrast to the actual chemistry between Stewart and Aubrey Plaza. EDIT
Posted Nov 20, 2020
B Transhood (2020) Jude Dry For all of its positives, "Transhood" spends a lot of time on the minutiae of medical transition, a narrative many trans people would like to move on from - yesterday. EDIT
Posted Nov 17, 2020
A- LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special (2020) Christian Blauvelt Will people remember this, for better or worse, with the vividness they did the 1978 original? Will it become legendary? Maybe not. But sometimes it's more fun not to be a legend. EDIT
Posted Nov 17, 2020
B+ The Meaning of Hitler (2020) Eric Kohn The movie isn't just another cautionary tale; it's a jagged intellectual wakeup call that cuts deep, and America can't hear it enough. EDIT
Posted Nov 16, 2020
C The Mystery of D.B. Cooper (2020) David Ehrlich Somewhere, deep under the surface of Dower's film, is an illuminating meditation on the relationship between the banality of modern living and the fantasies that people sell to the masses to help them cope with it. EDIT
Posted Nov 16, 2020
B+ Monsoon (2019) Ryan Lattanzio "Monsoon" is a quiet, solitary affair designed to communicate how isolating it can be to travel alone in a big city, especially one you have a fragmentary relationship to. EDIT
Posted Nov 13, 2020
D Chick Fight (2020) Kate Erbland Despite Akerman's consistent charm... "Chick Fight" never punches up, constantly churning out repetitive, cheap, and lazy narrative choices meant to propel it to an ostensibly happy ending. EDIT
Posted Nov 13, 2020
B Jungleland (2019) David Ehrlich As raw and engaging as the disconnect between Stanley and Lion becomes as they tumble toward California, the real tension of "Jungleland" lives in the ever-constricting space between its three main characters and the respective clichés. EDIT
Posted Nov 10, 2020
B Proxima (2019) Kate Erbland The result is an immersive, often ponderous exploration of what it means to become, as Sarah puts it, "a space person." EDIT
Posted Nov 10, 2020
B Citation (2020) Tambay Obenson "Citation" works best when it hovers in the infuriating skepticism hurled at its young protagonist as she makes her case, and it's unclear whether the system will work in her favor until the final, unnerving act. EDIT
Posted Nov 10, 2020
D Fatman (2020) David Ehrlich This bland stab at seasonal entertainment is too enamored by its own edgy revisionism to deliver on that promise, and after the 2020 that we've been having, everyone deserves something better in their stocking this year. EDIT
Posted Nov 10, 2020
C- Hillbilly Elegy (2020) David Ehrlich For all of the favors that Howard does to the subject of his biopic, the director can only do so much to disguise the self-serving nature of a story that was always less about where Vance came from than it was about where he wanted to go. EDIT
Posted Nov 10, 2020
B+ Mank (2020) Eric Kohn Despite the artifice in every frame, "Mank" is grounded in the realism of its protagonist's perspective, and Oldman bursts through every scene with such domineering energy he often looks as though he might burst onto the lens. EDIT
Posted Nov 6, 2020
B Ham on Rye (2019) Ryan Lattanzio "Ham on Rye" exists behind glass, but it isn't cutely coy. There's something angry about it and hard to parse. EDIT
Posted Nov 5, 2020
B Finding Yingying (2020) David Ehrlich Shi's tender documentary suggests their daughter is a lot closer than she once seemed. EDIT
Posted Nov 5, 2020
B- Freaky (2020) Kate Erbland "Freaky" doesn't skimp on the meat and potatoes of any good body-swap movie: having a ton of fun watching two different people awkwardly slip into their new corporeal figures (and lives). EDIT
Posted Nov 4, 2020
B Kindred (2020) Kate Erbland The imagery and impact of "Kindred" is impressive, and while it may not stick the landing, the path there is well worth flying. EDIT
Posted Nov 4, 2020
B More Than Honey (2012) Eric Kohn The movie compensates for its murkier sections with a poignant outlook. EDIT
Posted Nov 3, 2020
A- Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay (2012) Drew Taylor We want to know as much as we can about this guy, but like any good magician, he keeps things shadowy and hard to pin down. EDIT
Posted Nov 3, 2020
B- How to Make Money Selling Drugs (2012) Erik McClanahan The film is often compelling, clever and entertaining, but oddly enough, these strongest moments are revealed in an awkward third act tonal and structural shift to be nothing more than filler. EDIT
Posted Nov 3, 2020
C+ Stardust (2020) Kate Erbland ... a biopic that's too buttoned-up - and never as out-there as its inspiration. EDIT
Posted Nov 2, 2020
C Let Him Go (2020) David Ehrlich "Let Him Go" aspires to feel like a born-again Western - and thoroughly understands what that entails on an intellectual level - but Bezucha isn't always able to wrap his mind around how they work. EDIT
Posted Nov 2, 2020
B Madre (2019) Ryan Lattanzio "Madre" turns out to be the least twisted, and most empathetic, entry in the damaged mother movie canon in some time. EDIT
Posted Oct 30, 2020
B The True Adventures of Wolfboy (2019) Eric Kohn Krejcí and Dufault avoid didacticism thanks to the sheer gusto they bring to a wide range of settings, from the cramped interiors of an RV to a lighthouse party lit by fireworks late at night. EDIT
Posted Oct 30, 2020
B- Fire Will Come (2019) David Ehrlich The result is a short and elliptical tale that unfolds at the speed of life and resolves with the hopeful uncertainty of forgiveness itself. EDIT
Posted Oct 30, 2020
B- The Life Ahead (2020) Eric Kohn "The Life Ahead" is compelling enough to make the by-the-numbers narrative worth telling, if only because with such fine-tuned performances at its center, it deserves to be told. EDIT
Posted Oct 30, 2020
C- Come Play (2020) David Ehrlich "Come Play" is merely serviceable, and leaves you with the feeling that a much better game was lost in the shuffle. EDIT
Posted Oct 30, 2020
B+ His House (2020) David Ehrlich "His House" is an urgent and spine-tingling ghost story about what it means to begin anew in a home that may not want you to live in it. EDIT
Posted Oct 30, 2020
C+ Holidate (2020) Kate Erbland Predictability doesn't have to be a sin when it comes to the often paint-by-the-numbers world of romantic comedy, but this awkward combination of expectation and disdain for it make for a film only fleetingly worthy of celebration. EDIT
Posted Oct 28, 2020
B The Craft: Legacy (2020) Kate Erbland [A]n entertaining and insightful mashup of tropes, both respectful of what came before and willing to try new tricks. EDIT
Posted Oct 27, 2020
A- BloodSisters (1995) Jude Dry In a world that would rather erase all alternative lifestyles, "Bloodsisters" is a vital archive of queer history. EDIT
Posted Oct 23, 2020
C Synchronic (2019) David Ehrlich "Synchronic" is easy to applaud for being what Steve might describe as "brain damage orangutan fucking crazy," but Benson and Moorhead's ode to the present doesn't leave you with a newfound appreciation for the moment at hand. EDIT
Posted Oct 23, 2020
B+ Coming Home Again (2019) Ryan Lattanzio Chung's understated performance is a fitting center for a movie almost always operating at whisper-level. EDIT
Posted Oct 23, 2020