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John Esther

Agrees with the Tomatometer 67% of the time.

Publications:: Pasadena Weekly , UR Chicago Magazine

Total Reviews:: 350
Total QuickRatings:: 247

Location:: Los Angeles, California

Listing Of All Reviews & Articles

Showing 1 - 50 of 350

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Rating	T-Meter	Title \| Year	Add Date
	63%	The Prey (2013)	" As cynical as you want it to be, 'The Prey' is an often violent, strong character-driven, somewhat thrilling story where nobody is to be trusted nor aided without suffering the consequences." — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Jun 6, 2013
	78%	Dirty Wars (2013)	" Dirty Wars is the kind of documentary that demands serious attention, with an even more serious response from Americans. " — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Jun 6, 2013
	61%	Jack Reacher (2012)	" The film is a bit confused on where it stands on issues of brutality and revenge, but not where it stands on government efficiency. " — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Dec 20, 2012
	82%	De rouille et d'os (Rust and Bone) (2012)	" Although it is one of the better films of the year, Rust and Bone has its faults." — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Dec 8, 2012
	——	Inspired: The Voices Against Prop 8 (2012)	" A small piece of California history pro-civil rights viewers will enjoy. " — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Dec 8, 2012
	67%	California Solo (2012)	" It is not that the film is bad or boring so much as it is forgettable. " — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Dec 8, 2012
	46%	Step Up 3-D (2010)	" Plotting along at an infantile level, the story here is nothing new and hardly means anything." — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Jun 29, 2012
	69%	Ted (2012)	" MacFarlane knows American pop culture and, when at his best, he uses it in a critical way that is hilarious. " — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Jun 29, 2012
	82%	Incendiary: The Willingham Case (2011)	" As sober as a lab report, the excellent documentary metes out its findings with calm precision." — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Jun 27, 2012
	——	Michel Petrucciani ()	" Ommissions can be overlooked to some degree as Radford unearths some fantastic footage of a man born just right to play the piano. " — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Jun 27, 2012
	67%	Jackpot (Arme Riddere) ()	" Violent, predictable and splattered with morose humor, if you are willing to suspend disbelief back to the days before DNA testing, this Norwegian holiday tale makes for moderate, middlebrow entertainment." — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Jun 27, 2012
	33%	Deadfall (2012)	" Deadfall has its moments of deep, fleeting poignancy during moments of violence, but those moments get buried in yet another bloody tale of American violence and redemption." — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Jun 27, 2012
	100%	G-Dog (2013)	" What Homeboy Industries means to these men and women -- usually young, often felons -- is the focal point of Freida Lee Mock's inspiring documentary. " — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Jun 27, 2012
	36%	LUV (2013)	" While co-writer/director Sheldon Candis and co-writer Justin Wilson's screenplay could have benefitted from a few more drafts (or at least a little more sobriety), the acting in Luv makes the skinny script more palatable. " — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Jun 27, 2012
	——	Bunohan (Return To Murder) (2013)	" The film is too ambitious for its own skills." — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Jun 27, 2012
	86%	Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)	" From the opening scenes prior to the sparkling credits to the final de(construct)evolution scene, the crew and cast have made a film that will be talked about this summer, in future film/ethnography classes and at the upcoming awards season. " — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Jun 27, 2012
	59%	Yves Saint Laurent - L'amour fou (2011)	" Pierre Thoretton plays it smart and cool. " — UR Chicago Magazine Posted May 13, 2011
	63%	True Legend (2011)	" From the opening credits to its predictable conclusion it becomes clear that 'True Legend' lays its intelligence at the level of a superhero comic strip (or saloon delirium)." — UR Chicago Magazine Posted May 13, 2011
	——	The Life of Fish (La vida de los peces) (2010)	" A fine film in general, Chilé's recent Oscar submission for Best Foreign Language Film will particularly poke (pain?) those who have traveled the more unfamiliar roads..." — UR Chicago Magazine Posted May 13, 2011
	——	Bodyguards and Assassins (Shi yue wei cheng) (2011)	" For Occidental eyes, 'Bodyguards and Assassins' is more of a playful recreation of history than anything else. " — UR Chicago Magazine Posted May 13, 2011
	29%	Sympathy for Delicious (2011)	" The script would have better served the character of Delicious if his powers were "scientifically" explained." — UR Chicago Magazine Posted May 13, 2011
	66%	The Women on the 6th Floor (2011)	" Doing that type of farce the French often do oh so well, 'Service Entrance' maintains a steady beat of humor throughout the film, spicing it up with a little class consciousness and a dose of romancE." — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Apr 20, 2011
	——	The Bengali Detective ()	" Considering the plights and perils of Ji, it may seem somewhat surprising how unsympathetic he remains" — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Apr 20, 2011
	92%	My Perestroika (2011)	" Engulfed in a bittersweet symphony of getting what one wants and losing what one once had, the documentary's personal conversations manifest themselves into something greater than a few Russians weighing in on current affairs" — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Apr 20, 2011
	——	Into Our Own Hands ()	" An engaging documentary full of people with varying viewpoints set against a backdrop of bras, panties and cardboard boxes" — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Apr 20, 2011
	43%	That Girl in Yellow Boots (2011)	" Anurag Kashyap's 'That Girl in Yellow Boots' boosts strong performances of characters playing out a gritty script" — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Apr 20, 2011
	26%	Your Highness (2011)	" The harder you are for fantasy, the limper you are for 'Your Highness.'" — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Apr 7, 2011
	26%	Hop (2011)	" Using animation and live action quite impressively, 'Hop' takes one reactionary myth and uses it to reinforce that myth as well as others" — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Apr 2, 2011
	94%	Win Win (2011)	" Extremely well-crafted, what makes 'Win Win' a champ of sorts is how it maintains the right tempo throughout the film. Gliding from one scene to the next, there is not a superfluous moment in the entire film. " — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Mar 17, 2011
	88%	Rango (2011)	" There is never a doubt Rango will succeed by film's end, but the movie does have its charms. " — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Mar 14, 2011
	87%	Neshoba (2010)	" 'Neshoba' is a timeless reminder there are still many in this country believing some American citizens deserve second-class status and therefore we must look to the cameras and courts for justice." — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Jan 7, 2011
	83%	Peepli Live (2010)	" A better writer than director, the strength of Rizvi's 'Peepli Live' is the film's unsentimental portrayal of the poor" — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Jan 4, 2011
	72%	Soul Kitchen (2010)	" Baked with a lot of lousy music, weak acting, clichéd characters and tropes, 'Soul Kitchen' fails to display any of Akin's talents found in 'Head-On' or 'The Edge of Heaven'" — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Jan 4, 2011
	71%	Never Let Me Go (2010)	" Rather than create a haunting nightmarish history from which we may be unable to awake from today, the use of [the] anachronistic trope in 'Never Let Me Go' only de-empathizes the audience from the film's bigger and brighter ideas." — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Jan 3, 2011
	93%	Another Year (2010)	" It might be Leigh's worst film. That is not the worst thing you can ever say about a film by a filmmaker as efficient and prolific as Leigh, but it is disappointing. " — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Dec 29, 2010
	88%	Blue Valentine (2010)	" Blue Valentine offers a refreshing and raw look at holy matrimony coming undone a la 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf', 'Revolutionary Road' and 'Rabbit Hole.' Except Dean and Cindy are relatively poorer than those other clashing couples" — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Dec 28, 2010
	62%	Howl (2010)	" The greatness in this film lies in the fact that the filmmakers managed to capture both Ginsberg and 'Howl' at its vital essence" — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Dec 28, 2010
3/5	89%	Waiting for Superman (2010)	" 'Waiting for Superman' is an important yet definitely flawed discourse on the current courses America's public educational system is taking, making, faking and breaking. " — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Dec 28, 2010
	72%	Enter the Void (Soudain le vide) (2010)	" ...if you think last year's 'Avatar' broke boundaries, for every breakthrough James Cameron's film offers technologically, Noé's film does artistically." — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Dec 28, 2010
	79%	Nowhere Boy (2010)	" Tallied up, while there are a few flashes of decent writing and some solid acting from the supporting cast, 'Nowhere Boy' lacks any cohesive tempo..." — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Dec 28, 2010
	43%	Air Doll (Kûki ningyô) (2009)	" Far smarter than 'Lars and the Real Girl'" — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Dec 28, 2010
	39%	Inhale (2010)	" An action packed film increasingly offering more and larger dilemmas, director Baltasar Kormakur's film sets itself off for one big payoff..." — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Dec 28, 2010
	50%	Change of Plans (Le Code a Changé) (2010)	" Supported by mild jokes and concluding with a trough of trivial narrative closures, 'Change of Plans' not only fails to offer anything original (Oh, Voltaire), the direction is noticeable for its incompetence" — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Dec 28, 2010
	81%	Four Lions (2010)	" If you can appreciate farce through annihilation and death a la Stanley Kubrick's 'Dr. Strangelove or: How I Stopped Worrying and Love the Bomb' or Kurt Vonnegut's 'Slaughterhouse 5,' then 'Four Lions' is probably a very good movie for you" — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Dec 28, 2010
3	91%	Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer (2010)	" Directed by Alex Gibney, 'Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer' goes into the heart of Manhattan and New York State politics..." — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Dec 28, 2010
3	52%	The Next Three Days (2010)	" Paul Haggis ('In the Valley of Elah') manages to make this American adaptation of Fred Cavaye's 'Pour Elle' an engaging film" — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Dec 28, 2010
	94%	Yabu no naka no kuroneko (Black Cat from the Grove) (1968)	" Because of the film's look and feel it has developed a sort of cult status and will be greeted voraciously by those who like their films politically reactionary" — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Dec 28, 2010
	38%	Casino Jack (2010)	" Conceptually reminiscent of what Robert Altman did to skewer Hollywood in "The Player," Hickenlooper adopts an anti-cleverly narrative by using a "cheesy" narrative to attack a cheese WIS/whiz-zzz-ed (on) America. " — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Dec 26, 2010
	90%	The Fighter (2010)	" If you are familiar with boxing history you know how the story ends. If you do not, take a seat and find out for yourself. Either way "The Fighter" pays off. " — UR Chicago Magazine Posted Dec 26, 2010

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