Mark Pfeiffer Movie Reviews & Previews

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Mark Pfeiffer

Agrees with the Tomatometer 79% of the time.

Publications:: DVDMon.com , NightsAndWeekends.com , Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema , TheFilmJournal.com (Ohio)
Critics' Group:: Online Film Critics Society

Total Reviews:: 464

Location:: Columbus, OH

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Showing 1 - 50 of 464

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Rating	T-Meter	Title \| Year	Add Date
C-	74%	Revenge of the Nerds (1984)	" The nerds perpetuate a nasty streak of behavior toward women that violates the film's general live-and-let-live attitude, and it stains what is otherwise intended as raunchy but lighthearted fun." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Jun 3, 2012
B-	76%	Rampart (2012)	" Ultimately Rampart is Harrelson's showcase, and he takes full advantage of fleshing out a complex role." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Jun 3, 2012
B	78%	The Innkeepers (2012)	" Although not up to the high standard of writer-director Ti West's previous film The House of the Devil, The Innkeepers is another often chilling exercise in building mood and atmosphere." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Jun 2, 2012
A-	86%	The House of the Devil (2009)	" Laden with dread and executed with a musician's sense of timing, The House of the Devil is better than a substantial number of the films it resembles." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Jun 2, 2012
C+	58%	The Dictator (2012)	" The danger for Baron Cohen is having made his name as a confrontational comedian but delivering something that, while occasionally provocative, feels too conventional." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Jun 2, 2012
C-	40%	Dark Shadows (2012)	" Dark Shadows gets stuck in neutral because of the uncertainty as to what kind of a film it wants to be." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Jun 2, 2012
B+	90%	Bernie (2012)	" With facts that are stranger than fiction and a story surrounding a murder that is often played as dark comedy, Bernie exists somewhere between an Errol Morris documentary and Fargo." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Jun 2, 2012
C+	68%	Men in Black III (2012)	" As far as unnecessary sequels are concerned, Men in Black 3 is a serviceable addition to the series." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Jun 2, 2012
C+	62%	The Five-Year Engagement (2012)	" Like life, The Five-Year Engagement can be messy and irrational. The shame is that the film doesn't need to be those things quite to the degrees that they are." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted May 14, 2012
B	87%	Miss Bala (2012)	" Naranjo numbs sensation to make his points about the drug war's damage to Mexico, turning Miss Bala into a thriller from the dissociative first person perspective." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted May 10, 2012
A	75%	Damsels in Distress (2012)	" To refer to a film's olfactory properties is ordinarily associated with expressing one's displeasure, but to do so in regard to Damsels in Distress is to praise this cinematic aromatherapy's mood-lifting qualities." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted May 8, 2012
A	92%	Take Shelter (2011)	" Take Shelter writer-director Jeff Nichols takes great care in detailing Curtis's journey and surrounding him with concerned loved ones." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Apr 25, 2012
A	99%	A Separation (2011)	" Writer-director Asghar Farhadi performs some kind of miracle with the tension and complexity he produces from such a simple set-up. " — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Apr 25, 2012
B-	88%	Big Fan (2009)	" Astute at observing the behaviors and mindset of the fan who sees no distinction between himself and the team. " — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Apr 25, 2012
B	47%	The Three Stooges (2012)	" The terrifically timed, well-executed silliness is embraced without irony or any greater sense of purpose. It delivers what it promises: scene after scene of low comedy done with relish." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Apr 23, 2012
A-	96%	The Kid with a Bike (2012)	" The Dardennes' style resists cheap sentimentality, yet in The Kid with a Bike it yields a deeply moving examination of love as a shield. " — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Apr 22, 2012
B-	95%	Undefeated (2012)	" With a story that proves to be heartwarming and predictable, Undefeated mostly plays according to the script familiar in its fiction and nonfiction counterparts." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Apr 21, 2012
C-	38%	Career Opportunities (1991)	" Career Opportunities plays like a hodgepodge of Hughes' greatest hits." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Apr 16, 2012
F	0%	Zapped! (1982)	" Zapped! fancies itself to be the bad boy and flirts with that image, but this low-rent production is far too wholesome and blandly unfunny for that affectation to be convincing." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Feb 26, 2012
A	98%	Badlands (1974)	" Malick has come to be known and revered as a cinematic poet and philosopher, as a filmmaker who explores big ideas, but in Badlands in particular he also shows a knack for off-kilter humor." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Aug 9, 2011
B-	91%	Winnie the Pooh (2011)	" These fourth wall breaking techniques never feel like meta intrusions on the material but like a child's interaction with a parent reading the tales." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Aug 9, 2011
D	14%	Zookeeper (2011)	" If a thousand monkeys at a thousand typewriters can produce Shakespeare, then Zookeeper must have been banged out by one primate pecking away at a keyboard between sessions playing on a tire swing." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Aug 9, 2011
B	71%	Friends With Benefits (2011)	" Through its magnetic stars, funny crudity, and observation of people's foibles in relationships, Friends with Benefits consummates the deal that viewers enter with romantic comedies." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Aug 8, 2011
C-	23%	The Smurfs (2011)	" Rather than catering to the kids...the makers try in vain to produce something hip to appeal to all ages, or at least the parents who grew up with the cartoon." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Aug 8, 2011
B-	79%	Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)	" In the era of the tortured superhero in movies, it's refreshing to come across one with enthusiasm and a pure spirit." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Aug 8, 2011
B+	78%	Adventures in Babysitting (1987)	" The light tone, classical style, and Shue as Sandra Dee stand-in are more indicative of a cinematic mindset from approximately 25 years earlier." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Aug 8, 2011
A	97%	WarGames (War Games) (1983)	" As a Cold War message movie and cinematic descendent of Fail-Safe, WarGames examines the inherent danger in favoring technology's cool logic and situational calculations." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Aug 8, 2011
B-	86%	The Neverending Story (1984)	" As a testament to the power of books, the often gloomy The Neverending Story comes off as a Reading Rainbow episode covering existentialism. " — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Jul 24, 2011
A	100%	Aruitemo Aruitemo (Still Walking) (2008)	" Still Walking is so uncommonly and beautifully perceptive about how families interact that it feels as natural as putting one foot in front of the next." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Mar 9, 2011
B-	62%	Session 9 (2001)	" Session 9 is heavy on mood and light on narrative substance, but the pervasive sense of dread that it sustains trumps the slightness of plot." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Mar 9, 2011
B-	100%	Strongman (2011)	" Strongman's unvarnished approach complements its salt of the earth subject." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Mar 9, 2011
C	67%	The Company Men (2011)	" The Company Men could stand to express a little righteous fury." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Mar 9, 2011
D-	19%	Just Go with It (2011)	" Just Go With It is an extraordinarily bad match of star and material. " — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Mar 9, 2011
D	4%	The Roommate (2011)	" The Roommate has the seed of a promising thriller in its premise yet never taps into the anxiety of discovering that the person designated to share your space makes you uncomfortable." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Mar 9, 2011
B+	71%	Somewhere (2010)	" Although the film throbs with dissatisfaction and longing for purpose, Somewhere plays as a dryly funny meditation on being adrift in Hollywood." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Mar 9, 2011
C	88%	Blue Valentine (2010)	" Knowing where the relationship is headed lends bittersweet notes to the scenes from the past, but the conclusions Blue Valentine draws ultimately feel pat." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Mar 9, 2011
A	98%	Marwencol (2010)	" Marwencol provides a deeply empathetic view of loneliness and powerful evidence of art as an outlet. " — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Mar 9, 2011
C+	24%	The Dilemma (2011)	" The Dilemma requires a director willing to indulge the dark comedy to its fullest. One name that style doesn't bring to mind for the job is Ron Howard." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Mar 9, 2011
C-	22%	Country Strong (2011)	" With so many storylines battling for supremacy, Country Strong never conveys who these people are and is often inconsistent in portraying them." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Mar 9, 2011
A	81%	Four Lions (2010)	" Four Lions is merciless in its mission to find humor where few would dare seek it." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Mar 9, 2011
B+	87%	Black Swan (2010)	" Aronofsky is completely serious about the fever dream that is Black Swan, which is how he's able to pull off material that is inherently unserious. " — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Mar 9, 2011
C-	48%	Love and Other Drugs (2010)	" Strange how for a movie about a Viagra salesman, we don't see the growth of the characters." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Mar 9, 2011
C-	42%	Faster (2010)	" If Faster were made 35 years ago or by the French or Japanese, it would be one of those grimy, long forgotten films you expect Quentin Tarantino to be touting." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Mar 9, 2011
C+	51%	The Next Three Days (2010)	" The bulk of The Next Three Days consists of the build-up to the escape plan, which is probably just as well since this is a thriller surprisingly light on thrills." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Mar 9, 2011
B	86%	Unstoppable (2010)	" Unstoppable takes a simple premise and spins it into an entertaining film surging with pure energy." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Mar 9, 2011
C	73%	Megamind (2010)	" Megamind is dramatically and comedically inert." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Mar 9, 2011
B	68%	Conviction (2010)	" Conviction is unashamedly straightforward in showing how a lot of hard work and sheer willpower was able to correct an injustice." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Mar 9, 2011
B-	59%	Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)	" The scares in Paranormal Activity 2 aren't as frequent or always as well built as the original film's, but those that exist are still pretty effective." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Mar 9, 2011
B+	78%	Audition (�dishon) (1999)	" Whether reading Audition as a portrait of coming to terms with grief, a feminist revenge tale, or a graphic exploration of romantic attachment and idealism, it remains a terrifying film." — Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema Posted Mar 9, 2011

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