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Matt Brunson

Agrees with the Tomatometer 81% of the time.

Publications:: Creative Loafing
Critics' Group:: Southeastern Film Critics Association

Total Reviews:: 1891
Total QuickRatings:: 76

Listing Of All Reviews & Articles

Showing 1 - 50 of 1891

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Rating	T-Meter	Title \| Year	Add Date
3/4	100%	La Cage Aux Folles (1979)	" Charming and frothy, the movie proves to be about as tame as any old-fashioned bedroom farce, which of course went a long way toward allowing it to be embraced by Americans who generally steered clear of foreign films, gay films, and gay foreign films." — Creative Loafing Posted Oct 5, 2013
3/4	95%	The Fly (1958)	" The climax ("Help me!") has given many viewers chills while providing others with chuckles -- I'm in the former camp; the primal terror of that situation never fails to move me -- but the rest is efficient in its solemnity." — Creative Loafing Posted Oct 5, 2013
4/4	99%	The Wizard of Oz (1939)	" This family classic long ago left the realm of being mere entertainment to emerge as a cultural touchstone for generations of Americans." — Creative Loafing Posted Oct 5, 2013
3/4	89%	Voyage of the Damned (1976)	" If anyone emerges as first among equals, it would be Max von Sydow, who lends enormous dignity to the role of the ship's captain." — Creative Loafing Posted Oct 5, 2013
2/4	——	Shout at the Devil (1976)	" Despite its interesting premise, the movie -- a graceless and lurching mix of brutal drama (dead babies!), lowbrow humor (Marvin drunk again!) and general daftness (Moore in blackface!) -- runs out of steam long before its bruising 150 minutes are up." — Creative Loafing Posted Oct 5, 2013
4/4	91%	The Little Mermaid 3D (1989)	" Everything is just right in this cheerful adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen tale ... In addition to reviving the animated art form, The Little Mermaid also brought melody back to the movies." — Creative Loafing Posted Oct 5, 2013
3.5/4	92%	A Letter to Three Wives (1949)	" Writer-director Joseph L. Mankiewicz's riveting melodrama is set up like a whodunit, only instead of a murderer, the guilty party is a philandering husband." — Creative Loafing Posted Oct 5, 2013
2.5/4	89%	Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)	" This benefits from Anton Grot's excellent set design but suffers from the decision to make the central character an annoying reporter (Glenda Farrell) who's as much of a hindrance as she is a help to the police." — Creative Loafing Posted Oct 5, 2013
3.5/4	89%	From Here to Eternity (1953)	" Fred Zinnemann's strength as a director was less on the technical side and more in line with coaxing stellar performances out of his actors, and with this film, he drew a royal flush." — Creative Loafing Posted Oct 5, 2013
4/4	100%	The Big Parade (1925)	" Masterfully directed by King Vidor, this swings easily between comedy, romance and tragedy without missing a beat, and there are numerous set-pieces of enormous power -- even today, the harrowing battle scenes would rank among the best ever put on film." — Creative Loafing Posted Oct 5, 2013
3.5/4	98%	Gravity (2013)	" To be frank, it's not Cuarón's best picture, not with Y Tu Mamá También and Children of Men on his resume. Yet what it lacks in sociopolitical heft and laser-point characterizations it makes up for in sheer visual spectacle." — Creative Loafing Posted Oct 5, 2013
3.5/4	95%	Enough Said (2013)	" The plot ultimately is just a hanger on which to place Holofcener's typically engaging dialogue, a roomful of gracefully constructed characters, and a superlative turn by the late James Gandolfini." — Creative Loafing Posted Sep 28, 2013
3.5/4	83%	Don Jon (2013)	" It's Julianne Moore's character who most allows Don Jon to upgrade from being a humorous and perceptive movie about naughty Internet connections into a heartfelt and perceptive movie about necessary human connections." — Creative Loafing Posted Sep 28, 2013
3/4	88%	Rush (2013)	" Car culture fits quite nicely in the Ron Howard catalog, and Rush allows the filmmaker to get back to that milieu." — Creative Loafing Posted Sep 28, 2013
3.5/4	83%	The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)	" A "10 Best" achievement, thanks to writer-director Anthony Minghella's acute interpretation of Patricia Highsmith's novel, a shooting style that wallows in decadence and danger, and a choice cast completely in sync with the stringent demands of the story." — Creative Loafing Posted Sep 21, 2013
3.5/4	96%	The Fugitive (1993)	" Directed for maximum impact by Andrew Davis, this contains enough suspenseful set-pieces, clever red herrings and spectacular stuntwork to satisfy most thriller aficionados, yet what really makes the movie work are the performances by Ford and Jones." — Creative Loafing Posted Sep 21, 2013
3/4	85%	Dracula - Prince of Darkness (1966)	" It's an effective bit of Hammer horror, boasting the expected atmospherics, period trappings, literary conceits and, yes, buxom beauties." — Creative Loafing Posted Sep 21, 2013
2/4	50%	Devil Bat (1940)	" If nothing else, the film does offer the enviable opportunity to hear Lugosi bellow to one of his inferiors, "Imbecile! Bombastic ignoramus!"" — Creative Loafing Posted Sep 21, 2013
3.5/4	85%	The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965)	" This pitch-perfect adaptation of John le Carré's best-seller captures the Cold War in all its chilly complexity ... Burton delivers a towering performance that's second only to his turn in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? as the finest of his career." — Creative Loafing Posted Sep 21, 2013
1/4	——	Scanners III: The Takeover (Scanner Force) ()	" Scanners II features a weak script, poor acting and middling effects; Scanners III contains an even worse script, even worse acting and even worse effects." — Creative Loafing Posted Sep 21, 2013
1.5/4	——	Scanners II: The New Order (1991)	" Scanners II features a weak script, poor acting and middling effects; Scanners III contains an even worse script, even worse acting and even worse effects." — Creative Loafing Posted Sep 21, 2013
2/4	——	Only the Valiant (1951)	" Out of the 53 theatrical features Gregory Peck made over a 47-year span, the late, great actor always considered the worst to be Only the Valiant ... But this middling Western isn't awful so much as it's awfully indifferent." — Creative Loafing Posted Sep 21, 2013
4/4	100%	The Earrings of Madame De... (Diamond Earrings) (1954)	" The cyclical nature of chance and coincidence takes on epic proportions here, as Ophuls masterfully transforms what initially seems like a borderline bedroom farce into a full-blown tragedy." — Creative Loafing Posted Sep 21, 2013
4/4	100%	And Then There Were None (1945)	" The best of the numerous screen versions that have made their way to movie theaters over the years." — Creative Loafing Posted Sep 21, 2013
2.5/4	73%	Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (1996)	" This Island Earth is actually a GOOD movie ... For the first (and last) MST motion picture, the honor should have gone to a universally acknowledged turkey like Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster or Ed Wood's immortal Plan 9 from Outer Space." — Creative Loafing Posted Sep 21, 2013
3.5/4	80%	Prisoners (2013)	" The film is like a lean cut of meat, with all the fat trimmed off and the rest providing the necessary protein to keep functioning." — Creative Loafing Posted Sep 21, 2013
2/4	60%	Riddick (2013)	" A step up from the 2004 slumber party The Chronicles of Riddick but still a few rungs down the ladder from 2000's pitch-perfect Pitch Black." — Creative Loafing Posted Sep 14, 2013
2/4	31%	Austenland (2013)	" Aside from tossing around the name Mr. Darcy, the movie's appreciation and understanding of Austen's works seem tenuous: Given its broad strokes, the film (and resort) might as well have been named Alcottland or Shakespeareland or even Sparksland." — Creative Loafing Posted Sep 14, 2013
2.5/4	33%	The Family (2013)	" While it qualifies as OK entertainment -- especially for early September (that dead zone between summer blockbusters and fall award contenders) -- The Family is ultimately nothing to write home about." — Creative Loafing Posted Sep 14, 2013
3/4	89%	The World's End (2013)	" The early going of the film is terrific ... This material is so strong that it's almost a shame when the science fiction angle takes over." — Creative Loafing Posted Aug 31, 2013
3/4	68%	Q: The Winged Serpent (1982)	" Cohen and his crew soak the picture in Big Apple atmosphere, and Carradine is disarmingly relaxed as the wisecracking detective. Yet it's Moriarty who really sparks the proceedings with his offbeat characterization." — Creative Loafing Posted Aug 27, 2013
3/4	50%	Love Is a Many Splendored Thing (1955)	" Holden and Jones are so good together that it's easy to forget they did not get along behind the scenes. ... Still, they punch across the sweeping passion of this visually dynamic CinemaScope production." — Creative Loafing Posted Aug 24, 2013
3.5/4	100%	Lord of the Flies (1963)	" No matter how many years one is removed from the reading of Golding's book for school, its portrait of youth gone wild remains burned in the brain, and a viewing of Brook's cinematic take only serves to bring those thoughts to the surface once again." — Creative Loafing Posted Aug 24, 2013
3/4	——	Hands of the Ripper (1971)	" This latter-day offering from Hammer Films ratchets up the gore, but thankfully not at the expense of an engrossing tale that embeds its psychological context in a series of effective set-pieces." — Creative Loafing Posted Aug 24, 2013
1.5/4	8%	The Incredible Melting Man (1977)	" "Oh, my God, it's his ear!" And so it goes with The Incredible Melting Man, a piece of sci-fi cheese so pungent that it was honored with its very own Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode." — Creative Loafing Posted Aug 24, 2013
3/4	68%	The Fog (1979)	" The Fog is right in line with the types of film Carpenter made before his professional fall from grace: It's unpretentious genre fun, stylishly assembled and populated with colorful characters." — Creative Loafing Posted Aug 24, 2013
3/4	86%	Black Sabbath (I Tre volti della paura) (The Three Faces of Fear) (The Three Faces of Terror) (1963)	" Boris Karloff serves as the cheerful host for this anthology flick, which progresses in story terms from good to better to best." — Creative Loafing Posted Aug 24, 2013
2.5/4	27%	Ishtar (1987)	" The 1980s saw the release of so many truly atrocious films (Xanadu, Stroker Ace, Bolero, Shanghai Surprise, etc.) that it's absurd "Ishtar" became shorthand for the worst of the worst and continues to be blasted by folks who haven't even seen it." — Creative Loafing Posted Aug 24, 2013
3.5/4	79%	Body Double (1984)	" Is Body Double Brian De Palma's most underrated film or merely a guilty pleasure on my part? Naturally, I make the case for the former." — Creative Loafing Posted Aug 24, 2013
3/4	91%	The Spectacular Now (2013)	" For most of its running time, The Spectacular Now appears headed for 10 Best territory -- this year's equivalent of 2012's The Perks of Being a Wallflower. ... But a late-inning incident leads to a curiously rushed final act." — Creative Loafing Posted Aug 24, 2013
3/4	91%	Blue Jasmine (2013)	" Allen makes no apologies for his lead character's infuriating behavior, and neither does Blanchett. " — Creative Loafing Posted Aug 24, 2013
2/4	43%	Oliver & Company (1988)	" Suffers from a rote storyline and flat animation." — Creative Loafing Posted Aug 17, 2013
1.5/4	50%	Robin Hood (1973)	" A dull and disjointed retelling that spends more time on the buffoonish antics of Prince John and Sir Hiss than on the outlaw archer." — Creative Loafing Posted Aug 17, 2013
2/4	71%	The Sword in the Stone (1963)	" Aside from the owl Archimedes, none of the characters make any impression whatsoever." — Creative Loafing Posted Aug 17, 2013
2.5/4	64%	Swamp Thing (1982)	" This campy adaptation of the DC Comics series has always been the odd title out in Wes Craven's horror filmography. It's all the better for it, since it's one of the few movies from this overrated auteur that I can personally stand." — Creative Loafing Posted Aug 17, 2013
2/4	74%	A Boy and His Dog (1975)	" The savage wasteland is believably captured, but a so-so movie completely goes off the rails once the action moves to an underground society." — Creative Loafing Posted Aug 17, 2013
3/4	82%	The Place Beyond The Pines (2013)	" The movie is constructed like a three-act saga, with only the third part failing to satisfy." — Creative Loafing Posted Aug 17, 2013
3.5/4	89%	The Muppet Movie (1979)	" As expected, Fozzie the Bear and the old geezers Statler and Waldorf receive the lion's share of the choice lines." — Creative Loafing Posted Aug 17, 2013
3.5/4	94%	The Great Santini (1979)	" This is one of those special films that moves effortlessly between tension, tears and laughs ... Robert Duvall's performance runs neck-and-neck with his Lonesome Dove turn as his career best." — Creative Loafing Posted Aug 17, 2013

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