Sean Burns Movie Reviews & Previews

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Sean Burns

Agrees with the Tomatometer 73% of the time.

Biography:: Since 1999 Sean Burns has been Philadelphia Weekly's lead film critic, and also currently writes for The Improper Bostonian. His work has previously appeared in The Boston Metro, Matinee Magazine, The Nashville Scene, Time Out New York and The House Next Door. Burns was a recurring guest on the late David Brudnoy's WBZ 1030 AM Radio Show, and in 2002 received an award for Excellence in Criticism from the Society of Professional Journalists. His writing has been called "jocular but serious, more like a 1940s daily reporter pounding out columns on a manual typewriter than a typical 21st century navel-gazing film critic." Burns has also been told that he "smokes too much and drives like an old lady." He and his cat live in Stoneham, MA.
Publications:: Philadelphia Weekly

Total Reviews:: 764

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Showing 1 - 50 of 764

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Rating	T-Meter	Title \| Year	Add Date
	88%	Starlet (2012)	" Sean Baker's Starlet almost miraculously transcends this story's cornball trappings, with a minor-key muted humanism and bruised emotions roiling just beneath the surface. It's a hushed marvel of a movie.  " — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Dec 5, 2012
A	64%	Cosmopolis (2012)	" Like all the best Cronenberg pictures, Cosmopolis is a pitch-black comedy about man's foolhardy attempt to impose systems of order on nature's chaos." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Aug 22, 2012
B+	75%	Damsels in Distress (2012)	" I still loved it, sometimes not just in spite of its flaws but because of them." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Apr 18, 2012
B+	83%	The Double Hour (2011)	" What a surprise and delight then is first-timer Giuseppe Capotondi's The Double Hour." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Jun 2, 2011
	81%	Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)	" The only thing it proves is that nerds can be just as shallow and mean-spirited as bullies." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Aug 11, 2010
	85%	Get Low (2010)	" Overdirecting in the worst amateur fashion, Schneider hard-sells a quaint story to the point where this allegedly humble little movie feels like it's puffing out its chest all the time." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Aug 11, 2010
	61%	The Concert (Le concert) (2010)	" It's a sweet-natured, agreeable-enough diversion, with just enough high culture, rowdy comic relief and flirtations with historical import that it's comfort food for art-house patrons of a certain age. " — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Aug 11, 2010
	81%	Countdown to Zero (2010)	" Between economic meltdowns and catastrophic oil spills, it's easy to forget we're still perched on the brink of nuclear annihilation, too..." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Aug 11, 2010
	43%	Dinner for Schmucks (2010)	" Had I known everyone was going to play to the back row, that's where I would've sat." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Aug 11, 2010
	93%	The Kids Are All Right (2010)	" It's a happy, horny movie that loves its characters and their messy human imperfections. You will, too." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Aug 11, 2010
	86%	Inception (2010)	" A huge movie full of meaty ideas and eye-popping special-effects, yet much like Dark Knight, the go-for-broke ambition becomes a bit of a grind." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Jul 13, 2010
	69%	The Girl Who Played with Fire (Flickan som lekte med elden) (2010)	" It'd be a half-hour long if she'd just pick up the damn phone and answer a question or two." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Jul 13, 2010
	6%	The Last Airbender (2010)	" I can't even tell you what this movie is about. How many more chances are we going to give this guy?" — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Jul 13, 2010
	49%	The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010)	" Continues the mopey saga of sparkly vampires, shirtless werewolves and a heroine so cloyingly vapid she makes Carrie Bradshaw seem generous and self-aware. " — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Jul 13, 2010
	55%	The Killer Inside Me (2010)	" If you dig the mushy, muffled sound of a man's fist slamming into a woman's mottled face while her jawbone quietly shatters, this is the movie for you." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Jul 13, 2010
	80%	Cyrus (2010)	" John C. Reilly gives his most naturalistic, human-scaled performance since his '90s work with P.T. Anderson." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Jul 13, 2010
	38%	The City of Your Final Destination (2010)	" The film is an endearing dinosaur, more suited for a museum than a multiplex..." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Jul 13, 2010
	43%	Air Doll (Kûki ningyô) (2009)	" Here's where I'm contractually obligated to refer to her performance as 'brave,' as that's trusty film-critic shorthand for 'naked a lot.'" — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Jul 13, 2010
	74%	Micmacs (Micmacs à tire-larigot) (2010)	" For anybody worried Amelie wasn't overstylized and cutesy-poo enough, director Jean-Pierre Jeunet finally disappears completely up his own twee-hole... " — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Jul 13, 2010
	82%	Solitary Man (2010)	" A bit too-neatly designed as The Ultimate Michael Douglas Experience, it's an irresistible one-man show of arrogant entitlement and aching vulnerability." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Jul 13, 2010
	72%	Get Him to the Greek (2010)	" Let's face it, a little of this guy goes a long way." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Jun 2, 2010
	15%	Sex and the City 2 (2010)	" Shoes, money, outfits, shoes, vagina, money, shoes, jewelry, outfits, money, shoes." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Jun 2, 2010
	30%	Survival of the Dead (2010)	" Feels like one of those goofy old Star Trek episodes in which Kirk and Spock go back in time to make some sort of baldly allegorical point." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Jun 2, 2010
	57%	Shrek Forever After (Shrek 4) (2010)	" I've sat through four Shrek movies. Christ, the things I do for you people." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Jun 2, 2010
	79%	Mother and Child (2010)	" You'll wonder if the message of the movie is that the process of adoption turns women into vicious hags. But that can't be right, can it?" — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Jun 2, 2010
	87%	Please Give (2010)	" Nobody loves messy, human imperfections quite like writer-director Nicole Holofcener." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Jun 2, 2010
	73%	Iron Man 2 (2010)	" You won't find a more overqualified cast this year. Then out come the CGI effects and everything becomes a yawn." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Jun 2, 2010
	69%	Babies (2010)	" This isn't a movie. It's a screensaver." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Jun 2, 2010
	84%	The Good, the Bad, and the Weird (2010)	" Pours a ton of genre influences into the archetypal Cuisinart, pureeing everything from chop-socky cheapies to The Road Warrior in a gargantuan, cheerfully anachronistic romp. " — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Jun 2, 2010
	86%	The Square (2010)	" The Edgertons are in complete command of their craft, without bringing anything new to the party." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Jun 2, 2010
	76%	Kick-Ass (2010)	" Finally, a comic-book superhero movie for people who are sick to death of comic-book superhero movies." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Jun 2, 2010
	52%	The Greatest (2010)	" The title is incorrect." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Jun 2, 2010
	96%	Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (2009)	" Stop me if you've heard this one, but sometimes politicians get us into wars that last forever and go nowhere under false pretenses." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Jun 2, 2010
	95%	Mother (Madeo) (2010)	" Do we laugh or do we cry? In Bong Joo-ho films, the two reactions need not be mutually exclusive." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Mar 19, 2010
	97%	A Prophet (Un prophete) (2010)	" He's Michael Corleone for our new 'post-racial' era. The Scarface Obama." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Mar 19, 2010
	97%	Ajami (2010)	" Copti and Shani are promising talents, but they're a bit too clever for their own good." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Mar 19, 2010
	90%	Fish Tank (2010)	" A cockney Precious with the volume turned down..." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Mar 19, 2010
	41%	44 Inch Chest (2010)	" A smashingly acted but dramatically thin expose of men behaving badly that isn't nearly as revelatory as it seems to think it is." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Mar 19, 2010
	20%	Legion (2010)	" Oh, what a wacky bunch of stereotypes in this diner! There's a rich guy, a black person and even Dennis Quaid!" — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Mar 19, 2010
	85%	The White Ribbon (Das weisse Band) (2009)	" National Socialism: The Prequel." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Mar 19, 2010
	48%	The Book of Eli (2010)	" It is nice to know that even after the apocalypse, people will still be listening to Al Green." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Mar 19, 2010
	32%	The Lovely Bones (2009)	" Peter Jackson is an infant sitting at the grown-ups table, and this proves once and for all he has no business making movies for adults." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Mar 19, 2010
	91%	Crazy Heart (2009)	" Bridges raises the bar (har-har) for being shafaced onscreen, stumbling and vomiting his way to the stage in podunk clubs..."" — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Mar 19, 2010
	66%	Youth in Revolt (2010)	" Michael Cera's act got old awful fast, didn't it?" — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Mar 19, 2010
	64%	The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)	" Terry Gilliam can't catch a break." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Mar 19, 2010
	70%	Sherlock Holmes (2009)	" "The most pleasant surprise I've had at the movies since Star Trek."" — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Mar 19, 2010
	56%	It's Complicated (2009)	" Meyers doesn't have to do much besides put these silly dynamos next to one another and let them enjoy riffing." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Mar 19, 2010
	37%	Nine (2009)	" Fellini is lucky that he didn't live long enough to see this." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Mar 19, 2010
	83%	Avatar (2009)	" The movie looks like the kind of gaudy, 1970s airbrush painting you'd see on a van owned by your stoner friend who goes to too many Rush concerts." — Philadelphia Weekly Posted Mar 19, 2010

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