Alan Zilberman

Alan Zilberman's reviews only count toward the Tomatometer when published at the following Tomatometer-approved publication(s): Washington Post Washington City Paper Brightest Young Things

Publications: Washington Post, Washington City Paper, Brightest Young Things

Movie Reviews Only

Movies
TV

	T-Meter	Title \| Year	Review
4/5	83%	The Art of Self-Defense (2019)	It is funny, but only because of its specificity and point of view. Behind that comedy, however, is a warning about what happens ordinary men trust the wrong teachers. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Jul 19, 2019
	55%	The Lion King (2019)	It is a colossal blunder, a film so artless and bland that it may confuse younger audiences. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Jul 18, 2019
4/5	79%	Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love (2019)	Director Nick Broomfield involves himself in the story, indulging in revisionism of the 1960s, and yet the film's more emotional arc is ultimately more poignant than that. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Jul 17, 2019
	90%	Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)	Far From Home is a mediocre Spider-Man film. Now that we have internalized the character's durability, genuine storytelling risks are the only way for the character to go forward. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Jul 8, 2019
4.5/5	82%	Midsommar (2019)	Its emotional realism is important since what ultimately happens is so unseemly and appalling. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Jul 2, 2019
2.5/5	63%	Yesterday (2019)	How come Richard Curtis is only capable of one type of romance? - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 28, 2019
	No Score Yet	Autonomy (2019)	Education is the primary goal, which can be worthwhile for something that's actually on the frontier of automation and artificial intelligence, except this particular technology has been a known quantity for years. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 25, 2019
3/4	97%	Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (2019)	It doesn't matter whether you've have read all - or any - of Morrison books. Either way, you may leave the theater wanting to pick one up on the way home. - Washington Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 24, 2019
2/5	33%	Being Frank (2019)	It needs strong performances to elevate its mediocrity, so instead we are left with a film straining for modest goals it cannot achieve. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 21, 2019
4/5	93%	The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019)	The Last Black Man in San Francisco will not stop NIMBYism, but it remains an important, lyrical drama that strikes appropriate notes of anger and hope. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 14, 2019
4/5	89%	Plus One (2019)	Once you get past all the jokes about bad speeches and shuttles to the venue, there is a smart, winning romantic comedy that actually has something to say. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 14, 2019
	54%	The Dead Don't Die (2019)	Since the film does not take itself too seriously, it invites us to relax and let its grimly deadpan worldview wash over us. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 13, 2019
3.5/4	69%	Ghost Fleet (2019)	By tackling their stories - and what they've endured - head on, it makes its point, leaving a bad taste in your mouth about that discounted tuna at your neighborhood supermarket. - Washington Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 11, 2019
	23%	Dark Phoenix (2019)	Charles Xavier, Magneto, and Jean Grey are durable characters, but our patience for them is not. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 6, 2019
3/5	90%	Rocketman (2019)	Unlike Rami Malek, Egerton actually sings in Rocketman, and while his voice is not a replica of John's, it is soulful enough to actually be convincing. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted May 31, 2019
3.5/5	97%	Deadwood: The Movie (2019)	All the actors easily reprise their roles, finding notes of grace and savagery while recreating a stylized, hopeful view of how individuality can clash with civilization. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted May 31, 2019
	41%	Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)	Snow, rain, and smoke obscure the action, so the audience must squint to make any sense of how the monsters are fighting each other, or what city is under siege. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted May 30, 2019
4/5	89%	Non-Fiction (2019)	You may not know a single word of French, but you've probably been to a dinner party like the ones in this film. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted May 24, 2019
	90%	John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019)	The sheer variety of brutal violence will have audiences cheer or wince in perfect harmony. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted May 17, 2019
0.5/5	91%	The Biggest Little Farm (2019)	This film is a bit like what what would happen if Timothy Treadwell, the subject of Grizzly Man, directed a film about himself without an assist from Werner Herzog. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted May 17, 2019
4/5	82%	Dogman (2019)	Too few films have the courage to see their premise to such an inexorably poignant conclusion. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted May 10, 2019
	67%	Pokémon Detective Pikachu (2019)	All this world-building and attention to detail is ultimately in service of a story that's borderline incoherent. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted May 10, 2019
2/4	66%	The White Crow (2019)	While the details of Nureyev's 1961 defection in Paris are thrilling, the film falls into the trap of many historical dramas, rendering the story as surprisingly clunky, especially considering the nimbleness of its subjects. - Washington Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Apr 30, 2019
	94%	Avengers: Endgame (2019)	Fan service can be satisfying, just not the way the writers and directors handle it here, so by the time they get back to moments of gravitas, it is already too late. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Apr 24, 2019
3/4	81%	Fast Color (2019)	By finding the right note of empathy, Hart creates a space for the audience to share their doggedly earned hope. - Washington Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Apr 19, 2019
	84%	Her Smell (2019)	This film is relatively pitiless, exhausting the audience until we acquiesce to Becky's rage. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Apr 18, 2019
4/5	65%	Peterloo (2019)	By accepting Leigh's latest on its own terms - as a nakedly fierce polemic - you'll come to share his outrage. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Apr 12, 2019
1.5/4	18%	Hellboy (2019)	Marshall and screenwriter Andrew Cosby went overboard with their R-rating, introducing so much gore and profanity that it, quite frankly, gets dull. The flat performances and incoherent story do not help matters. - Washington Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Apr 10, 2019
3.5/5	57%	Pet Sematary (2019)	A creepy, back-to-basics horror film that blurs the line between grief and madness. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Apr 5, 2019
	93%	Diane (2019)	Character actors often transition into leading roles, but the nature of said roles should evolve accordingly. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Apr 4, 2019
	84%	The Brink (2019)	Parts of the film unfold like a far-right version of This Is Spinal Tap. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Mar 28, 2019
1.5/5	56%	Yardie (2019)	Like directorial talent, on-screen charisma is not a thing you can teach. You either have it, or you do not. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Mar 25, 2019
	100%	The River and the Wall (2019)	If The River and the Wall runs the risk of being too repetitive, Masters breaks up the argument with a sense of adventure. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Mar 15, 2019
2.5/5	71%	Climax (2019)	By Noé standards, it is pretty tame, but it is ultimately pointless. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Mar 8, 2019
	78%	Captain Marvel (2019)	Cynical fans may think Captain Marvel is too little, too late, yet it convincingly makes the case she arrives right on time. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Mar 6, 2019
5/5	99%	Apollo 11 (2019)	Buzz Aldrin said this film gets as close to the real thing as anything he's experienced. When go see it, you'll understand that he is not exaggerating. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Mar 1, 2019
	74%	Don't Leave Home (2018)	There is a lot of symbolism in Don't Leave Home, and Tully keeps things at a gentle, almost lazy pace so you have time to consider it. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Feb 28, 2019
	85%	The Hole in the Ground (2019)	Unfortunately, the film falters because it relies so heavily on tropes. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Feb 28, 2019
	71%	The Drummer and the Keeper (2017)	A better, more daring film would follow these misfits to whatever unlikely, dark place their natures led them. Kelly instead opts for a contrived happy ending, and while the film goes down easy, it could have had more actual substance. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Feb 28, 2019
	91%	How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)	By never overstaying its welcome, it is easier to look past the annoying bits. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Feb 21, 2019
	78%	Never Look Away (2019)	The director somehow manages to insult his audience, misunderstand his subject, and reduce German history into the trappings of turgid melodrama. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Feb 14, 2019
2.5/5	91%	2019 Oscar Nominated Shorts - Animation (2019)	What makes this crop of shorts interesting, but ultimately somewhat tedious, is their thematic similarities. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Feb 8, 2019
3/4	43%	The Prodigy (2019)	[McCarthy] a filmmaker who recognizes that the buildup is more fun than the payoff, and he manages to generate suspense with seemingly little happening on the screen. - Washington Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Feb 7, 2019
2.5/5	63%	Velvet Buzzsaw (2019)	Gilroy replaces Nightcrawler's twisted logic with metaphors so obvious they would laughed out of freshman art seminars. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Feb 1, 2019
	81%	Pig (2018)	By the time it reaches its frenzied conclusion, its comic exaggeration offers biting insight into what creative suppression must feel like. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Jan 28, 2019
	98%	3 Faces (2019)	Since it has an affable low-key quality to it, it is easy to forget Panahi is one of the few filmmakers whose efforts could be described as heroic. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Jan 28, 2019
3.5/5	20%	Serenity (2019)	The constraints of traditional criticism are not equipped to do this film justice. It is too bonkers for that. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Jan 25, 2019
	38%	Glass (2019)	Unfortunately, the cast's goodwill is all in service of a cranky magician who would rather show off his skill, instead of wow his audience. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Jan 17, 2019
	74%	Destroyer (2018)	By the time the film reveals all its secrets, its total divorce from human behavior will make it impossible to care what happened. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Jan 10, 2019
3/5	49%	Escape Room (2019)	The characters may freeze, drown, drop from great heights, and get poisoned, but nothing is more exciting than the tension of whether they can work together. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Jan 4, 2019