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
	75%	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	89%	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	47%	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	65%	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
	80%	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
	95%	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	21%	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
	37%	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
	72%	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	47%	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
5/5	94%	If Beale Street Could Talk (2019)	This film shows us that love without risk is hardly love at all. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Dec 21, 2018
	93%	Cold War (Zimna wojna) (2018)	Pawlikowski maintains a high level of energy with frequent music performances, subtle comedy, and a pitch-perfect bittersweet ending. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Dec 20, 2018
	65%	Aquaman (2018)	What ultimately holds it together is that this film is self-aware about its silliness, to the point that it is often sublime. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Dec 20, 2018
	96%	Roma (2018)	Alfonso Cuarón's new film is the rare family drama that's also a feast for the eyes. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Dec 7, 2018
4/5	94%	The Favourite (2018)	It succeeds as the nastiest high stakes workplace comedy you'll see all year. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Nov 30, 2018
	76%	Knife + Heart (Un couteau dans le coeur) (2019)	The details of the mystery are incidental to Knife + Heart. What matters more is the vibe and liberation of watching it. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Nov 29, 2018
	94%	Transit (2019)	The complex, twisty love story also grows like a weed, until it ends on a wistful note. Rogowski is no Bogart, and yet Georg has the weariness, romance, and desperation of a lovable noir hero. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Nov 29, 2018
	84%	Creed II (2018)	The Rocky formula matters more than the characters in it. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Nov 21, 2018
2.5/5	73%	El Angel (El ángel) (2018)	At one point, a filmmaker must draw a line in the sand so his audience knows how to react. This movie dances across such a line until it is no longer there. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Nov 16, 2018
5/5	91%	Widows (2018)	Widows may be a tough film, but maybe we're all a bit tougher nowadays. This film knows we are up for it. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Nov 16, 2018
	94%	Burning (Beoning) (2018)	Since the film never force-feeds the audience, its conclusions are all the more alarming and inevitable. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Nov 8, 2018
4.5/5	98%	On Her Shoulders (2018)	This is the rare, uncanny film that genuinely puts you in the shoes of its subject. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Nov 2, 2018
	64%	Suspiria (2018)	When multiple exploding heads barely register as shocking, then something has gone awry. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Nov 1, 2018
1.5/4	38%	Viper Club (2018)	Even the best movies push emotional buttons, but they work because viewers become wrapped up in the story. This one is so manipulative you can hear the gears grinding - until they lock up. - Washington Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 31, 2018
3.5/5	94%	Wildlife (2018)	A confident, melancholy drama that uses sharp observation to make larger points about the endless fissures in American family life. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 29, 2018
	96%	Bisbee '17 (2018)	Bisbee '17 is the rare documentary that also succeeds as a provocative cinematic statement. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 26, 2018
	100%	The Panama Papers (2018)	The film is at its most alarming when it convincingly makes the case that systemic corruption and income inequality are fundamentally responsible for every global calamity out there. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 19, 2018
3/5	70%	The Happy Prince (2018)	It is a poignant reminder of how intellect and desire do not simply disappear once we get older. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 19, 2018
	79%	Halloween (2018)	His constant silence reasserts him as a great existential villain, so this Halloween follows the original 1978 fright-fest into the horror cannon. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 18, 2018
4/5	88%	First Man (2018)	Neil Armstrong left his family behind and traveled over 200,000 miles for work, and First Man understands what that says about him. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 12, 2018
	No Score Yet		Here is a film that does not insult your intelligence, but also requires constant attention. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 11, 2018
	67%	Field Guide to Evil (2018)	While each film is from a separate country, the similarities highlight what folklore shares across cultures. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 10, 2018
2.5/5	92%	The Old Man & the Gun (2018)	The trouble is that writer/director David Lowery drains the story of any tension, suspense, or conflict. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 5, 2018
4/5	98%	Free Solo (2018)	This is the rare documentary that is more terrifying than a horror movie. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 5, 2018
79/100	98%	Science Fair (2018)	When so much of our mental energy is spent in politics, it is refreshing to see a (largely) apolitical film celebrate humanity at its finest. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Sep 28, 2018
	91%	Hal (2018)	Such a purpose would be downright maudlin in the hands of the lesser filmmaker, and in its own bittersweet way, Hal suggests there will never be another one like him. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Sep 27, 2018
4/5	95%	Blaze (2018)	As the film reaches its tragic final minutes, it is clear Foley is given the treatment he would want and deserve. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Sep 21, 2018
2.5/5	65%	Lizzie (2018)	This vision of Lizzie Borden is ultimately too timid and dispassionate to be transgressive. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Sep 21, 2018
3.5/5	58%	White Boy Rick (2018)	Longtime fans of gangster movies may be surprised or even unnerved by what they see, but they won't soon forget it. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Sep 14, 2018
	91%	Mandy (2018)	Mandy embodies the spirit of heavy metal more than any other movie in recent memory. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Sep 13, 2018
0.5/4	65%	American Chaos (2018)	Throughout "Chaos," Stern presents himself as the voice of reason, one that deserves to be listened to with respect, although he never really examines his own assumptions. - Washington Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Sep 12, 2018
4/5	87%	Madeline's Madeline (2018)	Sound bonkers, right? I guess you'll just have to see it for yourself. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Sep 7, 2018
	71%	The Apparition (L'apparition) (2018)	This grappling with faith-conducted quietly by people who share nothing but mutual respect-is where the The Apparition finds its heart... - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Sep 6, 2018
2.5/5	91%	We the Animals (2018)	Zagar's stubborn desire to keep things subjective are what make this a memorable film, although that same decision is also what undermines its ultimate impact. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Aug 31, 2018
4/4	65%	The Little Stranger (2018)	A character-driven psychological thriller, one whose larger implications will trouble your mind, like a ghost. - Washington Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Aug 30, 2018
4.5/5	93%	Support the Girls (2018)	It continuously upends expectations of where it will go, until it becomes a comedy of specific, deep empathy. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Aug 24, 2018
	83%	Juliet, Naked (2018)	Meant to serve as counter-programming, the cinematic equivalent of a beach read. It is successful on those terms..if the story does not linger, at least the three lead performances have more nuance and humanity required. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Aug 23, 2018
3.5/5	65%	A Midsummer Night's Dream (2018)	They break some cardinal rules here, all in service of the show. It is the sort of creative latitude Shakespeare would admire. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Aug 17, 2018
	91%	Crazy Rich Asians (2018)	By burrowing into what makes this world so extraordinary-and finding what is universal along way-Chu and his terrific cast have made a romantic comedy for everyone. - Washington City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Aug 16, 2018
4/5	86%	The Captain (Der Hauptmann) (2018)	This dark drama might be too much for audiences, so Schwentke adds two crucial elements to keep his film tolerable: elegant black and white photography, and gallows humor. - Brightest Young Things EDIT Read More \| Posted Aug 10, 2018