Amanda Waltz

Amanda Waltz's reviews only count toward the Tomatometer^® when published at the following Tomatometer-approved publication(s): Pittsburgh City Paper The Film Stage

Publications: Pittsburgh City Paper, The Film Stage

Movie Reviews Only

Movies

	T-Meter	Title \| Year	Review
	86%	Color Out of Space (2020)	As a result, the film awkwardly oscillates between eco-horror parable and bizarre sci-fi spectacle, never settling on whether or not it wants to be super weird or scathingly subversive. - Pittsburgh City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Jan 23, 2020
	100%	One Cut of the Dead (Kamera o tomeru na!) (2019)	Delightfully bonkers. - Pittsburgh City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Dec 20, 2019
	86%	The Girl With All the Gifts (2017)	While The Girl with All the Gifts is an original, thoughtful horror film filled with plenty of action, gore, and, surprisingly, heart, it's the science behind it that stuck with me after the credits rolled. - Pittsburgh City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 28, 2019
	No Score Yet	When Good Ghouls Go Bad (2001)	It's actually better than it has any right to be. - Pittsburgh City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 28, 2019
	89%	[Rec] (2007)	With its quick pacing, brutal jump scares, and unpredictable ending, REC does an admirable job of modernizing the shambling ghouls introduced in George A. Romero's Living Dead series. - Pittsburgh City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 22, 2019
	88%	Cargo (2018)	With that brilliant cinematography comes a harrowing story of a father's love in a lawless, unforgiving world. - Pittsburgh City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 15, 2019
	81%	Warm Bodies (2013)	Warm Bodies takes an admirable risk with its material, but never fully commits to any of the tropes that make its chosen genres - that of horror and romantic comedy - so appealing, while also not striving to do something different and truly inventive. - Pittsburgh City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 7, 2019
	87%	Luz (2019)	A pleasantly compelling and sufficiently gory bottle thriller with a supernatural twist. - Pittsburgh City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Aug 5, 2019
	93%	Funan (2019)	Defined by a clean, illustrative style and slow-burn storytelling... - Pittsburgh City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Jul 3, 2019
	84%	Rust Creek (2019)	But for all its female tenacity and curious potential pairing, Rust Creek proves far too formulaic to generate tension. - Pittsburgh City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Jan 11, 2019
	No Score Yet	Second Chance Christmas (2017)	To call Second Chance Christmas problematic would be putting it very lightly. This is basically Gaslighting: The Movie. - Pittsburgh City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Dec 26, 2018
	No Score Yet	No Sleep 'Til Christmas (2018)	The conceit of No Sleep 'Til Christmas is a stretch. That it actually manages to sell it is nothing short of a miracle. - Pittsburgh City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Dec 20, 2018
	No Score Yet	A Cinderella Christmas (2016)	The film also demonstrates some refreshingly meta humor. - Pittsburgh City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Dec 17, 2018
	56%	Last Holiday (2006)	The main reason I find Last Holiday so charming, despite its corny concept and broad humor, is because I get to see good things happen to a good person. - Pittsburgh City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Dec 11, 2018
	No Score Yet	A Very Nutty Christmas (2010)	Hart executive produced this movie, which means she was cool with all of this. - Pittsburgh City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Dec 11, 2018
	94%	Kusama: Infinity (2018)	As it should be with a film like this, the most fascinating aspect is the examination of Kusama's process, its evolution, and the psychology that drives it. - Pittsburgh City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Nov 14, 2018
	96%	Good Manners (As Boas Maneiras) (2018)	While the film does have its weak spots, including some out-of-place CGI, they're worth ignoring, as Dutra and Rojas deliver a smart, sensitive film with just enough gore to keep it interesting. - Pittsburgh City Paper EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 31, 2018
B	No Score Yet	Nae-ga sal-in-beom-i-da (Confession of Murder) (2013)	Despite its inner conflict, Confession of Murder weaves a suspenseful, compelling tale that saves its surprises until the very end. - The Film Stage EDIT Read More \| Posted Jul 11, 2016
A-	76%	Stop The Pounding Heart (2014)	Stop the Pounding Heart becomes a sensitive, lovingly crafted illustration of the relationship between culture, faith, and identity. - The Film Stage EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 27, 2016
D+	28%	The Family (2013)	Full of tone deaf humor and gratuitous violence, The Family marks a miscalculated step for an otherwise fine filmmaker. - The Film Stage EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 27, 2016
B-	96%	Birth Of The Living Dead (2013)	Viewers will feel most rewarded by Kuhns' dissecting of Night's production, which provides a colorful and inspiring portrait of guerrilla filmmaking from a pre-digital era. - The Film Stage EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 22, 2016
C+	31%	The Wait (2014)	Visually, Blash does a excellent job portraying the character's quiet desperation, even if the symbolism sometimes verges on the obvious. - The Film Stage EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 21, 2016
C+	45%	Raze (2014)	With plots as flimsy as the one presented here, there's a tendency to favor spectacle over character development, and it's no surprise that Raze struggles to balance the two. - The Film Stage EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 21, 2016
D	31%	Summer in February (2014)	The performances are but one eye roll-inducing aspect of a period drama so generic and formulaic that it verges on parody. - The Film Stage EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 21, 2016
D+	27%	Pompeii (2014)	Pompeii's recreated world feels especially hokey as the backdrop for shoddy sets, cheesy costumes and ludicrous dialogue. - The Film Stage EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 21, 2016
D	76%	The Den (2014)	The film is neither compelling or innovative enough to justify sitting through its torture porn-y moments. - The Film Stage EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 21, 2016
B+	84%	Hide Your Smiling Faces (2014)	By showing and not telling, Carbone creates a profoundly tender work made all the more affecting by his young stars' effortless performances. - The Film Stage EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 7, 2016
D+	37%	In the Blood (2014)	In the Blood does fulfill one rite of passage for Carano, who had yet to make her own terrible, B-level movie. - The Film Stage EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 6, 2016
A-	100%	Der Samurai (2014)	Der Samurai is an unusual little gem of a film that excites with its own offbeat blend of horror, suspense, and visual elegance. - The Film Stage EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 6, 2016
B	90%	Belladonna of Sadness (Kanashimi no Beradona) (1973)	Belladonna stands as both an important forebear to a now widely beloved genre, and as a confused, yet earnest tribute to those who dare defy authority in order to elevate themselves. - The Film Stage EDIT Read More \| Posted May 6, 2016
B-	52%	Holidays (2016)	While each entry satisfies in its own unique way, the anthology as a whole makes for an impressive examination of distaff fears and underestimated ferocity. - The Film Stage EDIT Read More \| Posted Apr 18, 2016
C	53%	One More Time (When I Live My Life Over Again) (2016)	The ineffective quality of the music composition rubs off onto the script, a dragging narrative occasionally punctuated with workable humor. - The Film Stage EDIT Read More \| Posted Apr 7, 2016
B-	68%	Rigor Mortis (2014)	By combining Chinese and Japanese aesthetics, Rigor Mortis also becomes a sometimes fun, sometimes original shout-out to the East's rich and varied horror film culture. - The Film Stage EDIT Read More \| Posted Mar 26, 2016
B+	89%	Creep (2015)	Though lean in running time, scale, and budget, Creep demonstrates its makers' masterful resourcefulness and spirited direction. - The Film Stage EDIT Read More \| Posted Mar 26, 2016
F	24%	Cabin Fever 3: Patient Zero (2014)	A dreary, uninspired, unmotivated lump of putrid dreck. - The Film Stage EDIT Read More \| Posted Mar 26, 2016
B-	No Score Yet	The Search For Weng Weng (2014)	Succeeds in spurring a dialogue on Weng Weng's role as a representation of the Filipino spirit, which, in the grand scheme of things, is more than any film scholar could possibly hope for. - The Film Stage EDIT Read More \| Posted Mar 26, 2016
D+	47%	They're Watching (2016)	Tired jokes and uninspired gore abound in what amounts to an unbearable experience, and that's before the climactic bloodbath has a chance to disappoint with its sub-amateur special effects. - The Film Stage EDIT Read More \| Posted Mar 25, 2016
B-	No Score Yet	Partners In Crime (2014)	Tidy and predictable, the film delivers few surprises, but makes for a somewhat attractive, if mediocre, drama about lives and relationships ended too soon. - The Film Stage EDIT Read More \| Posted Mar 12, 2016
C+	83%	The Wave (Bolgen) (2016)	Its strict adherence to the disaster formula renders the experience far too generic and risk-averse to make it memorable. - The Film Stage EDIT Read More \| Posted Mar 3, 2016
B	73%	ABCs of Death 2 (2014)	Despite a few missteps, ABCs of Death 2 promises a brighter future for an anthology progressing into sequel territory. - The Film Stage EDIT Read More \| Posted Feb 26, 2016
B-	80%	Why Don't You Play in Hell? (2014)	Defined by a sanguineous sense of humor and unpretentious spirit, [it] makes for a stylish, self-aware, if somewhat lagging romp about film culture and creative ambitions. - The Film Stage EDIT Read More \| Posted Feb 26, 2016
A-	92%	The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness (2014)	[It] does the world a service by chronicling and preserving, in a most charming and understated way, Miyazaki-era Ghibli and the human element beneath its creative genius. - The Film Stage EDIT Read More \| Posted Feb 25, 2016
B	97%	Appropriate Behavior (2015)	Appropriate Behavior marks a strong first-time effort for the director, and establishes her ability as both a filmmaker and as an actress with considerable screen presence. - The Film Stage EDIT Read More \| Posted Feb 25, 2016
D+	17%	Monsters: Dark Continent (2015)	Deprived of sympathetic characters, thrills, and Edwards' skilled touch, the film makes for a disappointing follow-up to some impressive sci-fi cinema. - The Film Stage EDIT Read More \| Posted Feb 23, 2016
B+	68%	Dark Star: HR Giger's World (2015)	A dignified tribute to a very provocative figure. - The Film Stage EDIT Read More \| Posted Feb 22, 2016
D-	25%	The Stranger (2015)	The genre deserves better, audiences deserve better, and the people of Chile deserve better than this lazy, artless nonsense. - The Film Stage EDIT Read More \| Posted Feb 22, 2016
C+	43%	Madame Bovary (2015)	The players struggle to inject emotion into the bookish, period-specific dialogue, which often results in clunky, stilted exchanges. - The Film Stage EDIT Read More \| Posted Feb 22, 2016
B-	83%	Henry Gamble's Birthday Party (2015)	An enjoyable, but unconvincing look at religious hypocrisy and Christianity's struggle to accept changing social norms. - The Film Stage EDIT Read More \| Posted Feb 22, 2016
C-	20%	Bound to Vengeance (2015)	Its message remains muddled at best as it tries, and fails, to effectively comment on the consequences of rape culture. - The Film Stage EDIT Read More \| Posted Feb 22, 2016
C+	No Score Yet	Chang-baek-han eol-gul-deul (On the White Planet) (2014)	Its imaginative, nightmarish look combines well with the grim tone, and makes for a compelling alternative to the meticulous polish of mainstream animated films. - The Film Stage EDIT Read More \| Posted Feb 22, 2016