Andrea Gronvall
Andrea Gronvall's reviews only count toward the Tomatometer when
published at the following Tomatometer-approved publication(s):
Chicago Reader,
Time Out
| Biography: |
Chicago Reader film critic.
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| Publications: | Chicago Reader, Time Out |
Movie Reviews Only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
|---|---|---|---|
| 32% | Home Again (2017) |
Witherspoon lacks the abandon the May-December love angle requires, and the movie is so tidily formulaic that it feels as if it's been airbrushed; the send-up of Hollywood falls flat too.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Sep 14, 2017
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| 35% | American Assassin (2017) |
Somewhere along the way Michael Cuesta morphed from a creator of thoughtful indie dramas... into an action director (Showtime's Homeland); if he ever wants to tackle a James Bond movie, this nonstop spy thriller should serve as his audition.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Sep 14, 2017
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| 86% | Wind River (2017) |
The pace was breakneck in Sheridan's previous thrillers, but in this whodunit the mood is more ruminative and the dialogue is portentous. ‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Aug 17, 2017
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| 68% | Annabelle: Creation (2017) |
The constant floating, spinning, shattering, and slamming of household objects gradually saps the movie's tension.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Aug 10, 2017
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| 78% | An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth To Power (2017) |
Some might see the film as lionizing Gore, but it's a fascinating primer on how to engage and train citizen activists, from the grass roots to the corridors of power.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Aug 3, 2017
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| 75% | Atomic Blonde (2017) |
Adapting Sam Hart and Antony Johnston's graphic novel The Coldest City, Kurt Johnstad has written a smart exploitation thriller.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Aug 3, 2017
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| 95% | Step (2017) |
For most of the film the dancing is unsteady, but in the final number director Amanda Lipitz, a Tony Award-winning producer, makes the gutsy amateurs look like pros.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Aug 3, 2017
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| 89% | Girls Trip (2017) |
Bridesmaids proved that women could be just as smutty onscreen as men, but this fast-paced comedy is ruder, cruder, funnier, and more explicit.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Jul 20, 2017
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| 18% | Wish Upon (2017) |
This horror flick is so predictable it feels not raw but antiseptic.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Jul 13, 2017
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| 93% | Baby Driver (2017) |
Oozing menace as addicted bank robbers, Jamie Foxx and Jon Hamm are all the more charismatic thanks to Bill Pope's luscious noir photography. Credit Jonathan Amos and Paul Machliss for the razor-sharp editing.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Jun 29, 2017
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| 53% | 47 Meters Down (2017) |
The only thing this so-called thriller has going for it is widescreen cinematography by Mark Silk.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Jun 15, 2017
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| 95% | The Women's Balcony (Ismach Hatani) (2017) |
With an eye for artful detail, director Emil Ben-Shimon orchestrates a resolution both plausible and jubilant.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Jun 13, 2017
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| 50% | Family Life (Vida de Familia) (2017) |
Nudity and scenes of energetic lovemaking spice up the meager narrative but can't make up for a flat ending.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Jun 8, 2017
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| 84% | Megan Leavey (2017) |
This is an affecting story about loyalty, sacrifice, and the forging of identity.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Jun 8, 2017
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| 16% | The Mummy (2017) |
How fitting that the makers of this action-adventure movie about tomb raiders plunder the Universal Pictures vault, from the 1932 and 1999 versions of The Mummy to An American Werewolf in London and the Abbott and Costello monster fests.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Jun 8, 2017
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| 18% | Baywatch (2017) |
Who'd have thought a flimsy, witless TV series like Baywatch could have spawned this boisterous, cheeky comedy?‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted May 25, 2017
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| 1/4 | 45% | Paris Can Wait (Bonjour Anne) (2017) |
This is nothing but a vanity project, relying on the conceit that Anne has been unfairly languishing in her husband's shadow. Eleanor Coppola must have made many sacrifices for her husband's art, but with Paris Can Wait the sacrifice is all ours.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted May 18, 2017
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| 28% | King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword (2017) |
After directing a number of British crime comedies, Guy Ritchie applied his rapid-fire wisecracks, gleeful violence, and flashy cutting and camera moves to the Sherlock Holmes franchise; that same method works well for this big-budget Arthurian legend.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted May 11, 2017
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| No Score Yet | Between Land and Sea (2016) |
The character's scenes with his mother (Vicky Hernandez) and the next-door-neighbor he adores (Viviana Serna) are engrossing in their unfussy realism, as Cruz...uses the tiniest of movements to suggest the red-blooded man trapped inside the infirm body. ‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Apr 27, 2017
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| No Score Yet | The Projects (Danchi) (2016) |
The movie's high point is an inventive sequence inside a massive UFO... The sequence reflects a traditional Japanese reverence for nature, and it helps compensate for the claustrophobic early scenes.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Apr 4, 2017
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| 85% | Mr. Gaga: A True Story of Love and Dance (2017) |
Naharin's style is both idiosyncratic and accessible, his movements both angular and supple, but above all his dances celebrate the body, built for the joy of motion.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Mar 31, 2017
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| 90% | Frantz (2017) |
This sublime mature work by François Ozon borrows liberally from Ernst Lubitsch's Broken Lullaby (1932) but supplants its fevered melodrama with erotically charged mystery.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Mar 16, 2017
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| 62% | Slack Bay (Ma loute) (2017) |
Cannibalism may not be everyone's idea of funny, but French director Bruno Dumont (L'Humanité, Hadewijch) elevates it to ghoulish camp in this slapstick skewering of the French bourgeoisie.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Mar 9, 2017
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| No Score Yet | Cock and Bull (2016) |
Cao may not have Tarantino's bravura, but he does have his own style and attitude, conveyed in inventive low-angle shots and snide jabs at modern-day robber barons.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Mar 9, 2017
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| 88% | Apprentice (2017) |
Benoit Soler's fluid, revolving camera frequently visualizes what the main character can't verbalize, and writer-director Boo Junfeng treats his thorny topic with sensitivity, but the pat ending is a letdown. ‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Feb 27, 2017
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| No Score Yet | Daughter (Dokhtar) (2016) |
[Cinematographer Hamid Khozouie Abyane] brings to his widescreen images an array of vivid colors and patterns, an architectural sense of composition, and a feel for climate and terrain.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Feb 23, 2017
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| 10% | Fifty Shades Darker (2017) |
Other than Dornan's exceptional physique, the movie offers little gratification, delayed or otherwise.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Feb 10, 2017
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| 100% | 2017 Oscar Nominated Shorts: Documentary (2017) |
The strongest entry this year is Orlando von Einsiedel's British short The White Helmets.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Feb 10, 2017
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| No Score Yet | Breath (2017) |
An unsentimental perspective distinguishes this 2016 Iranian drama from earlier youth-centered classics.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Feb 9, 2017
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| 94% | Hunter Gatherer (2016) |
By turns whimsical and touching.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Feb 2, 2017
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| No Score Yet | We Are One (I Am You) (2017) |
Originally titled I Am You, this documentary stresses our connection to each other and the planet, though director Kevin Mukherji undermines his theme with sloppy methodology and lazy thinking.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Jan 26, 2017
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| 52% | The Ardennes (D'Ardennen) (2017) |
Amid the plot twists lies a tricky conundrum about the relative culpability of miscreants and their enablers.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Jan 26, 2017
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| No Score Yet | Little Wound's Warriors (2017) |
McClellan sticks largely to close-ups, letting the students weigh in on subjects from tribal culture to dysfunctional parents, from school spirit to suicide. Stunning aerial shots of the Badlands help illustrate how the Lakota find renewal and purpose.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Jan 19, 2017
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| 83% | Lost And Beautiful (Bella e Perduta) (2016) |
Picturesque but somber.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Jan 19, 2017
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| 88% | A Monster Calls (2017) |
Rich in folkloric symbolism, this fantasy from director J.A. Bayona starts promisingly but eventually sinks under a wave of pop psychology.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Jan 5, 2017
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| 82% | Mifune: The Last Samurai (2016) |
This concise documentary focuses largely on his artistic partnership with Akira Kurosawa but includes enough about Japan's film industry and the star's charmed life to engross fans and casual viewers alike.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Jan 5, 2017
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| 100% | Homo Sapiens (2016) |
Geyrhalter piques the imagination with images of decay: towns, malls, theaters, and hospitals, all deserted, unnamed, and overrun by foliage and wildlife.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Jan 5, 2017
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| 85% | Lion (2016) |
Garth Davis uses close-ups sparingly and hits no false notes; cinematographer Greig Fraser creates a child's perspective by setting the camera at the hero's eye level and conveys the grandeur of India through sweeping panoramic and overhead shots.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Dec 22, 2016
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| 18% | Assassin's Creed (2016) |
Sci-fi fantasy meets pseudo history in this ill-conceived adaptation of a popular video game series.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Dec 21, 2016
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| 73% | Sing (2016) |
The plot may be shopworn, with not much aimed at adults, but the film's message that collaboration can reap greater rewards than competition is appropriate for all ages.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Dec 21, 2016
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| 14% | Collateral Beauty (2016) |
The premise stretches credulity even before the actors start giving the conspirators personal advice that sounds suspiciously otherworldly.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Dec 15, 2016
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| 71% | Coming Through The Rye (2016) |
The film's send-up of youthful obsession is sweet and funny, and its depiction of first love and buried pain is moving.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Dec 1, 2016
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| 71% | Bleed For This (2016) |
The familiar conventions of the boxing movie get a muscular overhaul in this gritty biopic about Vinny Pazienza, known as the Pazmanian Devil.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Nov 17, 2016
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| 46% | Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (2016) |
[Suffers from an] uneven tone, inelegant editing, and scattered narrative.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Nov 17, 2016
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| 49% | Almost Christmas (2016) |
Holiday movies about dysfunctional families are reassuring because their batty characters make our own relatives look harmless by comparison; this seasonal comedy delivers those tidings of comfort if not always joy.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Nov 10, 2016
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| 94% | Miss Hokusai (Sarusuberi: Miss Hokusai) (2016) |
Director Keiichi Hara achieves a balance between earthiness and aestheticism, suggesting a Japan on the cusp of modernity.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Oct 20, 2016
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| No Score Yet | The View from Tall (2015) |
This Chicago-set love story breaks new ground with the protagonist's self-knowledge and directness.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Oct 13, 2016
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| No Score Yet | Hurricane Bianca (2016) |
Crowd-funded on a teensy budget, the movie is not without its charms, including Ryan Matthieu Smith's inventive production and costume design and a cast of unknowns who prove worthy straight men to Del Rio.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Sep 22, 2016
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| 63% | The Magnificent Seven (2016) |
Director Antoine Fuqua proves that the western is far from dead with this rousing update of John Sturges's 1960 classic (itself adapted from Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai).‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Sep 22, 2016
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| 95% | Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise (2016) |
As this spirited documentary shows, the rise of poet, author, and activist Maya Angelou was anything but meteoric.‐ Chicago Reader
Read More | Posted Sep 15, 2016
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