Carla Meyer
Carla Meyer's reviews (from any publication) always count toward the Tomatometer
because this critic is a Tomatometer-approved critic.
| Biography: |
Film Critic, San Francisco Chronicle
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| Publications: | Sacramento Bee, San Francisco Chronicle, Dallas Morning News |
| Critics' Group: | San Francisco Film Critics Circle |
Movie Reviews Only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100% | Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds (2017) |
If you have or had a mother, or a daughter, or a father, or a son, you are likely to blubber through Bright Lights ... But don't. You will miss part of the show, and Reynolds would not want that.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Jun 23, 2017
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| 88% | Other People (2016) |
Other People [is] a highly affecting Sacramento-set tragi-comedy .‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Jun 23, 2017
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| 85% | Amanda Knox (2016) |
The powerful new documentary "Amanda Knox" emphasizes the spike in awareness of sexism just since 2007. ‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Jun 23, 2017
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| 98% | Moonlight (2016) |
The five stories' most striking commonality is placing its characters in conflict with the American ideal of being able to forge one's own destiny.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Jun 22, 2017
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| 2.5/4 | 63% | The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015) |
The retirees' embrace of India, and a resulting lack of transformative experiences, diminish the dramatic possibilities in Second.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Nov 8, 2016
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| 2/4 | 51% | Unbroken (2014) |
Unbroken is a triumph-of-the-spirit film that devotes too much time to attempts at squashing that spirit.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Nov 8, 2016
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| 2.5/4 | 27% | Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014) |
It creates a less-believable ancient world and contains fewer compelling action scenes than Scott's previous sun-and-sandals epic Gladiator -- nor conviction.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Nov 8, 2016
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| 4/4 | 97% | Two Days, One Night (2014) |
It is Cotillard's emotional accessibility that turns this drama and character study into a quiet thriller.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Nov 8, 2016
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| 3/4 | 89% | A Most Violent Year (2015) |
J.C. Chandor is becoming American cinema's foremost chronicler of men in crisis.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Nov 8, 2016
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| 3/4 | 92% | Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015) |
[The Force Awakens] rarely stops moving, yet its action never seems excessive. That's because combatants and targets always remain clear instead of fuzzed up by the hyper-speed visuals hack action directors use.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Dec 17, 2015
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| 3/4 | 97% | All Things Must Pass: The Rise and Fall of Tower Records (2015) |
The film never lapses into hagiography, partly because Solomon is too authentic a presence.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Oct 22, 2015
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| 4/4 | 97% | Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) |
Real people and organic settings always capture the eye more fully, and imply higher stakes, than CGI imagery. Miller ups the ante by ensuring all characters and vehicles are visually striking, either in their good looks or their hideousness.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted May 14, 2015
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| 2/4 | 75% | Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) |
Ultron is too full, of action and CGI, while also being nearly empty of genuine thrills. A talented cast impresses throughout, but the action ultimately overwhelms it.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Apr 29, 2015
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| 3/4 | 84% | While We're Young (2015) |
When "Young" is good, it is delicious, playing on 40-somethings' resistance to being considered "middle-aged."‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Apr 9, 2015
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| 2.5/4 | 80% | Furious 7 (2015) |
The ramrod-serious Diesel and Statham sell the dialogue, anyway. So do the more lighthearted Johnson and Tyrese Gibson. Johnson and Gibson wring laughs from obvious jokes. The acting champ of 7, though, is Michelle Rodriguez.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Apr 2, 2015
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| 3/4 | 97% | It Follows (2015) |
It succeeds as a thriller, with performances that strike a grave, quiet tone suited to the film's wide shots, long takes and carefully cultivated mood of foreboding.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Mar 26, 2015
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| 1.5/4 | 29% | Get Hard (2015) |
The distasteful, often flat Get Hard succeeds only as a testament to the resilience of talent.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Mar 26, 2015
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| 1.5/4 | 29% | Insurgent (2015) |
Long and violent but lacking narrative momentum, Insurgent is an inferior sequel to the already mediocre Divergent.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Mar 18, 2015
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| 2/4 | 83% | Cinderella (2015) |
Even with Blanchett playing her, the stepmother remains the same uncomplicated villain she was in the 1950 Disney animated film. This is even more disappointing than the Cinderella character lacking gumption, since she's always been bland.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Mar 12, 2015
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| 2.5/4 | 56% | Focus (2015) |
Robbie brings such genuine feeling to heavier scenes and such joy to light ones that her acting fools us into thinking Jess is a more developed character than she is.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Feb 27, 2015
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| 3/4 | 80% | McFarland USA (2015) |
The lovely McFarland, USA hits the expected mile markers on the inspirational-sports-movie path while slowing down enough to craft a rich portrait of a place and its inhabitants.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Feb 19, 2015
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| 3/4 | 87% | Still Alice (2015) |
Attempting to describe the level of tragedy contained in Moore's performance in the film's third act brings to mind the limits within Alice's chosen field of study. Because no words do it justice.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Feb 5, 2015
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| 10% | The Boy Next Door (2015) |
Gigli exists. Therefore no other Jennifer Lopez movie can be the worst Jennifer Lopez movie ever made. The silly, clichéd, visually irritating The Boy Next Door gives it the ol' high school try, anyhow.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Jan 22, 2015
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| 3.5/4 | 72% | American Sniper (2015) |
Though his past as a punk-challenging, on-screen enforcer suggests a guy who thinks he has the answers, Eastwood the director always asks the big questions.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Jan 15, 2015
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| 3/4 | 74% | Inherent Vice (2015) |
Vice will be remembered as minor Anderson. But even greats can use a romp or two in their oeuvres.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Jan 9, 2015
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| 3/4 | 99% | Selma (2015) |
DuVernay shows visual assurance and a way with actors and especially words.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Jan 8, 2015
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| 3/4 | 90% | The Imitation Game (2014) |
Knightley here gives a mature performance that matches Cumberbatch's in commitment.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Jan 4, 2015
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| 2.5/4 | 88% | Foxcatcher (2014) |
Foxcatcher does not invoke ideas beyond the real-life story of du Pont and the Schultzes, thus depressing its audience without offering any compensating lessons.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Dec 18, 2014
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| 3.5/4 | 90% | Wild (2014) |
Wild captures the quality of real-life thinking and walking, of the physical rhythm of movement sometimes dislodging random memories.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Dec 18, 2014
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| 3/4 | 86% | Top Five (2014) |
Top Five entertains more than any previous film in which Rock was top-billed primarily because its content as well plays like an extension of Rock's stand-up act.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Dec 11, 2014
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| 3/4 | 34% | Horrible Bosses 2 (2014) |
Unless some hidden straight-to-video gem exists, Horrible Bosses 2 stands alone as a raunchy-comedy sequel that's superior to its predecessor.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Nov 24, 2014
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| 3/4 | 79% | The Theory of Everything (2014) |
Highlighted by an extraordinary performance by Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything offers an easy introduction to Stephen Hawking for people curious about the brilliant astrophysicist but intimidated by the whole "astrophysicist" thing.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Nov 21, 2014
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| 2/4 | 66% | The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014) |
The film ultimately rests on Lawrence, and though she never disappoints, a single actress -- even one as lovely and lovable as she -- cannot save a blockbuster film.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Nov 19, 2014
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| 3/4 | 89% | Big Hero 6 (2014) |
Voice actor Potter, still a teenager himself, lends Hiro an authentic youthfulness and likability. But Tadashi and Baymax are the standout characters.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Nov 6, 2014
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| 3/4 | 71% | Interstellar (2014) |
You never know what's coming in Interstellar. It stokes and maintains a sense of anticipation often missing in Hollywood blockbusters intent on being formulaic and thus global audience-friendly.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Nov 6, 2014
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| 91% | Birdman (2014) |
Visually urgent, inflected by humor and enriched by savvy performances, the film succeeds on a surface storytelling level and as a deeper exploration of culture -- high, low and whatever sub-floor Twitter fame occupies.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Oct 30, 2014
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| 1.5/4 | 77% | Fury (2014) |
Ayer can match Tarantino's brutality but lacks his humor and finesse.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Oct 16, 2014
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| 2.5/4 | 47% | The Judge (2014) |
When the judge finally softens up a bit, Duvall generates genuine audience waterworks.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Oct 10, 2014
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| 2.5/4 | 78% | Kill the Messenger (2014) |
Though well-acted and at moments thrilling, "Messenger" fails to satisfy as a story of the little guy taking on government corruption -- because the little guy is crushed and there is no bigger narrative payoff.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Oct 10, 2014
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| 3.5/4 | 88% | Gone Girl (2014) |
Gone Girl lives up to its promise as the year's "event" movie for fanboys and fangirls who prefer book clubs to comic-book stores.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Oct 3, 2014
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| 63% | The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them (2014) |
It unfolds gradually, and with intimacy and immediacy, as it chronicles the first blush of romance between Eleanor and Conor and their relationship's worst days.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Sep 18, 2014
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| 41% | This Is Where I Leave You (2014) |
This Is Where I Leave You is a virtually plot-free cliché collection that entertains nevertheless.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Sep 18, 2014
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| 1.5/4 | 17% | When The Game Stands Tall (2014) |
Die-hard football fans likely will be the first to notice how bogus it is for the film to try to present this team as underdogs.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Aug 21, 2014
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| 52% | Magic in the Moonlight (2014) |
The first sign Magic in the Moonlight will be one of those Woody Allen duds - the ones that always seem to follow successes such as last year's Blue Jasmine -- is how often the topic of napping arises.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Aug 14, 2014
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| 68% | The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014) |
The Hundred-Foot Journey is a feel-good movie so intent on making its audience feel good that it ladles its more sentimental aspects when only a pinch would have done.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Aug 7, 2014
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| 3.5/4 | 97% | Life Itself (2014) |
A moving, intimate documentary that follows the great film critic Roger Ebert in his last months and gives context to his life and career.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Jul 31, 2014
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| 4/4 | 98% | Boyhood (2014) |
The film takes the audience on a visceral trip back to childhood partly because it shows a real child mature on screen. What completes the effect, though, is masterful writing and directing, by Linklater, and editing, by Sandra Adair.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Jul 31, 2014
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| 3/4 | 91% | Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) |
The breezy, character-piloted Guardians of the Galaxy shows a Marvel comics film need not offer big stars (at least visible ones) to entertain.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Jul 31, 2014
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| 3/4 | 87% | A Most Wanted Man (2014) |
The joys of Hoffman's performance are evident on first viewing.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Jul 24, 2014
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| 2.5/4 | 67% | Lucy (2014) |
[A] silly-fun but highly flawed sci-fi shoot-'em-up.‐ Sacramento Bee
Read More | Posted Jul 24, 2014
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