Carla Meyer

Tomatometer-approved critic
Biography:
Film Critic, San Francisco Chronicle
Publications:
Sacramento Bee,
San Francisco Chronicle,
Dallas Morning News
Critics' Group:
San Francisco Film Critics Circle
Movie Reviews Only
T-Meter | Title | Year | Review | |
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2/4 | 67% | Penguin Bloom (2021) |
In this era of increased calls for more authentic and inclusive representation onscreen, Watts' casting seems, at the very least, outdated. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Jan 25, 2021
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3/4 | 70% | A Recipe for Seduction (2020) |
Lopez is the most respectful fake Sanders yet, giving "Recipe's" least soapy performance. He brings a stoicism and a bravery to the character, who can head-butt a guy without disturbing his own horn-rimmed specs. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Dec 14, 2020
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3/4 | 100% | Represent (2020) |
An imperfect but insightful film... - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Aug 12, 2020
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2/4 | 29% | The Secret: Dare to Dream (2020) |
The film becomes so bad that no amount of positive thinking - as recommended by Rhonda Byrne's 2006 mega-selling nonfiction book "The Secret," from which this narrative film is drawn - can save it. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Jul 30, 2020
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1/4 | 52% | I Still Believe (2020) |
An overlong, badly paced film filled with cliched dialogue and accented by pleasant yet forgettable music. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Mar 11, 2020
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2.5/4 | 62% | The Call of the Wild (2020) |
Ford exhibits so much feeling here that he transports us back to his work in earlier films like "Witness" and "The Fugitive"; back to when you could make a case for him as a great actor and not just a movie star, or Chewie's cranky companion. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Feb 19, 2020
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3/4 | 86% | Ms. Purple (2019) |
Carey and Kasie have suppressed most outward signs of emotion. But Chu and Lee show the emotion roiling beneath the surface... - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Sep 19, 2019
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2.5/4 | 84% | Downton Abbey (2019) |
"Downton Abbey," an enjoyable but uneven film adaptation of the beloved PBS series, seems designed to give fans what they want. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Sep 17, 2019
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2/4 | 42% | Vita & Virginia (2019) |
The movie's editing undermines both lead performances. Scenes end abruptly, or seem set up for a moment that never arrives. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Sep 5, 2019
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3/4 | 86% | The Nightingale (2019) |
Just as she did in "The Babadook," Kent maintains tension for so long at a stretch that you do not notice you have forgotten to breathe until it finally eases up. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Aug 7, 2019
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3/4 | 92% | Wild Rose (2019) |
Buckley's unusually unguarded expressions give viewers entry into her character's every thought. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Jun 26, 2019
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2/4 | 88% | American Woman (2019) |
Had the movie been more focused on Deb's devastation over Bridget's disappearance, Miller might have been great in it. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Jun 11, 2019
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2.5/4 | 60% | The Secret Life of Pets 2 (2019) |
Watching these movies that imagine what pets do when you are away is like seeing a more colorful, exciting version of your home pet cam. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Jun 5, 2019
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3/4 | 66% | Wine Country (2019) |
Director Poehler clearly allowed for improv on set, but she also kept this film from losing its shape the way so many "SNL"-tied films before it have. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted May 7, 2019
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1/4 | 40% | El Chicano (2019) |
Diego... lacks any nuance as a character. He is grim and humorless, like most everything else about this film. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted May 1, 2019
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3/4 | 96% | Hail Satan? (2019) |
"Hail Satan?" is too lacking in conflict (apart from the eternal one) to be a true study of a movement. But it's a highly entertaining survey. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Apr 24, 2019
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3/4 | 99% | Amazing Grace (2019) |
In "Amazing Grace," Franklin's vocals are pristine and elastic, her control of her instrument absolute. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Apr 11, 2019
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3/4 | 96% | On Her Shoulders (2018) |
Its subject compels throughout. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Oct 31, 2018
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2.5/4 | 95% | Blaze (2018) |
Dickey would have made a strong impression regardless. But it turns out he can act, and sing, and has a genuine magnetism that combines with an endearing quality to create a highly appealing screen presence. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Oct 9, 2018
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2.5/4 | 85% | Antonio Lopez 1970: Sex Fashion & Disco (2018) |
There is a remarkable person here, and Crump should get credit for reintroducing him to the spotlight, even if it takes wading through disco and banality to get to him. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Oct 3, 2018
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3/4 | 84% | A Simple Favor (2018) |
"Favor" is packed with jokes, most very funny. The ones that are not as funny usually land anyway, thanks to Kendrick's sly delivery and Lively's blithe way with a putdown. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Sep 12, 2018
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2/4 | 91% | Teen Titans Go! To the Movies (2018) |
"Teen Titans" never reaches that sweet spot where adult and kid humor align in a single gag. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Jul 25, 2018
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1/4 | 56% | The First Purge (2018) |
Without ideologies at play, how is this "Purge" film different from the others? It isn't. It's interesting, then boring, then bad, like the rest. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Jul 3, 2018
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4/4 | 100% | Leave No Trace (2018) |
Whether this insular relationship can survive in the larger world is the source of such consistent, compelling tension that you do not notice until this close-to-two-hour film is nearly over that it contains almost no exposition. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Jun 29, 2018
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2/4 | 49% | A Kid Like Jake (2018) |
Some of this material is too sensitive, granted, to have a very young actor play it. But "Jake" goes too far the other way, giving us only glimpses of the boy, who emerges as more of a symbol than a real child. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Jun 13, 2018
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3/4 | 100% | The Judge (2018) |
"The Judge" lays out facts while avoiding making easy judgments about how Palestinian men view and treat women. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Apr 26, 2018
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2.5/4 | 90% | Lean on Pete (2018) |
It takes place in a world films rarely show, one where the crusty mentor lacks a heart of gold and where country music plays in every diner, but the people eating there are hard, not homespun. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Apr 12, 2018
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2/4 | 51% | The Miracle Season (2018) |
High school volleyball is not an exciting sport to watch on a big screen. At least not the way "Miracle" director Sean McNamara presents it. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Apr 5, 2018
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3/4 | 94% | Foxtrot (2018) |
Israeli filmmaker Samuel Maoz's strange, engaging "Foxtrot" offsets tragedy with a significant entertainment factor. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Mar 13, 2018
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2/4 | 87% | Thoroughbreds (2018) |
It starts out strong but ends up basic, lacking the complexity of "Heavenly Creatures" or even "Wild Things." - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Mar 6, 2018
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1/4 | 23% | The 15:17 to Paris (2018) |
Athough Eastwood deserves credit for not going the cheesy route by drawing out the attack unnaturally, the rest of "15:17" is so drawn out, you almost wish he would have given into cheese. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Feb 8, 2018
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2.5/4 | 77% | In the Fade (Aus dem Nichts) (2017) |
[Kruger's] performance sustains interest in the movie when director and co-writer Fatih Akin ("Head-On"), after a highly promising start, takes it into C-grade Liam Neeson territory. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Jan 10, 2018
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3/4 | 100% | Paddington 2 (2018) |
These actors all yield the floor to Hugh Grant's delightful performance as Phoenix Buchanan, a vain thespian who lives near the Browns in London. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Jan 9, 2018
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1/4 | 17% | Father Figures (2017) |
Comedian Katt Williams, in a small role as a chipper hitchhiker, injects about 15 minutes worth of fun into Father Figures, an otherwise mostly dreadful road comedy in which Ed Helms and Owen Wilson play twins searching for a man to call dad. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Dec 21, 2017
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3/4 | 76% | Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) |
Johnson is good at suggesting a timid teen beneath his wall of muscle. Gillan seems believably unsure of herself as the nerd Martha, while also making exposed abs look classy. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Dec 19, 2017
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2/4 | 86% | My Friend Dahmer (2017) |
Which came first, bullies or dead animals in jars? "Friend" does not say, nor is there a clear link between the discord in Jeff's home and his behavior. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Nov 16, 2017
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3/4 | 97% | Mudbound (2017) |
The story's eventual move into brutality is all the more devastating because of well-observed intimacy that preceded it. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Nov 16, 2017
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3/4 | 98% | Jane (2017) |
Full of vivid greens and sun-backlit wildlife imagery, Van Lawick's shots are beautifully composed yet not too formal looking, thanks to the warm, grainy quality of 16-millimeter film. "Jane" looks like an old home movie directed by David Lean. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Oct 26, 2017
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1/4 | 50% | Blood Money (2017) |
This brand of eccentricity does not suit Cusack. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Oct 12, 2017
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3/4 | 92% | The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (2017) |
Sandler lends Danny an open-heartedness that grounds the film. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Oct 11, 2017
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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
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| Posted Jun 23, 2017
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85% | Other People (2016) |
Other People [is] a highly affecting Sacramento-set tragi-comedy . - Sacramento Bee
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| Posted Jun 23, 2017
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82% | Amanda Knox (2016) |
The powerful new documentary "Amanda Knox" emphasizes the spike in awareness of sexism just since 2007. - Sacramento Bee
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| 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
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| Posted Jun 22, 2017
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2.5/4 | 65% | 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
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| 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
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| Posted Nov 8, 2016
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2.5/4 | 31% | 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
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| 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
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| 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
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| Posted Nov 8, 2016
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3/4 | 93% | 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
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| Posted Dec 17, 2015
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