Charles Solomon

Charles Solomon
Tomatometer-approved critic
Publications: indieWire, Los Angeles Times, Animation Scoop, FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
Critics' Group: Los Angeles Film Critics Association

Movie Reviews Only

T-Meter Title | Year
No Score Yet The Minimalists: Less Is Now (2020) This is a case where less really is less. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 4, 2021
76% Audrey (2020) Who doesn't love Audrey Hepburn? Unfortunately, this is a not very good film that tells you a lot less about her than it should. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 4, 2021
95% Soul (2020) It's warm, it's charming, it's funny, [and] it has a terrific jazz score. It's a lovely film and has some very interesting, groundbreaking design work. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 4, 2021
No Score Yet The Library That Dolly Built (2020) The documentary sometimes wanders a little bit and talks about Parton more than the children, but I found it quite moving. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Dec 11, 2020
95% Lupin III: The First (2020) Its two problems are that it is very talky and it gets out of control in some ways because the special effects are too easy. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Dec 11, 2020
100% Giving Voice (2020) It's a very well-made documentary. They built a lot of suspense and you learn a lot about a handful of the applicants... I thought it was a terrific film. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Dec 11, 2020
85% Insert Coin (2020) It's interesting, but not terribly deep or warm and fuzzy. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 25, 2020
95% Zappa (2020) There is a lot of footage that is very, very interesting, but I wish they had given you more depth. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 25, 2020
77% The Croods: A New Age (2020) The filmic equivalent of an obnoxious relative who comes to the holiday dinner before he's supposed to, turns the conversation into a monologue, and then stays after you want to go to bed. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 25, 2020
No Score Yet Queen of Hearts: Audrey Flack (2020) For people looking for insight into this talented artist's work, this film is a revelation. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 13, 2020
78% I Am Greta (2020) The subject is more interesting than the film... It doesn't really tell us anything that we didn't already know about her and her cause. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 13, 2020
89% Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (2020) I found it bewildering... I was just gritting my teeth. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 13, 2020
68% Ammonite (2020) Turns [a] brilliant, pioneering scientist into a grim, humorless, introverted drudge. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 13, 2020
100% Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe (2020) It's not as much fun as their earlier feature... But it's still lots of fun. If you like the series, it gives you exactly what you're looking for. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 4, 2020
100% A Most Beautiful Thing (2020) This is a very compelling film and a very timely one. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 4, 2020
89% Robin's Wish (2020) To see [Robin Williams] crumble under this horrible disease for which there is no cure was very, very sad, and [the film] is quite moving. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 4, 2020
61% Children of the Sea (Kaijû no Kodomo) (2020) I don't think it makes much sense, but there is some attractive imagery in it. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 4, 2020
100% Coup 53 (2020) Half of the film is really compelling, and the other half I just found frustrating. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Aug 31, 2020
58% Tesla (2020) It's sort of a biography, but they don't trust their subject or their audience, so they do all these cutesy and affected little bits. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Aug 31, 2020
71% The One and Only Ivan (2020) It's okay for families, but I don't think there's anything great or new here. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Aug 31, 2020
93% Howard (2020) His life was tragically cut short... The film made me cry. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Aug 17, 2020
92% Rebuilding Paradise (2020) It is so powerful and so frightening. You wonder "Where did [Ron Howard] find this footage?"... After the fire though, the film rambles a bit. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Aug 12, 2020
73% Helmut Newton: The Bad and the Beautiful (2020) I didn't care much for the film or its subject. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Jul 24, 2020
100% We Are the Radical Monarchs (2019) You respond more to the cast than the filmmaking... You would have to be an absolute Grinch not to be taken with these girls and watching them grow, mature, and develop ideas and learning to express them. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Jul 24, 2020
64% Animal Crackers (2017) This was actually completed in 2017. It's been on the shelf since then, where it should have stayed, as it's pretty terrible. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Jul 24, 2020
94% Whisper of the Heart (Mimi wo sumaseba) (If You Listen Closely) (2006) If there's a Ghibli film that is under-appreciated, it's this one. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Jul 17, 2020
96% Ghost in the Shell (1996) It's dark, violent, a lot of nudity, but it's very powerful filmmaking and a very important film. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Jul 17, 2020
100% Animation Outlaws (2020) It's interesting, but I think a little repetitious and long. It's just fun to see these clips and the filmmakers, though. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Jul 17, 2020
No Score Yet Dateline: Saigon (2016) A very important film and a very timely one. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Jul 17, 2020
91% Father Soldier Son (2020) What bothers me about this film is that it rambles a bit and it seems to me inappropriate to be interviewing a 7-year-old saying goodbye to his father... It feels intrusive to me. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Jul 17, 2020
78% Flannery (2020) Two big problems: the first is that the filmmaking is very simpleminded... [The second is] that you watch her relatives and admirers tying themselves in knots trying to excuse her really loathsome behavior. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Jul 17, 2020
98% Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) Even by Hayao Miyazaki's elevated standard, Kiki's Delivery Service is a singularly charming film. - indieWire EDIT
Read More | Posted Jun 11, 2020
No Score Yet Chance (2019) Director Kenny Roy's use of mime and slow-motion sequences only highlights the limits of the animation. - Los Angeles Times EDIT
Read More | Posted May 20, 2020
90% Up from the Streets: New Orleans: The City of Music (2019) It's very upbeat, interesting, and I learned a lot from it. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted May 15, 2020
47% Scoob! (2020) It's not what you watch Scooby Doo for... It's a lot of Hanna-Barbera in-jokes. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted May 15, 2020
90% The Booksellers (2020) It drifts from one interview and subject into another without any overarching structure... I think it is weak as a film. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 20, 2020
70% Trolls World Tour (2020) This film feels like you are sticking your head in a bucket full of glitter while somebody bangs on it with a pipe wrench. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 20, 2020
81% Tigertail (2020) It's understated, tasteful, and poignant. I quite liked it. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 11, 2020
91% School Life (La vie scolaire) (2020) The kids kind of steal the film because there are some excellent performances from these unknown actors. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 11, 2020
33% Love Wedding Repeat (2020) If you ever needed something in the dictionary to illustrate "First World Problems," it would be a still from this movie. It's about rich, vulgar twits who run around saying stupid things nobody would ever really utter. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 11, 2020
83% Strike (2020) This has apparently been sitting on the shelf since 2018, which is a good place for it. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 11, 2020
14% The Nutcracker Prince (1990) A blend of leaden gags, muddled storytelling and Saturday morning-style animation, it's more a holiday threat than a treat. - Los Angeles Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Mar 11, 2020
72% Escape from Pretoria (2020) They really don't set up the characters... I wanted to know more about those characters and less about whittling keys. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Mar 6, 2020
95% First Cow (2020) I could not make out much of the dialogue and a lot of it is so under-lit... There were gaps that I didn't follow. Plus, as someone who bakes, I had some questions. It just didn't win me over. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Mar 6, 2020
88% Onward (2020) This is minor Pixar at best, I'm afraid... They've turned their back on their art form and the animation is just supporting talk, talk, and more talk. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Mar 6, 2020
44% Pokémon the Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution (2019) The Pokémon battles and declarations of affection provide what fans expect, but after 20 years, it all feels very familiar. - Los Angeles Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 27, 2020
90% My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising (2020) "My Hero Academia: Rising Heroes" delivers the selfless feats of daring-do, slapstick comedy, friendship and over-the-top battles fans love and expect. - Los Angeles Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 25, 2020
No Score Yet Violet Evergarden: Eternity and Auto Memory Doll (2020) I'm sorry that I didn't like it better... I couldn't get very much out of it. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 20, 2020
93% Ride Your Wave (2020) "Ride Your Wave" confirms Masaaki Yuasa's place among the most interesting directors working in animation today. - Los Angeles Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 19, 2020
93% Ride Your Wave (2020) The film is very warm, very charming, and an example of how the Japanese are creating much more interesting animated heroines than we are. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 14, 2020