Ethan Gilsdorf

Ethan Gilsdorf
Ethan Gilsdorf's reviews only count toward the Tomatometer when published at the following Tomatometer-approved publication(s): Boston Globe
Publications: Boston Globe

Movie Reviews Only

T-Meter Title | Year
3/4 No Score Yet Galapagos: Nature's Wonderland (2014) Corwin seems just as amused by the oddball flora and fauna as kids will likely be. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 11, 2016
2.5/4 No Score Yet Wild Africa (2015) Blurry footage of lions caught in a downpour feels curiously melancholic. Perfectly framed, thousands of flamingos filmed in Kenya's Lake Bogoria are reduced to works of abstract graphic design. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 19, 2015
3/4 67% Dark Star: HR Giger's World (2015) The film captures both the claustrophobic and melancholic mood of Giger's house, and also, perhaps, his mind. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Jul 2, 2015
2/4 87% Buzzard (2015) Even as a quiet pathos brews over time, "Buzzard" doesn't quite gel into compelling drama. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Mar 5, 2015
76% The Boxtrolls (2014) Like one of its wondrously designed steampunky contraptions, "The Boxtrolls" is a marvelous thing to behold, and watch spin, even if it doesn't go anywhere terribly interesting. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 25, 2014
65% The Maze Runner (2014) Teens should eat up this fantasy's scenery-chewing angst and doom, and the hopeful tale of survival and empowerment (to be continued in the inevitable sequel or sequels). - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 18, 2014
90% The Kill Team (2014) Krauss's documentary is both solid and scathing, raising more questions that it answers. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 11, 2014
1.5/4 50% That Demon Within (Mo Jing) (2014) There's a half-realized, half-haunting Hitchcockian psychodrama buried somewhere within "That Demon Within." What's on the surface plays more like Wong and Lam simply forgot to take their meds. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 17, 2014
3/4 89% Jerusalem (2013) This IMAX spectacular largely does what it's supposed to: fascinate, educate, and visually wow the audience, in 45 minutes or less. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 19, 2013
78% Die Wand (The Wall) (2013) Bleak and beautiful, harrowing yet inspiring, "The Wall" ("Die Wand") is a stunning tale of isolation and survival in a wild and silent world. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 18, 2013
2.5/4 No Score Yet Great White Shark 3D (2013) British codirectors Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas ("Wild Ocean," "The Last Reef") are no newcomers to the nature documentary. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Jun 6, 2013
2/4 37% The ABCs of Death (2013) Some shorts are four-star material, others incomprehensible and disgusting. The sum total is a cinematic abecedary that barely gets a passing grade. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Mar 7, 2013
2/4 15% The Last Exorcism Part II (2013) Once the "what is real, what is fantasy" questions are answered, and exorcism part deux commences, The Last Exorcism Part II abandons its half-intelligent, tender exploration of Nell's vulnerability and desirability. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Mar 6, 2013
1.5/4 8% Silent Hill: Revelation (2012) Silent Hill: Revelation 3D quickly devolves into a smorgasbord of sutured faces and blades poking the viewer in the eye. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Oct 26, 2012
2/4 57% V/H/S (2012) "The Blair Witch Project" meets mumblecore. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Oct 4, 2012
1.5/4 20% That's My Boy (2012) How did American comedies come to rely on raunch rather than wordplay? - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Jun 14, 2012
2/4 32% Intruders (2012) Its muddled, overambitious story leaves us unsatisfied - you might even say hollow. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Mar 29, 2012
1/4 48% The FP (2012) Neither obliviously dreadful enough to be "so bad it's good,'' nor intentionally tongue-in-cheek enough to be funny. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Mar 15, 2012
2.5/4 36% Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie (2012) See it in the right sick frame of mind, and "Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie'' can be shockingly and terribly hilarious. Or not. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Mar 1, 2012
1/4 23% Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 24, 2011
3/4 83% Pusher (1999) - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 24, 2011
2/4 49% Before the Rains (2008) - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 24, 2011
2/4 No Score Yet The Giant Buddhas (2006) - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 24, 2011
2/4 52% Devil (2010) - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 24, 2011
2/4 52% Puncture (2011) "Puncture'' is based on an actual court case. But is this a story best served by focusing on the legal battle or the arc of Mike's flawed hero? - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Oct 24, 2011
1/4 No Score Yet The Road to Freedom (2011) Unfortunately, beyond orchestrating crane shots sweeping over lush jungles and rice paddies, newcomer Brendan Moriarty is fairly clueless as a director. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Oct 3, 2011
1/4 11% Creature (2011) Deep in the swampy hearts and minds of some filmmakers, embarrassing stereotypes still fester, gathering moss and slime. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 10, 2011
2/4 63% Griff the Invisible (2011) The touches of magical realism begin to feel gimmicky. By the final frame, this romance never feels real enough. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Aug 25, 2011
3/4 74% Stake Land (2011) Other undead movies needlessly foreground the action. "Stake Land'' has its fight scenes, but here they're secondary. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Jun 16, 2011
2/4 50% Yellowbrickroad (2011) Despite us tagging along the trail for days, we feel closer to the landscape than to the characters. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Jun 10, 2011
2/4 74% POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (2011) Much like reality TV, nothing much of consequence happens. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 21, 2011
1.5/4 66% Insidious (2011) The final shocker succeeds in shocking, and does so sans gore. But first we have to wade through a red door and a red hallway, pleas to "follow my voice,'' and an infinity of fog about as scary as dry ice vapor spilling onto a dance floor. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Mar 31, 2011
2.5/4 No Score Yet Tornado Alley (2011) "Tornado Alley'' is awe-inspiring, doom-slinging fun, fluffy as the 10-mile-high clouds towering on the screen. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Mar 17, 2011
2/4 78% Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance (2011) Like a surly teen pilot, you, too, might find yourself bored and muttering, "Honestly, maybe the fate of humanity and the world isn't important to me, either.'' - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Mar 3, 2011
3/4 86% Bhutto (2010) At one point, Bhutto says she wants to avenge her father's death. "Bhutto'' proves she did. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Dec 16, 2010
3/4 No Score Yet Do It Again (2010) The filmmakers inject Do It Again with a likable and genuine guerrilla rawness. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Dec 10, 2010
1.5/4 21% Case 39 (2010) It's a bummer when the audience is smarter than the protagonist. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Oct 7, 2010
2/4 51% South of the Border (2010) Stone has a crucial, overlooked viewpoint to impart, but as a documentary filmmaker, his content and technique are not terribly engaging. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 30, 2010
2/4 33% The New Daughter (2009) Does tread with clunky boots upon well-worn horror movie territory. Every ominous sign is preceded by full moons, slithering fog, and thunderclaps. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Dec 22, 2009
2/4 38% X Games 3D: The Movie (2009) With its self-promoting tone and overwrought voice-over, the movie can seem more an ad for the X Games (and ESPN Films) than a real sports documentary. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Aug 20, 2009
2/4 86% Mystic India (2003) This is an ultra-romanticized vision of a crowded, complicated nation. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted May 21, 2009
1.5/4 49% Battle For Terra (2009) If you find the plot predictable, as a distraction we present an arsenal of 3-D visuals. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 30, 2009
1.5/4 63% Faubourg 36 (Paris 36) (2009) In the clumsy hands of Barratier, whose last film, The Chorus, irked many as maudlin, Paris 36 becomes a mostly pointless exercise in nostalgia. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 9, 2009
1.5/4 60% My Bloody Valentine 3-D (2009) My Bloody Valentine may not be horribly acted, but in a post-Scream and post-Scary Movie era, it's difficult to squeeze any more blood from this low-brow/high-camp turnip. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 20, 2009
3/4 70% Roving Mars (2006) Despite audiences knowing the happy ending from the get-go, [director] Butler manages to inject considerable drama. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 16, 2009
1.5/4 12% College Road Trip (2008) It's a dark day indeed when a movie's funniest moments involve Donny Osmond. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Mar 7, 2008
2/4 50% Ta Ra Rum Pum (2007) While Ta Ra Rum Pum doesn't deliver pure joy, it's worth a pit stop , if for no other reason than for its amusing, back-seat view of an India in flux and seduced by Western pop culture. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted May 1, 2007
3/4 No Score Yet Refn's raw vision may be hard to watch, but Bodnia, Mikkelsen, and Buric's measured and vulnerable performances make this trilogy worth the discomfort. - Boston Globe EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 3, 2006