Jeffrey Chen
Tomatometer-approved critic
Biography:
Jeff's movie-loving father made movies more a part of his life by opening a couple of video stores. His born-again movie-loving son now makes movies a part of his life by writing reviews about them. Jeff writes for ReelTalkReviews.com and his own site, windowtothemovies.com.
Publications:
ReelTalk Movie Reviews,
Window to the Movies
Critics' Group:
Online Film Critics Society
Location:
Los Angeles, CA
Official Websites:
windowtothemovies.com
Movie Reviews Only
| T-Meter | Title | Year | Review | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7/10 | 96% | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 (2011) |
The successful run of a franchise such as this is truly a rare feat in Hollywood. Take a bow, folks. - Window to the Movies
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| Posted Aug 3, 2011
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| 7/10 | 92% | Source Code (2011) |
Duncan Jones's sophomore film, Source Code, is an assured second step into the realm of thoughtful science fiction. - Window to the Movies
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| Posted Aug 3, 2011
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| 5/10 | 71% | The Adjustment Bureau (2011) |
Eventually the whole thing feels a little too silly to be able to take any of its inherent concerns meaningfully. - Window to the Movies
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| Posted Jul 26, 2011
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| 6/10 | 93% | Of Gods and Men (2011) |
Confirms without really challenging our readily held beliefs about the nobility of selflessness and sacrifice. - ReelTalk Movie Reviews
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| Posted Jul 20, 2011
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| 7/10 | 88% | Rango (2011) |
Kudos to the director for making it as oddball as it could get away with. - Window to the Movies
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| Posted Jul 20, 2011
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| 4/10 | 10% | Red Riding Hood (2011) |
Like Twilight, makes the shallow desire to run away with a boy the heroine's main concern. - Window to the Movies
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| Posted Jul 15, 2011
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| 8/10 | 89% | Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2011) |
One to absorb, to wonder at, and, perhaps most significantly, to give exposure to lines of thinking that one might not be familiar with. - Window to the Movies
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| Posted Jul 14, 2011
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| 7/10 | 40% | Cars 2 (2011) |
No, Cars 2 isn't another pearl from Pixar, but it's entertaining and well-made. - ReelTalk Movie Reviews
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| Posted Jun 25, 2011
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| 10/10 | 84% | The Tree of Life (2011) |
Its assembly alone makes a case for its achieving cinematic heights. It's a work of great confidence, asking its audience to observe, reflect, and feel. - ReelTalk Movie Reviews
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| Posted Jun 22, 2011
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| 8/10 | 93% | Another Year (2010) |
[Observes] the thin lines and acute angles which separate well-adjusted people on a continuing path of contentment from the less fortunate ones who live lives of regret and desperation. - Window to the Movies
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| Posted Jun 17, 2011
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| 6/10 | 66% | Biutiful (2010) |
Even though this movie piles it on, I can see its positive values and the potential it would have to reach the hearts of its audience. - Window to the Movies
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| Posted Jun 16, 2011
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| 4/10 | 24% | The Dilemma (2011) |
Feels like a throwaway effort by everyone involved. - ReelTalk Movie Reviews
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| Posted Jun 7, 2011
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| 5/10 | 44% | The Green Hornet (2011) |
Derivative of several molds and unable to really take command of any of them. - Window to the Movies
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| Posted Jun 3, 2011
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| 7/10 | 73% | Megamind (2010) |
Would be lost in the crowd, perhaps deservedly so, if it didn't pull aces on its execution. - Window to the Movies
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| Posted May 26, 2011
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| 8/10 | 96% | Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2011) |
We will likely never be able to see this amazing place in person. Thanks to Herzog for giving us the next best thing. - ReelTalk Movie Reviews
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| Posted May 20, 2011
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| 7/10 | 86% | Blue Valentine (2010) |
From the movie's standpoint, [its story] is a common tragedy that deserves acknowledgment and pity, and it pulls absolutely no punches in sharing its view. - Window to the Movies
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| Posted May 12, 2011
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| 5/10 | 50% | The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010) |
The lead kids here have their charms, and while the film is functional it lacks distinction and a passionate sense of drive. - Window to the Movies
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| Posted May 12, 2011
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| 7/10 | 77% | Thor (2011) |
A well-balanced mixture of summer movie pop aesthetics -- not too serious, not too light, with a flare for visual pizazz and big personality. - ReelTalk Movie Reviews
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| Posted May 9, 2011
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| 6/10 | 31% | How Do You Know (2010) |
What makes any of these kinds of movies run involves the appeal of the main actors, and all three, stalwart in their screen likabilities, smooth the proceedings. - ReelTalk Movie Reviews
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| Posted May 3, 2011
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| 4/10 | 20% | The Tourist (2010) |
Depp and Jolie together create a chemical black hole. They couldn't produce sparks with dry hair and a comb. - Window to the Movies
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| Posted May 3, 2011
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| 7/10 | 96% | Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster (2011) |
The movie is simply an entertaining second chance to see more of this man of character in action. - ReelTalk Movie Reviews
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| Posted Apr 23, 2011
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| 5/10 | 49% | Love and Other Drugs (2010) |
There were several potential avenues to develop here, but the film settles for something conventional and sentimental with its love story. - ReelTalk Movie Reviews
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| Posted Apr 8, 2011
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| 7/10 | 94% | Animal Kingdom (2010) |
Michôd takes familiar material and approaches it with less emphasis on the sensational and more on the surreal atmosphere of accepted dread. - Window to the Movies
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| Posted Apr 8, 2011
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| 7/10 | 79% | Fair Game (2010) |
A drama about the cost of idealism and sticking to your guns in order to bring truth to the light. - Window to the Movies
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| Posted Apr 1, 2011
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| 7/10 | 50% | The Next Three Days (2010) |
Haggis somehow pulls off a delicate balancing act -- a gravity-bound fantasy scenario -- showing us John's desperate, dark, human need while playing out made-for-movie scenes. - Window to the Movies
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| Posted Mar 21, 2011
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| 7/10 | 87% | Unstoppable (2010) |
Scott subdues his more stylized tendencies to deliver the kind of meat-and-potatoes action thriller that might very well be watched and enjoyed by the heroic blue collar characters in this movie. - Window to the Movies
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| Posted Mar 21, 2011
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| 3/10 | 10% | My Soul to Take (2010) |
Is it just possible that Craven fumbled the ball this time and gave us the equivalent of a fairly amateur teen horror flick? - Window to the Movies
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| Posted Mar 21, 2011
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| 7/10 | 85% | Easy A (2010) |
It does get by on lively energy, a creativity in its writing, and a star turn by Stone. - Window to the Movies
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| Posted Mar 21, 2011
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| 6/10 | 43% | Gedo senki (Tales from Earthsea) (2010) |
A passable piece from the junior Miyazaki, and one only hopes the reservation in voice felt here will be far more loosened in future projects. - ReelTalk Movie Reviews
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| Posted Mar 16, 2011
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| 8/10 | 90% | The Illusionist (L'illusionniste) (2010) |
To give Tati his posthumous chance to express a very sad story may have been Chomet's only true course, and, to be honest, the film is beautifully, thoughtfully realized. - Window to the Movies
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| Posted Mar 16, 2011
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| 10/10 | 98% | Inside Job (2010) |
We want them to go to jail and realize the horror of what they've done? Is that too much to hope for? The answer may be too hard to face. - ReelTalk Movie Reviews
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| Posted Mar 14, 2011
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| 6/10 | 82% | Four Lions (2010) |
The comedy is as black as can be, both silly and sharp ... It just doesn't quite succeed in its Dr. Strangelove-inspired goal. - Window to the Movies
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| Posted Mar 8, 2011
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| 8/10 | 86% | White Material (2010) |
Vial is presented as a complex character who feels she's been backed against a wall, and on the one hand we can see where she's coming from, but on the other hand we might think she's just nuts. - Window to the Movies
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| Posted Mar 4, 2011
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| 9/10 | 98% | Marwencol (2010) |
Speaks to the addictiveness, the catharsis, the unpredictability, and the eternity of the creative process. - Window to the Movies
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| Posted Mar 4, 2011
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| 7/10 | 97% | Sweetgrass (2009) |
The movie is decidedly no frills, and it both lives and dies by this strict adherence to its protocol. - Window to the Movies
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| Posted Mar 2, 2011
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| 9/10 | 92% | Vincere (2010) |
The events occur not to tell a narrative, but to illustrate an emotional progress. - Window to the Movies
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| Posted Mar 2, 2011
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| 8/10 | 91% | Fish Tank (2010) |
Reveals the incidental arrival of the first trickles of emerging maturity. - Window to the Movies
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| Posted Feb 28, 2011
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| 5/10 | 54% | The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (2010) |
Lisbeth Salander, played by Noomi Rapace, spends most of the story constrained -- first in the hospital, then in prison. What fun is that? - ReelTalk Movie Reviews
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| Posted Feb 24, 2011
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| 7/10 | 68% | Wild Grass (Les Herbes Folles) (2010) |
Resnais is having fun here, possibly at the expense of audiences who demand tradition. - ReelTalk Movie Reviews
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| Posted Feb 24, 2011
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| 5/10 | 46% | You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010) |
Although Allen's field of poorly adjusted people may be interesting to watch run around for a while, they shed little new light on an already well-expressed cynical point of view. - ReelTalk Movie Reviews
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| Posted Feb 20, 2011
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| 5/10 | 58% | Paranormal Activity 2 (2010) |
Not only drags out too long, it fails to pay off at the end. - ReelTalk Movie Reviews
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| Posted Feb 20, 2011
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| 8/10 | 72% | Enter the Void (Soudain le vide) (2010) |
The discipline on display here, to stick with concept and to execute it with consistency, is intense and considerable. - Window to the Movies
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| Posted Feb 14, 2011
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| 8/10 | 88% | Alle Anderen (Everyone Else) (2010) |
Notable for its realism ... striking in its simple relatability. - ReelTalk Movie Reviews
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| Posted Feb 14, 2011
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| 6/10 | 50% | Ong Bak 3 (2011) |
The 'enlightened' defensive fighting of Jaa, whose screen presence is more crucial than ever here in selling this scenario, pulls it off -- but just by a hair. - ReelTalk Movie Reviews
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| Posted Feb 10, 2011
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| 8/10 | 34% | A Woman, A Gun and a Noodle Shop (San qiang pai an jing qi) (A Simple Noodle Story) (The First Gun) (2010) |
A valentine from one director to a famous team of others. - ReelTalk Movie Reviews
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| Posted Feb 9, 2011
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| 6/10 | 80% | Nowhere Boy (2010) |
A passable drama, and might make a nice double feature with Backbeat. - ReelTalk Movie Reviews
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| Posted Feb 9, 2011
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| 9/10 | 93% | Dogtooth (Kynodontas) (2010) |
A kind of ingenious horror show you just can't take your eyes off of. - ReelTalk Movie Reviews
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| Posted Feb 2, 2011
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| 3/10 | 22% | Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) |
The law of diminishing returns rears its ugly, ugly head with Resident Evil: Afterlife, the fourth movie in a series that is going absolutely nowhere. - Window to the Movies
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| Posted Feb 2, 2011
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| 6/10 | 55% | Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010) |
Those who see [Gordon Gekko] as an antihero worthy of redemption might find this kinder, gentler Wall Street worth sitting through. - Window to the Movies
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| Posted Feb 2, 2011
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| 5/10 | 81% | I Am Love (2010) |
For me the obvious attempts at enhancing lushness, rapture, and emotional swings were not connecting. I couldn't help noticing it was trying too hard. - ReelTalk Movie Reviews
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| Posted Feb 1, 2011
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