Jordan Riefe
Tomatometer-approved critic
Movie Reviews Only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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| 94% | Cold War (Zimna wojna) (2018) |
By downplaying the romance and not accompanying each embrace with a swelling saxophone, Pawlikowski paradoxically makes Cold War even more romantic.‐ Truthdig
Read More | Posted Jan 3, 2019
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| 71% | On the Basis of Sex (2019) |
It's an epic legal life. Someone should make a movie. Someone else.‐ Truthdig
Read More | Posted Dec 28, 2018
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| 59% | Vox Lux (2018) |
Vox Lux won't help Portman's career much, but a misstep for the right reasons is not something to deride. ‐ Truthdig
Read More | Posted Dec 14, 2018
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| 81% | Fahrenheit 11/9 (2018) |
Informative and engrossing for the most part, "Fahrenheit 11/9" seems to be composed of various documentaries stitched together to form a single work. ‐ Truthdig
Read More | Posted Sep 20, 2018
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| 93% | Kusama: Infinity (2018) |
A troubled and gifted artist, she remains impenetrable throughout Lenz's movie, which nonetheless ends on a hopeful note.‐ Truthdig
Read More | Posted Sep 10, 2018
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| 28% | Jobs (2013) |
So impressed with its subject that it leaves precious little time to explore the imperfect man behind the icon.‐ Celebuzz
Read More | Posted Aug 21, 2018
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| 85% | End of Watch (2012) |
While Ayer and his cast demonstrate a thorough understanding of their subject, and their movie features realistic violence and casual callousness, End Of Watch doesn't really go anywhere.‐ Celebuzz
Read More | Posted Aug 21, 2018
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| 65% | Mama (2013) |
While Mama is occasionally hamstrung by cliches, it is a stylish and effective ghost story that lives up to its promise, delivering spine-tingling scares.‐ Celebuzz
Read More | Posted Aug 21, 2018
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| 52% | Promised Land (2013) |
Promised Land is a smart, character driven drama that takes an insightful look at a compelling environmental issue... But as the second act progresses, the movie begins to lose momentum. ‐ Celebuzz
Read More | Posted Aug 21, 2018
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| 18% | Parental Guidance (2012) |
A series of contrivances born of some unholy union between America's Funniest Home Videos and Leave it to Beaver.‐ Celebuzz
Read More | Posted Aug 21, 2018
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| 44% | On the Road (2012) |
With On The Road, Salles creates a vivid portrait of youth and spirited abandon that probably won't resonate with everyone. But then again, the best movies seldom do.‐ Celebuzz
Read More | Posted Aug 21, 2018
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| 37% | The Guilt Trip (2012) |
Rogen and Streisand share adequate chemistry but seldom seem like the real deal in Anne Fletcher's fourth movie... Under her direction, Streisand and Rogen look like a pair of actors saying jokes written for them by a comedy think tank.‐ Celebuzz
Read More | Posted Aug 21, 2018
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| 60% | Hitchcock (2012) |
An occasionally enjoyable, though uneven look, at the making of Psycho... Hitchcock is most engaging when Hopkins and Mirren share the screen as a durable old couple straining under 33 years of marriage.‐ Celebuzz
Read More | Posted Aug 21, 2018
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| 89% | Lincoln (2012) |
With a lavish and distinctive look, superb acting and artfully rendered material, it's difficult to call Lincoln anything but a grand success. ‐ Celebuzz
Read More | Posted Aug 21, 2018
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| 78% | Flight (2012) |
Performance and plane crash aside, in a climate of fewer and fewer quality mainstream movies, Flight looks like a winner simply by not being terrible.‐ Celebuzz
Read More | Posted Aug 21, 2018
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| 82% | Seven Psychopaths (2012) |
Seven Psychopaths unspools with clever ease and buffoonish charm. It is effortlessly brilliant and always accessible but more important, it slavishly satisfies the first rule of comedy - make 'em laugh.‐ Celebuzz
Read More | Posted Aug 21, 2018
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| 96% | Argo (2012) |
Tonal issues aside, however, Affleck's third feature is assured, smart and very entertaining.‐ Celebuzz
Read More | Posted Aug 21, 2018
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| 75% | Algorithms (2014) |
Visually arresting as it is, the pic stands out mainly for its subject matter, the first documentary on blind chess, even though it fits snugly within the sub-genre of underdog stories.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Aug 20, 2018
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| 70% | Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) |
Obviously fans are happy to keep revisiting the bellowing Wookiee and the warp-speed dashes through the wide beyond, and satisfying as it is, Solo gives them what they want: more of the same.‐ L.A. Weekly
Read More | Posted Aug 20, 2018
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| 69% | The Seagull (2018) |
As entertaining and as lovingly crafted as it is, it fails to transcend.‐ L.A. Weekly
Read More | Posted Aug 20, 2018
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| 91% | Crazy Rich Asians (2018) |
Chu and his writers find a delicate cultural balance that makes his characters universally familiar without forsaking Asian aspects of the story.‐ Truthdig
Read More | Posted Aug 15, 2018
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| 95% | BlacKkKlansman (2018) |
BlacKkKlansman has everything anyone would want from a cop movie, but its candid treatment of its subject matter and the conversation it might inspire are the telegram that audiences deserve.‐ Truthdig
Read More | Posted Aug 10, 2018
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| 92% | Sorry to Bother You (2018) |
Occasionally juvenile, heavy-handed and gimmicky, "Sorry to Bother You" isn't perfect, but it's seldom at its worst. And at its best, it's an entertaining, jacked-up, hypnagogic hike into the darkest chasm between the 1 percent and the rest of us.‐ Truthdig
Read More | Posted Jul 5, 2018
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| 60% | The Young Karl Marx (Le jeune Karl Marx) (2018) |
The elevated work of the cast is attributable to fine acting, but also to Peck's direction as he sidesteps some of the material's flaws.‐ Truthdig
Read More | Posted Feb 26, 2018
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| 92% | The Other Side of Hope (Toivon tuolla puolen) (2017) |
Although Kaurismäki might be accused of confusing passion with sentimentality, thereby avoiding it like the plague, the result is a unique movie on an urgent topic told without urgency.‐ Truthdig
Read More | Posted Dec 20, 2017
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| 88% | The Post (2018) |
But while it proudly displays its anti-Trump bona fides, it fails as resistance cinema, stirring the kind of soft fury one might expect from mollified Beverly Hills baby boomers.‐ Truthdig
Read More | Posted Dec 7, 2017
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| 84% | Darkest Hour (2017) |
A history lesson for many and an acting clinic for most, Darkest Hour features an outstanding cast and inspirational themes, some of the elements of good cinema.‐ Truthdig
Read More | Posted Nov 29, 2017
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| 28% | Suburbicon (2017) |
When it works, it's outstanding. And when it doesn't, it's good enough.‐ Truthdig
Read More | Posted Nov 1, 2017
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| 85% | Battle of the Sexes (2017) |
Without sermonizing, "Battle of the Sexes" speaks to issues that are sadly all too contemporary, but it does so in a way that is entertaining, thoughtful and emotionally engaging, making it a worthy entry in the Oscar race.‐ Truthdig
Read More | Posted Sep 28, 2017
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| 89% | The Force (2017) |
The result is a fly-on-the-wall documentary that offers surprisingly little insight.‐ Truthdig
Read More | Posted Sep 28, 2017
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| 100% | Strong Island (2017) |
Strong Island is an example of how the justice system routinely fails people of color. But more important, his film examines the impact of that failure on families and communities.‐ Truthdig
Read More | Posted Sep 21, 2017
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| 98% | Whose Streets? (2017) |
Activist Sabaah Folayan and St. Louis artist Damon Davis tell a story the mainstream media mostly neglected. ‐ Truthdig
Read More | Posted Aug 16, 2017
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| 79% | An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth To Power (2017) |
Of course, polar caps continue to melt, and more work needs to be done, but An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, flawed as it is, helps bring awareness to a new generation.‐ Truthdig
Read More | Posted Aug 7, 2017
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| 93% | Endless Poetry (Poesía Sin Fin) (2017) |
If Endless Poetry sounds episodic and a bit nutty, it is, delightfully so, and actually tamer than Jodorowsky's earlier works, sharing with them triumphant glimmer and a casual, unpretentious surrealism.‐ Truthdig
Read More | Posted Jul 20, 2017
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| 100% | Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of ISIS (2017) |
Junger and Quested organize the multisourced material in a straightforward chronology, tracing a complicated conflict with roots in the Arab Spring.‐ Truthdig
Read More | Posted Jun 29, 2017
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| 71% | The Commune (Kollektivet) (2017) |
The Commune is grounded in gritty acting at the core of an otherwise drawn-out melodrama.‐ Truthdig
Read More | Posted May 25, 2017
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| 99% | Truman (2017) |
Gay avoids heart-tugging claptrap by aiming for-and achieving-emotional veracity throughout, a rarity in popular cinema.‐ Truthdig
Read More | Posted Apr 20, 2017
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| 96% | The Salesman (Forushande) (2017) |
Farhadi is a master of his craft, a nuanced chronicler of the human condition, whose work unfailingly offers moments of truth and beauty.‐ Truthdig
Read More | Posted Feb 1, 2017
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| 93% | Neruda (2016) |
A clever, playful and, yes, poetic accounting of the literary icon's run for his life from his home country of Chile.‐ Truthdig
Read More | Posted Dec 21, 2016
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| 94% | Newtown (2016) |
Newtown is emotionally active, moving us in ways facts and figures never could.‐ Truthdig
Read More | Posted Oct 24, 2016
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| 36% | Misery Loves Comedy (2014) |
What might have turned out to be a movie about comedy only for comedians is instead a funny and engaging look at the most twisted and naked branch of the entertainment world.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Apr 17, 2015
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| 4/5 | 64% | Trash (2015) |
With its heavy plotting, Trash hardly aspires to docudrama, yet the trio paint an indelible portrait of youth in crisis that is essential to the movie's success.‐ Guardian
Read More | Posted Oct 20, 2014
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| 3/4 | 38% | Dead Man Down (2013) |
[A] bleak film noir that values character over tension.‐ Boston Phoenix
Read More | Posted Mar 7, 2013
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| 2.5/4 | 59% | Oz the Great and Powerful (2013) |
Oz the Great and Powerful isn't great, nor is it powerful, but it is competent and entertaining.‐ Boston Phoenix
Read More | Posted Mar 7, 2013
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| 2/4 | 34% | Escape From Planet Earth (2013) |
This might please young kids but torment discerning parents.‐ Boston Phoenix
Read More | Posted Feb 15, 2013
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| 2/4 | 14% | A Good Day To Die Hard (2013) |
A Good Day To Die Hard is a movie for people who like blowin' stuff up, evidently a favorite pastime of director John Moore, whose action scenes make about as much sense as his script, which was likely written on a cocktail napkin.‐ Boston Phoenix
Read More | Posted Feb 14, 2013
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| 86% | Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Hellboy 2) (2008) |
The first big screen Hellboy felt like del Toro constrained...The sequel feels more like the director on his own terms.‐ The Deadbolt
Read More | Posted Jul 14, 2008
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| 8/10 | 14% | The Love Guru (2008) |
Greetings from The Love Guru, dispenser of wisdom in bite-size chewable chunks, a soulful man of infinite knowledge with three goals on his mind: the Stanley Cup... then Oprah and a shot at his rival, Deepak Chopra, to become the new celebrity prince of s‐ The Deadbolt
Read More | Posted Jun 27, 2008
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| 5/10 | 71% | Wanted (2008) |
They are the deadliest assassins the world has ever known. Genetically enhanced, they execute superhuman feats of death. No target has ever escaped alive. They are the Fraternity. It's not a very imaginative moniker, but then again they are in a movie cal‐ The Deadbolt
Read More | Posted Jun 27, 2008
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| 37% | You Don't Mess With the Zohan (2008) |
Is it funny? The answer is no.‐ The Deadbolt
Read More | Posted Jun 8, 2008
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