Justin Lowe

Justin Lowe
Justin Lowe's reviews only count toward the Tomatometer® when published at the following Tomatometer-approved publication(s): Hollywood Reporter
Biography:
Hollywood Reporter film critic.
Publications: Hollywood Reporter
Critics' Group: Los Angeles Film Critics Association

Movie Reviews Only

T-Meter Title | Year
83% Freaky (2020) Chalk it up to an abundance of imagination, but Freaky may just be too clever to be all that much fun. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 4, 2020
100% The Boy Behind the Door (2020) It's a delicate and memorably successful balancing act that effectively contextualizes some deliberately challenging material. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Oct 21, 2020
15% The Vanished (2020) Wildly implausible and improbably entertaining. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Aug 22, 2020
72% Cut Throat City (2020) RZA's trenchant take on the synergistic interaction of poverty and greed gradually loses focus as it devolves into a familiar account of warring gangsters, corrupt politicians and a city struggling for redemption. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Aug 18, 2020
49% Four Kids and It (2020) This apparent lack of conviction leaves the pic feeling too trivial in comparison to a host of children's literary classics and too innocuous to make much of an impression as a memorable movie. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Jun 30, 2020
67% The Last Time You Had Fun (2014) Blandly risque situations, featherweight banter and a hint of implied sexual impropriety have all the heft of an extended cable sitcom episode. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Jun 10, 2020
47% Scoob! (2020) Deftly melding the movie's origin story with a typically action-oriented adventure, the Scoob! writing team predictably packs the feature with a surfeit of incident. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted May 15, 2020
No Score Yet Crushed (2015) A solid debut. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted May 14, 2020
67% A Faster Horse (2015) It may be difficult to escape a sense that the film sometimes plays like an extended product promo, an impression unlikely to deter a potentially global audience of enthusiasts. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted May 12, 2020
50% The 4th (2017) Unexpected layers of complexity. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted May 12, 2020
96% Sour Grapes (2016) A fine blend of incisive reporting and lively storytelling. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted May 6, 2020
80% Almost Adults (2016) It's really more about the ability of Adrianna DiLonardo's script to elicit humor and surprise as the narrative unfolds, but instead it hews principally to predictability. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted May 5, 2020
27% Ass Backwards (2013) Ill-advised and amateurishly executed, Ass Backwards begins with a passably funny concept and runs it into the ground within 20 minutes. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 27, 2020
71% Trolls World Tour (2020) More reassuring franchise-builder than innovative sequel, Trolls World Tour covers familiar ground, enhanced with some catchy musical and visual flourishes. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 5, 2020
67% Almost Perfect (2012) The performances are the film's primary strength, particularly the casting of Hu in a nominally more serious dramatic role than her typical appearances, which she fills out nicely within the limitations of the script. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Mar 13, 2020
29% Bloodshot (2020) [T]his initial installment consistently struggles to deliver the goods. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Mar 11, 2020
94% Faith Based (2020) Masciale and screenwriter Luke Barnett, both Funny or Die regulars, have crafted a playfully humorous send-up that's more about poking fun at their characters than tearing down faith-based filmmaking. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 10, 2020
82% La leyenda negra (2020) Full of heart, but wide of the mark. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 27, 2020
100% Assassins (2020) It's a Kafka-esque and sometimes darkly comic tale of deception and exploitation that makes for a smartly assembled and eminently topical film that arrives at a crucial juncture in world affairs... - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 26, 2020
No Score Yet 14 Days, 12 Nights (2020) A sympathetic study in cultivating compassion. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 13, 2020
93% Ride Your Wave (2020) The filmmakers' reliance on romantic situations throughout the midsection may have some older teens and adults rolling their eyes, but the final scenes over-deliver with a literal flood of action... - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Dec 5, 2019
No Score Yet Masquerade Hotel (2019) A relatively charming but not especially challenging murder mystery... - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Dec 3, 2019
No Score Yet Another Child (2019) Kim's rather grim view of adolescent struggle takes a very specific situation and enlarges its significance to question preconceptions about responsibility and family. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 23, 2019
95% The Planters (2020) Writing, designing, directing and shooting their feature virtually unassisted, the filmmakers grace the production with keen attention to detail and nuance... - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 19, 2019
No Score Yet The Gallows Act II (2019) Emphatically unimaginative. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Oct 24, 2019
100% On the President's Orders (2019) A riveting account of the consequences of unfettered demagoguery. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Oct 12, 2019
No Score Yet 10 Minutes Gone (2019) Wearing the same pained expression the actor adopts for most of these low-budget features, Willis seems to grimace through every scene only as long as necessary to collect a paycheck. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 26, 2019
70% Haunt (2019) With a simultaneous theatrical and digital release, Haunt's pedigree, underlined by Eli Roth's participation as producer, should prove a draw for both devoted horror fans and the simply curious. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 13, 2019
80% And We Go Green (2019) [W]hat Stevens and co-director Malcolm Venville have achieved is even more effective, a thoroughly involving electric vehicle motorsports documentary, with all of the thrilling action, colorful personalities and imminent danger that the genre implies. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 8, 2019
62% Satanic Panic (2019) The feature lacks the deft touch required to make disembowelments and virgin sacrifices actually seem amusing, although gore-hounds will certainly get their fill. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 6, 2019
96% Red Penguins (2020) Polsky crafts an engaging, in-depth examination of the intersection of politics and hockey as Russia struggles to gain its balance following the demise of the Soviet Union. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 5, 2019
No Score Yet Creating Woodstock (2019) Although clearly a labor of love, Creating Woodstock only incrementally augments the event's already considerable legacy, suggesting that lifelong fans, but perhaps few others, will uncover occasional revelations. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Aug 14, 2019
15% A Score to Settle (2019) Eminently forgettable. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Aug 2, 2019
83% Second Star On The Right (2019) Caudeli's choice of formats does more to emphasize the shortcomings of the narrative than convey any type of bold stylistic statement. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Jul 29, 2019
No Score Yet Celebrity Crush (2019) Although the movie's broadly satirical tone isn't lost on audiences, rather than amusingly spoofing a cherished period of low-budget horror releases, Robins' film ends up as an exercise in self-ridicule that's often squirmingly awkward to watch. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Jul 9, 2019
64% Annabelle Comes Home (2019) The thrills and shocks gradually become repetitive, as the writer-director recycles his own material, forcing the girls to evade the same threats again and again. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Jun 24, 2019
No Score Yet Chance Has No Empathy (2019) Watching a consistently tiresome character feebly struggle with violent impulses for 90-plus minutes holds limited appeal almost any way you look at it. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Jun 20, 2019
68% Head Count (2019) Favoring psychological chills over blood-soaked mayhem, Callahan's impressively crafted debut nods to recent horror classics while displaying an eminently distinctive vision of its own. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Jun 15, 2019
No Score Yet Vault (2019) If Palminteri ever gets another vehicle as suited to his talents as The Usual Suspects it'll be equally memorable, but this isn't it, evidenced by his laidback coasting through most of his scenes. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Jun 14, 2019
86% Yellow Rose (2020) Affecting on almost every level. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted May 27, 2019
88% Rock Steady Row (2018) Trevor Stevens' stylish first feature should strike a chord with youthful audiences and genre enthusiasts alike. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted May 26, 2019
87% We Have Always Lived in the Castle (2019) Emotionally high-stakes drama. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted May 17, 2019
75% CRSHD (2019) Irrepressibly inventive and often impulsively unrestrained, Emily Cohn's CRSHD guilelessly celebrates digital youth culture and its sometimes messy inconsistency with abundant energy and attitude. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted May 1, 2019
100% Our Time Machine (2020) Intriguingly grounds the creative process in the specificity of individual experience. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 29, 2019
71% Stray Dolls (2020) An emotionally driven crime drama following two disenfranchised young women determined to seize control of their lives on their own terms. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 28, 2019
67% Body at Brighton Rock (2019) Benjamin doesn't quite succeed in demonstrating her premise that life-or-death situations can empower an unwilling victim to become an unexpected hero. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 25, 2019
88% Metal Heart (2018) With a light touch and a knowing regard, O'Conor manages to avoid the genre's most egregious cliches and simplistic life lessons, instead focusing on the sisters' often amusing rivalry and their ultimately unshakable familial bond. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 23, 2019
No Score Yet Kifaru (2019) Effectively confronts the challenges of the ongoing wildlife conservation crisis. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 20, 2019
42% Lost Holiday (2019) Gives the impression of an in-joke that never quite lands. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 14, 2019
42% What Men Want (2019) Henson evinces a tremendously humorous, and human, capacity for grasping Ali's personal desperation and professional determination as she forges them into a semi-coherent strategy for success. - Hollywood Reporter EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 7, 2019