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.
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| Publications: | Hollywood Reporter |
| Critics' Group: | Los Angeles Film Critics Association |
Movie Reviews Only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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| 89% | Man Underground (2017) |
Scrupulously avoiding scenes that would require expensive special effects or elaborate sets, the filmmakers employ a straightforward dramatic style, concentrating their efforts on creating believable characters instead.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Jul 25, 2017
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| 20% | Austin Found (2017) |
Will Raee's feature wrings a few laughs from a strained premise, but remains far better suited to short-attention span formats than theatrical play.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Jul 8, 2017
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| No Score Yet | Izzy Gets the F*ck Across Town (2017) |
[A] dizzying mashup of frenetic visual styles and clashing narrative techniques.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Jul 3, 2017
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| No Score Yet | Story of a Girl (2017) |
To the degree that Story of a Girl challenges conventional expectations rather than reinforcing them, this restraint admirably serves the purpose of foregrounding the characters rather than sensationalizing the central premise.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Jun 29, 2017
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| 58% | Footnotes (Sur quel pied danser) (2017) |
Relatably whimsical coming-of-age tale about a young woman's search for her place in the world.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Jun 22, 2017
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| No Score Yet | And Then I Go (2017) |
A disturbing drama of teen disaffection, Vincent Grashaw's feature provides an essential and insightful perspective that will resonate with audiences attuned to the challenges of adolescence.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Jun 22, 2017
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| 100% | Annabelle: Creation (2017) |
Sandberg demonstrates a deft affinity for the elaboration of horror conventions, as well as the expansion of the Conjuring universe.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Jun 20, 2017
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| No Score Yet | Cassidy Red (2017) |
Features a female protagonist and plenty of talented women behind the scenes, but comes up short delivering on the expected character conflicts and action sequences.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Jun 19, 2017
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| 41% | The Hunter's Prayer (2017) |
Too dimwitted to be disappointing.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Jun 9, 2017
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| 90% | Dearest Sister: Nong Hak (2016) |
The film also relies on a degree of cultural specificity that sets it apart from other examples of regionally produced horror and identifies Do, who grew up in Southern California before relocating to Laos, as a notable emerging talent.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted May 19, 2017
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| No Score Yet | Grey Lady (2017) |
Shea assembles many of the requisite elements of a contemporary crime drama, but orchestrates them so chaotically that audiences may be put off by the film's unwelcome onslaught of stale genre techniques.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted May 1, 2017
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| 40% | Phoenix Forgotten (2017) |
Another disappointingly derivative imitation of The Blair Witch Project, this time mashed up with The X-Files franchise.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Apr 23, 2017
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| 60% | Fabricated City (2017) |
Although the film's rapid-fire plotting sometimes seems rather ungainly, Park still delivers plenty of creatively conceived high-tech surveillance sequences, intricately staged car chases and unexpectedly visceral fight scenes.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Apr 19, 2017
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| 85% | Disneynature Born In China (2017) |
If all of the over-emoting can be ignored, Born in China delivers gorgeous visuals in its close-up perspective on some of the world's rarest wildlife species, as well as the imposing habitats they call home.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Apr 10, 2017
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| 80% | Dig Two Graves (2017) |
As much a coming-of-age tale as it is a cautionary one, Adams' feature does a credible job building suspense, but never really delivers on the horror scares that early scenes telegraph.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Mar 27, 2017
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| 44% | Saban's Power Rangers (2017) |
Israelite ... orchestrates a vastly more complex array of characters, action set pieces and technical resources for a combined effect that maintains dramatic tension even while teetering on the brink of excess.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Mar 20, 2017
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| No Score Yet | Maineland (2017) |
Wang's verite approach attempts to strike a tone somewhere between revealing and contemplative, but her principal subjects are too young and inexperienced with the world to have much of import to say.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Mar 12, 2017
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| No Score Yet | Let There Be Light (2017) |
A futuristic energy source that could indefinitely supply the world's power requirements provides the backdrop for this absorbing documentary.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Mar 12, 2017
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| No Score Yet | The Good Catholic (2017) |
A man of the cloth facing a crisis of faith, particularly one provoked by an attractive woman, covers some well-trod dramatic territory and the director doesn't do much to update this borderline biblical scenario.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Feb 28, 2017
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| No Score Yet | Kati Kati (2016) |
Masya, a former advertising art director and conceptual video artist, selects an appropriate scale for his indie drama, concentrating his cast at a single location that has sufficient variety to avoid too much visual repetition.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Feb 27, 2017
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| 89% | John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017) |
Once again, Reeves does not disappoint, fully inhabiting Wick by channeling his rage over life's injustices into an intensely focused performance.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Feb 6, 2017
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| No Score Yet | Confidential Assignment (2017) |
Essentially tacking on a drawn-out fourth act after the 90-minute point, the film feels needlessly overblown by the time it hits the two-hour mark.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Jan 27, 2017
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| No Score Yet | Suck It Up (2016) |
A buddy-comedy wrapped in a British Columbia road trip, Suck It Up figures out how to find the humor in emotionally distressing situations that might elude any less determined characters than the film's two protagonists.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Jan 27, 2017
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| No Score Yet | Half Ticket (2016) |
The young actors excel at replicating mischievous behavior, marginally sacrificing credibility in more dramatic scenes, but overall carrying the movie remarkably well for their age.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Jan 25, 2017
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| No Score Yet | Kate Can't Swim (2016) |
It's somewhat difficult to assess Helman's screenwriting expertise, but he demonstrates a fine rapport with the cast as he competently juggles acting and directorial duties.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Jan 23, 2017
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| 92% | RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked the World (2017) |
The influence of Native Americans on nearly a century of popular music is eloquently demonstrated in this engaging documentary.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Jan 23, 2017
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| No Score Yet | Dave Made a Maze (2017) |
A likeably goofy creative achievement.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Jan 22, 2017
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| No Score Yet | Who Is Arthur Chu? (2017) |
Drucker's eponymous documentary relies primarily on Chu's lower profile, post-Jeopardy! period for material, which comes off as rather uneventful ...‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Jan 22, 2017
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| 60% | The Nile Hilton Incident (2017) |
The Nile Hilton Incident represents the type of penetrating filmmaking that only a writer-director intimately familiar with Egyptian culture but possessing an outsider's perspective could convincingly accomplish.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Jan 22, 2017
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| No Score Yet | Motherland (2017) |
Motherland not only provides an expressively etched account of specialized medical care, but also a telling perspective on dominant social trends and healthcare policy issues in the Philippines.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Jan 21, 2017
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| 83% | Tokyo Idols (2017) |
A lively inquiry that reveals more contradictions than consensus.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Jan 21, 2017
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| 24% | The Bye Bye Man (2017) |
Often involving, although not quite entirely satisfying.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Jan 12, 2017
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| 63% | Tommy's Honour (2017) |
An engrossing and accessible celebration of the game's modern origins, enhanced by striking locations and a standout cast, led by Scottish actors Peter Mullan and Jack Lowden.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Jan 12, 2017
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| 100% | The Bad Kids (2016) |
An insightful, affecting film that casts sympathetic light on a neglected educational sector.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Dec 20, 2016
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| No Score Yet | Virtual Revolution (2016) |
Although the intent is clearly to create a somewhat disorienting visual experience, it's the consistently derivative plotline that's really at issue.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Dec 17, 2016
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| 83% | I Am Bolt (2016) |
Almost as engaging as the man himself.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Nov 21, 2016
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| 36% | Live Cargo (2017) |
Nicely observed, but misses the mark.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Nov 21, 2016
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| 23% | Bad Santa 2 (2016) |
For those who've endured the long gap between Bad Santa movies like kids eagerly anticipating Christmas, this sequel brings it on like Saint Nick's overstuffed bag of goodies, with plenty to entertain (and offend) everyone.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Nov 16, 2016
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| 78% | The Monster (2016) |
A fully realized depiction of elemental fear and desperation, The Monster's modest scale should attract discerning genre fans while establishing a firm basis for potential cult status.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Nov 12, 2016
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| 84% | The Lure (Córki dancingu) (2017) |
The filmmakers' enthusiasm for their characters and the vanished period setting is palpable, asserting a certain fatalistic charm of its own.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Sep 9, 2016
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| 67% | Brother Nature (2016) |
Killam, who recently departed SNL after six seasons, shows a great grasp of his character's escalating bewilderment and frustration.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Sep 7, 2016
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| 81% | Author: The JT LeRoy Story (2016) |
Rather than a conventional inquiry into the circumstances and personalities that contributed to Albert's deception, Feuerzeig allows her to tell her own story, eschewing most other sources involved in her professional debut.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Sep 7, 2016
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| 64% | Antibirth (2016) |
Often narratively cryptic and stylistically uneven.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Aug 30, 2016
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| 100% | Olympic Pride, American Prejudice (2016) |
Draper's thorough research process yields fascinating details on the lives and careers of the athletes, particularly their early histories as amateur competitors.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Aug 8, 2016
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| 54% | Angry Indian Goddesses (2015) |
An emphasis on the women's reactions to a variety of discriminatory situations starts to resemble a checklist approach, ticking off situations that cover career challenges, marriage dilemmas and personal relationships.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Aug 5, 2016
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| 72% | Sleight (2017) |
Magic tricks become shorthand for the power of personal transformation in JD Dillard's modestly scaled thriller that's equally an accessible domestic drama.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Aug 4, 2016
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| 65% | Nerve (2016) |
With its attractive young cast and a multiplatform media campaign, Nerve won't need to rely on going viral to find its audience, but it's unlikely to be trending for long once viewers digest its simplistically cautionary message.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Jul 26, 2016
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| 75% | Brahman Naman (2016) |
The 1980s in southern India receive affectionate reimagining in Brahman Naman, a coming-of-age-comedy about sex-obsessed college students and their quest to lose their virginity.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Jul 8, 2016
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| 75% | Buddymoon (2016) |
Alex Simmons' debut feature is a fleet, consistently amusing 80-minute jaunt through the woods.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Jul 6, 2016
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| 55% | The Purge: Election Year (2016) |
While some fairly unconvincing theories are tossed out in frequent debates concerning the underlying purpose of the Purge, they mostly remain within the limits of the film's fundamental themes of exploitation and disenfranchisement.‐ Hollywood Reporter
Read More | Posted Jun 29, 2016
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