Karen Krizanovich
Tomatometer-approved critic
Publications:
Empire Magazine,
Little White Lies,
Monocle,
Filmstar Magazine,
Radio Times,
The List,
The Arts Desk
Movie Reviews Only
T-Meter | Title | Year | Review | |
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4/5 | 91% | Promising Young Woman (2020) |
Promising Young Woman goes beyond interrogating dating culture to devastatingly compare the value of women's and men's lives. - The List
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| Posted Apr 12, 2021
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83% | Mank (2020) |
There's a lot of rancor that makes Mank work. - Monocle
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| Posted Mar 12, 2021
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97% | The Kingmaker (2019) |
It's almost as if [Lauren Greenfield has] been working up to this; it's a perfectly logical move for her after her last two films. - Monocle
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| Posted Mar 9, 2020
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98% | Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Portrait de la jeune fille en feu) (2020) |
What I enjoyed about it was the discovery of love. - Monocle
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| Posted Mar 5, 2020
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3/5 | 56% | Sulphur & White (2020) |
It doesn't exactly blend together as a coherent whole, but what Sulphur and White does best is to show the redemptive power of love. - The List
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| Posted Mar 2, 2020
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2/5 | 21% | Like a Boss (2020) |
It's a film that so desperately wants to be funny, but isn't sure how. - The List
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| Posted Feb 17, 2020
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5/5 | 75% | The Gentlemen (2020) |
Ritchie is the UK's Tarantino and this comedy blows the bloody doors off. - The List
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| Posted Dec 20, 2019
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3/5 | 94% | Honey Boy (2019) |
Memorable imagery and nuanced performances sweeten a sometimes bitter, ultimately unrepentant look at the beginnings of a tangled and infamous life. - The List
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| Posted Dec 3, 2019
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3/5 | 45% | After the Wedding (2019) |
As heavy-handed as the production and costume design are, the moments when Moore and Williams share the screen hint at a powerful tale of mothers, daughters and love that this film, sadly, can't quite reach. - Radio Times
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| Posted Nov 11, 2019
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3/5 | 42% | Just Friends (2005) |
Worth watching just for Christopher Marquette's hilarious turn as Chris's pain-in-the-neck brother, this obnoxious comedy has a generous helping of natural, surprising laughs amid the bumptious stupidity. - Radio Times
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| Posted Nov 5, 2019
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2/5 | 45% | The Addams Family (2019) |
Expect only the tiniest monsters to be amused. - Radio Times
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| Posted Oct 25, 2019
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2/5 | 26% | Gemini Man (2019) |
It's possibly the director's worst film to date. Let's hope it's just a blip. - Radio Times
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| Posted Oct 13, 2019
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4/5 | 95% | Good Posture (2019) |
It's a crafty comedy, this: a remarkable debut. - Radio Times
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| Posted Oct 7, 2019
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3/5 | 25% | The Goldfinch (2019) |
At least, Oakes Fegley and Ansel Elgort both shine in the leading role of Theo, but you can't escape the feeling that we're missing something here... genuine feelings, perhaps? - Radio Times
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| Posted Oct 2, 2019
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4/5 | 63% | Yesterday (2019) |
For all its flaws, this is another feel-good, uplifting singalong entertainment that's very much in the style of Rocketman or Bohemian Rhapsody, but at least this time, we don't have to worry about the facts. - Radio Times
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| Posted Jun 30, 2019
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4/5 | 99% | Apollo 11 (2019) |
Apollo 11 is a piece of gleaming history, showing the youth, hope and enthusiasm of that time. For those who were alive then, it's as if watching a scene from a dream - where America still stood for something great. - The List
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| Posted Jun 24, 2019
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4/5 | 70% | Balloon (2020) |
German writer/director Michael "Bully" Herbig has not completely abandoned his comedy roots, though, and creates a cosy-looking period story that is both funny and thrilling. - Radio Times
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| Posted Jun 16, 2019
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4/5 | 77% | Halston (2019) |
The movie leaves us wanting more - and one of his dresses too. - Radio Times
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| Posted Jun 10, 2019
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3/5 | 22% | Dark Phoenix (2019) |
Under the able debut direction of writer/producer Simon Kinberg, this pacey instalment brings a close to 20 years of X-Men films and the birth of a fresh, new franchise once 20th Century Fox has completed its merger with Disney. - Radio Times
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| Posted Jun 10, 2019
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4/5 | 89% | John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019) |
Wick 3 is jaw-droppingly violent, hilarious and surprising. It's also a hell-of-a lesson in cool. - The List
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| Posted May 15, 2019
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4/5 | 67% | Pokémon Detective Pikachu (2019) |
Quirky and lovingly crafted, even if you don't care for Pokémon, you'll love Detective Pikachu. - The List
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| Posted May 7, 2019
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4/5 | 67% | The White Crow (2019) |
Fiennes' light touch textures this biopic into something exciting, genuine and naturally sexy; it's a film that stays en pointe for its entirety. - The List
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| Posted Mar 18, 2019
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2/5 | 70% | Isn't It Romantic (2019) |
Despite a pacy script, Wilson's disbelief in a world where everyone finds her attractive soon becomes tiresome. - Radio Times
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| Posted Mar 2, 2019
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3/5 | 84% | Jellyfish (2018) |
Glum yet impressive, Jellyfish is worth watching for the raw and remarkable work of rising star Liv Hill. - The List
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| Posted Feb 11, 2019
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4/5 | 95% | Roma (2018) |
Set in the comfortable upper middle-class neighbourhood of Roma in Mexico City, this compelling story centres on a marriage slowly splintering apart and the native Latina live-in maid who stands at the swirling heart of the family for whom she works. - Radio Times
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| Posted Jan 8, 2019
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5/5 | 94% | It's a Wonderful Life (1946) |
There's sex and death here, elation and depression, hope and despair. - Little White Lies
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| Posted Dec 14, 2018
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4/5 | 87% | Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) |
Want a tightly packed bundle of fast dialogue, heady danger and speculation as to which stars are coming back for a third film? Ant-Man and the Wasp is that ticket. - The List
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| Posted Jul 30, 2018
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3/5 | 24% | Overboard (2018) |
If Faris and Derbez have negligible chemistry, they are such comedy pros that it somehow works. - The List
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| Posted Jun 18, 2018
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3/5 | 35% | I Feel Pretty (2018) |
When the film fails it is because it often perpetuates what it is trying to destroy: the idea that judging by appearances is a legitimate mode of assessment. - The List
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| Posted Apr 30, 2018
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4/5 | 34% | American Assassin (2017) |
What some will find a surprisingly unpredictable, action-packed bit of entertainment, others may find a politically dubious gun-and-bomb party, but this is one of the freshest political thrillers in years. - The List
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| Posted Sep 13, 2017
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4/5 | 92% | Logan Lucky (2017) |
Logan Lucky is like those inline tube slides at a water park: you don't worry about where you're going, because getting there is so much darned fun. - The List
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| Posted Aug 21, 2017
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3/5 | 96% | Jawbone (2017) |
An honest look at a well-worn subject, this home-grown drama about a boxer's fight back to sobriety packs some punch. - Radio Times
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| Posted May 11, 2017
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3/5 | 96% | Jawbone (2017) |
Winstone ... enlivens even the simplest dialogue; the reason he's a star is his ability to conjure meaning that may be absent or ambiguous in the script itself. - The List
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| Posted May 8, 2017
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4/5 | 88% | Lady Macbeth (2017) |
Lady Macbeth is daring cinema that will chill you to the bone and leave you rooting for its understandably immoral heroine. - Radio Times
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| Posted Apr 27, 2017
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3/5 | 32% | Monster Trucks (2017) |
Despite a perky pace and a serious eco message, Monster Trucks is far from fresh. - The List
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| Posted Jan 4, 2017
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4/5 | 39% | Why Him? (2016) |
A breezy, likeable comedy with the potential to make both slackers and old schoolers smile. - The List
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| Posted Dec 20, 2016
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3/5 | 41% | Office Christmas Party (2016) |
Sentimental and just plain mental, this is the comedy we need this holiday season. - The List
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| Posted Dec 7, 2016
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3/5 | 82% | Chi-Raq (2015) |
Studded with smart couplets, dance numbers and scenes of grief verging on the Shakespearean, this vibrant, controversial film from director Spike Lee is deft and timely in its message. - Radio Times
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| Posted Dec 1, 2016
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3/5 | 25% | Ben-Hur (2016) |
It's Ben-Hur for sure, but no real improvement on what's gone before; save Morgan Freeman's amazing dreadlocks. - The List
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| Posted Sep 6, 2016
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3/5 | 79% | Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016) |
Spinal Tap and Zoolander come together in a comedy take on the pop industry that's hot for the first half before it cools into submission. - Radio Times
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| Posted Aug 28, 2016
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3/5 | 78% | The Shallows (2016) |
It's a stellar role for Lively, who ... is amassing a respectable body of work across genres. - The List
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| Posted Aug 10, 2016
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4/5 | 54% | Jason Bourne (2016) |
Absolutely stonking action like you haven't seen in years. - The List
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| Posted Jul 26, 2016
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4/5 | 80% | The Conjuring 2 (2016) |
Even hardened horror fans will find themselves covered in gooseflesh, as this spooky sequel ratchets up the tension like thumbscrews. - The List
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| Posted Jun 13, 2016
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3/5 | 93% | Love Is Strange (2014) |
Pivoting on a loving couple growing older, not having finances in place, needing to rely on others to get by, Love Is Strange has universal poignancy. - The Arts Desk
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| Posted May 23, 2016
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4/5 | 87% | Everybody Wants Some!! (2016) |
Pacey and completely entertaining, this comedy rocks. - Radio Times
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| Posted May 12, 2016
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43% | Jane Got a Gun (2016) |
If Jane Got a Gun is not the rousing feminist western we've been waiting for, it is a pony trek in the right direction. - The List
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| Posted Apr 18, 2016
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3/5 | 57% | The Sweeney - Paris (Antigang) (2015) |
A solid if lacklustre police caper with some sparkling moments. - Radio Times
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| Posted Apr 14, 2016
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2/5 | 27% | My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (2016) |
A sequel that ticks off all the right topics but only superficially. It simply doesn't have time to do more. - The List
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| Posted Mar 22, 2016
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3/5 | 63% | Truth (2015) |
The movie is wordy, worthy and often bombastic in dialogue, with Blanchett the backbone of the story while Redford's careful, nuanced portrayal of the nation's most trusted news anchor is a study in understatement. - Radio Times
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| Posted Mar 3, 2016
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3/5 | 95% | Rams (Hrútar) (2016) |
Credible, hilarious and poignant by turns, Rams is a keenly detailed, well-paced and entertaining tale of family dynamics ... - Radio Times
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| Posted Feb 4, 2016
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