Maria Garcia
Maria Garcia's reviews only count toward the Tomatometer when
published at the following Tomatometer-approved publication(s):
Film Journal International
| Publications: | Film Journal International |
Movie Reviews Only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100% | The Judge (2018) |
This skillfully conceived documentary focuses on a charismatic Muslim judge, a woman appointed to the Palestinian Shari'a court.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Apr 11, 2018
|
|
| 97% | The Rider (2018) |
This excellent sophomore film by a Chinese writer-director is a rare look at the life of a young Native American man.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Apr 11, 2018
|
|
| 90% | Lean on Pete (2018) |
A piercing revelation of the ways in which Western culture injures men.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Apr 3, 2018
|
|
| 100% | 2018 Oscar Nominated Shorts - Documentary (2018) |
All of the Oscar nominees in the documentary short category address pressing social issues in the United States[,] and they do so with great humanity.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Feb 8, 2018
|
|
| 100% | 2018 Oscar Nominated Shorts - Animation (2018) |
This year's animated shorts category at the Oscars is marked by two obvious standouts.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Feb 7, 2018
|
|
| 100% | 2018 Oscar Nominated Shorts - Live Action (2018) |
This year's slate of live-action Oscar nominated shorts runs the quality gamut.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Feb 7, 2018
|
|
| 58% | Please Stand By (2018) |
Dakota Fanning is outstanding in the starring role. ‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Jan 24, 2018
|
|
| 82% | A Ciambra (2018) |
The audience [...] is, at best, being subjected to a rather dull story about an equivocal protagonist.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Jan 18, 2018
|
|
| 62% | Hollow in the Land (2017) |
[A] skillfully plotted debut feature.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Dec 4, 2017
|
|
| 92% | The Rape Of Recy Taylor (2017) |
Nancy Buirski's excellent and timely documentary presents the legacy of one courageous black woman.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Dec 4, 2017
|
|
| 58% | The New Radical (2017) |
Had it incorporated women's voices, Lough's documentary would be exceptional, but as it stands it is a good primer on the "dark web." ‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Nov 28, 2017
|
|
| 100% | Soufra (2017) |
Well-directed documentary about a Palestinian woman who starts a catering business in a refugee camp.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Nov 16, 2017
|
|
| 64% | Goodbye Christopher Robin (2017) |
Curtis' steady hand, apparent in My Week With Marilyn (2011), elevated that mediocre screenplay, as it does this one. ‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Oct 10, 2017
|
|
| 92% | The Force (2017) |
A documentary that is at once about a police department, a city and, by extension, a nation on the brink of dissolution.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Sep 21, 2017
|
|
| 70% | The Unknown Girl (La fille inconnue) (2017) |
A young doctor has a crisis of conscience in the latest incisive drama from the Dardenne Brothers.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Sep 7, 2017
|
|
| 88% | This Time Tomorrow (Mañana a esta hora) (2016) |
Lina Rodriguez's excellent sophomore feature overturns the longstanding male perspective of female teenage characters as little more than objects of desire.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Aug 2, 2017
|
|
| 67% | Footnotes (Sur quel pied danser) (2017) |
Homage of movie musicals of years past has a certain charm but fails to live up to its illustrious predecessors.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Jul 11, 2017
|
|
| 100% | Birthright: A War Story (2017) |
A necessary, if not always well-constructed, examination of the perilous state of reproductive rights in the United States.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Jul 11, 2017
|
|
| 83% | Like Crazy (La pazza gioia) (2017) |
Great performances by Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Micaela Ramazzotti anchor this commedia al'Italiana-inspired movie.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted May 3, 2017
|
|
| 98% | I Am Not Your Negro (2017) |
Intelligent but sometimes discursive documentary about African-American author James Baldwin.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Dec 8, 2016
|
|
| 94% | Newtown (2016) |
Newtown is the filmmaker's biased narrative of that village as one defiled by an outcast who is never named by her or her subjects.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Oct 6, 2016
|
|
| 90% | Demon (2016) |
Skillfully realized story of a dybbuk, a diabolical spirit from Jewish folklore who addresses wrongdoings.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Sep 7, 2016
|
|
| 93% | The Little Prince (2016) |
This inventive adaptation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's children's book is beautifully realized in CG and stop-motion animation techniques.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Aug 3, 2016
|
|
| 96% | Hooligan Sparrow (2016) |
Rather than allowing Hooligan Sparrow to represent [subject Ye Haiyan's] achievement, [director Nanfu] Wang continually highlights her own plight.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Jul 20, 2016
|
|
| 80% | Jia Zhangke, a Guy from Fenyang (2016) |
An inspired approach to biography [...] a thoughtful portrait of this gifted artist.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted May 25, 2016
|
|
| 95% | Black Girl (La noire de...) (1966) |
With Black Girl, Ousmane Sembene crafts one of cinema's finest portraits of African neocolonialism.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted May 17, 2016
|
|
| 89% | The Clan (El Clan) (2016) |
Rather than the psychological thriller one might expect, The Clan is a senseless and sanguinary depiction of criminal behavior.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Mar 16, 2016
|
|
| 92% | Mountains May Depart (Shan he gu ren) (2016) |
The latest and most intensely personal movie by the celebrated Chinese director Jia Zhangke won the top prize at Cannes' Directors Fortnight.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Feb 11, 2016
|
|
| 90% | I Knew Her Well (Io la conoscevo bene) (1965) |
This is a timeless story, although not in [director Antonio] Pietrangeli's hands, an archetypal one. ‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Feb 2, 2016
|
|
| 93% | 2016 Oscar Nominated Shorts - Live Action (2016) |
Ave Maria is the standout in this year's quintet of Oscar-nominated live-action shorts.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Jan 28, 2016
|
|
| 87% | The Club (El Club) (2016) |
This drama about pedophile priests replaces the depiction of ethical and moral dilemmas with all the details one might hear on a daytime reality show.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Jan 26, 2016
|
|
| 100% | Democrats (2015) |
A fascinating, fly-on-wall portrait of patriarchal politics and power. ‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Nov 18, 2015
|
|
| 95% | Sembene! (2015) |
Serves as a good introduction to the work of "the father of African cinema."‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Nov 2, 2015
|
|
| 72% | Suffragette (2015) |
[Suffragette] will resonate with audiences because while it is a historical drama, its modernity is felt in the predicament of its working-class hero.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Oct 22, 2015
|
|
| 96% | Jafar Panahi's Taxi (2015) |
An exercise in self-pity that will test the limits of [Jafar Panahi's] most sympathetic audiences.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Oct 1, 2015
|
|
| 93% | The Black Panthers: Vanguard Of The Revolution (2015) |
An expertly edited mosaic of the political party.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Sep 1, 2015
|
|
| 97% | Listen To Me Marlon (2015) |
A portrait of the artist as increasingly uncomfortable with his talent and his Hollywood milieu. ‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Jul 27, 2015
|
|
| 98% | Phoenix (2015) |
A profound commentary on the lasting effects of the Nazi era on the German people.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Jul 23, 2015
|
|
| 93% | A Borrowed Identity (2015) |
An excellent cast, a solid script, and a few surprises about the little-known circumstances of life as an Arab-Israeli citizen make A Borrowed Identity an absorbing film. ‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Jun 25, 2015
|
|
| 88% | Tangerines (2015) |
Excellent performances from the ensemble cast [...] elevate what is an otherwise theatrical treatment of a timeworn narrative.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Apr 17, 2015
|
|
| 82% | Human Capital (2015) |
An unremarkable thriller elevated by a few excellent performances and Paolo Virzì's direction.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Jan 14, 2015
|
|
| 97% | Two Days, One Night (2014) |
It is not often that movies so authentically portray the travails of working-class characters in developed countries.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Dec 22, 2014
|
|
| 87% | Winter Sleep (2014) |
[Haluk] Bilginer's [performance] alternates between brooding melancholy and sharp-tongued contemptuousness, failing to reach the tragic dimensions which the writers intended.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Dec 16, 2014
|
|
| 90% | Closed Curtain (2014) |
If Closed Curtain seems at times too self-reflexive, it is Panahi's despair which rescues the movie, exquisite in its rendering, and terrifying for its ability to clutch at the soul.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Jul 8, 2014
|
|
| 84% | Violette (2014) |
Unfortunately, Provost mostly avoids Leduc's substantial literary contribution in favor of depicting her life solely through her friends and mentors, and her mother Berthe with whom she had a dysfunctional relationship.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Jun 12, 2014
|
|
| 89% | Elena (2014) |
Women's cinematic quests for identity are singular, as they so often involve reminiscences of a dead relative... Elena adds another assured and courageous voice.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted May 28, 2014
|
|
| 80% | Camille Claudel, 1915 (2013) |
Despite beautiful cinematography and Juliette Binoche in the title role, Bruno Dumont's biopic is a dull fictionalized depiction of three days of the eponymous sculptor's 30-year confinement.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Oct 15, 2013
|
|
| 96% | Cutie And The Boxer (2013) |
Heinzerling has a great eye, and his conventional, low-key approach to cinematography in Cutie and the Boxer-no shaky camera, very few tracking shots, and adequate lighting-puts all the emphasis on his subjects.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Aug 15, 2013
|
|
| 88% | Herman's House (2013) |
Herman's House shows off the talents of several young principal crew members, and that of the director who makes his documentary feature debut, but it lacks the gravitas of human-rights filmmaking.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Apr 16, 2013
|
|
| 100% | The Revolutionary Optimists (2013) |
Among that rare group of documentaries about child poverty that does not advocate for anything except hope.‐ Film Journal International
Read More | Posted Mar 28, 2013
|