Natalia Winkelman

Natalia Winkelman
Tomatometer-approved critic
Biography:
Natalia Winkelman is a film critic and entertainment reporter based in Brooklyn. She has covered film festivals including Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, and NYFF. She holds a B.A. in Film Studies from Columbia University.
Publications: Film Threat, New York Times, Slate, The Daily Beast, Another Gaze, Los Angeles Review of Books, Vague Visages

Movie Reviews Only

T-Meter Title | Year
43% The Walrus and the Whistleblower (2020) The legal and legislative battles supply narrative through-lines, but their progression - or rather, their stagnation - proves dull padding for the story. - New York Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Mar 4, 2021
56% John and the Hole (2020) The movie's saving grace is its visual style-a richness of image and mastery of tone that make "John and the Hole" a worthy entry into the psychodrama genre. - The Daily Beast EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 16, 2021
83% There Is No 'I' in Threesome (2021) The documentary evolves into an astute examination of perspective. - New York Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 11, 2021
No Score Yet Little Big Women (2021) By the time it is over, "Little Big Women" has lost any sense of restorative power - all that registers is tedium. - New York Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 5, 2021
75% Palmer (2021) Like a bad egg set to boil, a rugged ex-convict softens and then cracks in the pallid drama "Palmer." - New York Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 29, 2021
46% Locked Down (2021) Mostly, the film already feels like a relic. - New York Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 14, 2021
96% The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart (2020) In addition to laying out the personality of each member, the film offers a satisfying look at the process of making and marketing music. - New York Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Dec 11, 2020
70% Godmothered (2020) The film recalls the studio's once-upon-a-time hit, "Enchanted," although here, the conceit loses much of its charm. - New York Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Dec 4, 2020
68% The Christmas Chronicles 2 (2020) The movie starts to feel mechanical, like the Village's churning candy cane mill. But its output is always as sweet. - New York Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 25, 2020
No Score Yet Ainu Mosir (2020) Writer-director Takeshi Fukunaga demonstrates an admirable control of mood. - New York Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 18, 2020
29% Come Away (2020) Too dreary for youngsters and too rote for grown-ups, "Come Away" empties itself of magic. - New York Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 13, 2020
44% Holidate (2020) How many gatherings will it take before these reluctant beaus admit to their affection? Better to bail early. - New York Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Oct 28, 2020
81% Over the Moon (2020) "Over the Moon" deserves credit for launching an unflinching lesson about grief. If only it had taken a different flight path. - New York Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Oct 22, 2020
87% BLACKPINK: Light Up the Sky (2020) Here is an economy in which companies make millions by working kids to the bone. Skimming the topic is a missed opportunity, but the film's winsome stars are its saving grace. - New York Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Oct 14, 2020
95% David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet (2020) The film's grand achievement is that it positions its subject as a mediator between humans and the natural world. - New York Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Oct 4, 2020
100% Underplayed (2020) In an industry that has historically failed to make space for female artists, creating safe spaces where women can feel seen and heard is crucial. - The Daily Beast EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 29, 2020
86% Kiss the Ground (2020) A frenetic but ultimately persuasive and optimistic plan to counter the climate crisis. - New York Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 22, 2020
90% Unpregnant (2020) Its driving force may seem topical, but the story's heart is timeless: the harmony between longtime friends... - New York Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 10, 2020
56% Love, Guaranteed (2020) Its successes are due in large part to Cook who, donning a vast array of snug fall coats, is endearing as a willful working woman with a new crush. - New York Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 3, 2020
86% Rising Phoenix (2020) By avoiding complexity, "Rising Phoenix" preserves its inspiring mood, but offers only a platform for champions who already dominate the arena. - New York Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Aug 26, 2020
60% Chemical Hearts (2020) Despite the movie's sympathy for the high stakes of Henry's adolescence, the myopia of his point of view settles over "Chemical Hearts" like a layer of grime. - New York Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Aug 21, 2020
85% Work It (2020) Both Koshy and Fisher are accomplished professional dancers, and the movie doesn't skimp on showcasing their gifts. - New York Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Aug 7, 2020
28% The Kissing Booth 2 (2020) Director Vince Marcello leans heavily on montage to get us through this deluge of invented drama which, mercilessly, unspools over more than two hours. - New York Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Jul 24, 2020
47% Feel the Beat (2020) A predictable dramedy... - New York Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Jun 19, 2020
98% I'm No Longer Here (Ya no estoy aquí) (2019) At points, the story drags. But "I'm No Longer Here" offers an authentic portrait of a boy adrift from home. - New York Times EDIT
Read More | Posted May 27, 2020
58% Valley Girl (2020) Nostalgia might be the movie's melody, but it sings sweetly in the key of irony. - New York Times EDIT
Read More | Posted May 8, 2020
100% A Secret Love (2020) It is a compliment that "A Secret Love," which runs under an hour and a half, could stand to be longer, with an expanded portrait of Terry and Pat's early life as a couple. - New York Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 29, 2020
91% The Willoughbys (2020) Though it tends to feel disjointed as a whole, "The Willoughbys" thrives when it embraces its grim plot and lets mischief reign. - New York Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 23, 2020
33% Rising High (Betonrausch) (2020) "Rising High" is a white collar crime movie with little pizazz and even less substance. - New York Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 17, 2020
26% The Main Event (2020) "The Main Event" is a light comedy that takes the joys of a real WWE match - the escapism, the performance - and gives them a kid-centric spin. - New York Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 10, 2020
No Score Yet Justine (2019) The movie is a tightly observed character study that thins out during more expositional moments, but it's still a thoughtful tale of loneliness and its remedies. - New York Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Mar 19, 2020
70% Horse Girl (2020) "Horse Girl" delves into a troubled mind only to get lost among its oddities, forgetting the sensitivity that drew it there in the first place. - New York Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 6, 2020
94% The Mole Agent (2020) Fresh and funny...The specificity of these characters, their wants and personalities, allows them to defy easy arrangement. - The Daily Beast EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 2, 2020
100% The Truffle Hunters (2020) A handsome way to share the quiet, rural lives of these men, and an honest one. - The Daily Beast EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 2, 2020
74% Jumbo (2021) A weirdly uncouth story handled with rare grace and delicacy. - The Daily Beast EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 2, 2020
95% A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019) A heart-warmer and well-timed balm with a homespun quality that's hugely endearing. - Los Angeles Review of Books EDIT
Read More | Posted Dec 26, 2019
17% Dead Kids (2019) This often compelling window into the boys' culture is muddied by overly slick stylization. - New York Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Dec 6, 2019
24% The Goldfinch (2019) A labored translation, very beautiful and very meaningless. - The Daily Beast EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 10, 2019
64% Unicorn Store (2019) You can practically see the gears of Larson's earnest intentions straining to churn out an earned resolution for her heroine, but it's tainted by the botched coming-of-age lesson we all have to endure to get there. - Slate EDIT
Read More | Posted Jul 25, 2019
94% Honey Boy (2019) LaBeouf's renown is split into two distinct camps: the talent and the troubles. The cleverness of Honey Boy lies in its bridging of these two elements, its deft way of demonstrating that pain is not only injurious; it's also propulsive. - The Daily Beast EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 31, 2019
86% Big Time Adolescence (2020) It's Davidson who steals and carries the film, and it's a shame that Zeke is flat enough to be that easily expendable-Davidson is anything but. - The Daily Beast EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 29, 2019
61% Vox Lux (2018) It succeeds in spinning an audacious and provocative pop tale, and one that, incidentally, stands in opposition to the mushy earworm of a moral offered up in A Star is Born. - Los Angeles Review of Books EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 14, 2019
90% Capernaum (Capharnaüm) (2018) Labaki's lens is so patient and empathic, her knack for storytelling so full of soul and temerity, that we're inclined to follow her lead. - The Daily Beast EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 5, 2019
84% The Other Side of the Wind (2018) This opening voiceover and the film's postmortem construction make it, in addition to a final masterwork by a fading mastermind, a complex and ambivalent tribute to that mind. - The Daily Beast EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 6, 2018
65% Suspiria (2018) A dark fantasy shimmering with the dusty luster of the past...Suspiria holds a whispered decree: believe women. But also: don't underestimate them. - The Daily Beast EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 2, 2018
100% Shirkers (2018) Like Tan's original 1992 script, Shirkers is beautiful, complex, and haunting. It deserves to be seen. - The Daily Beast EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 2, 2018
83% My Dinner with Hervé (2018) Mawkish and unsophisticated, My Dinner With Hervé would probably be too trite to watch if it weren't for Dinklage. - The Daily Beast EDIT
Read More | Posted Oct 22, 2018
76% Una (2017) How do we fairly portray a nymphet? Are we obliged to render her a miserable purple-lipped corpse, as Una chooses to do? - Another Gaze EDIT
Read More | Posted Oct 16, 2018
84% Daisies (1967) The Maries, and Daisies itself, are quintessential fruits of the Czech New Wave, deconstructing social hierarchies while embodying the free-flowing, iconoclastic ethos that roused and buoyed 1960s Czechoslovak cinema. - Vague Visages EDIT
Read More | Posted Oct 16, 2018
90% The Sentence (2018) We know that the camera isn't being held by a stranger but a beloved uncle, which imbues each exchange with not only affection but also an irreproducible immediacy. - The Daily Beast EDIT
Read More | Posted Oct 15, 2018