Robert Daniels
Tomatometer-approved critic
Movie Reviews Only
T-Meter | Title | Year | Review | |
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B- | 97% | Raya and the Last Dragon (2021) |
The warmth shaking the ash from this well-worn story is the gift of family. The family we are born with. The family we make. - The Playlist
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| Posted Mar 1, 2021
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C | 38% | Cherry (2021) |
The Russo Brothers' "Cherry" is an earnest star-vehicle that falls short of both its star and its story. - The Playlist
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| Posted Feb 25, 2021
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B+ | 94% | Test Pattern (2021) |
Michelle Ford's "Test Pattern," with patient specificity, probes the institutional injustices suffered by black women to potent, provoking effect. - The Playlist
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| Posted Feb 19, 2021
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B- | 78% | Greyhound (2020) |
With little character development on paper, the narrative finds victory through Hanks' patient physical performance and the craftsmanship within the battles. - Consequence of Sound
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| Posted Feb 12, 2021
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98% | The Forty-Year-Old Version (2020) |
Everything about The Forty-Year-Old Version feels fresh. - Polygon
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| Posted Feb 12, 2021
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74% | The Most Beautiful Boy in the World (2021) |
A haunting, gut-wrenching exploration of a timeless idol and the weight of his success. - RogerEbert.com
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| Posted Feb 3, 2021
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100% | Writing with Fire (2021) |
The resounding message that manages to boil to the surface, 'nevertheless, she persisted,' hits with a pen point's force. - RogerEbert.com
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| Posted Feb 3, 2021
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100% | Sabaya (2021) |
A riveting, though often meandering story, about a select few working to reunite the families torn apart by an endless civil war. - RogerEbert.com
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| Posted Feb 3, 2021
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86% | Faya Dayi (2021) |
A poetic study of a country intoxicated into listlessness. - RogerEbert.com
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| Posted Feb 3, 2021
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100% | Taming the Garden (2021) |
Salomé Jashi's environmentalist documentary Taming the Garden engrossingly chronicles the aesthetic valuation of nature with regards to hindrance and legacy. - RogerEbert.com
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| Posted Feb 3, 2021
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85% | Misha and the Wolves (2021) |
An at times stylistically overcooked investigative thriller that's as much about the preservation of a people as the woman concerned with protecting her crafted reality. - RogerEbert.com
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| Posted Feb 3, 2021
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92% | Captains of Za'atari (2021) |
Ali El Arabi's Captains of Zaatari isn't solely the football equivalent of Hoop Dreams -- it's a heartwarming tale of friendship between two boys bound by love for the game and each other. - RogerEbert.com
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| Posted Feb 3, 2021
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100% | His House (2020) |
His House is a terrifying debut that breathes a fresh voice into the haunted-house subgenre. - Polygon
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| Posted Feb 2, 2021
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B | 96% | Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) |
Daniel Kaluuya is simply electric. - The Playlist
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| Posted Feb 1, 2021
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C- | 65% | First Date (2021) |
Crosby and Knapp's First Date, an at-times hilarious California pleasure trip, dissolves under the weight of its self-evident ambition. - The Playlist
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| Posted Feb 1, 2021
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100% | Playing with Sharks (2021) |
A remarkable environmentalist documentary that not only stands as a testament to a remarkable woman, but will make you see sharks in a totally different light. - RogerEbert.com
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| Posted Feb 1, 2021
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B | 84% | Passing (2021) |
With an incredible ensemble and an elegant eye, Rebecca Hall's "Passing" is a high-wire act of a debut that tackles its several thorny issues with nary a scratch. - The Playlist
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| Posted Jan 31, 2021
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100% | Flee (2020) |
Its ambition is as challenging as it is gorgeous. - RogerEbert.com
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| Posted Jan 30, 2021
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88% | President (2021) |
A devastating, heartened report of democracy in peril against a dictator, a report that suddenly feels all-too familiar to Americans. - RogerEbert.com
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| Posted Jan 30, 2021
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C- | 84% | On the Count of Three (2021) |
"On the Count of Three" doesn't overcome its directorial deficiencies. - The Playlist
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| Posted Jan 30, 2021
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47% | The Little Things (2021) |
Hancock, in what might be his best film, grazes with greatness by constructing an enthralling thriller that relies on the talent of its three leading men to mine regret for mystery. - Polygon
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| Posted Jan 26, 2021
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95% | Soul (2020) |
Even with the film's bid for a suspension of racial disbelief, the racial-passing narrative in the second act of Soul is acutely bizarre. - Polygon
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| Posted Jan 25, 2021
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C- | 58% | Malcolm & Marie (2020) |
A bleak and repetitive 100-minute black and white film school homework assignment. - The Playlist
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| Posted Jan 22, 2021
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C | 92% | The White Tiger (2020) |
A mostly lumbering and largely dreary satire. - The Playlist
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| Posted Jan 9, 2021
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96% | The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart (2020) |
With a jukebox parade that will invite viewers to inevitably sing-along to classic earworms, How Can You Mend a Broken Heart is the Bee Gees documentary you've been waiting for. It's a fitting tribute to their unending love for each other. - Consequence of Sound
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| Posted Dec 30, 2020
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4/4 | 99% | Night of the Kings (La Nuit des Rois) (2020) |
An assured, energetic piece of epic filmmaking, one that celebrates how storytelling, oration, and folklore teach us about our past so we might change our present. - RogerEbert.com
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| Posted Dec 30, 2020
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93% | Sylvie's Love (2020) |
Sylvie's Love isn't a knock-off of If Beale Could Talk. The romance charts its own distinct path. - 812filmreviews
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| Posted Dec 23, 2020
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100% | Giving Voice (2020) |
This is a film that worships the ways acting can instill determination in young people. - New York Times
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| Posted Dec 16, 2020
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88% | News of the World (2020) |
A leaden, drawn-out Western that's saved by its two knowing lead performances and a reverence for how the right stories can heal divisions. - Polygon
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| Posted Dec 14, 2020
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80% | Safety (2020) |
Even with its clear weaknesses, Safety is an uplifting film about the unbreakable bonds in communities and teams, and between brothers. - Pay or Wait
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| Posted Dec 11, 2020
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51% | The Midnight Sky (2020) |
In the end, The Midnight Sky doesn't match Clooney's past directorial highs. - Polygon
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| Posted Dec 9, 2020
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B | 93% | 40 Years a Prisoner (2020) |
The gaps give Oliver's film a sense of incompleteness. But the story he does construct makes 40 Years A Prisoner another reminder of the repetitious history of American racism, and the prisoner and police reform still required to avoid the same mistakes. - AV Club
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| Posted Dec 7, 2020
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B | 89% | Let Them All Talk (2020) |
"Let Them All Talk" is a wistful mystery film that, in the end, finds a worthwhile story between friends. - The Playlist
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| Posted Dec 6, 2020
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3.5/4 | 97% | Billie (2020) |
Erskine's Billie is an honest memorial to the rich talent, and the arresting traumas that made the voice of a generation. - RogerEbert.com
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| Posted Dec 4, 2020
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48% | Black Beauty (2020) |
The novel's mustang spirit diminishes into a ho-hum horse movie. - New York Times
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| Posted Nov 27, 2020
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9/10 | 98% | Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020) |
While the film boasts a strong ensemble, all of whom give fantastic performances, especially Davis, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is Boseman's movie from beginning to end. He shows his full range. - IGN Movies
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| Posted Nov 20, 2020
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2/4 | 70% | Embattled (2020) |
The father-son drama in Embattled might win some rounds, but the abundance of clichés leads to a loss overall. - RogerEbert.com
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| Posted Nov 20, 2020
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25% | Hillbilly Elegy (2020) |
Hillbilly Elegy conflates one man's story as emblematic of a community, in short-sighted terms. It isn't just a disservice to Vance, but to the inhabitants of the Rust Belt as well. - Polygon
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| Posted Nov 10, 2020
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6/10 | 83% | Mank (2020) |
Even with showy performances from Oldman and Seyfried, and its beautiful craft, the film lacks heart. Because underneath the wisecracks and drunken debauchery... there's scarcely an impression of the man. - IGN Movies
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| Posted Nov 6, 2020
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2/4 | 87% | Us Kids (2020) |
Like the limited legislative change that has occurred due to the underappreciated efforts of these valiant activists, I wish Snyder's Us Kids resulted in more. - RogerEbert.com
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| Posted Oct 30, 2020
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80% | Kubrick by Kubrick (Kubrick par Kubrick) (2020) |
Monro's Kubrick by Kubrick isn't more than a loose highlight reel of the director's career buttressed by a fairly flat interview. - 812filmreviews
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| Posted Oct 22, 2020
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79% | Notturno (2021) |
In Rosi's pursuit to win hearts and eyes, with Notturno, the heart beats inauthentically. - 812filmreviews
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| Posted Oct 22, 2020
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100% | Finding Yingying (2020) |
Shi's Finding Yingying should come with complimentary napkins. It's a sad story, yet an even more fitting tribute. - 812filmreviews
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| Posted Oct 22, 2020
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B+ | 81% | I'm Your Woman (2020) |
"I'm Your Woman" is a stunner that will take you to unconventional places. - The Playlist
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| Posted Oct 20, 2020
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B- | 90% | The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020) |
Through a punch-the-air final act, Aaron Sorkin's melodrama reassures us of the power of sticking to one's beliefs - The Playlist
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| Posted Sep 24, 2020
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2/4 | No Score Yet | Dreaming Grand Avenue (2020) |
An ambitious story that bites off more than it can chew. - RogerEbert.com
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| Posted Sep 23, 2020
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93% | True Mothers (Asa ga kuru) (2020) |
True Mothers tries to interweave two powerful themes -- teen pregnancy and the longing for family -- but ultimately emotionally falters due to its sprawling timeline. - RogerEbert.com
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| Posted Sep 23, 2020
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89% | Limbo (2020) |
A love note to the displaced. - RogerEbert.com
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| Posted Sep 23, 2020
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92% | Another Round (Druk) (2020) |
Not many directors can pull off what Vinterberg does here, and with any other creator the conceit would probably devolve into an absurdly daft Adam Sandler comedy. - RogerEbert.com
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| Posted Sep 23, 2020
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100% | 76 Days (2020) |
76 Days is not just the first major recounting of the tragedy wrought by this virus, it's also an inspiring profile of doctors practicing courage under fire. - RogerEbert.com
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| Posted Sep 17, 2020
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