Robert Daniels

Tomatometer-approved critic

Publications: That Shelf, 812filmreviews, Mediaversity Reviews

Movie Reviews Only

Movies

	T-Meter	Title \| Year	Review
3.5/4	95%	Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché (2019)	The term "essential documentary," often overused, finds true ground here with Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted Jul 16, 2019
4/4	100%	The Farewell (2019)	Lulu Wang is a triumph of the will... [as] The Farewell invites, delivers, cultural appreciation. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted Jul 15, 2019
2/4	43%	Stuber (2019)	Stuber: An illogical buddy comedy with hopes of confronting toxic masculinity that often swerves to avoid blindly hitting plot holes. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted Jul 15, 2019
2.5/4	65%	Annabelle Comes Home (2019)	Annabelle Comes Home is an enjoyable Saturday night flick with great rewatch value. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted Jul 11, 2019
1/4	56%	The Lion King (2019)	You're likelier to find more enjoyment, excitement, and empathy on the ride: "It's a Small World" - than in any portion of Disney's newest cash grab: The Lion King. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted Jul 11, 2019
3.5/4	90%	Framing John DeLorean (2019)	The tremendous and jaw-dropping twists Framing John DeLorean takes will never cease to amaze. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 30, 2019
2/4	90%	Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)	Spider-Man: Far From Home contends with too much baggage in a messy narrative. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 27, 2019
3.5/4	82%	Midsommar (2019)	Midsommar is worth its weight in flowers, an echoed scream into the daylight. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 26, 2019
3/4	93%	Echo In the Canyon (2019)	Seeing Tom Petty back on screen... makes Slater's documentary a worthy and necessary chapter in the greatest decade of popular and rock music. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 21, 2019
F	31%	Shaft (2019)	[Shaft is] the worst and most problematic film of 2019-or any other year, for that matter. - Mediaversity Reviews EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 21, 2019
3.5/4	100%	Bliss (2019)	A fever dream in the style of Gaspar Noé, Bliss mixes sex, drugs, and rock n' roll in the pursuit of art. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 16, 2019
	No Score Yet	Life Overtakes Me (2019)	Life Overtakes Me does indeed overtake us, reminding us of the perils refugees face, even when the guns cease to fire and the violence ends. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 15, 2019
4/4	98%	Toy Story 4 (2019)	Toy Story 4 devastates tear ducts. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 13, 2019
1.5/4	22%	Men in Black International (2019)	Recognizable as only déjà vu, and dismissed just as quickly, pretty much summarizes the newest installment in the interminable Men in Black franchise. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 12, 2019
4/4	93%	Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story By Martin Scorsese (2019)	Scorsese's Rolling Thunder Revue serves as a study of the last vestiges of the 60's riding off into the sunset during the mid-70's. A final adieu by the era's biggest musical and poetic titans. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 10, 2019
1.5/4	23%	Dark Phoenix (2019)	The whole affair has the tentpole building obligation of talking to your cousins at Christmas dinner, except with cheaper lights. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 5, 2019
2/4	41%	Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)	GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS commits the biggest sin of any Godzilla film: It's boring. My review: - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted May 30, 2019
3/4	90%	Rocketman (2019)	Dexter Fletcher makes your basic Freudian gin and tonic... with a showstopping crowd pleaser. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted May 30, 2019
3/4	88%	Light From Light (2019)	Paul Harrill's Light from Light is a quiet moving testament to grief, transition, and love. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted May 24, 2019
2/4	63%	Yesterday (2019)	While Yesterday features some incredibly funny bits, and the music of the Beatles still feels timeless, the time spent on this gamey concept is truly 'A Hard Day's Night' - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted May 22, 2019
3/4	73%	The Perfection (2019)	Richard Shepard's The Perfection is a twisting and unnerving film that at once serves as a more demented version of Whiplash while combining body and revenge horror. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted May 22, 2019
2/4	57%	Aladdin (2019)	Much like the previous Disney live-action offerings of late, Aladdin is tastelessly inoffensive. Just decent enough that your kids won't be disappointed, but not good enough to immediately order the Blu-Ray for future viewings. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted May 22, 2019
C+	48%	The Sun Is Also a Star (2019)	For all of its well-meaning examinations of race, The Sun Is Also a Star rests upon troubling casting...In many regards, The Sun Is Also a Star fights itself. - Mediaversity Reviews EDIT Read More \| Posted May 20, 2019
1.5/4	71%	All Is True (2019)	Kenneth Branagh... bungles All is True worse than Malvolio with a letter from Olivia... - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted May 14, 2019
3.5/4	90%	John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019)	John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellem...is another exceptional hit from Keanu Reeves, and a bone-crushing triumph. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted May 10, 2019
3.5/4	100%	After Parkland (2019)	In Lefferman and Taguchi's After Parkland, life continues - serving as a reminder of the world's cruel fact. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted May 8, 2019
3/4	100%	The Projectionist (2019)	Nicolaou and Ferrara arrive in The Projectionist to recount the New York, the cinematic experiences, and the movies of their childhoods. And we're all better off for it. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted May 7, 2019
3/4	100%	Circus of Books (2019)	For those wishing to understand a slice of LGBTQ culture and history, Mason's poignant film is a high-priority watch. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted May 5, 2019
3/4	100%	17 Blocks (2019)	Rothbart's 17 Blocks finds its most stimulating and limpid calling as a memorializing of this family's most difficult lesson: growth through healing. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted May 4, 2019
2/4	45%	Georgetown (2019)	Georgetown... while not downright terrible, isn't better than average and continues Waltz's inglorious sans-Tarantino career. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted May 2, 2019
3/4	94%	What's My Name: Muhammad Ali (2019)	Antoine Fuqua's two-part documentary... provides a necessary, if nominal summary of the fighter's life and career. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted May 1, 2019
4/4	100%	Rewind (2019)	Rewind not only offers the story of a victim's ordeal, but a brave and resilient spirit. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted Apr 30, 2019
3.5/4	94%	Burning Cane (2019)	Youmans' potential has no limits. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted Apr 27, 2019
2.5/4	94%	Avengers: Endgame (2019)	For now, the cast, crew, and creators of the past decade may rest easy on a sun-drench porch with the knowledge that [Endgame] accomplished their ultimate goal. For better or for worse. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted Apr 23, 2019
B+	81%	Fast Color (2019)	"While Fast Color adopts some comic book conventions, they're [uniquely] wrapped in feminist allegory." - Mediaversity Reviews EDIT Read More \| Posted Apr 16, 2019
0/4	18%	Hellboy (2019)	If there is a nadir of comic book films it's here. Hellboy was better left in purgatory. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted Apr 10, 2019
4/4	83%	High Life (2019)	High Life (a bittersweet irony of a title) is a perfect combination of [Claire] Denis' art-house sensibilities, her prodigious skill, and her larger-flashier eye toward the unknown and indistinguishable. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted Apr 8, 2019
3/4	65%	Peterloo (2019)	Mike Leigh, in his latest film Peterloo, painstakingly recaptures this enormous event in a historical epic that quietly revitalizes the genre. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted Apr 8, 2019
4/4	100%	The Burial of Kojo (2019)	Blitz the Ambassador, magically swerves past mistakes that have doomed other beginners...arriving with a stunning and miraculous debut film... that demonstrates his emerging and daring talent. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted Apr 8, 2019
3/4	91%	Shazam! (2019)	Shazam! redefines the DC superhero film... through light humor and touching family moments. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted Apr 2, 2019
2/4	76%	Hotel Mumbai (2019)	Hotel Mumbai feels 5 years too late and maybe even 5 years too soon, with a subject matter that's been covered before with greater dexterity. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted Mar 29, 2019
2.5/4	46%	Dumbo (2019)	"Burton's Dumbo is a hodgepodge and ramshackle mess that, like its protagonist, often struggles to lift itself from ground" - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted Mar 26, 2019
	100%	The 400 Blows (Les Quatre cents coups) (1959)	[The 400 Blows'] most prevalent connection to the then burgeoning French New Wave is its message of freedom - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted Mar 18, 2019
3/4	100%	Jezebel (2019)	Perrier's [Jezebel] inserts themes relating to standards of beauty, a normalization of sexual-based work, and female empowerment... and is a simple and contained family drama, and coming of age piece. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted Mar 16, 2019
3/4	88%	Frances Ferguson (2019)	With Frances Ferguson, Byington has crafted a funny dark comedy that's at once playful and sardonic, and a brilliant commentary on gender roles. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted Mar 16, 2019
2/4	57%	The Highwaymen (2019)	The Highwaymen takes the most exciting manhunt in American history, and somehow makes it boring. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted Mar 16, 2019
3.5/4	100%	Building the American Dream (2019)	Chelsea Hernandez's resounding and authentic Building the American Dream isn't just a fight for the underdog. It's a fight for what's right. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted Mar 15, 2019
	92%	The Boy Band Con: The Lou Pearlman Story (2019)	Told in jaw-dropping fashion, the The Lou Pearlman Story follows the famed musical talent scout...to the Harvey Weinstein/Bernie Madoff figure he would ultimately become. - That Shelf EDIT Read More \| Posted Mar 15, 2019
	No Score Yet	Qualified (2019)	Jenna Ricker's inspiring documentary Qualified is a testament to the sheer will and courage of [Janet] Guthrie. - That Shelf EDIT Read More \| Posted Mar 15, 2019
3.5/4	100%	Jump Shot (2019)	Jumpshot: The Kenny Sailors Story uncovers two facts that's long been apparent: Kenny Sailors invented the modern jumpshot and he was a singular and amazing man. - 812filmreviews EDIT Read More \| Posted Mar 15, 2019