Robert Daniels

Robert Daniels
Tomatometer-approved critic
Publications: New York Times, AV Club, RogerEbert.com, The Playlist, Consequence of Sound, That Shelf, Polygon, 812filmreviews, Pay or Wait, Mediaversity Reviews

Movie Reviews Only

T-Meter Title | Year
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Mar 1, 2021
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 25, 2021
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 19, 2021
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 12, 2021
98% The Forty-Year-Old Version (2020) Everything about The Forty-Year-Old Version feels fresh. - Polygon EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 12, 2021
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 3, 2021
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 3, 2021
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 3, 2021
86% Faya Dayi (2021) A poetic study of a country intoxicated into listlessness. - RogerEbert.com EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 3, 2021
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 3, 2021
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 3, 2021
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 3, 2021
100% His House (2020) His House is a terrifying debut that breathes a fresh voice into the haunted-house subgenre. - Polygon EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 2, 2021
B 96% Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) Daniel Kaluuya is simply electric. - The Playlist EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 1, 2021
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 1, 2021
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 1, 2021
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 31, 2021
100% Flee (2020) Its ambition is as challenging as it is gorgeous. - RogerEbert.com EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 30, 2021
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 30, 2021
C- 84% On the Count of Three (2021) "On the Count of Three" doesn't overcome its directorial deficiencies. - The Playlist EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 30, 2021
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 26, 2021
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 25, 2021
C- 58% Malcolm & Marie (2020) A bleak and repetitive 100-minute black and white film school homework assignment. - The Playlist EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 22, 2021
C 92% The White Tiger (2020) A mostly lumbering and largely dreary satire. - The Playlist EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 9, 2021
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Dec 30, 2020
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Dec 30, 2020
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Dec 23, 2020
100% Giving Voice (2020) This is a film that worships the ways acting can instill determination in young people. - New York Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Dec 16, 2020
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Dec 14, 2020
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Dec 11, 2020
51% The Midnight Sky (2020) In the end, The Midnight Sky doesn't match Clooney's past directorial highs. - Polygon EDIT
Read More | Posted Dec 9, 2020
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Dec 7, 2020
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Dec 6, 2020
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Dec 4, 2020
48% Black Beauty (2020) The novel's mustang spirit diminishes into a ho-hum horse movie. - New York Times EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 27, 2020
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 20, 2020
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 20, 2020
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 10, 2020
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 6, 2020
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Oct 30, 2020
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Oct 22, 2020
79% Notturno (2021) In Rosi's pursuit to win hearts and eyes, with Notturno, the heart beats inauthentically. - 812filmreviews EDIT
Read More | Posted Oct 22, 2020
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Oct 22, 2020
B+ 81% I'm Your Woman (2020) "I'm Your Woman" is a stunner that will take you to unconventional places. - The Playlist EDIT
Read More | Posted Oct 20, 2020
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 24, 2020
2/4 No Score Yet Dreaming Grand Avenue (2020) An ambitious story that bites off more than it can chew. - RogerEbert.com EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 23, 2020
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 23, 2020
89% Limbo (2020) A love note to the displaced. - RogerEbert.com EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 23, 2020
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 23, 2020
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 EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 17, 2020