Rotten Tomatoes
Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes
Critics list

Sammie Purcell

Tomatometer-approved critic
Biography:

Sammie Purcell is an associate editor, entertainment reporter, and movie critic for Rough Draft Atlanta. She is a member of the Atlanta Film Critics Circle and the Southeastern Film Critics Association.

Publications:

Reviews

Movies TV Shows
Nouvelle Vague (2025) 92% EDIT “"Nouvelle Vague" is perfectly well made, well acted, and enjoyable – light, cozy entertainment that will most likely delight cinephiles in its exploration of how one of the most influential films of all time came to be.” – Rough Draft Atlanta Jan 2, 2026 Full Review The Running Man (2025) 62% EDIT “"The Running Man" [is] a movie that’s a little too absurd for how seriously it takes itself.” – Rough Draft Atlanta Jan 2, 2026 Full Review Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk (2025) 98% EDIT “...with "Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk," [Sepideh] Farsi has proven once again that powerful emotion doesn’t have to stem from big, sweeping visuals. It can come from something as simple as an iPhone. ” – Rough Draft Atlanta Jan 2, 2026 Full Review Wicked: For Good (2025) 66% EDIT “I can’t say that "Wicked: For Good" doesn’t have its moments ... But, outside of those few moments, "Wicked: For Good" feels immensely slow and ill-conceived. ” – Rough Draft Atlanta Jan 2, 2026 Full Review Train Dreams (2025) 95% EDIT “Just like with "Sing Sing," in "Train Dreams" [Clint] Bentley and [Greg] Kwedar take a story that could easily feel trite or overwrought and instead come up with something deeply humane. ” – Rough Draft Atlanta Jan 2, 2026 Full Review Eternity (2025) 77% EDIT “...while it’s certainly entertaining, the lack of tension while you’re waiting for the inevitable to happen – or getting annoyed when the movie tries to pretend like something else will happen – makes "Eternity" feel far longer than its ... runtime.” – Rough Draft Atlanta Jan 2, 2026 Full Review Peter Hujar's Day (2025) 92% EDIT “[Ira] Sachs takes a simple story about the minutiae of being a living, breathing, working artist and gives it a cinematic edge.” – Rough Draft Atlanta Jan 2, 2026 Full Review Jay Kelly (2025) 75% EDIT “["Jay Kelly" is] not subtle by any means, but the pure anguish that runs under the surface of [Noah] Baumbach’s latest work rings harsh and true by the film’s end.” – Rough Draft Atlanta Jan 2, 2026 Full Review Hamnet (2025) 86% EDIT “While a bit clunky in its narrative setup, "Hamnet" slowly nestles into your heart, evolving into a beautifully considered meditation on art and legacy...” – Rough Draft Atlanta Jan 2, 2026 Full Review The Housemaid (2025) 74% EDIT “This is a genre that thrives not on characters, or plot, or good writing, but rather on its ability to make you gasp, laugh, and groan in equal measure. And in that respect, "The Housemaid" does not disappoint. ” – Rough Draft Atlanta Jan 2, 2026 Full Review Song Sung Blue (2025) 78% EDIT “...the best parts of "Song Sung Blue" have nothing to do with [its] twists, but instead with the crowd pleasing charm and the musical spectacular of the two performers at the film’s center. ” – Rough Draft Atlanta Jan 2, 2026 Full Review Marty Supreme (2025) 94% EDIT “...at its heart, "Marty Supreme" is also a movie about coming into your own and growing up — all wrapped up in an immensely entertaining thrill ride. ” – Rough Draft Atlanta Jan 2, 2026 Full Review Urchin (2025) 96% EDIT “As a filmmaker, [Harris] Dickinson certainly wears his references on his sleeve, but he also avoids a lot of the pitfalls that first-time filmmakers can so easily fall into. ” – Rough Draft Atlanta Nov 11, 2025 Full Review The Mastermind (2025) 90% EDIT ““The Mastermind” is exploring the same things [Kelly] Reichardt has always been interested in – the psyche of a uniquely American person at any given moment in time, discontent with their life but unsure of what it is they want. ” – Rough Draft Atlanta Nov 11, 2025 Full Review Blue Moon (2025) 91% EDIT “Within Lorenz Hart, [Robert] Kaplow [and Richard Linklater] find the innate tension of the human condition – our self-destructiveness, our complexity, and our desire to be loved. ” – Rough Draft Atlanta Nov 11, 2025 Full Review A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE (2025) 75% EDIT ““A House of Dynamite” is far less concerned with competence or lack thereof, and more concerned with what war means in the nuclear era. ” – Rough Draft Atlanta Nov 11, 2025 Full Review Ballad of a Small Player (2025) 49% EDIT “...despite its operatic sense of style, “Ballad of a Small Player” is missing the buoyancy of [Edward] Berger’s previous film. The stakes feel nonexistent, the characters disconnected, and the whole thing oddly lifeless. ” – Rough Draft Atlanta Nov 11, 2025 Full Review It Was Just an Accident (2025) 98% EDIT “ Made in secret by a filmmaker who understands the evils of authoritarianism better than most, “It Was Just an Accident” offers a sharp rebuke to that authoritarianism, wrestling with complex questions about justice and humanity. ” – Rough Draft Atlanta Nov 11, 2025 Full Review If I Had Legs I'd Kick You (2025) 91% EDIT ““If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” is a title that evokes a feeling of complete and utter inadequacy, one that seeps through [Mary] Bronstein’s remarkably assured, piercing second feature directorial effort. ” – Rough Draft Atlanta Nov 11, 2025 Full Review Hedda (2025) 89% EDIT ““Hedda” is a whirling dervish of power struggles, featuring a powerhouse performance from [Tessa] Thompson at the eye of the hurricane. ” – Rough Draft Atlanta Nov 11, 2025 Full Review Christy (2025) 67% EDIT ““Christy,” the new film directed by David Michôd and co-written by Michôd and Mirrah Foulkes, rests on the inherent high drama of Christy’s story, refusing to engage with her beyond the surface, which leads to fairly surface level performances.” – Rough Draft Atlanta Nov 11, 2025 Full Review Bugonia (2025) 88% EDIT “For as silly as "Bugonia" can be, it is also a deeply sad exploration of one man’s conspiracy-filled journey to right a great wrong. ” – Rough Draft Atlanta Nov 11, 2025 Full Review Kiss of the Spider Woman (2025) 77% EDIT “Watching “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” one thought kept crossing my mind – why has it taken this long for someone to put Jennifer Lopez in a musical? ” – Rough Draft Atlanta Oct 16, 2025 Full Review The Smashing Machine (2025) 70% EDIT “While it’s an admirable goal, to make a sports movie that feels so rooted in realism, the attempt is far more interesting than the product. ” – Rough Draft Atlanta Oct 16, 2025 Full Review Good Boy (2025) 90% EDIT “[Ben] Leonberg ... [creates] a movie that, while spare, effectively builds tension and emotion and makes a star out of its leading canine. ” – Rough Draft Atlanta Oct 16, 2025 Full Review
No Reviews Yet
Load More