Shawn Hazelett
Shawn Hazelett's reviews only count toward the Tomatometer® when published at the following Tomatometer-approved publication(s):
Under the Radar
Publications:
Under the Radar
Movie Reviews Only
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6/10 | 64% | The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2019) |
Even if this à la carte storytelling might not have resulted in Gilliam's opus like everyone wanted, hey, even à la carte can make a satisfying meal. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Apr 22, 2019
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7/10 | 77% | Green Book (2018) |
Green Book is little more than a film about two people who become friends, but, especially in this day and age, that's more than enough. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Nov 27, 2018
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4.5/10 | 74% | Assassination Nation (2018) |
Such literal storytelling doesn't logically or tonally mesh with later scenes of mass hysteria, violence, and absurdity. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Nov 27, 2018
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8/10 | 96% | BlacKkKlansman (2018) |
BlacKkKlansman is so fresh and rich with ideas that you can forgive its shortcomings. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Nov 27, 2018
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3.5/10 | 82% | Molly's Game (2018) |
A script so overwrought and self-important that it might actually trick a few people into thinking it's good. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Dec 19, 2017
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6.5/10 | 85% | The Square (2017) |
To be clear, the film is definitely more good than bad, but [Ruben] Östlund has set a high bar for himself, and this could have been a lot more by being a lot less. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Nov 6, 2017
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5/10 | 87% | The Lost City of Z (2017) |
What we have here are essentially two different films, and I'm not fully convinced much of the first is required to reap the benefits of a far more rich and ambitious second ... a missed opportunity. - Under the Radar
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| Posted May 20, 2017
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5/10 | 91% | La La Land (2016) |
[Emma Stone] is so captivating as an actor that we are somehow attentive and interested through lousy songwriting and cliches. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Dec 16, 2016
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7/10 | 87% | Jackie (2016) |
Jackie proves that grace and composure are qualities that matter in our leaders in a year when many Americans want to deny it. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Dec 16, 2016
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8/10 | 84% | Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) |
Rogue One is worthy of standing alongside the original trilogy. Not only in terms of quality, but in creativity, imagination, and inspiration. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Dec 13, 2016
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3.5/10 | 61% | The Light Between Oceans (2016) |
Too much of the opening hour is spent establishing Tom and Isabel's happiness with unnecessarily extended scenes of the two frolicking about in nature. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Sep 29, 2016
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4/10 | 71% | Café Society (2016) |
A mess of a story that haphazardly jumps around though settings, tones, and plotlines with little overarching point or direction. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Aug 1, 2016
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5.5/10 | 85% | The Meddler (2016) |
The Meddler starts off almost too quirky and inoffensive before dramatically reversing course with the arrival of the always-welcome J.K. Simmons. - Under the Radar
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| Posted May 3, 2016
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4.5/10 | 87% | Everybody Wants Some!! (2016) |
Unfortunately, [Blake] Jenner's screentime mostly consists of a lack of spatial awareness and poor, unemotive line readings. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Apr 3, 2016
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5.5/10 | 47% | Knight of Cups (2016) |
[Knight of Cups'] inherently episodic plot is at odds with [Malick's] traditionally long, meandering visuals, which do an admirable job conveying mood, tone, and his stark version of LA. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Mar 7, 2016
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3.5/10 | 79% | Where to Invade Next (2016) |
A filmmaker who's made a career on presenting his take on an issue's origins and deeper meanings here only presents solutions. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Jan 3, 2016
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8/10 | 88% | The Big Short (2015) |
The Big Short is far from perfect ... but its audacity, ingenuity, and humor more than outweigh its flaws. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Dec 11, 2015
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3.5/10 | 38% | The Wannabe (2015) |
The Wannabe is too derivative for any insight, offering little more than tired tropes and bad accents. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Dec 9, 2015
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8/10 | 94% | Carol (2015) |
Carol uses satire as a mask which, once cast aside, leads to ... unspoken discussions on station, gender, sexuality, and identity. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Dec 9, 2015
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8/10 | 93% | Room (2015) |
Room is a tender observation of a mother/son relationship masquerading as a suspense film. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Nov 16, 2015
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5/10 | 73% | Suffragette (2015) |
Too often the film retreats from the complexity of its debates in favor of comprehension. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Oct 26, 2015
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4.5/10 | 90% | Bridge of Spies (2015) |
[The Coen Brothers'] token irreverence might be misplaced with Spielberg who veers into a Capraesque sanctimony that stops just short of jingoism. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Oct 20, 2015
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6.5/10 | 96% | Welcome To Leith (2015) |
Filmmakers Michael Beach Nichols and Christopher Walker's neutral observation ... provides a chilling blueprint of what someone even marginally less extreme might accomplish. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Sep 9, 2015
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4/10 | 60% | Southpaw (2015) |
An interesting premise and strong work by Gyllenhaal can't support a screenplay that repeatedly falls on its face through sports clichés and [vanishing] subplots. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Jul 22, 2015
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6.5/10 | 47% | Irrational Man (2015) |
A film replete with nihilism and dark, immoral actions is fleshed out with a vibrant color palette and a screenplay with razor sharp irony. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Jul 17, 2015
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4.5/10 | 76% | Jimmy's Hall (2015) |
The grand parallels and themes Loach attempts to extol are drowned in sanctimony and self-importance. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Jul 8, 2015
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6/10 | 98% | Iris (2015) |
Maysles' comprehensive account of a multifaceted, loving human being. - Under the Radar
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| Posted May 8, 2015
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7/10 | 84% | While We're Young (2015) |
Comes together in a way that's surprising and fulfilling. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Mar 28, 2015
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2.5/10 | 8% | The Lovers (2015) |
Joffe seems well aware that this is a story not worth telling ... the filmmaking is so hopelessly uninspired that Hartnett's Scottish accent is somehow not its most glaring flaw. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Mar 28, 2015
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6.5/10 | 85% | Still Alice (2015) |
While [Still Alice] is bleak and incredibly serious, it mostly avoids cheap sentimentality, managing to educate without becoming an after-school special. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Jan 24, 2015
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4.5/10 | 89% | A Most Violent Year (2015) |
[Chandor's] storytelling feels muted, presenting characters that are shockingly dull and didactic. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Jan 2, 2015
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6/10 | 89% | Happy Valley (2014) |
Happy Valley ... is less interested in assigning blame than using the scandal as a template to explore mob mentality and the perils of idol worship. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Dec 16, 2014
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8/10 | 88% | Wild (2014) |
Reese Witherspoon effectively balances flashbacks that recall her rom-com star-making roles with dark, sordid material. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Dec 5, 2014
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4.5/10 | 76% | Rosewater (2014) |
[Rosewater] feels painfully objective and loyal to the source material, resulting in a narrative that's bland and too afraid to step on any toes. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Nov 14, 2014
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7.5/10 | 94% | Force Majeure (2014) |
Force Majeure is both an insightful probe into gender roles and family dynamics and a clever lampoon of fragile bourgeoisie masculinity. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Oct 29, 2014
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6.5/10 | 81% | Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead (Død snø 2) (2014) |
Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead could have been a lazy movie, but writer/director Tommy Wirkola is too keen let his imagination run wild. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Oct 15, 2014
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4.5/10 | 77% | St. Vincent (2014) |
[McCarthy and Murray] feel oddly stilted, their performances restricted by material that can't decide whether or not it's a comedy. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Oct 9, 2014
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2/10 | 43% | Frank Miller's Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) |
Little more than cartoon rapt with overwritten voiceover ... if the ten-year gap provided anything, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For can be easily separated from the original. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Aug 22, 2014
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8/10 | 92% | Child's Pose (2014) |
Details are beautifully observed in lengthy, theatrical scenes, which may not have been sustainable without a captivating performance from Luminita Gheorghiu. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Aug 20, 2014
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5/10 | 39% | Oldboy (2013) |
Lee takes his time crafting fiery characters and an impenetrable, who-and-why mystery only to rush through a series of arbitrary clues and explanations. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Aug 20, 2014
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3.5/10 | 17% | Twice Born (2013) |
Twice Born wants so desperately to be taken seriously that it creates an unnecessarily complex narrative, void of any chemistry-building moments for its romantic leads. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Aug 20, 2014
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9/10 | 91% | Nebraska (2013) |
It's a surprising performance from Forte, tasked with much of the heavy lifting opposite a tight-lipped Dern. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Aug 20, 2014
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9/10 | 95% | 12 Years a Slave (2013) |
Screenwriter John Ridley takes a story that's episodic in nature and crafts a narrative that manages to build in intensity and emotion for over two hours. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Aug 18, 2014
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6.5/10 | 76% | Zero Charisma (2013) |
A very enjoyable, surprisingly accessible movie about nerd culture that offers a little warmth with a lot of humor. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Aug 18, 2014
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4.5/10 | 58% | Five Dances (2013) |
At times the plot seems to exist merely to string together all these dance scenes ... Unfortunately, Five Dances feels more interested in the art than the artist. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Aug 18, 2014
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6/10 | 87% | The Trip To Italy (2014) |
The Trip to Italy ... presents less a narrative than a series of dinnertime conversations between fictionalized versions of Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Aug 15, 2014
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6.5/10 | 59% | Draft Day (2014) |
Draft Day is a perfectly enjoyable movie with a solid understanding of football and football minds, but tends to lag when focusing on subplots not related to football. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Aug 15, 2014
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4/10 | 66% | The Railway Man (2014) |
The Railway Man is an ambitious, well-intentioned film plagued by flat, predictable storytelling - Under the Radar
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| Posted Aug 15, 2014
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7/10 | 75% | The German Doctor (2014) |
[Àlex Brendemühl's] Mengele is a departure from the mustache-twirling villains of Marathon Man and The Boys from Brazil. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Aug 15, 2014
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5.5/10 | 53% | NOW: In the Wings on a World Stage (2014) |
Less a film than a brochure, offering lush, alluring scenery alongside a collection of ultimately shallow teasers. - Under the Radar
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| Posted Aug 15, 2014
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