Tina Hassannia

Tomatometer-approved critic

Publications: National Post, Village Voice, Globe and Mail, Slant Magazine, Maisonneuve, RogerEbert.com, House Next Door, NOW Toronto, The Dissolve, Movie Mezzanine, Brooklyn Magazine, Guernica

Movie Reviews Only

Movies

	T-Meter	Title \| Year	Review
3.5/4	98%	Varda by Agnès (2019)	This is a fascinating, informative, and reflective swan song that gives Varda the final word, and some of the due she's been owed her entire career, as one of the most influential feminist filmmakers. - Globe and Mail EDIT Read More \| Posted Sep 7, 2019
	75%	Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (San daikaijû: Chikyû saidai no kessen) (1964)	Despite some basic incongruities and its occasionally silly tone, Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster is a genuinely enjoyable film for the series. - Not Coming to a Theater Near You EDIT Read More \| Posted May 21, 2019
	100%	General Magic (2019)	While the documentary is about the specific emotional journey of General Magic and the psychological impact of defeat, there's a fair bit to unpack when we think more broadly about tech culture's attitude toward failure. - Hyperallergic EDIT Read More \| Posted May 20, 2019
	57%	Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster (Ebirah, Horror of the Deep) (1966)	Exemplifies the peak of the Godzilla franchise's tonal shift into campy, fun territory, a phenomenon that reflected the series' absorption of 1960s Western pop-culture influences. - Not Coming to a Theater Near You EDIT Read More \| Posted May 13, 2019
	66%	Suspiria (2018)	There's no doubt... that the new Suspiria will leave an impression: thanks to its glamorous cast and contemporary trendsetting... it is sure to inspire a new generation to take up dance or witchcraft, or both. - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Nov 1, 2018
	81%	Mid90s (2018)	Hill does manage to find a balance between his movie's severe subject matter and the humour that helps teens like Stevie survive their lonely, malnourished adolescence -- hopefully all in one piece. - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 25, 2018
	48%	Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween (2018)	Haunted Halloween is stunted by relying too much on monster intro-scares. - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 11, 2018
	27%	Night School (2018)	The film's emotional core and the story line is actually well written -- for a dumb comedy, at least. - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Sep 27, 2018
	91%	Mandy (2018)	Even if you're not a heavy-metal fan, one can't help but love how Cosmatos turns an entire genre of music into a mode of filmmaking, and how Cage turns all of that into an authentically raw, vulnerable, blood-soaked performance. - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Sep 19, 2018
	23%	Mile 22 (2018)	Mile 22 is Mission Impossible on crack. No, wait. Make that amphetamine. - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Aug 17, 2018
	91%	Window Horses (2017)	There's nothing particularly profound in all of this... but "Window Horses" is smart enough to know that it's a pretty straightforward, beautiful and informative little film that doesn't need to take itself too seriously. - RogerEbert.com EDIT Read More \| Posted Aug 14, 2018
	46%	The Meg (2018)	Is it really worth self-conscious nods to the audience when genre conventions are performed with at best perfunctory gusto and come up short in producing a half-decently scary action film? - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Aug 9, 2018
	17%	The Darkest Minds (2018)	It's [a] lack of thoughtfulness that should have kept The Darkest Minds on the never-ending stack of other unimaginative, copycat YA screenplays, never to be greenlit. - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Aug 2, 2018
	29%	Shock and Awe (2018)	Perhaps the recent profusion of fake news has made it more difficult for some Hollywood liberal creatives...to write about the War on Terror with a more self-reflexive and objective lens -- thereby ensuring that Shock and Awe fails to live up to its name. - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Aug 1, 2018
	80%	Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018)	You better spend your hard-earned dollars on it, because none other than the queen of reinvention herself -- Cher! -- dazzles us with her presence! - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Jul 19, 2018
	98%	Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018)	Despite the conventional approach, the film finds ways to convey the unique profundity that Rogers gifted to generations of children through his simple yet effective philosophy in children's entertainment. - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 8, 2018
	86%	Let the Sunshine In (Un beau soleil intérieur) (2018)	What distinguishes Denis' script and her filmmaking is the gutting complexity of such a simple idea and premise. - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 1, 2018
	84%	Disobedience (2018)	The pace in Disobedience feels leaden and stale compared to Lelio's previous work. - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted May 18, 2018
	95%	RBG (2018)	The wit and colour with which Cohen and West bring to their film makes RBG a solid, unchallenging viewing experience for American political nerds who will soak up the details. - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted May 18, 2018
	54%	Book Club (2018)	Book Club would have been better as a mini-series, where emotional intelligence and more witty banter could engage in the kind of narrative foreplay that makes for a genuinely satisfying, interesting and nuanced dramedy. - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted May 17, 2018
	26%	Breaking In (2018)	[It is] all cheap ploys to pump up suspense with little interest in using such stakes to build this dramatic thriller into something more interesting. - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted May 11, 2018
	93%	Revenge (2018)	Revenge is smartly made. - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted May 11, 2018
3/4	96%	Zama (2018)	The film is perfectly orchestrated to give off a languid, restless energy that matches the protagonist's own maddening inertia. - Globe and Mail EDIT Read More \| Posted Apr 20, 2018
	33%	Super Troopers 2 (2018)	Logic is thrown out the window entirely in Super Troopers 2. - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Apr 19, 2018
2.5/4	77%	The China Hustle (2018)	The frank, level-headed tone of the documentary does not transform into the righteous anger that such financial corruption calls for. - RogerEbert.com EDIT Read More \| Posted Mar 30, 2018
2/4	52%	Tomb Raider (2018)	If your movie makes people want to play the game instead, that's a sign of deficient filmmaking - or an extremely overpriced advertisement. - Globe and Mail EDIT Read More \| Posted Mar 15, 2018
	40%	Nostalgia (2018)	Nostalgia has the kind of introspective dialogue that encourages its impressive roster of actors to inflect genuine emotion, and its variety of painful and common experiences lets viewers connect deeply with the material. - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Mar 1, 2018
	17%	Father Figures (2017)	The film spends too much time trying to be as meaningful with its comedy as it is raunchy. - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Dec 22, 2017
	80%	The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)	So, Steve is yet another useless male character who's hidden his flaws under the professional protection of his powerful white medical coat - so what? - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Nov 2, 2017
	86%	Professor Marston & The Wonder Women (2017)	Professor Marston is a sharp and satisfying mix of film genres - biopic, character study and the sorely missed rom-com - that advance sex positivity in a way rarely seen in mainstream cinema. - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 13, 2017
	65%	The Foreigner (2017)	The film tries pretty halfheartedly to make us sympathize with Chan's character, who isn't given many lines to show off his signature charisma, yet he's clearly the one we should be rooting for. - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 13, 2017
	71%	Happy Death Day (2017)	Happy Death Day underestimates the fun in Tree's experimentation, and gets there too late. - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 13, 2017
	28%	Rebel in the Rye (2017)	Rebel is authentic enough to acutely portray the personal minutiae of Salinger's life that made him into a hardworking writer. - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 5, 2017
	85%	Beach Rats (2017)	Beach Rats is a careful character study, and with Dickinson, American indie director Eliza Hittman has hit gold. - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Sep 21, 2017
	46%	Marrowbone (2018)	A few brushes with satisfactory filmmaking craft is a moot thing to champion in a film this mucked up. - RogerEbert.com EDIT Read More \| Posted Sep 20, 2017
	51%	Woman Walks Ahead (2018)	Woman Walks Ahead remains stagnant as a politically correct but enervating historical drama. - RogerEbert.com EDIT Read More \| Posted Sep 20, 2017
	99%	Lady Bird (2017)	Gerwig has proven that she's equally adept behind the camera, allowing her personal experiences to inform this upbeat, charming coming-of-age comedy. - RogerEbert.com EDIT Read More \| Posted Sep 20, 2017
	85%	The Captain (Der Hauptmann) (2018)	A film that fully understands the psychology of the German soldiers and offers unflinching, timeless truth. - RogerEbert.com EDIT Read More \| Posted Sep 11, 2017
	41%	The Upside (2019)	No matter how heartening the performances are, how hard Hart and Cranston work to make us forget about the transparent blueprint design of the narrative, ultimately, the film makes one feel queasy. - RogerEbert.com EDIT Read More \| Posted Sep 11, 2017
	86%	It (2017)	It works best exploring the comedic, playful and tightly knit dynamic between the boys ... proving that King's strength really lies in depicting boys' clubs. - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Sep 7, 2017
4/4	83%	Patti Cake$ (2017)	While it's all pretty straightforward and predictable, Patti Cake$ squeezes out a lot of charm from its cast, especially from the empathetic, defiant, and supremely talented MacDonald, whose real-life success should be inevitable after this film. - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Aug 25, 2017
	93%	Summer (Le rayon vert) (1986)	A beautiful narrative of self-discovery, elegant in its simplicity; Rohmer doesn't have to push hard on his basic premise to find extraordinary meaning. - Village Voice EDIT Read More \| Posted Aug 23, 2017
4/5	97%	In This Corner of the World (Kono sekai no katasumi ni) (2017)	Katabuchi's distinct method in bringing the protagonist's free-floating, over-imaginative thoughts to life through animation help turn In This Corner of the World into an empathetic and colourful picture. - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Aug 17, 2017
3.5/5	86%	Ingrid Goes West (2017)	It's timely and relevant, given the increasing number of studies coming out that show the connection between social media use and depression in young users. - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Aug 17, 2017
	84%	Detroit (2017)	Bigelow's recent work is a cinema of big, difficult questions, but its cold treatment of trauma often leaves an empty impression, one that doesn't make the viewer understand or appreciate the moral implications of evil. - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Aug 11, 2017
	15%	The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature (2017)	A movie as forgettable as Nut Job 2 will quickly disappear into the summer haze. - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Aug 11, 2017
	16%	The Dark Tower (2017)	It's a confusing fictional world to understand, and one that director Nikolaj Arcel fails to bring to life onscreen. - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Aug 3, 2017
	78%	Atomic Blonde (2017)	Theron makes Atomic Blonde stylish with her sheer presence. - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Jul 28, 2017
	48%	Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)	Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is colourful, multitudinous, often imaginative, but the lack of a hermeneutic world and internal logic lessens the stakes for the viewer to care about. - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Jul 21, 2017
	100%	Nowhere To Hide (2017)	The documentary becomes increasingly chilling, because as gruesome as the blood splatters and bombed-out wreckage appear, the Iraqis appear quite normalized given the traumatizing amount of violence. - National Post EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 29, 2017