Ben Kenigsberg
Tomatometer-approved critic
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Concerned Citizen (2022) |
Haguel builds this brief but densely structured film in an interestingly modular, rhythmic way, thanks to a percussive score by Zoe Polanski and occasional, abrupt cuts to black following key scenes. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Jun 01, 2023
|
|
|
|
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie (2023) |
With apologies to Dr. Emmett Brown, you don’t need a flux capacitor to build a time machine. All you need to do is make a film. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted May 11, 2023
|
|
|
|
Slava Ukraini (2023) |
Lévy’s effort demands respect. Public intellectuals in the United States seldom travel through war zones with a camera running. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted May 04, 2023
|
|
|
|
Those Who Remained (2019) |
Hajduk and Szoke are strong performers. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Apr 27, 2023
|
|
|
|
Little Richard: I Am Everything (2023) |
A thorough, energetic, largely chronological appraisal, more interested in saluting a musical legend who shook things up than in shaking up conventions itself. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Apr 20, 2023
|
|
|
|
Honorable Men: The Rise and Fall of Ehud Olmert (2020) |
Direct access to Olmert — mostly heard speaking over the phone, although he is eventually shown being interviewed in person after his release — hasn’t led to a coherent thesis. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Apr 13, 2023
|
|
|
|
The Plains (2022) |
Fans of structural film, “Jeanne Dielman” and Google Maps will find much to treasure, even if the narrative elements — and occasional cutaways to imagery shot in a more remote area in western Victoria — upset the movie’s rigor and purposeful tedium. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Apr 12, 2023
|
|
|
|
How to Blow Up a Pipeline (2022) |
“How to Blow Up a Pipeline” is at its best when it functions as a kind of roughed-up caper movie; it has a degree of suspense and efficiency that are becoming all too rare in the mainstream. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Apr 06, 2023
|
|
|
|
Space Oddity (2022) |
Serious subject matter aside, the movie is as bogus as Alex’s prospects of being an astronaut. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Mar 30, 2023
|
|
|
|
Kubrick by Kubrick (2020) |
“Kubrick by Kubrick” doesn’t offer much that will surprise even mild obsessives. Still, it is interesting to hear Kubrick express ideas that run counter to conventional wisdom. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Mar 21, 2023
|
|
|
|
The Spirit of '45 (2013) |
There is a powerful historical case to be made here, but it requires engaging with nuance, not merely expressing conviction. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Mar 16, 2023
|
|
|
|
Champions (2023) |
The dispiriting experience of watching “Champions” is slowly realizing that, notwithstanding an off-color line here or there, it’s exactly the sort of formulaic crowd-pleaser that just about anybody might have directed. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Mar 09, 2023
|
|
|
|
Gods of Mexico (2022) |
This nominal portrait of people isn’t interested in what they have to say. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Mar 02, 2023
|
|
|
|
My Happy Ending (2023) |
The labored screen adaptation shows regrettably few signs of personal fire, and many signs of a work that has been sapped of the intimacy of live theater. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Feb 23, 2023
|
|
|
|
2023 Oscar Nominated Shorts - Documentary (2023) |
Walruses or elephants? A doc that’s mostly archival clips or a movie shot over 16 years? These are decisions facing Oscar voters in this year’s documentary shorts category. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Feb 16, 2023
|
|
|
|
At Midnight (2023) |
[The stars'] efforts aren’t enough to counteract the filmmaker’s strained whimsy and tired formal tricks. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Feb 10, 2023
|
|
|
|
Let It Be Morning (2021) |
Despite flashes of droll humor, the film builds up an undercurrent of suspense, with the prospect of violence always near. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Feb 02, 2023
|
|
|
|
Geographies of Solitude (2022) |
It turns an ecology lesson, and an account of a noble, steadfast, single-minded pursuit, into art. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 25, 2023
|
|
|
|
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a #@%! (2023) |
If “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a #@%!” helps people, its deficiencies as a movie don’t matter much. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 04, 2023
|
|
|
|
Turn Every Page: The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb (2022) |
A great profile, filled with wit, affection and detailed stories of how the books came to be. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Dec 29, 2022
|
|
|
|
Pelosi in the House (2022) |
It provides an unusual opportunity to watch Pelosi negotiate legislation and rally votes. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Dec 13, 2022
|
|
|
|
2/Duo (1997) |
Similar techniques yielded brilliance from John Cassavetes, Jacques Rivette and Mike Leigh. But here they mostly result in characters who don’t appear fully realized. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Dec 08, 2022
|
|
|
|
Tantura (2022) |
Not simply a persuasive augmentation of Katz’s argument, but also a disturbing portrait of how very human impulses — passivity, rationalization, social pressures — can shape the writing of history. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Dec 01, 2022
|
|
|
|
The Swimmers (2022) |
“The Swimmers” tells this story as an inspirational (but rarely sugarcoated) crowd-pleaser. Within those terms, it hits its marks. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Nov 23, 2022
|
|
|
|
Christmas With You (2022) |
By far the sturdiest component of “Christmas With You” is Freddie Prinze Jr.’s hair. Who sculpted it to such a disconcerting spike? Did it time-travel from the late 1990s? Does gravity apply to it? - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Nov 17, 2022
|
|
|
|
Master of Light (2022) |
The thesis of the movie — that art can be restorative and help overcome cyclical, systemic failures — might seem trite. But Morton’s devotion to his painting and his loved ones makes it difficult not to be moved. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Nov 15, 2022
|
|
|
|
A Couple (2022) |
If Wiseman has so often turned his camera on the sprawl and imperfections of institutions, this is a portrait of an individual, isolated and pushing back. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Nov 10, 2022
|
|
|
|
Good Night Oppy (2022) |
While descriptions of the aging robots as experiencing arthritis and memory loss are perhaps too cute, by the end of “Good Night Oppy,” Opportunity and Spirit have become no less lovable as characters than R2-D2 or Wall-E. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Nov 03, 2022
|
|
|
|
All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) |
The magnification in scale and dexterity lends itself to showing off. Still, the movie aims to pummel you with ceaseless brutality, and it’s hard not to be rattled by that. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Oct 27, 2022
|
|
|
|
Matriarch (2022) |
None of how “Matriarch” resolves is particularly scary or surprising. The finale — filled with dark, barely legible imagery — is a letdown both visually and dramatically. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Oct 20, 2022
|
|
|
|
Eternal Spring (2022) |
While the animation gives the documentary some distinction, the narrative can’t entirely shake the sense that this momentous but brief episode is scaled more for a short than a feature. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Oct 13, 2022
|
|
|
|
Last Flight Home (2022) |
[A] moving, boundlessly humane documentary... - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Oct 06, 2022
|
|
|
|
InHospitable (2021) |
“InHospitable” is a decent advocacy documentary that compellingly argues a couple of points that aren’t easy to make compelling onscreen. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Sep 29, 2022
|
|
|
|
The Justice of Bunny King (2021) |
A grim social-realist drama from New Zealand that labors to twist its narrative into a redemptive arc, “The Justice of Bunny King” has an unsteady tone to match its ungainly title. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Sep 29, 2022
|
|
|
|
Escape from Kabul (2022) |
The movie lays out a clear timeline and is good at conveying the conflicted feelings that Afghans had about leaving their homes and that American troops had as they tried to maintain control of the situation. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Sep 21, 2022
|
|
|
|
Terra Femme (2021) |
Stephens’s ideas and presentation make for a dense, continually absorbing hour. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Sep 15, 2022
|
|
|
|
The Anthrax Attacks: In the Shadow of 9/11 (2022) |
Many documentaries have dealt with real-life ambiguity by making it part of their structure and argument. This one treats it as an afterthought. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Sep 08, 2022
|
|
|
|
The Story of Film: A New Generation (2022) |
Cousins’s assessments offer plenty to argue with, but it’s possible to enjoy “A New Generation” without agreeing... - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Sep 08, 2022
|
|
|
|
Burial (2022) |
The story is invented, and not particularly exciting as such. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Sep 01, 2022
|
|
|
|
The Good Boss (2021) |
“The Good Boss” provides prime material for Bardem, who has to maintain a polished veneer even as his character’s mendacity and troubles mount. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Aug 25, 2022
|
|
|
|
Orphan: First Kill (2022) |
The sheer derangement of its plot and a bizarre casting gambit make it more interesting than standard straight-to-streaming schlock. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Aug 18, 2022
|
|
|
|
Free Chol Soo Lee (2022) |
As much as it celebrates the exoneration of its subject, a Korean immigrant in California named Chol Soo Lee, this documentary... is concerned with how the consequences of the failure of justice rippled through the rest of his life. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Aug 11, 2022
|
|
|
|
The Great Movement (2021) |
Russo is more interested in found surreality than in narrative. But as an incantatory exercise, “El Gran Movimiento” is pleasingly disorienting. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Aug 11, 2022
|
|
|
|
Claydream (2021) |
The career-highlights structure is perhaps overly familiar, but “Claydream” benefits from extensive interviews with Vinton and his many associates, and from the fact that Claymation is an engaging onscreen subject. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Aug 04, 2022
|
|
|
|
Exposing Muybridge (2021) |
While starchy in presentation, “Exposing Muybridge” makes clear that its subject’s images still have a lot to show us. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Aug 02, 2022
|
|
|
|
Blue Island (2022) |
“Blue Island” shows how Hong Kong residents have redefined themselves over time. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Jul 28, 2022
|
|
|
|
A Dark, Dark Man (2019) |
Its methods and themes... recall such acclaimed art-house titles as Bruno Dumont’s “Humanité,” Bong Joon Ho’s “Memories of Murder” and Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia,” even if it stands in those pictures’ shadows. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Jul 19, 2022
|
|
|
|
My Name Is Sara (2019) |
While the suspense and power of her story come through, the film can be clunkily expository and, with regard to tensions between Sara and Pavlo, frustratingly vague. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Jul 13, 2022
|
|
|
|
Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel (2022) |
The film avoids providing too much context, a choice that contributes to the spectral atmosphere. The directors aren’t after a news piece; they’re just listening to voices that continue to echo in the corridors. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Jul 07, 2022
|
|
|
|
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes (2022) |
It’s less concerned with the tapes themselves than with the act of bearing witness. - New York Times
Read More
| Posted Jun 23, 2022
|