Brian Eggert
Tomatometer-approved critic
Brian Eggert is the owner and film critic of Deep Focus Review. He has been writing movie reviews, in-depth essays, histories, and critical analyses since 2007. His tastes range from Andrei Tarkovsky to Psycho Goreman.
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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Blue Jean (2022) |
Tender and poignant, Blue Jean places a lesbian relationship at the center of a prescient drama that, though set in 1988, feels like a mirror of today. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Jun 07, 2023
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Hobo With a Shotgun (2011) |
From the acting to the production design, the heightened presentation will test viewers (and not in a good way), even those versed in exploitation films of this sort. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Jun 07, 2023
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Stake Land (2010) |
With sure-handed direction driving a moody tone, the steadily paced and character-driven story proves to be more than your average monster fare. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Jun 07, 2023
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Fast Five (2011) |
Easily the best this series has to offer. This is not to imply this is a good movie, merely the most entertaining in a succession of inexcusable trash. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Jun 07, 2023
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Dylan Dog: Dead of Night (2011) |
Completed with low-rent production values and an over-reliance on exposition, the outcome feels like a failed SyFy Channel series pilot. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Jun 07, 2023
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Thor (2011) |
Branagh delivers more than anyone likely expected from a Thor comic adaptation, achieving a hugely entertaining success through his obvious understanding of both comic book and Norse mythologies. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Jun 07, 2023
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Passion Play (2010) |
Passion Play never ceases to be pretentious and absurd, and it almost demands to be seen to be believed. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Jun 07, 2023
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Hesher (2010) |
If only the film upheld the confronting emotions and entertaining recklessness so shocking early in the film with an appropriately downturned ending, the result might not feel so inharmoniously optimistic upon reflection. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Jun 07, 2023
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Trollhunter (2010) |
Øvredal’s frame, for the most part, resists typical “found footage” unintelligibility and captures some truly arresting scenery from the director’s homeland, all with some minor commentary about preserving our natural wildlife treasures. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Jun 07, 2023
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You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010) |
On the whole, the film compares to one of Allen’s works from his ugly downturn in the early 2000s - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Jun 07, 2023
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Priest (2011) |
It seems no matter how hard star Paul Bettany tries to establish himself as an action hero, he keeps choosing poor scripts. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Jun 07, 2023
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Bridesmaids (2011) |
The movie doesn’t treat its female characters as exceptions to the absurd comedic rule that women aren’t funny, but for moviegoers devoted to that archaic idea, it will certainly prove them wrong. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Jun 07, 2023
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Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010) |
Herzog delivers a documentary so powerful that the result will leave the viewer more than just well-informed but transported by the experience. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Jun 07, 2023
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Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011) |
But there’s more of commercial in this film than cinema, and the entire project stinks of that ‘obligatory Hollywood sequel’ stench. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Jun 07, 2023
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Contact (1997) |
The ruminative approach and final resolution that there are no certainties in the universe, however honest, left audiences unsatisfied. But the film remains a daring work, among the most cerebral and emotional motion pictures on this subject ever released - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Jun 07, 2023
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The Hangover Part II (2011) |
The shock-based laughs were forgivable with The Hangover given the novelty of the concept, but there’s no pardoning the do-over feel of this sequel. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Jun 07, 2023
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Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011) |
The setup and resolution may feel very familiar, with all the twists and turns as predictable as can be, but the film’s style and quality animation make it incurably watchable. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Jun 07, 2023
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13 Assassins (2010) |
Miike has delivered one of his very best films. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Jun 07, 2023
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Attack the Block (2011) |
Spliced with biting comedy and coming-of-age dramatic hints, this stylish blend of genres hits many varied notes and leaves the audience delighted. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Jun 07, 2023
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X-Men: First Class (2011) |
A summer movie where audiences will leave talking about the performances and the ideas, not the mindless battles. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Jun 07, 2023
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The Tree of Life (2011) |
You may not be able to pinpoint with words how it all comes together, but the beauty and power of Malick’s imagery and impressionistic approach to filmmaking convey another ponderous picture, the director’s most ambitious and lyrical work yet. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Jun 07, 2023
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Super 8 (2011) |
Imbued with that effervescent movie magic quality so often linked to Spielberg, who serves as executive producer here, Abrams' film delivers an exciting and heartwarming adventure. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Jun 07, 2023
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Midnight in Paris (2011) |
A blithe, lovable comedy about those greener pastures of yesteryear when times were simpler and seemingly carefree, at least in our imagination. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Jun 07, 2023
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The Flash (2023) |
What The Flash bungles in franchise reconstruction and formal execution, it gets right in fan service and momentary pleasures. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Jun 06, 2023
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Flamin' Hot (2023) |
What a story—a rags-to-riches tale about a Mexican-American underdog who became a top executive. But a quick Google search presents a wrinkle in Montañez’s account, which raises questions about how we should view the movie. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Jun 05, 2023
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Dalíland (2022) |
A fascinating portrait of an artist whose identity is buried underneath layers of self-invention. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Jun 05, 2023
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Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) |
Setting aside its predictable sequel structure and tired multiverse milieu, Across the Spider-Verse offers a wealth of energy, humor, well-drawn characters, and inspired animation. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Jun 01, 2023
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The Boogeyman (2023) |
One of those horror movies where characters seem allergic to light, even though it should be a protective shield. Assuming you can accept that the movie requires the characters to behave irrationally, you’re bound to have a spooky good time. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted May 29, 2023
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The Little Mermaid (2023) |
It’s better than most of these Disney cash grabs and worth seeing to witness the emergence of Bailey as a new star. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted May 26, 2023
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You Hurt My Feelings (2023) |
Holofcener accesses moving material that will make you laugh, possibly cry, and come away feeling a little wiser for it. Such modest pleasures at the cinema feel rare but vital. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted May 20, 2023
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White Men Can't Jump (2023) |
Shelton’s original was hardly perfect, but comparing the 1992 movie with the remake leaves the viewer with a sense of the new version’s empty, commercial artlessness. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted May 18, 2023
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Sisu (2022) |
The heightened quality of everything onscreen hopes to evoke gleeful and shocked laughter over the nonstop procession of stabbings, explosions, and dismemberments. And it mostly works. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted May 18, 2023
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Master Gardener (2022) |
Although one might wish the narrative were as passionate, it’s easy to admire Schrader’s thematic concerns and see him working through his own obsessions to a rare, hopeful conclusion. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted May 16, 2023
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Carmen (2022) |
Millepied’s thin narrative lining makes Carmen feel like an extended music video, which is not to disparage music videos but to stress the lingering desire for more than Millepied has given us. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted May 13, 2023
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Hypnotic (2023) |
Despite its overly familiar story, Hypnotic could have been an entertaining B-grade movie with an A-list star; instead, it’s a forgettable, flat experience that lost its fizz at the scripting stage. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted May 11, 2023
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BlackBerry (2023) |
While all of these brand biopics have an underdog quality to them, only Johnson’s film has a handmade appeal to the proceedings that remind us these people started from nothing, made millions, and then faded into obscurity. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted May 10, 2023
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Peter Pan & Wendy (2023) |
There’s not much here besides something to keep the kids out of your hair for a couple of hours.
- Deep Focus Review
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| Posted May 10, 2023
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A Life on the Farm (2022) |
The experience is sort of like opening someone else’s diary and recoiling over what they’ve written, before ultimately recognizing that a fellow human being put their heart into this. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted May 06, 2023
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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) |
Gunn’s work registers as that of a filmmaker with a personal vision for his comic book universe and the freedom to explore it. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted May 05, 2023
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The Devil's Advocate (1997) |
Although Pacino’s wily and delicious performance eventually leads to an over-the-top climax that threatens to derail the entire picture, The Devil’s Advocate develops patiently and effectively over 143 minutes. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted May 04, 2023
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Beau Is Afraid (2023) |
Whatever he’s working through with Beau Is Afraid, Aster’s unmistakable personal vision is on display and, refreshingly, leaves much to interpretation and much to be appreciated/ - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted May 04, 2023
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Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. (2023) |
Unlike so much teenage fare, it never talks down to its audience, young or old; it never resorts to schmaltz or an unearned emotional payoff; it never takes the easy way out. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Apr 28, 2023
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Millennium Mambo (2001) |
Hou’s poetic style registers as a glossy, alluring daze upon first look, yet the film's temporal conceit and states of reflection remark on the then-present Taipei from a fictional but optimistic tomorrow. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Apr 26, 2023
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R.M.N. (2022) |
With discerning observations and intricately conceived analogies involving atoms and Animalia, R.M.N., one of the year’s best films, uses specific ethnic divides to expose raw and universal truths about humanity. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Apr 26, 2023
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Polite Society (2023) |
Here’s a film about a distinct culture that, while supplying an uproariously fun time, manages to comment on women having control of their bodies and futures in a terrifically accessible and unpreachy way. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Apr 23, 2023
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Evil Dead Rise (2023) |
Evil Dead Rise is a movie made by someone who grew up watching Evil Dead movies and not the Three Stooges. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Apr 23, 2023
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Ghosted (2023) |
The kind of empty Hollywood product that makes you wonder whether screenwriters are already using artificial intelligence to write their scripts. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Apr 21, 2023
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Chevalier (2022) |
However heavy-handed the film can be about characters who telegraph its themes through their overstated dialogue, the sense of revolution and inclusive history remains impassioned. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Apr 18, 2023
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Dreamin' Wild (2022) |
Dreamin’ Wild avoids the typical musician biopic structure that has grown so tiresome in recent years, as seen recently in Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) and I Wanna Dance with Somebody (2022). For that, we should be thankful. - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Apr 18, 2023
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Judy Blume Forever (2023) |
If you love her books, it reminds you what you love about them. And though it’s a basic approach, the difference is that Blume is an earnest interviewee, speaking from 83 years of life experience from a place of honesty and openness, just like her fiction - Deep Focus Review
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| Posted Apr 18, 2023
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