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Chris Vognar
Tomatometer-approved critic
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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Chowchilla (2023) |
It remains potent, especially as rendered with this level of empathy and depth. - Dallas Morning News
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| Posted Dec 04, 2023
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Bye Bye Barry (2023) |
Even if Bye Bye Barry were thoughtless and bland -- and it definitely isn’t -- the doc would still offer the unmitigated pleasure of all that NFL Films footage featuring Sanders doing work. - Rolling Stone
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| Posted Nov 21, 2023
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David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived (2023) |
The Boy Who Lived lacks the complexity and frisson that might have set it apart... It is content to be a solid tale of perseverance and friendship, a story about, as Holmes himself puts it, “overcoming adversity.” Look for nothing more, or less. - Rolling Stone
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| Posted Nov 15, 2023
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The Insurrectionist Next Door (2023) |
There’s a lesson in The Insurrectionist Next Door about how people who do dumb and dangerous things, and might represent the country’s darkest impulses, are still people. - Rolling Stone
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| Posted Oct 17, 2023
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The Mission (2023) |
The Mission is an engrossing philosophical exploration -- a personalized profile of a particularly aggressive brand of Christianity. - Rolling Stone
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| Posted Oct 12, 2023
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Last Stop Larrimah (2023) |
Last Stop Larrimah is ultimately a pitch-black comedy -- a digressive slice of cultural anthropology that chuckles into the abyss. - Rolling Stone
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| Posted Oct 09, 2023
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Rotting in the Sun (2023) |
This is thoughtful mischief. It is, to quote The Sweet Smell of Success, a cookie full of arsenic. Go ahead and take a bite. - Rolling Stone
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| Posted Sep 11, 2023
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Y tu mamá también (2001) |
It embraces passion, both physical and emotional, but it has depths that register only when the end credits roll. - Dallas Morning News
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| Posted Sep 09, 2023
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Coup de Chance (2023) |
Coup de Chance is a pretty slight and minor film, but for an 87-year-old American working in a second language, it can’t help but seem impressive; it’s certainly as good as anything Allen has made since 2013’s Blue Jasmine. - Rolling Stone
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| Posted Sep 04, 2023
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Hollywoodgate (2023) |
Hollywoodgate throws us in the deep end and compels us to swim. For the most part it’s worth the effort. - Rolling Stone
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| Posted Aug 31, 2023
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You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (2023) |
Cry nepotism all you want, but the entire brood acquits itself quite well, and they seem to be having an infectiously good time together. It helps a great deal that the film is energetically directed and written. - Rolling Stone
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| Posted Aug 26, 2023
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A Compassionate Spy (2022) |
James approaches A Compassionate Spy with a compassionate touch; this is more a profile of a man and a 52-year marriage than a History Channel-style march through events. And it is certainly not an indictment. - Rolling Stone
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| Posted Aug 04, 2023
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Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food (2023) |
Poisoned favors reporting and analysis over shock emotional appeal, although there’s plenty to get angry about here. - Rolling Stone
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| Posted Aug 01, 2023
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The Lady of Silence: The Mataviejitas Murders (2023) |
A zesty doc that walks right up to the edge of dark comedy, peers over the cliff, and takes a cheeky plunge into something weird and wonderful. - Rolling Stone
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| Posted Jul 27, 2023
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Missing: The Lucie Blackman Case (2023) |
At a lean 82 minutes, the film gets in, does its job, and gets out. If anything, it’s a little too even-keeled and efficient. - Rolling Stone
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| Posted Jul 25, 2023
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The Deepest Breath (2023) |
It keeps you wondering what fate will befall these intertwined figures who live seemingly to cheat death, and it manages to celebrate the depths to which they pursued their shared obsession. - Rolling Stone
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| Posted Jul 19, 2023
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Eldorado: Everything the Nazis Hate (2023) |
Eldorado is one of those documentaries that gives texture and context, faces and voices, to a well-chronicled period and set of circumstances. It does so with style, sensitivity, and a respect for the history it examines. - Rolling Stone
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| Posted Jun 30, 2023
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King of Clones (2023) |
Were revere scientific progress... We also fear that progress, its capacity for transgression in a field that the layperson struggles to understand. The new Netflix documentary King of Clones presents a smart look at this dichotomy. - Rolling Stone
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| Posted Jun 26, 2023
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The Stroll (2023) |
The Stroll is a vital work of recent urban history. Even if you wouldn’t want to have lived there, you won’t regret visiting. - Rolling Stone
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| Posted Jun 21, 2023
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Take Care of Maya (2023) |
Take Care of Maya allows you to feel the agony and anger of a nightmare from which they can’t awaken. The film leaves a bitter taste, along with the hope that they eventually get the closure that the film knows it can’t supply. - Rolling Stone
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| Posted Jun 20, 2023
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Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023) |
Beasts encourages you to let your eyes glaze over through the plot exposition and embrace the visceral nonsense. Beasts is dumber than a box of hammers, but it doesn’t drip with the rote cynicism of, say, Fast X. - Rolling Stone
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| Posted Jun 10, 2023
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Fast X (2023) |
It would be OK if Fast X were merely loud and dumb; that much is to be expected. The problem is that it’s also achingly mechanical. It’s all car, no driver. - Rolling Stone
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| Posted May 19, 2023
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White Men Can't Jump (2023) |
The new movie feels about as genuine as a bad team claiming innocence as it tanks for lottery position. - Rolling Stone
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| Posted May 19, 2023
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Queenmaker: The Making of an It Girl (2023) |
Rose’s story and its past connection to the celebrity world of status and image open up a world of ideas regarding identity -- its symbolism, its fluidity, and its very meaning. - Rolling Stone
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| Posted May 17, 2023
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Anna Nicole Smith: You Don't Know Me (2023) |
It remains a visually engaging portrait that depicts Smith as more than just a little girl lost. The film argues that, despite a powerful self-destructive streak... she often knew exactly what she was doing. - Rolling Stone
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| Posted May 16, 2023
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Longest Third Date (2023) |
The tale of Matt and Khani is quite charming. With any luck they’ll have a great story to tell -- and show -- their grandchildren someday. But that doesn’t mean it makes for good television. - Rolling Stone
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| Posted Apr 18, 2023
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The Pope's Exorcist (2023) |
The Pope’s Exorcist will certainly never go down as a classic of the genre, but it’s better than it has any reason to be. Sometimes, the devil you know gets the job done just fine. - Rolling Stone
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| Posted Apr 17, 2023
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Murder Mystery 2 (2023) |
As Murder Mystery 2 flops toward the finish line, you might look at your watch and gasp at the realization that several minutes still remain. - Rolling Stone
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| Posted Mar 31, 2023
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Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023) |
Fun, clever, smartly conceived entertainment that doesn’t take itself too seriously. What a concept. - Rolling Stone
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| Posted Mar 17, 2023
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All That Breathes (2022) |
“All That Breathes” is the kind of immersive documentary experience other filmmakers, and film lovers, would do well to study. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Feb 02, 2023
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The Anthrax Attacks: In the Shadow of 9/11 (2022) |
“The Anthrax Attacks” conjures the terror and paranoia afresh and, with the hindsight of 21 years, asks the viewer to consider how effectively the crisis was handled. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Sep 16, 2022
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Day Shift (2022) |
Like a generic “John Wick” with vampires. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Aug 12, 2022
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Persuasion (2022) |
“Persuasion” is a handsome film, but it doesn’t have much trust in its audience to think or feel for itself. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Jul 12, 2022
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Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe (2022) |
A movie that loses sight of the line between lampooning stupidity and being stupid. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Jun 22, 2022
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Hustle (2022) |
“Hustle” is the rare sports movie that translates its love of the game to the screen. It’s a little corny, and too conveniently plotted. But how many basketball movies aren’t? - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Jun 02, 2022
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The Manor (2021) |
It gets in, does what it needs to do and gets out. It knows exactly what it is, and that's plenty enough. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Oct 07, 2021
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Best Sellers (2021) |
There's not much to recommend here besides Caine. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Sep 16, 2021
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Playing God (2021) |
What doesn't work on a logic level makes sense according to the characters and performances. And the twists - a con movie always has twists - are quite satisfying, even if you see them coming. - Houston Chronicle
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| Posted Sep 09, 2021
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The Card Counter (2020) |
Schrader is in one of those late-career grooves that you always like to see from a veteran filmmaker who has something to say. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Sep 09, 2021
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Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed (2021) |
The film makes the case that the Kowalskis bilked Ross' family out of their share of money from Ross' image and likeness, and steamrolled other artists and instructors as well. And it makes this case well. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Aug 23, 2021
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Ailey (2021) |
A haunting portrait of what it means to be an artist - from the triumphs to the empty, lonely feeling that you're never as good as you're supposed to be. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Aug 05, 2021
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Mr. Soul! (2018) |
"Mr. Soul!" is like a wrinkle in time, a time capsule that needed to be opened. In uncovering rare gold, it's a film that reminds us just how much we don't know. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Jul 29, 2021
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America: The Motion Picture (2021) |
We live in ridiculous, often scary times, and political satire can provide a valuable tonic and perspective. But filmmakers have to make the effort. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Jun 29, 2021
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Fatherhood (2021) |
It will make no converts, nor will it push away the faithful. It's a Kevin Hart movie, after all. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Jun 16, 2021
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Port Authority (2019) |
If you're looking for an immersive love story that takes you places you might not know, that challenges your conception of what romance looks and feels like, "Port Authority" is a great place to stop. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Jun 02, 2021
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Friends: The Reunion (2021) |
"Friends: The Reunion" is a fond look back for those who couldn't get enough the first time. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted May 26, 2021
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Plan B (2021) |
Best of all, for all its serious intent, "Plan B" doesn't forget to be funny. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted May 26, 2021
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Monster (2018) |
If "Monster" occasionally shows its YA roots with flashes of simplicity, it also tells a lean, propulsive story with style and grace. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted May 06, 2021
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The Decalogue (1989) |
See part of it, or see all of it. Just be glad it's around. - Dallas Morning News
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| Posted May 01, 2021
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Things Heard & Seen (2021) |
It's hard to write about how all this happens without tarnishing the effect, but eventually you feel it building, taking its time, shining light on previous details that might have led you to twiddle your thumbs. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Apr 30, 2021
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