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Christopher Orr
Tomatometer-approved critic
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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The Mole Agent (2020) |
What I missed in the trailer-and, honestly, one could almost miss in the film itself-is the detail that elevates it to an entirely different level of fascination: The Mole Agent is a documentary. - Forbes
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| Posted Oct 22, 2020
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Metropolitan (1990) |
Stillman sketches his characters with gentle humor, capturing not only their foibles and foolishnesses but the earnest intentions behind them. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Jun 15, 2020
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Sometimes Always Never (2018) |
For those attuned to its delicate balance of whimsy and melancholy--not to mention anyone eager to see Bill Nighy at the very top of his game--it is, by design, a magnificent trifle. - Forbes
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| Posted Jun 12, 2020
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The King of Staten Island (2020) |
While eminently enjoyable, the film has a slightly loose and lazy quality. Storylines appear and then are forgotten for long stretches. Though the elements are individually solid, the fit between them is awkward. - Forbes
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| Posted Jun 12, 2020
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The Vast of Night (2019) |
This awful moment in America, beset by sicknesses both cultural and epidemiological, is precisely the moment for The Vast of Night, the rookie feature by director Andrew Patterson. - Forbes
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| Posted Jun 08, 2020
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You Don't Nomi (2019) |
Is Showgirls a masterpiece because it contains hidden depths and meanings that were unappreciated upon its release? Or is it a masterpiece because its awfulness is so unremitting that it transcends any conception of taste or quality? How about neither? - Forbes
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| Posted Jun 04, 2020
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Be Like Others (2008) |
Unpacks a fascinating peculiarity of Iran's sexual culture wars... - The Atlantic
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| Posted May 18, 2020
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Love Actually (2003) |
The tagline for Love Actually is "The Ultimate Romantic Comedy." Perhaps. But not in the sense the producers intended. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Nov 05, 2019
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The Highwaymen (2019) |
It's hardly an insult to acknowledge that The Highwaymen is no classic on the level of Bonnie and Clyde. But it is, in its way, the perfect corrective to Penn's film. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Apr 02, 2019
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Isn't It Romantic (2019) |
We now have an official subgenre in which a woman is initially presented as unattractive; is concussed into a fantasy in which she becomes impossibly desirable; and from the experience gleans important, affirmative lessons about believing in herself. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Mar 21, 2019
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Everybody Knows (2018) |
While Farhadi is a master of the drama, his gifts are at times an awkward fit for a kidnapping thriller. It is almost as if one bought a ticket for a Liam Neeson movie and wound up instead in a Strindberg play. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Mar 21, 2019
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Triple Frontier (2019) |
Alas, just as broken clocks have their moments of accuracy, even the most gifted directors occasionally offer up disappointments. Such is the case with J.C. Chandor's fourth film, Triple Frontier. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Mar 21, 2019
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Never Look Away (2018) |
Like von Donnersmarck's 2006 debut film, The Lives of Others, (and overlooking The Tourist, a terrible English-language misfire he directed in the interim), Never Look Away is a marvel. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Feb 01, 2019
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Vice (2018) |
What is perhaps most remarkable about Bale's and Adams's performances is that they supply depth and nuance to a film whose director appears to have had no appetite for either quality. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Jan 29, 2019
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Mary Poppins Returns (2018) |
Mary Poppins Returns serves as a reminder that, for all its global scope and hegemonic ambition, Disney still has a little magic left up its sleeve. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Dec 19, 2018
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Roma (2018) |
Roma captures, as well as any film I have seen, the spirit of "magical realism," without ever hinting at the supernatural. Its magic is pure, stunning cinematic technique. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Dec 19, 2018
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Green Book (2018) |
First-rate execution can't solve all of a film's problems, but Mortensen and Ali offer a reminder that it can solve an awful lot of them. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Dec 19, 2018
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The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) |
Though the stories are individually captivating and very much worth the price of admission-see the film on a big screen if you can-they fit together awkwardly. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Dec 19, 2018
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Ocean's 8 (2018) |
As heists go, it's a moderately ingenious idea, and for the most part, the movie floats along amiably on the tide of its stars' charisma and the capable if uninspired direction of Ross, who also co-wrote the script with Olivia Milch. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Jun 18, 2018
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How to Talk to Girls at Parties (2017) |
One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Jun 18, 2018
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Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) |
Best of all, the movie is different. - The Atlantic
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| Posted May 15, 2018
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Deadpool 2 (2018) |
A least as funny as the original Deadpool, and better in virtually every other respect: better plot, better villains, a few unexpected narrative swerves, and, yes, at least one genuinely moving sequence. - The Atlantic
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| Posted May 15, 2018
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Life of the Party (2018) |
Life of the Party doesn't live up to either of the nouns in its title. - The Atlantic
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| Posted May 13, 2018
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Avengers: Infinity War (2018) |
Never has the "Marvel Cinematic Universe" seemed like more of a universe, in ways both good and bad. Infinity War-the title is almost too apt-is far from a perfect movie, but it is probably close to the best movie it could have been. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Apr 29, 2018
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I Feel Pretty (2018) |
This movie, premised on the idea that self-esteem trumps physical beauty, doesn't even believe in the product it's selling. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Apr 22, 2018
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You Were Never Really Here (2017) |
You Were Never Really Here is not a film that particularly wants you to "like" it. But with its highbrow talent and arty flourishes, it all but dares you to admit that you disliked it. Challenge accepted. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Apr 15, 2018
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Isle of Dogs (2018) |
It's true that Isle of Dogs is a film about scapegoating, political hysteria, and deportation. But it is also--and at its best--a film about dogs. May they never go unpetted. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Mar 25, 2018
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The Death of Stalin (2017) |
Iannucci did not intend The Death of Stalin to be a direct commentary on the Trump presidency, and it should not be taken as one. But as they say: First time tragedy, second time farce. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Mar 18, 2018
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A Wrinkle in Time (2018) |
Judged on its own terms, A Wrinkle in Time is a pretty good, perhaps even a quite good, movie. But it is a children's movie. See it with a child or--as DuVernay recommends--with a child's wonder. Otherwise, probably don't bother seeing it at all. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Mar 12, 2018
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Annihilation (2018) |
The result is a film that has the feel of brainy, high-end science fiction, but ultimately neither the underlying structure nor content. It's a shame, given that we are in the midst of a modest heyday for the subgenre. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Feb 23, 2018
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Black Panther (2018) |
Whether or not this is the best film Marvel Studios has made to date-and it is clearly in the discussion-it is by far the most thought-provoking. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Feb 18, 2018
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Fifty Shades Freed (2018) |
A sequel so awful it needs to be described in detail to be believed. Therefore, a spoilereview. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Feb 14, 2018
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Curse of the Golden Flower (2006) |
Despite its flaws, Curse of the Golden Flower is a diverting enough film, just somewhat flat compared to Zhang's previous epics--a little too willing, perhaps, to let story and action cede the field to costume and set design. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Feb 06, 2018
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Guess Who (2005) |
It is, after all, a comedy. Unfortunately, the movie forgets this toward the end. - New York Sun
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| Posted Feb 05, 2018
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Phantom Thread (2017) |
Reynolds is the perfect role for Day-Lewis, who is likewise famous both for his obsessive meticulousness and for the lengthy sabbaticals he has used to recharge between films. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Jan 07, 2018
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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) |
Cuarn's Prisoner of Azkaban, while a touch less faithful to the details of Rowling's oeuvre, captures far better its mood, the constant sense of wondrous discovery and lurking danger. - The New Republic
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| Posted Jan 05, 2018
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Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) |
Where KB1 had the pace of an ADHD six-year-old on a sugar high, KB2 has been Ritalinized, its tempo slowed to a crawl in self-conscious, and self-defeating, imitation of Sergio Leone. It's two hours that feel like five. - The New Republic
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| Posted Jan 05, 2018
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Hero (2002) |
Until the final 15 minutes of its deceptively short hour-and-a-half running time, Hero is a marvel, one of the best films to be released in the United States this year. It concludes, however, on a note both emotionally unsatisfying and morally idiotic. - The New Republic
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| Posted Jan 05, 2018
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The Post (2017) |
The Post is so on the nose for the political moment that at times it almost seems it might have been produced not by Spielberg, but by some high-end marketing firm. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Dec 29, 2017
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Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) |
The Last Jedi probably does the best job of any Star Wars film of capturing the allure of the Dark Side and the spiritual turmoil that would lead to-and also result from-its embrace. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Dec 14, 2017
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The Shape of Water (2017) |
Eggs, water, and-yes-sex all play crucial and overlapping roles in director Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water, an adult fairy tale that is at once deeply familiar and utterly original. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Dec 10, 2017
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Coco (2017) |
Does Coco rise to the heights of Pixar's very best work? No. But it is a generous, heartfelt film, full of color and music, one that offers a timely Thanksgiving tribute to the intergenerational importance of family. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Nov 25, 2017
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Murder on the Orient Express (2017) |
Branagh's retelling of the classic Agatha Christie tale is visually sumptuous yet otherwise inert, a series of what are essentially cameos by performers far too gifted to waste their time like this. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Nov 19, 2017
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Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) |
Even for fans of McDonagh-and I am certainly one-Three Billboards is a revelation, and among the very best films of 2017. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Nov 19, 2017
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Thor: Ragnarok (2017) |
Perfectly acceptable as an action movie but inspired as a comedy--which is probably where the Thor franchise should have been aiming from the start. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Nov 05, 2017
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The Snowman (2017) |
In this soul-deadening freeze, who wouldn't seek solace in a bottle? Or in the physical warmth of a lover's arms? Or in mass murder? - The Atlantic
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| Posted Oct 23, 2017
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Blade Runner 2049 (2017) |
From the grayed-out countrysides over which the sky has closed like a lid; to the drizzly neon decadence of Los Angeles; to the Ozymandian wreckage of Las Vegas-the film is a visual splendor of the first order. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Oct 08, 2017
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Victoria & Abdul (2017) |
Victoria & Abdul is worth seeing for Dench's magisterial performance and for Frears's light but sure directorial touch. Just don't mistake it for actual history. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Sep 29, 2017
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Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) |
The movie is too long, too violent, too silly-too everything. Yet for those who enjoyed the original Kingsman, it is a more than adequate second act. To put it another way: First time satire, second time farce. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Sep 24, 2017
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mother! (2017) |
mother! is a film certain to be revered by some and reviled by others. And while I'd place myself mostly in the former camp, plenty of reasonable people will find themselves in the latter. - The Atlantic
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| Posted Sep 15, 2017
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