
Elizabeth Kerr
Hollywood Reporter film critic.
Movies reviews only
Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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The Battle at Lake Changjin (2021) |
No one in the high-profile cast, which... includes Zhang Hanyu, Oho Ou and Huang Xuan, gets much more than a sketch to work with, sapping the story of any real emotional connectivity. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Nov 13, 2021
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One and Four (2021) |
An efficient and visually engaging, if slightly familiar, tale of modern encroachment on the natural world and the violence it can bring. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Nov 06, 2021
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Arisaka (2021) |
The prolific director mixes up his usual mayhem-based routine by marrying genre action with issues of inherited trauma and the marginalization of native peoples - unfortunately, to only moderate effect. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Nov 05, 2021
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Third Time Lucky (2021) |
Nohara's quasi-documentary style gives Third Time Lucky room to resonate that much more, and his uncanny ability to capture the feminine point of view is rapidly turning him into Japan's own Pedro Almodóvar. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Nov 05, 2021
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The Dawning of the Day (2021) |
Handagama's methodical deconstruction of the icon theorizes that his work's heart-thumping sensuality could have darker roots. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Nov 04, 2021
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Crane Lantern (2021) |
Crane Lantern cements Baydarov's place among current cinema's most ethereal, existentially focused artists, one who aggressively steers in the opposite direction from linear narrative. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Nov 01, 2021
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Buddha Mountain (2010) |
Three friends mature and a grieving mother embraces life anew in writer-director Li Yu's graceful exploration of loss and connection... - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Sep 16, 2021
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Vanguard (2020) |
Vanguard may attract the ultra-bored and/or stir crazy and devoted Chan fans, but those expecting to see the blazing acrobatics of his earlier work will be intensely disappointed. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Nov 18, 2020
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The Eight Hundred (2020) |
The Eight Hundred is thin on characterization, and too often slips into rote narrative and war movie cliches. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Sep 01, 2020
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Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula (2020) |
Peninsula suffers the same type of sequelitis that suggests a second entry must be more/bigger/louder than its predecessor. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Aug 26, 2020
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Ip Man 4: The Finale (2019) |
There's nothing in The Finale that needed to be said, but it's no less engaging for it. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Dec 20, 2019
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The Whistleblower (2019) |
Xue's strengths as a filmmaker may lie more in fluffy comedy than in carefully calibrated tension. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Dec 18, 2019
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The Garden of Evening Mists (2019) |
A sturdy, well-mounted historical romance. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Oct 15, 2019
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Over the Sea (2019) |
An understated examination of how youthful exuberance and imaginative pleasures are wrenched away and innocence is lost to the ebbs and flows of modern China. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Oct 14, 2019
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Running to the Sky (2019) |
Running to the Sky has no grand statements to make, and no hot-button issues to deal with, but it does paint a delicate and layered portrait of everyday life for one young boy as he bears more weight than he should for his age. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Oct 14, 2019
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An Old Lady (undefined) |
Writer-director Lim Sun-ae's understated but effective drama quietly challenges our disbelieving prejudices, which, despite our better, intellectual judgment, still linger with regards to rape and our stuttering response to it. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Oct 10, 2019
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Savage (2019) |
Shifting back and forth among three watershed moments in the protagonist's life, Kelly draws an emotional roadmap detailing one man's life and how he got from A to B. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Oct 09, 2019
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Just Like That (2019) |
Just Like That has a clear-eyed, singular focus that ties its various, seemingly unrelated threads together for a larger comment on a woman's lack of agency in a society that still undervalues them. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Oct 09, 2019
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Heavy Craving (2019) |
A familiar but well-executed dramedy of acceptance and tolerance. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Oct 09, 2019
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The Voice (2018) |
A pointed, efficient warning against all forms of evangelism. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Oct 09, 2019
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The Cave (2019) |
While the world could use some positivity and a demonstration of nations and states coming together for a greater good, The Cave isn't cinematic enough to have real impact. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Oct 08, 2019
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Twilight's Kiss (2019) |
A rare, mature gay romance with plenty on its mind. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Oct 07, 2019
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The Promised Land (2019) |
A meandering, cryptic drama about fear, demonization of the other, insular protectionism and acceptance, the movie has bitten off a bit more than it can reasonably chew - but it's not for lack of trying. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Oct 07, 2019
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(undefined) |
If there's such a thing as a small epic, The Horse Thieves. Roads of Time might be it. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Oct 04, 2019
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The Climbers (2019) |
None of the relationships transcend narrative function, and so death, rage and reconciliations ring hollow. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Oct 01, 2019
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Send Me to the Clouds (2019) |
An honest and broadly recognizable picture of modern womanhood. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Sep 30, 2019
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Song Lang (2018) |
Visually stunning and suitably yearning. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Sep 25, 2019
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Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga (2019) |
Old-fashioned and simplistic, but also groundbreaking and entertaining. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Sep 23, 2019
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Fagara (2019) |
It would all be treacly, weepy nonsense were Mak not to maintain a light touch, and, especially, if the three leads weren't so engaging. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Aug 15, 2019
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(undefined) |
Audiences looking for family-friendly fare that's just a little different from the big ticket Pixar and Disney tentpoles will be tempted by the modest but entirely engaging The Great Detective... - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Jul 29, 2019
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The White Storm 2: Drug Lords (2019) |
A leaner entertainment-for-entertainment's-sake exercise that's ideal for the summer season. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Jul 17, 2019
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Invincible Dragon (2019) |
A confounding hot mess with no idea what it wants to be. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Jun 25, 2019
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Chasing the Dragon II: Wild Wild Bunch (2019) |
A goofier, more focused step up from it predecessor. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Jun 05, 2019
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The Professor and the Madman (2019) |
Ironically, for a movie about words, the dialogue only sparks to life on rare occasion. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted May 25, 2019
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Money (2019) |
Money relegates its most interesting ideas and characters to the periphery and dives wholeheartedly into financial thriller territory that's only moderately gripping. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted May 23, 2019
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Furie (2019) |
Ngo more than makes up for any shortcomings with a fiery, stoic, desperate and poised performance that balances badassery with vulnerability. It's her movie to lose. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted May 16, 2019
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Jam (2019) |
Jam won't win over any new fans, but for anyone already on the Sabu bandwagon, it's a welcome continuation of his current career trajectory. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted May 02, 2019
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Motif (2019) |
A crime thriller that sits at the intersection of genre and critique, and which almost pulls off its ambitious aims. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted May 02, 2019
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Birthday (2019) |
Birthday is precisely the kind of warts-and-all examination of human nature that defines Lee's career, and is composed entirely of the difficult moments that are often glossed over for more palatable, unchallenging observations. - Hollywood Reporter
Read More
| Posted Apr 18, 2019
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(undefined) |
Fallen is not bad per se. It's nothing if not original, and it's jumbled, ricocheting narrative is just loopy enough to appeal to genre fans hoping repeated viewings will reveal secrets and meanings not grasped on the first go-round. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Mar 21, 2019
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(undefined) |
A comedy-thriller that starts out as a light-hearted, jaunty goofball entertainment and quickly turns into a home invasion thriller of mistrust and bloody paranoia. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Mar 20, 2019
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The Uncle (2019) |
An often bracing examination of the cycles of abuse, power and social hierarchy we subject each other to that throws in a touch of revenge thriller for good measure. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Mar 19, 2019
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Ghost Walk (2018) |
A welcome female voice examining feminine malaise and disenchantment in modern Korea. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Mar 19, 2019
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The 12th Suspect (2019) |
Starts out as a positively Columbo-esque murder mystery before spiraling into a much graver contemplation of responsibility and accountability and the part each plays in Korea's history and our global present. - Hollywood Reporter
Read More
| Posted Mar 19, 2019
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Bodies at Rest (2019) |
Despite its flaws, Bodies grabs you quickly and never really lets go for the entirety of its lean, efficient 90 minutes. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Mar 19, 2019
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(undefined) |
A striking, cranky debut. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Mar 02, 2019
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The Wandering Earth (2019) |
Once you get past the ridiculous central conceit and all the info dumps the film is a sturdy romp with several cool set pieces of the frozen world, some stellar interpretations of Jupiter's Great Red Spot and a pleasantly hopeful, humanitarian message. - Hollywood Reporter
Read More
| Posted Mar 01, 2019
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Missbehavior (Gong XI Ba Po) (2019) |
Juvenile, crude, potty-mouthed and mostly a good time. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Feb 19, 2019
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Three Husbands (2018) |
It's not at all understated, but the film's cumulative effect gets under your skin and rattles around in the brain. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Feb 19, 2019
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Integrity (Lian Zheng Feng Yun) (2019) |
A mostly engaging, steely, ticking-clock financial thriller. - Hollywood Reporter
Read More
| Posted Feb 08, 2019
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