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Jason Best
Tomatometer-approved critic
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1989) |
Against the odds, Gilliam succeeded in creating a positively gargantuan epic teeming with invention and wit. - Movie Talk
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| Posted Sep 26, 2023
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A Haunting in Venice (2023) |
A Haunting in Venice is teasingly poised between crime mystery and haunted house horror movie. Has Kenneth Branagh made a whodunnit or a woo-woo dunnit? - What To Watch
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| Posted Sep 13, 2023
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Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) |
Harrison Ford’s swashbuckling archaeologist Indiana Jones is, famously, an iconic figure born out of nostalgia — and he’s been kept alive by it too. - What To Watch
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| Posted Jun 23, 2023
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The Little Mermaid (2023) |
Happily, [its] flaws aren’t enough to sink the film. Bailey’s Ariel is radiant throughout and, in places, Marshall’s hyper-stylized visuals add oomph and dazzle to the songs. - What To Watch
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| Posted May 24, 2023
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Book Club: The Next Chapter (2023) |
Without Fonda, Keaton, and co, Book Club: The Next Chapter would be little more than an enjoyably glossy travelogue... The stars’ chemistry and charisma are what make the film work. - What To Watch
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| Posted May 12, 2023
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Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry, The (2023) |
Think of the typical protagonist of a road movie and you will probably imagine someone young, rebellious and behind the wheel of a car, doubtlessly crossing the wide-open spaces of the United States. That description certainly doesn’t fit Jim Broadbent... - What To Watch
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| Posted Apr 26, 2023
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Knock at the Cabin (2023) |
Shyamalan ratchets up the tension as the situation unfolds, introducing notes of ambiguity as the stakes rise for all the people in the cabin. - What To Watch
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| Posted Feb 01, 2023
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Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) |
Yes, the film looks spectacular, but... so now do David Attenborough’s wildlife documentaries... the sight of a great white shark launching itself out of the water in Blue Planet II is far more awesome and sublime than a CGI fantasy creature... here. - What To Watch
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| Posted Dec 13, 2022
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The Menu (2022) |
Initially, the target of the satire being served up by British director Mark Mylod... appears to be the fussy pretensions of high-end fine dining... Behind the comedy, however, something darker is going on. - What To Watch
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| Posted Nov 19, 2022
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The Lost King (2022) |
With composer Alexandre Desplat’s score adding appropriate notes of intrigue and humor, Frears and his collaborators... turn Philippa’s fascinating, stranger-than-fiction quest into a rousing, feelgood film. - What To Watch
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| Posted Oct 11, 2022
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Amsterdam (2022) |
If [Russell] had found his old screwball energy, he might have made his film’s multiple strands and cryptic plot gel together. Just as importantly, Amsterdam would have been a good deal funnier. - What To Watch
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| Posted Oct 11, 2022
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Don't Worry Darling (2022) |
In all likelihood, you will probably be ahead of Alice when it comes to working out what is going on and frustrated when Wilde and screenwriters Katie Silberman, Carey Van Dyke and Shane Van Dyke finally show their hand. - What To Watch
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| Posted Sep 22, 2022
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La Dolce Vita (1960) |
That the scenes of decadence and debauchery have dated badly seems, perversely, to work in the film's favour, underscoring the hollowness of the high life, the vapidity of the ceaseless search for new sensation. - Movie Talk
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| Posted Mar 24, 2022
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Heimat 2: Chronicle of a Generation (1992) |
Reitz is exceptionally good at capturing the passionate fervour of youth, showing young people giddy with excitement as they encounter new ideas and experiences, flex their artistic muscles and discover soul mates - What To Watch
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| Posted Oct 08, 2021
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Ammonite (2020) |
Lee cracks open taboos with the blunt determination of Mary Anning hammering a fossil out of a rock. Yet for all the film's daring, it never fully sparks into life and remains for much of its running time as glum and dour as Winslet's Mary. - Marie Claire
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| Posted Sep 02, 2021
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Clemency (2019) |
Chukwu shows the cruelty of the death penalty in harrowing detail, but her film never resolves its ambivalence about the warden's own complicity with the brutal US penal system. - Marie Claire
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| Posted Sep 02, 2021
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Proxima (2019) |
Proxima doesn't deliver the exhilaration of some other space movies - indeed we barely get beyond lift-off here - but the film's earthbound drama is just as absorbing in its own way. - Marie Claire
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| Posted Sep 02, 2021
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The Father (2020) |
Hopkins...has never been better. And, given his much garlanded career, that really is saying something. - Marie Claire
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| Posted Sep 02, 2021
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The World to Come (2020) |
Mona Fastvold makes her film's period details and subtle emotional registers equally convincing, vividly capturing the drudgery of the women's lives - and the fleeting, illicit joy they find in each other's company. - Marie Claire
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| Posted Sep 02, 2021
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Supernova (2020) |
Firth and Tucci's chemistry is wonderful and the autumnal landscapes add to the story's melancholy mood, but in the end the slightly underpowered script means the film doesn't quite tug at our heartstrings as deeply as we might hope. - Marie Claire
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| Posted Sep 02, 2021
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French Exit (2020) |
Best to see director Azazel Jacobs' film as a throwback to 1930s screwball comedies, which were similarly indulgent towards the madcap antics of the rich and privileged. - Marie Claire
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| Posted Sep 02, 2021
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The Whole Truth (2016) |
This courtroom mystery is more of a procedural puzzle than a realistic legal drama - indeed, one can imagine Agatha Christie coming up with the basic plot. It isn't exactly a nailbiter, but the story's twists are enjoyably engaging. - Marie Claire
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| Posted Sep 02, 2021
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Wildfire (2020) |
Most of its power comes from its stars' electrifying chemistry - at its most potent when the sisters dance with wild abandon to Van Morrison's song 'Gloria' in a bar frequented by an unrepentant IRA bomber. - Marie Claire
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| Posted Sep 02, 2021
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Bringing Up Baby (1938) |
Grant... sails through the film's slapstick with breathtaking panache - only a supremely graceful actor could perform clumsiness so skilfully or amusingly. - Movie Talk
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| Posted Sep 01, 2021
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Jazz on a Summer's Day (1959) |
Stern's cameras linger on the festival's audience as much as they do on the stars, finding fascination in the gum-chewing redhead... and in the nerdy fellow with binoculars seemingly intent on solving Thelonious Monk's enigmatic musical equations. - Movie Talk
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| Posted Sep 01, 2021
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A Quiet Place Part II (2021) |
With Blunt, Jupe and, above all, Simmonds all doing sterling acting work, A Quiet Place Part II remains a superior horror movie. Do go. Just don't bring any popcorn. - Movie Talk
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| Posted Jun 04, 2021
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Blithe Spirit (2020) |
Noel Coward's ghost might not return to haunt the makers of this new adaptation of his classic play but it's not hard to imagine the Master turning in his grave at some of the liberties director Edward Hall and his three screenwriters have taken. - Marie Claire
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| Posted Jan 11, 2021
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The New Mutants (2020) |
Save for the novel lesbian romance between two of the characters, the characters' angst-ridden interactions seem secondhand, while the story's thrills and scares lean heavily on earlier films, too. - Marie Claire
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| Posted Jan 11, 2021
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Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) |
[Sciamma] frames Marianne and Héloïse's developing relationship with such exquisite skill that almost every detail throbs with meaning and emotion. - Marie Claire
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| Posted Jan 11, 2021
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Greed (2019) |
Steve Coogan and director Michael Winterbottom take aim at tax-dodging, asset-stripping retail tycoons with this spiky satirical comedy, which doesn't so much aim tongue-in-cheek mockery at its targets as blow a great big raspberry. - Marie Claire
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| Posted Jan 11, 2021
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Pieces of a Woman (2020) |
Vanessa Kirby delivers a deeply moving, fully lived-in performance. - Marie Claire
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| Posted Jan 11, 2021
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Relic (2020) |
A powerful allegory for the anguish of dementia and the fears that surround it. - Marie Claire
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| Posted Jan 11, 2021
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One Night in Miami (2020) |
King's film, adapted by Kemp Powers from his 2013 play, is undeniably stagey, but it still brings the men's rough-and-tumble debate and joshing friendship vividly alive. - Marie Claire
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| Posted Jan 11, 2021
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Collide (2016) |
With tricky flashbacks and dodgy accents throwing sand in the engine, this car-chase thriller stutters and sputters a fair bit before it gets going. Yet when Hoult's fugitive hero hits the autobahn, the movie delivers an exhilarating turn of speed. - Marie Claire
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| Posted Jan 11, 2021
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Booksmart (2019) |
Refreshingly, the film's generous spirit extends to all its characters, whether geek or jock or cool kid. Unlike almost every other high-school movie, no one here is a mean girl in need of a comeuppance. - Marie Claire
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| Posted Jan 11, 2021
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Tesla (2020) |
The end result is a film that is interesting but not electrifying. Tesla remains an enigma, of course, but as played by a pained, humourless Hawke he is also just a little dull. - Marie Claire
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| Posted Jan 11, 2021
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She's in Portland (2020) |
An air of male wish-fulfilment hovers over this comedy drama - the pair do run into more than their fair share of beautiful women en route - but stay with the movie and you'll find a perceptive and engaging portrait of friendship emerge. - Marie Claire
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| Posted Jan 11, 2021
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The King of Staten Island (2020) |
The movie is definitely sprawling and overlong, but Davidson's aching vulnerability gives it wonky charm and heart, while his goofy comic sensibility proves well matched to Apatow's relaxed, improvisational style. - Marie Claire
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| Posted Jan 11, 2021
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Baby Done (2020) |
Stars Rose Matafeo (a Kiwi stand-up comedian) and Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter films) have lovely chemistry as the chalk-and-cheese couple. - Marie Claire
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| Posted Jan 11, 2021
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Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) |
Gal Gadot's lithe and feisty, whip-cracking Amazonian princess has leaped ahead to the 1980s for her next quest to save the world - with many hoping she's coming to the rescue of a pandemic-beleaguered Hollywood, too. - Marie Claire
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| Posted Jan 11, 2021
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Coco (2017) |
What makes the film so heartfelt and resonant is its rich exploration of family, love and memory. - Marie Claire
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| Posted Dec 29, 2020
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Soul (2020) |
The pair's quest features race-against-time-adventure, bustling body-swap comedy and metaphysical flights of imagination. - Marie Claire
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| Posted Dec 29, 2020
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Phantom Thread (2017) |
An exquisite weave of gothic romance and haute couture comedy. - Marie Claire
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| Posted Dec 29, 2020
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Last Christmas (2019) |
Part Curtis-style rom-com, part George Michael jukebox movie (note the title), part personal redemption tale and part mystery story... Put all this together and it's no surprise that the movie is something of a mess. - Marie Claire
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| Posted Dec 29, 2020
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Sylvie's Love (2020) |
Eugene Ashe's film recalls the melodramas Douglas Sirk was making at the time the story is set (but with black leading characters) and has the look of the era's Technicolor films and a swooning jazz soundtrack. - Marie Claire
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| Posted Dec 29, 2020
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Wolfwalkers (2020) |
Moore and his co-director, Ross Stewart, push the story along with exciting sequences of peril and escape, while gently nudging ideas of sisterhood and empowerment into the frame. - Marie Claire
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| Posted Dec 29, 2020
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Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020) |
Ma Rainey is a diva, for sure, but Davis's scorching performance convinces us that the source of her whims is an unquenchable rage at oppression. - Marie Claire
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| Posted Dec 29, 2020
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On the Rocks (2020) |
Sofia Coppola reunites with her Lost in Translation star Bill Murray for another bittersweet comedy that partners him with a younger female co-star. And she again manages to make her leads' rapport both wistfully tender and terrifically funny. - Marie Claire
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| Posted Dec 29, 2020
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Little Women (2019) |
Gerwig draws out the progressive strands in Alcott's original, emphasising its latent feminism. - Marie Claire
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| Posted Dec 29, 2020
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Cats (2019) |
[The] stars must be coughing up hairballs after joining the film's giant litter of singing and dancing felines, whose weird digital fur and creepy features make them all look as though they've been dragged in from the Island of Dr Moreau. - Marie Claire
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| Posted Dec 29, 2020
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