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Jim Vorel
Jim Vorel's reviews only count toward the Tomatometer® when published at the following Tomatometer-approved publication(s):
Paste Magazine
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is the Blood of the Baboon Heart (2023) |
A still somewhat convoluted wrap story clarifies a few of the show’s bigger mysteries while indulging in a parade of series callbacks of varying quality. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Jul 21, 2023
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Chop & Steele (2022) |
We’re essentially watching two guys with a lifelong dependency on each other, and a seeming addiction to cringe, consider the possibility for the first time in decades of giving up some key aspect of their own identities. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Apr 27, 2023
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Scream VI (2023) |
Where the 2022 film’s caricature of fandom is likely to remain relevant for decades, there’s nothing so powerful in this subtext. It has only its admittedly impressive bloodletting to propel it, which is at least enough to generate the occasional guffaw. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Mar 10, 2023
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Skinamarink (2022) |
Perhaps more than anything I’ve ever seen, this is the ultimate subjective horror film. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Jan 27, 2023
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Mad Heidi (2022) |
The gonzo action movie lover should find much here to appreciate, while those versed in independent film production will likely find themselves admiring its technical soundness. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Dec 12, 2022
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V/H/S/99 (2022) |
All of these segments feel on the staid side, with none coming anywhere close the heights of past V/H/S entries, and several simultaneously feel conceptually indebted to prior installments - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Oct 20, 2022
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Halloween Ends (2022) |
And to think, we could have just given the Strode women their time to shine. But now, the door has finally shut on their frustratingly hollow story. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Oct 14, 2022
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Goodnight Mommy (2022) |
To fans of the original, seeing a modern classic replaced by a sanitized imposter may feel creepily appropriate, if disappointing. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Sep 16, 2022
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Halloween Kills (2021) |
Like Green's 2018 Halloween reboot, this is a badly overstuffed film that largely ignores the inherent strength of what should be its central story. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Oct 15, 2021
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V/H/S/94 (2021) |
Put simply, V/H/S/94 is almost less an anthology than it is a vehicle for a single, deliriously creative segment from director Timo Tjahjanto - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Oct 06, 2021
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There's Someone Inside Your House (2021) |
Competently shot and staged, but decidedly familiar, it displays none of the emotional nuance or attention to character detail we've associated with Brice in the past. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Oct 04, 2021
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Fear Street Part Three: 1666 (2021) |
Three movies in, the little absurdities of this series are beginning to mount, but Fear Street: 1666 at least manages to remain briskly entertaining and pretty damn bloody. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Jul 16, 2021
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Fear Street Part Two: 1978 (2021) |
Only in the conclusion do the events of 1978 really start to pay off in a truly satisfying way. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Jul 07, 2021
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Fear Street Part One: 1994 (2021) |
Both loving tribute to the genre and savvy reinvention, it's an impressive (and attractive) sophomore effort from director Leigh Janiak. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Jul 02, 2021
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The Amusement Park (1973) |
The Amusement Park is not some lost masterpiece of 1970s horror, but it does provide a suitably unnerving denouement for one of the genre's greatest luminaries. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Jun 07, 2021
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Army Of The Dead (2021) |
Army of the Dead sadly reveals a director with a personal brand and opulent filmmaking style that has undermined whatever vitality existed in this premise. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted May 19, 2021
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Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) |
For better or worse, this movie is no more and no less than the title implies. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Mar 29, 2021
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Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula (2020) |
Better that it just be called Peninsula, and spared the burden of a comparison that it simply can't win. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Aug 20, 2020
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Spree (2020) |
It feels like a short film stretched out to feature length, or a half-completed anthology, which requires multiple unnecessary diversions into side-plots that are introduced and then immediately discarded. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Aug 13, 2020
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Villains (2019) |
Villains is a workmanlike thriller with a pair of memorable performances and a simplistic premise that would seemingly make it an obvious choice for release via VOD or a major streaming service. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Aug 28, 2019
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Child's Play (2019) |
Despite the moments of inspired mayhem, however, Child's Play ultimately feels lacking in soul, in exactly the same manner as the new Chucky. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Jun 24, 2019
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Tau (2018) |
It is what it is. Tau displays some signs of life, but it wouldn't pass a Turing test. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Jan 15, 2019
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Halloween (2018) |
If... you were hoping for Halloween to take full advantage of Curtis and bring its story to a satisfying close, 40 years after John Carpenter pioneered the slasher genre in the U.S., then I've got some bad news for you. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Oct 18, 2018
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The Last Sharknado: It's About Time (2018) |
It's clear during [the climax] sequence that we've gone well past the point of Peak Absurdity, as far as potential humor is concerned, and the big climax thus leaves the viewer cold. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Aug 20, 2018
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Mute (2017) |
Mute, unlike its title character, seems to have no shortage of things to say. If only its voices would stop talking over one another, it might be something special. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Feb 23, 2018
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The Ritual (2017) |
The Ritual doesn't possess much ambition to speak of in terms of its story or script. That doesn't exactly bode well for a film that is meant to be character-driven, but Bruckner mostly salvages the movie with sheer style and competence. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Feb 14, 2018
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The Cloverfield Paradox (2018) |
Is it any good? Well, yes -- often it is, but it's sometimes tough to find those moments. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Feb 05, 2018
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The Disaster Artist (2017) |
It's a film to see with an audience familiar with what it's about to see, with people who can appreciate the dedication with which Franco and co. have recreated so many of the original film's woeful scenes and performances. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Nov 30, 2017
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Trick 'r Treat (2007) |
It invokes traditions and superstitions ... while subtly threading in new customs and legends from the whole cloth-so artfully that they immediately seem just as valid and timeless. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Oct 30, 2017
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Gerald's Game (2017) |
Ultimately, Gerald's Game is an unassuming, overachieving little thriller that is blessed by two performers capable of handling the lion's share of the dramatic challenges it presents. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Sep 28, 2017
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Sharknado 5: Global Swarming (2017) |
Simply put, this series has run its course and is currently beating a dead shark. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Aug 08, 2017
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The Dark Tower (2017) |
Every character's motivations and background have been squashed and sanded down to the most glib, one-phrase explanations imaginable. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Aug 03, 2017
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Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) |
Holland is simply a likable face, a near-perfect blend of awkwardness, uncertainty and charisma exemplified by the simple physical comedy of putting on the Spider-Man costume. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Jun 30, 2017
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Colossal (2016) |
Colossal is a profoundly weird film-weirder than the already strange synopsis would even imply. We need more films like this, and we need them in wide release. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Apr 06, 2017
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Kong: Skull Island (2017) |
What I do know, is that your enjoyment of Kong: Skull Island should not be a matter of surprise or chance. Either you want to see a CGI gorilla beat the hell out of skull reptiles, or you don't. No one is judging you. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Mar 09, 2017
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Logan (2017) |
It's not a film calculated to be a people-pleaser, but it is an appropriately intense end to a character defined by the tenacity and ferocity of a wolverine. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Feb 23, 2017
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John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017) |
Holding the torch passed from '80s and '90s John Woo classics, director Chad Stahelski delivers an epic ballet of arm-breaking and gun-kata that somehow manages to run for 122 minutes without ever overstaying its welcome. That's far easier said than done. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Feb 09, 2017
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Split (2016) |
After so many films that relied on [overwrought twist endings]... it seems like Shyamalan has finally gotten over the hump to make the kinds of stories he makes best: atmospheric, suspenseful potboilers. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Jan 18, 2017
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Passengers (2016) |
It's 30 minutes of a science fiction movie, followed by 45 minutes of romantic comedy, followed by 30 minutes of action movie, and each is a step down from the previous. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Dec 21, 2016
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Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) |
Gareth Edwards' venture into a galaxy far, far away is the Star Wars film we never knew we needed. It's a triumphantly thrilling, serious-minded war movie that is incalculably stronger for the fact that it's NOT the first chapter in a new franchise. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Dec 13, 2016
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The Monster (2016) |
The Monster feels like a film reaching desperately for profundity and missing by a country mile. The Witch this is not. It's just another arthouse horror film broken down on the side of the road. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Nov 30, 2016
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Shin Godzilla (2016) |
All hail, the King of the Monsters. Godzilla is back. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Nov 03, 2016
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Doctor Strange (2016) |
Doctor Strange is crowd-pleasing and exciting -- funny when it should be, sober when it has to be and crackling with a magical mystique that adds a veiled layer of depth to the inner workings of the Marvel universe. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Nov 03, 2016
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Blair Witch (2016) |
The most puzzling mystery of Blair Witch has absolutely nothing to do with the plot of this supposed sequel, and everything to do with why a promising director the caliber of Adam Wingard would want to be helming this film in the first place. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Sep 15, 2016
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Sharknado: The 4th Awakens (2016) |
Whatever absurd delights this series once could boast have long since been stripped of their tiny joys and ground into dust by the weight of encroaching, ceaseless, incredibly cynical commercialism. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Aug 01, 2016
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Zoolander No. 2 (2016) |
Zoolander 2 isn't quite a bottom barrel Hollywood comedy, but it's not far off from it, either. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Feb 11, 2016
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Hail, Caesar! (2016) |
Hail Caesar! is blandly enjoyable in spurts, based on the strength of key performances, but it wouldn't take much to make it that much better. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Feb 04, 2016
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Victor Frankenstein (2015) |
Enjoy it for what it is: Sanitized, family friendly popcorn entertainment with a few laughs and a modicum of excitement. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Nov 24, 2015
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Finders Keepers (2015) |
At times, the story seems headed toward an expected conclusion, but every time it feels like things should be wrapping up, some new hurdle arises to be overcome. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Oct 06, 2015
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The Visit (2015) |
Marketed as a straight horror film in an attempt to play on whatever Sixth Sense fondness still remains in the American public, the film is really more of a horror comedy, and a surprisingly able one. - Paste Magazine
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| Posted Sep 10, 2015
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