Joel Mayward
Tomatometer-approved critic
Joel Mayward (PhD, University St Andrews) is a theologian, author, and film scholar with bylines at RogerEbert.com, Bright Wall/Dark Room, Christianity Today, and Think Christian. Joel is a member of the Online Film Critics Society and Interfilm; his film reviews can be found at www.cinemayward.com. Follow Joel on Twitter: @joelmayward.
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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The Matrix Resurrections (2021) |
This is a Matrix film with a sense of humor, as well as a self-awareness. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Dec 23, 2021
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Dear Evan Hansen (2021) |
If Dear Evan Hansen is meant to be received as sincere-and everything about it seems to suggest that all parties involved are playing it straight-then it's a bizarre and ghoulish atrocity. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Sep 25, 2021
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Nine Days (2020) |
Edson Oda's fantastic "Nine Days" is simultaneously familiar and evocative, inspiring and disequilibrating. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Jul 06, 2021
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God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunija (2019) |
"God Exists, Her Name is Petruyna" is an ambitious and provocative film which demonstrates that the spirit of patriarchy still needs to be exorcised. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Jun 28, 2021
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Bo Burnham: Inside (2021) |
As prophetic performance art, Inside is a well-crafted, expertly edited, perfectly lit personal cry for help and a powerful call for our society to be better. - Think Christian
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| Posted Jun 10, 2021
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Undine (2020) |
Undine is a fairytale for a secular age. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Jun 04, 2021
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Army Of The Dead (2021) |
Bloated, bleak, and bleary, "Army of the Dead" takes an entertaining action zombie film premise and sucks the life right out of it. - Cinemayward
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| Posted May 24, 2021
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Wrath of Man (2021) |
For all of its promise in the reunion of Ritchie and Statham, "Wrath of Man" is ultimately soulless. - Cinemayward
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| Posted May 07, 2021
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The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021) |
This Phil Lord and Chris Miller-produced animated film is a madcap movie-celebrating meta-commentary amusement ride. - Cinemayward
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| Posted May 03, 2021
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A Week Away (2021) |
"A Week Away" won't make any new converts, but it will make its intended audience smile, or even sing along. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Mar 26, 2021
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Minari (2020) |
By showing us the particular rituals and rhythms of this singular family in this specific time and place in America, "Minari" elevates a down-to-earth narrative to the level of mythology. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Feb 10, 2021
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Little Fish (2020) |
In our present era where the experience of loss is always on the horizon, "Little Fish" is a powerfully poignant cinematic balm for the soul. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Feb 04, 2021
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The Dig (2021) |
What elevates "The Dig" beyond its scattered narrative misgivings are the understated, affecting performances from Fiennes and Mulligan, as well as the lush cinematography of Mike Eley. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Jan 31, 2021
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Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) |
WW84 shines brightest when Gadot and Pine are on-screen together. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Dec 23, 2020
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Tenet (2020) |
"Tenet" succeeds in somehow transcending the audience's basic understanding of time and narrative while nevertheless keeping them engaged and entertained for the film's entirety. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Dec 23, 2020
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Promising Young Woman (2020) |
Writer/director Emerald Fennell's "Promising Young Woman" is bold, brilliant, and blistering in its evisceration of our male-dominated culture, while Carey Mulligan's daring performance is a career-best. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Dec 22, 2020
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Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020) |
It is arguably [Boseman's] strongest on-screen performance, and were he to be honored with a posthumous Oscar, it would certainly be earned. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Dec 19, 2020
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Wolfwalkers (2020) |
In a cinematic age where CGI reigns supreme, Wolfwalkers' defiant aesthetic in its messy hand-drawn style is at once nostalgic and forward-looking, a beautiful simplicity on the far side of complexity. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Dec 16, 2020
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Time (2020) |
...the lyrical formal approach Bradley adopts with 'Time' elevates an already-compelling story into the realms of transcendence. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Dec 16, 2020
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Sound of Metal (2019) |
Sound of Metal is a film with perfect narrative rhythm; the cinematic story makes interesting, poignant decisions for the entirety of its runtime. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Dec 13, 2020
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Mank (2020) |
I'm sad to report that 'Mank' might be the least interesting thing David Fincher has ever directed. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Dec 07, 2020
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Nomadland (2020) |
It is an achingly moving work of transcendent cinematic art which is, paradoxically, humble and confident, fanciful and true, a film of realist authenticity and formalist wonders. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Dec 02, 2020
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Palm Springs (2020) |
"Palm Springs" brings both levity and poignancy...by reminding us of the gift of presence. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Dec 02, 2020
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Hillbilly Elegy (2020) |
I will pull no punches: Ron Howard's Hillbilly Elegy is simply awful. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Nov 26, 2020
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First Cow (2019) |
Like the oily cakes Cookie and King-Lu create, the film's ingredients are simple, but the results are richly delectable and well worth coming back for seconds. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Oct 31, 2020
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Rebecca (2020) |
The 2020 Netflix version of Rebecca is a romantic psychological thriller entirely devoid of genuine romance, psychological depth, or thrills. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Oct 23, 2020
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David Byrne's American Utopia (2020) |
It's a percussionist's paradise which demonstrates a perfect rhythm between effervescent joy and no-nonsense political urgency. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Oct 19, 2020
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S...house (2020) |
Those who dismiss the film based on its title alone may miss out on a deeply affecting and profound portrayal of late adolescence which pays tribute to the coming-of-age tradition even as it forges new emotional pathways. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Oct 12, 2020
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Dick Johnson Is Dead (2020) |
Kirsten Johnson has crafted a memento mori imbued with both sincere love and aesthetic depth. This is a film I want to revisit and contemplate, a film I feel compelled to write articles or entire books about. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Oct 03, 2020
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Possessor: Uncut (2020) |
"Mind-bending" takes on multiple meanings when the human psyche is depicted as neon-lit melting faces and other visceral body-dissolving abominations seen under strobe-effect. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Oct 01, 2020
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The Social Dilemma (2020) |
There is both an urgency and a helplessness to the prophetic message of The Social Dilemma: we must change how social media functions, but we may not have the will power or attention span to do so. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Sep 16, 2020
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Cuties (2020) |
Doucouré's attentive, empathetic, and daring coming-of-age film reminds us of the urgent need for empathy and critical thinking in a social media era. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Sep 12, 2020
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I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020) |
It's a maudlin, misanthropic mess which revels in its own opacity, a puzzle film which intentionally hides the pieces. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Sep 10, 2020
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Tesla (2020) |
For all its electrifying potential, I found little to keep my attention, less still to ponder afterwards in terms of What It All Means. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Aug 19, 2020
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Yes, God, Yes (2019) |
Yes, God, Yes is far less about teens trying to get laid and more about a genuine search for the truth in all of its existential, metaphysical, and erotic glory. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Jul 28, 2020
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She Dies Tomorrow (2020) |
"She Dies Tomorrow" is Albert Camus meets David Lynch, a darkly absurdist fable about our fear of mortality and its unsettling capacity to spread. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Jul 25, 2020
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Shirley (2020) |
"Shirley" is powerfully perturbing, anchored by the superb lead performances from Moss and Stuhlbarg. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Jun 04, 2020
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Dads (2019) |
When it's not being a How-To-Dad film, it is a kaleidoscopic celebration of genuinely good fathers, at-once affecting and affirming. - Cinemayward
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| Posted May 09, 2020
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Bacurau (2019) |
Visceral and incendiary, Bacurau is a political punch to the gut and a mental machete to the head. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Mar 25, 2020
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Onward (2020) |
For a film about magic, I wish Onward had more...well...magic. [...] Despite its conventionality and corporate feel, Onward is nevertheless an enjoyable and affecting romp. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Mar 01, 2020
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Taylor Swift: Miss Americana (2020) |
It's a well-crafted work which reveals only as much as the camera-aware Swift chooses to reveal. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Mar 01, 2020
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Bombshell (2019) |
Bombshell fails to be either smart satire or incisive political drama, which makes it just offensively banal. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Jan 10, 2020
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Little Women (2019) |
It's a warm hug of a film, comforting and life-giving in its graciousness. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Dec 29, 2019
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1917 (2019) |
...an ambitious and thrilling war film, a filmic formal exercise with gumption. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Dec 26, 2019
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Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) |
I find its lack of faith-in its audience, in its predecessors, in itself-disturbing. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Dec 19, 2019
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The Two Popes (2019) |
I still found myself converted by Hopkins and Pryce skillfully portraying this divine bromance. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Dec 19, 2019
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6 Underground (2019) |
By being exceedingly stupid, morally depraved, and dreadfully dull, "6 Underground" pulls off a hat-trick of Very Bad Filmmaking. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Dec 14, 2019
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Marriage Story (2019) |
Though it does get ugly, it's also paradoxically beautiful in its raw sincerity. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Dec 08, 2019
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The Irishman (2019) |
A cinematic memento mori, "The Irishman" (aka "I Heard You Paint Houses") is one of Martin Scorsese's all-time greatest films. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Dec 06, 2019
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Jojo Rabbit (2019) |
Rather than laughter or tears, "JoJo Rabbit" elicits only cringes, groans, and yawns. - Cinemayward
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| Posted Dec 06, 2019
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