Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes
Critics list

John Beifuss

Tomatometer-approved critic
Favorites:

The Bride of Frankenstein Citizen Kane Dead Man Safe It's a Gift to name just a few

Location:

Memphis, TN

Reviews

Movies TV Shows
Requiem for a Dream (2000) 80% 3.5/4 EDIT “Director Darren Aronofsky's relentless use of disorienting visual techniques and unnerving sonic effects is so successful at achieving the desired emotional impact that the film can be pretty much digested in one viewing...” – Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) Aug 20, 2025 Full Review Amélie (2001) 90% 3.5/4 EDIT “Admittedly there's something somewhat dubious about Amelie's self-congratulatory nature and self-conscious cuteness... But my advice is to accept Amelie gratefully for the cinematic bonbon it is. It may not be nutritious, but it sure is sweet.” – Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) Feb 13, 2024 Full Review Traffic (2000) 93% 3/4 EDIT “Epic in scope, intimate in detail, and as overpraised as it is engrossing.” – Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) Sep 6, 2023 Full Review Lone Star (1996) 91% 3.5/4 EDIT “Ultimately, Lone Star is an appreciation of the cultural mix that makes Texas -- and America -- unique. The film says violence and prejudice are no match for love respect and humanity.” – Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) Sep 6, 2023 Full Review Moulin Rouge (2001) 75% 2/4 EDIT “The story and script by Luhrmann and Craig Pearce... is intentionally bare-boned, in contrast to the excessive visuals. But did it have to be so unwitty and uninteresting?” – Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) Sep 5, 2023 Full Review Mulholland Dr. (2001) 84% 4/4 EDIT “It is part film noir homage, part failed-TV pilot salvage job, part Persona-style art film and altogether utterly unique except, of course, in comparison to the past movies of David Lynch.” – Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) Jul 11, 2023 Full Review Magnolia (1999) 82% 2.5/4 EDIT “Is Magnolia -- writer-director Paul Thomas sprawling, emotionally supercharged follow-up to Boogie Nights -- a flawed triumph or a bold failure? It's a bit of both -- or at three hours in length, a lot of both.” – Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) Jun 30, 2023 Full Review The Truman Show (1998) 94% 4/4 EDIT “It is so perfectly realized, it's hard to believe someone hasn't presented this concept on the big screen before. ” – Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) Feb 14, 2023 Full Review Eve's Bayou (1997) 83% 3/4 EDIT “Smollett gives a tough but endearing performance as the King girl who learns, tragically, that families are not inviolable and invincible.” – Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) Jan 9, 2023 Full Review Rapture (1979) 100% 4/4 EDIT “A masterwork of Bava-esque colors, Bergmanesque dislocation and Cronenbergian raptures.” – Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) Feb 3, 2022 Full Review The Souvenir Part II (2021) 90% 3.5/4 EDIT “In a decision that naysayers may find more ouroboros than onion (more self-cannibalizing than multi-layered), Hogg in her new film depicts the attempt to make a movie about her experiences (i.e., the first 'The Souvenir').” – Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) Feb 3, 2022 Full Review The Suicide Squad (2021) 90% 3.5/4 EDIT “Gunn's smart-aleck supervillain team adventure is a labor of twisted love bursting with genuinely funny sick jokes and sicker characters (Polka-Dot Man shoots out lethal polka dots). ” – Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) Feb 3, 2022 Full Review Cryptozoo (2021) 71% 4/4 EDIT “The filmmakers employ watercolor, pencil and other techniques to painstakingly craft a not-safe-for-kids cartoon about a sort of 'Jurassic Park' for 'cryptids.'” – Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) Feb 3, 2022 Full Review Candyman (2021) 84% 3.5/4 EDIT “Nia DaCosta's reboot/sequel retains the Chicago setting of its influential 1992 predecessor but relocates the shocks to a bougie-artsy 2021 milieu where talent and education ultimately provide no escape or defense from the racist past or present.” – Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) Feb 3, 2022 Full Review The Card Counter (2020) 88% 3.5/4 EDIT “Another of Schrader's portraits of fracturing loner diarists trundling toward penitential violence.” – Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) Feb 3, 2022 Full Review Old (2021) 50% 3.5/4 EDIT “Fearsomely compelling until the final unnecessary 'twist' transforms a terrifying metaphor about the pitilessness of old age into what seems to be a pitch for a cable sci-fi series.” – Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) Feb 3, 2022 Full Review Vortex (2021) 92% 4/4 EDIT “'Vortex' casts Franoise Lebru and horror auteur Dario Argento as an elderly couple whose brains become as disordered as their book-and-memorabilia-crammed Paris apartment after the wife is stricken with dementia.” – Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) Feb 3, 2022 Full Review Petite Maman (2021) 97% 3.5/4 EDIT “Part fairy tale, part "Twilight Zone."” – Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) Feb 3, 2022 Full Review Memoria (2021) 90% 3.5/4 EDIT “The climactic revelation is both awe-inspiring and deflating, retroactively and reductively recasting the woman's experience as more a puzzle than a mystery.” – Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) Feb 3, 2022 Full Review Dune (2021) 83% 3.5/4 EDIT “Mesmerizing for much of its 3-hour length - especially during its first half, when it prioritizes statecraft and intrigue and augurs and artful arrangements of strangely costumed individuals and strikingly designed alien vessels over fights and chases.” – Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) Feb 3, 2022 Full Review The Last Duel (2021) 85% 3.5/4 EDIT “The climactic combat is motivated more by the knight's ego than by his concern for the welfare and honor of his wife.” – Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) Feb 3, 2022 Full Review The Green Knight (2021) 89% 3.5/4 EDIT “Another haunting and profound enchantment from David Lowery.” – Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) Feb 3, 2022 Full Review Passing (2021) 91% 3.5/4 EDIT “The black-and-white photography exposes the absurdity of racial codification by reproducing every actors face in scales of gray.” – Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) Feb 3, 2022 Full Review Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) 96% 4/4 EDIT “A vivid reimagining of history...” – Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) Feb 3, 2022 Full Review The Power of the Dog (2021) 94% 4/4 EDIT “False fronts and concealed identities poison lives and thus communities like a virus...” – Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) Feb 3, 2022 Full Review
No Reviews Yet
Load More