Lewis Beale
Lewis Beale's reviews only count toward the Tomatometer® when published at the following Tomatometer-approved publication(s):
Hollywood Reporter
Los Angeles Times
Film Journal International
News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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Bang the Drum Slowly (1973) |
Heartbreaking and heartwarming. - Newsday
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| Posted May 31, 2018
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Listen Up Philip (2014) |
If the point of Listen Up Philip is that talented people can also be colossal jerks - well, that's about as eye-opening as saying that pizza is a hugely popular menu item. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Aug 01, 2015
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Horns (2013) |
At nearly two hours, "Horns" is about 30 minutes longer than it needs to be. But it's doubtful even a shorter version would cure what ails this film. Maybe you have to be tripped out on LSD to appreciate it. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Aug 01, 2015
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The Trip to Italy (2014) |
You wish they'd challenged themselves a bit more with this film, and not gone the "if it worked once, let's do it again" route. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Aug 01, 2015
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Red Army (2014) |
All this is told with a brilliant mix of archival footage and interviews, with Fetisov, now back in Russia and minister of sport, providing much of the commentary. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Aug 01, 2015
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The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared (2013) |
It's not that The 100-Year-Old Man doesn't have its pluses. The cast is totally game for this nonsense, and some of the comic riffs are truly inspired... But in the end, Herngren's film is simply too much of a good thing. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted May 22, 2015
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Far From the Madding Crowd (2015) |
While [Far From the Madding Crowd is] beautiful to look at, [it] suffers from inconsistent direction and the miscasting of the lead female role. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted May 21, 2015
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Tomorrowland (2015) |
It's kind of an unholy mess, but never less than interesting and engaging. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted May 21, 2015
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Merchants of Doubt (2014) |
A chilling documentary showing how the cigarette, asbestos, fossil fuel and other industries manipulate scientific evidence. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Apr 17, 2015
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Serena (2014) |
Serena is soon to wind up on someone's list of "worst book-to-movie adaptations." Count on it. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Mar 26, 2015
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Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem (2014) |
An overwhelmingly intense film about an Orthodox Jewish Israeli woman trying to get a religious divorce. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Mar 12, 2015
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Maps to the Stars (2014) |
David Cronenberg has fashioned a distinguished career making films about death, disease, sexual perversity and violence. But it's doubtful he's ever directed anything as scabrous and self-loathing as Maps to the Stars. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Feb 26, 2015
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McFarland, USA (2015) |
Uplift doesn't come much better than this. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Feb 19, 2015
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Still Alice (2014) |
Still Alice benefits from solid acting down the line -- Kristen Stewart is especially fine as Moore's struggling actress daughter -- but it exists in a rarefied world of privilege unknown to most Alzheimer's patients. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Feb 13, 2015
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Cake (2014) |
In Cake, Aniston shows that she's got the goods, the ability to delve into a complex, not particularly likable, character and make her thoroughly believable. If only the film were as good as its star. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Jan 22, 2015
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Blackhat (2015) |
Mann may not be at the top of his form here, but Blackhat is still proof that even in a flawed work, he is a master filmmaker. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Jan 16, 2015
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Selma (2014) |
Selma is about America at its worst -- and very best. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Jan 09, 2015
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Wild (2014) |
[Witherspoon's performance is] a compelling, and fully lived-in, piece of work. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Jan 01, 2015
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Top Five (2014) |
Top Five is filled with the kind of smart, lewd dialogue that has made Rock a standup god. And for the first time in his career, Rock has the authority, charisma and screen presence of a real movie star. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Dec 12, 2014
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The Theory of Everything (2014) |
Enhanced by a brilliantly transformative performance from Eddie Redmayne as Hawking, director James Marsh's film is professional in every respect. But it takes itself way too seriously. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Nov 26, 2014
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Whiplash (2014) |
A love poem to big band jazz and the dubious pleasures of sadistic mentoring, Whiplash is a movie version of a steel cage death match. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Nov 14, 2014
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Pride (2014) |
Directed with economy and beautifully acted by all concerned (Staunton, in female battle-ax mode, is particularly great), Pride ends on a note that is guaranteed not to leave a dry eye in the theater. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Oct 31, 2014
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Tucker & Dale vs Evil (2010) |
Although attitude is more important than plot in spoofs like this, Tucker & Dale's storyline does have the right sort of momentum. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Oct 21, 2014
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Short Term 12 (2013) |
Raw, intense, human and absorbing. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Oct 17, 2014
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Atlas Shrugged: Part 1 (2011) |
Although it's not as bad as its trailer might suggest, this first part of a projected three-part series will probably please the already converted but bore and annoy just about everyone else. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Oct 17, 2014
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The Great Beauty (2013) |
Sometimes too overblown, surreal and obtuse for its own good, director Paolo Sorrentino's film is nonetheless an exquisitely composed portrait of vapidity and decline. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Oct 01, 2014
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A Royal Affair (2012) |
The volatile mix of sex and politics is at the core of the sumptuously produced Danish film A Royal Affair, which, by underplaying its combustible material, fails to do full justice to it. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Oct 01, 2014
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That Awkward Moment (2014) |
An extremely attractive cast fails to overcome the clichs in writer/director Tim Gormican's film. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Oct 01, 2014
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Out of the Furnace (2013) |
Beautifully shot in and around the depressed town of Braddock, Pa. Out of the Furnace is generally well acted by a top-notch cast, but a bit weak on the storytelling side. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Oct 01, 2014
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The One I Love (2014) |
It's a shame these two compelling actors do not appear in a better film. The One I Love certainly has its good points, but they are only fleeting. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Sep 10, 2014
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A Most Wanted Man (2014) |
Intelligent filmmaking is rare enough these days, and intelligent films taking an ethically probing approach to the war on terror even rarer. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Jul 25, 2014
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Life Itself (2014) |
Life Itself makes a good case for a larger-than-life human who left us all a little richer for his presence. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Jul 24, 2014
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Ida (2013) |
Director Pawel Pawlikowski has taken a real historic tragedy and personalized it in the characters of Anna/Ida and Wanda. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Jul 10, 2014
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Palo Alto (2013) |
A group of bored white suburban teens, entitled up to their eyeballs, do increasingly stupid things that we're supposed to be concerned about. I wasn't. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Jun 20, 2014
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Chef (2014) |
Like all good foodie movies, Chef works not only because of the cooking scenes, but because it is a beautiful portrayal of the passion and love the best chefs have while cooking food for other people. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Jun 04, 2014
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Fading Gigolo (2013) |
Despite the charm of the actors in this film, and Allen's frenetic, mostly unfunny attempts at comedy, there's not a single moment in Fading Gigolo that is believable. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted May 14, 2014
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The Lunchbox (2013) |
There are no big scenes or intense dramatic moments; it's filled with observational details about character and place, adding up to a subtle but memorable look at desperate lives in transition. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Apr 18, 2014
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The Unknown Known (2013) |
Although Morris asks plenty of pointed questions, he leaves any opinions about Rumsfeld up to the viewer -- and that's all to the good. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Apr 07, 2014
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Gloria (2013) |
Brilliantly brought to life by actress Paulina Garca, Gloria is not afraid to put herself out there at a Santiago dance club for over-50s, where she drinks, boogies and is on the lookout for Mr. Right. - News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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| Posted Apr 03, 2014
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The Little Traitor (2007) |
Small film about the relationship between a British soldier and Jewish boy in occupied Palestine starts out strong, then loses its unique point of view. - Film Journal International
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| Posted Oct 08, 2009
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The English Surgeon (2007) |
Stirring, heartwarming documentary about English neurosurgeon Henry Marsh, who donates his time bringing modern medicine to the Ukraine. - Hollywood Reporter
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| Posted Jul 23, 2009
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Soul Power (2008) |
Documentary about the three-day music festival preceding the famous Ali-Foreman fight has its moments, but plays too much like what it is: outtakes from the Oscar-winning When We Were Kings. - Film Journal International
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| Posted Jun 17, 2009
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The Merry Gentleman (2009) |
Interesting, downbeat directorial debut by Michael Keaton marred by a needlessly ambiguous ending. - Film Journal International
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| Posted Apr 29, 2009
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O'Horten (2007) |
Well-intentioned piece of Norwegian whimsy may be too low-key for its own good. - Film Journal International
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| Posted Apr 17, 2009
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Perestroika (2007) |
Alternately fascinating and boring, ultimately confusing, yet heartfelt film by a Russian expatriate about returning to the homeland after Gorbachev. - Film Journal International
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| Posted Apr 16, 2009
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Goodbye Solo (2008) |
Offbeat relationship between a Senegalese cab driver and a suicidal Southerner makes for an interesting character study. - Film Journal International
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| Posted Mar 23, 2009
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Sugar (2008) |
Fictionalized tale of a Dominican baseball player trying to make it in the States is also a wonderfully observant film about acculturation and the immigrant experience. - Film Journal International
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| Posted Mar 23, 2009
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Tokyo Sonata (2008) |
The effect of unemployment on a middle-class Japanese family makes for powerful storytelling until an awkward shift in tone about two-thirds of the way in. - Film Journal International
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| Posted Mar 13, 2009
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Sherman's Way (2008) |
Cute fish-out-of-water comedy is a lightweight but inoffensive time-waster. - Film Journal International
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| Posted Mar 06, 2009
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Everlasting Moments (2008) |
Exquisite, classically made period drama about a woman who discovers herself through photography. - Film Journal International
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| Posted Feb 23, 2009
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