Nathaniel Rogers
Tomatometer-approved critic
Heavenly Creatures, Boogie Nights, Bonnie & Clyde, Manhattan, Persona, The Wizard of Oz, Sunset Boulevard, The Passion of Joan of Arc, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Law of Desire, Cabaret, West Side Story, Waiting for Guffman, The Piano, and many more...
New York, New York
http://www.thefilmexperience.net
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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Magic Mike's Last Dance (2023) |
Last Dance is without question the weakest of the three Magic Mike pictures, but it's still worth a look... especially for Hayek fans. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Mar 24, 2023
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Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania (2023) |
Most unfortunate of all, the usually reliable Paul Rudd coasts through this one, wearing his charisma like an old shirt that he forgot to wash and iron before putting on, assuming we'd just love seeing it (and him) again. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Mar 24, 2023
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The Sound of 007 (2022) |
When it focuses on No Time To Die it feels way too much like an FYC campaign rather than a real documentary, but the non-No Time To Die parts are fabulous and well worth a watch if you love anecdotes from musicians and Bond, James Bond. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Dec 29, 2022
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Werewolf by Night (2022) |
Sadly, while this is somewhat diverting it and blessedly short (given how overextended some of the other Marvel projects feels), it also feels rushed and under-written. The black and white lensing is fun though, as are a few of the visual effects. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Dec 29, 2022
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Catherine Called Birdy (2022) |
Even better, given the rampant lazy anachronisms in so many period pieces of late, this one has fun with the wedding of its modern soul to the stylized language of the period. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Dec 29, 2022
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The Whale (2022) |
Though all movies are subjective experiences, I would argue that Aronofsky is way too much of a provocateur to commit fully to the kind of sensitivity and empathy this material surely needed to circumvent its parade of immobile trauma. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Dec 29, 2022
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Living (2022) |
Nighy's performance alone would be strong enough to elevate a mediocrity, but Living isn't that. The whole of it is beautifully crafted even beyond Nighy and the retro-beauty of the cinematography. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Dec 29, 2022
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White Noise (2022) |
White Noise is funny, smart, eccentric and packed with visual and sonic detail (great Danny Elfman score!). - The Film Experience
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| Posted Dec 29, 2022
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The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) |
Farrell and Gleeson, who exhibited tremendous chemistry from In Bruges, are superb again, mining dramatic riches... all without unbalancing the film's rich comedic instincts. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Dec 16, 2022
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Till (2022) |
Till only thrives as a dramatic experience when Deadwyler is activated and humanizing it (which is thankfully much of the picture). - The Film Experience
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| Posted Dec 16, 2022
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Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) |
Director Ryan Coogler tries valiantly to make this all work and it does here and there. In the end his considerable gifts are arguably better suited to grounded human drama than superhero pictures. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Dec 16, 2022
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Triangle of Sadness (2022) |
Triangle of Sadness pulls off the very difficult trick of changing shape entirely for each of its three acts without losing any personality, cohesion, or humor, or sight of its primary targets. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Oct 14, 2022
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Saint Omer (2022) |
Enormous scenes play out with long static shots often with little to no editorializing in the way of cuts, music, shot composition, or even within performance. All of which makes this more of a movie to think about than to feel along with. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Oct 14, 2022
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Alcarràs (2022) |
Carla Simon's movie is beautifully observed throughout with some sequences and shots that are still haunting. Still I admit I missed the tautness and potency that economically shaped and scripted dramas starring professional actors can often have. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Oct 14, 2022
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Bones and All (2022) |
The direction, soundscape, cinematography, and leading players were all very effective but, no pun intended, it left a terrible taste in the mouth. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Oct 14, 2022
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Tár (2022) |
It's a towering and daringly confident performance, perched on a razor's edge between legitimate genius and emperor's new clothes hollowness. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Oct 14, 2022
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Thirteen Lives (2022) |
Though the true story is still filled with tense life-or-death situations and nail-biting decision making, Howard's feature version is strangely lacking in personality. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Aug 15, 2022
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Bullet Train (2022) |
Bullet Train has its moments -- Leitch's action bonafides are still definitely on display -- but it's sadly a step down after the remarkable Atomic Blonde. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Aug 15, 2022
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INU-OH (2021) |
While never short on creativity, the plot points and storytelling rhythms are hard to fathom at times since there's more than enough to keep you busy between the visual wonders and loud head-banging music with its storytelling lyrics. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Aug 12, 2022
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Persuasion (2022) |
The wavering at-war-with-itself tone that mutes the central romance is a problem everywhere. It even shows up in the film's rhythm... All that said, Persuasion is not without its moments, most of them provided by the standouts among the supporting cast. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Jul 29, 2022
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Nope (2022) |
Does everything about Nope work? The answer is in the title but Peele's ambition, clear voice, and careful craftsmanship pay off in big movie-movie ways. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Jul 29, 2022
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The Cursed (2021) |
The Cursed does boast an impressive command of atmosphere and both minor and major scares. It's also very handsomely costumed by Oscar-nominated Madeline Fontaine. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Jul 29, 2022
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Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) |
The resulting tone is so sloppily winking and unserious that it feels grotesque. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Jul 29, 2022
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The Sea Beast (2022) |
Though the story beats once we're at sea and in pursuit of the titular character and the resulting character arcs won't surprise anyone who has ever seen an animated movie, they work and you end up caring for everyone! - The Film Experience
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| Posted Jul 29, 2022
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Senior Year (2022) |
Most of the ensemble cast is giving contagious, energetic, and sometimes adorable performances. Sadly, Rebel Wilson, once such a hilarious scene stealer, is a charisma vacuum at the center and misses multiple opportunities for laughs. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Jul 08, 2022
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Morbius (2022) |
There are no interesting characters, no clearly defined rules or powers, no exciting action setpieces, no eye-widening visual spectacle, and none of the sense of danger, addiction, or damnation you might assume would give something like this a spark. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Jul 08, 2022
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Cha Cha Real Smooth (2022) |
It's a fun if inessential watch but bonus points for that sly stronger-than-it-has-to-be Dakota Johnson turn as Andrew's slightly older married object of affection. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Jul 08, 2022
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The Bob's Burgers Movie (2022) |
In short, if you're a Bob's Burgers fan you should see it, but it feels unlikely to convert any non-fans. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Jul 08, 2022
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Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022) |
Thompson is operating at a level we haven't seen from her since at least Angels in America... It's further proof, if you needed any, that she's one of the greatest screen actors of all time. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Jun 22, 2022
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Fistful of Vengeance (2022) |
Nonsensical and childish characterizations, constant easy outs in fight scenes, superpowers without clearly defined rules, repetitive and, quite frankly, annoying dialogue. Yikes. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Jun 14, 2022
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Dog (2022) |
It was like being on a cathartic road trip where somethings are familiar and predictable and other things catch you off guard. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Jun 14, 2022
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The Batman (2022) |
How many times can this story be told? Next time pray that the filmmakers aren’t this self-serious about their own vision and that the running time values your time outside of Gotham. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Jun 14, 2022
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Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood (2022) |
Despite being lovely and amusing, Apollo 10½ can feel somewhat slight, like an extended short, since a huge portion of the film is devoted to describing the past or even merely listing it. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Jun 14, 2022
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After Yang (2021) |
I found this contemplative sci-fi drama exploring racial identity, technological dependence, the nature of family, and both collective and individual memory just transfixing. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Jun 14, 2022
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The Adam Project (2022) |
It's pleasures are frontloaded so by the time it reaches its generically explosive plot hole riddled conclusion, interest has long since waned. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Jun 14, 2022
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The Northman (2022) |
While The Northman isn't, in the end, as wholly perfect as Eggers debut The VVitch, he's still three-for-three and more ambitious each time he gets behind the camera. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Jun 07, 2022
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Deep Water (2022) |
The movie is weirdly coy with its sex scenes (in that there are almost none of them) and it feels like there are chunks missing throughout obscuring the satisfaction of the inevitable escalation to full thriller. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Jun 07, 2022
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Ambulance (2022) |
The high ends quickly and you won’t have much to show for it, but the movie is pretty damn fun and exciting in the moment. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Jun 07, 2022
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Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) |
Best in show is Elizabeth Olsen by such an impressive margin that it almost ought to have been called Scarlet Witch in the Multiverse of Madness . - The Film Experience
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| Posted May 06, 2022
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Once Upon a Time in Calcutta (2021) |
Peripheral details like an old abandoned theater and a pregnant dog were more interesting than the main characters. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Jan 13, 2022
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West Side Story (2021) |
Rita Moreno and Mike Faist are amazing as Valentina and Riff while Ariana DeBose as Anita and David Alvarez as Bernardo bring the fire in the back half of this sturdy musical epic. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Dec 07, 2021
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Nightmare Alley (2021) |
The production is beautiful but it doesn't quite pull off the protagonist's arc or its long fuse meant-to-explode storytelling. But it looks great and Bradley Cooper proves again that he's a major movie star. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Dec 07, 2021
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House of Gucci (2021) |
Lady Gaga tries to keep it afloat with starpower for days and a very gif'able if not quite awards-worthy performance. She's undermined at every turn by the dull filmmaking (what happened, Ridley?). - The Film Experience
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| Posted Dec 07, 2021
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Don't Look Up (2021) |
Adam McKay's satire about our current facts-averse political divide and incompetent government is his best yet. It's often very funny. Unfortunately the targets are scattershot, the film is easily distracted, and it's least a half hour too long. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Dec 07, 2021
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Tick, Tick... Boom! (2021) |
Boisterous and messy, exhausting but alive, tick, tick... BOOM! is a joyful party for musical theater fans. It really goes for it. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Nov 12, 2021
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Spencer (2021) |
Spencer is self-absorbed and monotonous, like a parody of a great art film rather than the real deal - The Film Experience
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| Posted Nov 08, 2021
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Eternals (2021) |
It's not that none of the movie works. It's that none of it works for very long. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Nov 08, 2021
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White Building (2021) |
Though it's steeped in sobering reality, White Building also knows when to switch things up with an unsettling dream sequence or a colorful daydream just this side of life as Samnang knows it. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Nov 02, 2021
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Happening (2021) |
To its credit it doesn't feel like a polemic but is merely matter-of-fact about the insanity and ignorance that springs from invasive laws around women's bodies. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Nov 02, 2021
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Mother Lode (2021) |
Mother Lode is only 86 minutes long but far richer in detail and information and variety of moods than the several of the two hour plus films seen. - The Film Experience
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| Posted Nov 02, 2021
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