Russ Fischer
Russ Fischer's reviews only count toward the Tomatometer® when published at the following Tomatometer-approved publication(s):
The Playlist
Nerdist
TheWrap
Birth.Movies.Death.
Slashfilm
Game reviewer for Games Domain.
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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Immortals (2011) |
The director of Immortals, Tarsem, who also made The Cell and The Fall, is talented at fooling us into thinking that looking cool is good enough, and so I drank in the gory violence like spring water at an oasis. - Slashfilm
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| Posted Aug 10, 2020
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Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) |
As dicey as it all is narratively, Abrams' milk earnest thrills out of acts of unity writ large, and find a corny emotional buoyancy in heartfelt reunions. - The Playlist
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| Posted Dec 18, 2019
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Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) |
The cast does everything possible to inject emotional energy into this slashing, crashing sequel, but in the end, even their efforts are ground up by the action movie machine. - The Playlist
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| Posted Oct 23, 2019
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Furious 7 (2015) |
Why are you even reading a Furious 7 review? - Slashfilm
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| Posted May 10, 2019
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Avengers: Endgame (2019) |
Endgame reaches a conclusion that is not only spectacularly satisfying, but thematically powerful. - Birth.Movies.Death.
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| Posted Apr 23, 2019
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Clash of the Titans (2010) |
Clash of the Titans was crafted as a 2D film and has irredeemable problems beyond the fact that it has been converted into 3D. - Slashfilm
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| Posted Mar 28, 2019
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Shazam! (2019) |
Shazam! is bright and colorful, both visually and emotionally, and is a nimble, effervescent take on the superhero origin story. - The Playlist
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| Posted Mar 26, 2019
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Captain Marvel (2019) |
'Captain Marvel' flies high and fast, but struggles with narrative turbulence. - The Playlist
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| Posted Mar 05, 2019
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Cold Pursuit (2019) |
Self-awareness gives their endeavor an advantage over all the other similar films Neeson has made in the past decade. - Birth.Movies.Death.
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| Posted Feb 06, 2019
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Mary Poppins Returns (2018) |
Fantasy and whimsy become a lot less fantastic and whimsical when copied and repeated. - Birth.Movies.Death.
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| Posted Dec 20, 2018
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Roma (2018) |
This is an exceptional movie, powerful and stark, and beautiful. - Birth.Movies.Death.
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| Posted Dec 17, 2018
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Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018) |
It's the big-screen version of a Netflix series, an ineffective rehash with all the bells and whistles of the Harry Potter movies, but almost none of the magic that made them work. - Birth.Movies.Death.
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| Posted Nov 08, 2018
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Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) |
Larger-than-life performances energize a shallow highlight reel. - Birth.Movies.Death.
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| Posted Oct 23, 2018
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Border (2018) |
Melander's performance is remarkable. Director and co-writer Ali Abbasi brilliantly conjures an unlikely eroticism as Vore literally sniffs out Tina's desire... - The Playlist
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| Posted Oct 17, 2018
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The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018) |
The cruelty in Quixote often plays as if it is rooted in the director himself. - Birth.Movies.Death.
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| Posted Oct 08, 2018
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Luz (2018) |
Thanks to Singer's skills and two unwavering performances from Velis and Blurhardt, Luz is a striking, impressive debut. - Birth.Movies.Death.
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| Posted Oct 08, 2018
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In Fabric (2018) |
Sure, tell friends about the wild "killer dress" movie, but only because that trips off the tongue a lot easier than "subversively provocative meta-thriller about the perils of object-based definitions of personal identity in the late stages of capitalism - Birth.Movies.Death.
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| Posted Oct 08, 2018
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The Perfection (2018) |
The Perfection wants to be an indulgent, overripe revenge fantasy, but a rotten core makes it impossible to enjoy. - Birth.Movies.Death.
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| Posted Oct 08, 2018
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Climax (2018) |
This movie performs a mesmerizing dance that drives characters and audience alike straight into a whirling hellscape - and it is incredible. - Birth.Movies.Death.
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| Posted Sep 26, 2018
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Halloween (2018) |
David Gordon Green gives Laurie Strode the movie she deserves. - Birth.Movies.Death.
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| Posted Sep 23, 2018
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The Little Stranger (2018) |
Domhnall Gleeson and Ruth Wilson dominate a spooky cold war between classes. - Birth.Movies.Death.
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| Posted Aug 31, 2018
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The History of Future Folk (2012) |
What I found was something better: a gentle and smart film that mines great jokes from the alienation of being a genuine alien, and which tackles relationships and family issues just as easily as it crafts catchy songs. - Slashfilm
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| Posted Mar 28, 2018
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Tomb Raider (2018) |
The grunty, superficially ruthless realism prized by the filmmakers needs something with more substance, a sturdy frame of 2x4s rather than a wisp of paper and a couple of missing dads. - Birth.Movies.Death.
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| Posted Mar 14, 2018
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The Hurricane Heist (2018) |
A goofy caper almost brisk enough to escape its shortcomings. - Birth.Movies.Death.
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| Posted Mar 10, 2018
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The Cloverfield Paradox (2018) |
Precisely which bits [from the source material] were warped out of shape as the film journeyed to become a Cloverfield pseudo-sequel is difficult to discern, but the end result is a failed experiment. - Birth.Movies.Death.
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| Posted Feb 05, 2018
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Mandy (2018) |
"Mandy" is not for everyone, but for a willing and engaged audience this is a rare artifact, a warped "hearts of darkness" journey into loss and out the other side. - The Playlist
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| Posted Feb 01, 2018
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Lords of Chaos (2018) |
Lords of Chaos puts the tale on a big stage, transforming the early days of "true Norwegian black metal" into an energetically entertaining account of partnership, identity, and betrayal even as it includes all the (very literally) gory details. - Birth.Movies.Death.
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| Posted Jan 29, 2018
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Lizzie (2018) |
While [Sevigny] is commanding and a dedicated set of tough, engaged performances from the ensemble add life to the odd legend, awkward structural choices bleed away the film's emotional punch long before the credits roll. - The Playlist
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| Posted Jan 25, 2018
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Piercing (2018) |
This film about a sexually and socially dysfunctional guy meeting a woman far more extreme than he is foregoes incisive writing in favor of entertaining but superficial psycho-sexual twists. - The Playlist
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| Posted Jan 24, 2018
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The Lure (2015) |
The Lure's glitter does not distract from the fact that this is a technically confident and often quite accomplished piece of filmmaking, with a rare ability to dance intuitively between linear plotting and phantasmagoric fantasy. - The Playlist
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| Posted Sep 09, 2016
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Mechanic: Resurrection (2016) |
This sequel carries forward only two ideas: that gimmick-y "assassinations that look like accidents" are a valid substitute for story, and that Jason Statham can carry an action movie even when it is propped up on such wobbly legs. - TheWrap
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| Posted Aug 26, 2016
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Imperium (2016) |
Ragussis maintains scene-to-scene tension thanks to Radcliffe's work, yet his characterization of the different extremist groups sometimes slips into the cartoonish. - TheWrap
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| Posted Aug 19, 2016
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Morris From America (2016) |
This rare dramatic performance from Craig Robinson stokes a desire to see the actor given chances like this more often. - TheWrap
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| Posted Aug 16, 2016
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Five Nights in Maine (2015) |
Curran guides the cast to commendable performances across the board, with Oyelowo and Wiest delivering controlled, nuanced work to fill in the script's generous negative space. - TheWrap
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| Posted Aug 04, 2016
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Pete's Dragon (2016) |
Elliot is a triumph, a new ideal for fantasy creatures. - TheWrap
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| Posted Aug 03, 2016
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Star Trek Beyond (2016) |
This episode cuts right to the core of the series's original appeal, giving the terrific cast a chance to play against one another in a straightforward story. It's not exactly bold, but "Beyond" does satisfy. - TheWrap
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| Posted Jul 15, 2016
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Microbe and Gasoline (2015) |
There's no falling back on elaborate shots or effects. Any audience knows the road-trip movie and coming-of-age conceits well, and the director makes no attempt to reshape the structure. He trusts the actors and material to do the work. - TheWrap
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| Posted Jul 01, 2016
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The Legend of Tarzan (2016) |
The film minimizes its own best ideas in a way that undermines its attempt to decontextualize the character. - The Playlist
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| Posted Jun 29, 2016
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Independence Day: Resurgence (2016) |
Unremarkable in scope and VFX by today's standards, even this movie barely seems to care about that brand of spectacle as it wipes cities off the map. - The Playlist
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| Posted Jun 26, 2016
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The Conjuring 2 (2016) |
This is a film clever enough to scare us but not smart enough to accomplish anything more. - The Playlist
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| Posted Jun 02, 2016
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Warcraft (2016) |
Warcraft provides thunderous spectacle, but when performing the alchemy of transforming genre archetypes into characters with soul, the magic fizzles out. - The Playlist
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| Posted May 25, 2016
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The Nice Guys (2016) |
There's little else quite like this fast-paced, deeply funny mystery - except Shane Black's other films - The Playlist
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| Posted May 15, 2016
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Money Monster (2016) |
Never as savage as the first-act anarchy suggests, 'Money Monster's best ideas are subsumed by familiar thriller concepts. - The Playlist
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| Posted May 12, 2016
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X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) |
The turgid world-endangering plot points to yet another sequel, offering little reason to believe any of the loud action truly matters. - The Playlist
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| Posted May 09, 2016
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The Jungle Book (2016) |
If only the story had the same persuasive command as its impeccable and strikingly realistic scenery. - The Playlist
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| Posted May 04, 2016
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Captain America: Civil War (2016) |
The Russos deftly craft compelling blockbuster entertainment out of moral and emotional conflicts. - The Playlist
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| Posted Apr 13, 2016
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Demolition (2015) |
The intensity of his destructive tendencies increases, but empathetic ties to Davis are elusive, despite effective and committed work from Gyllenhaal and the rest of the cast. - Nerdist
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| Posted Apr 08, 2016
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Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) |
Snyder's movie presents extremist versions of familiar characters in a tonal mishmash that indulges in more thunderous conflict than it can wrestle into coherence. - The Playlist
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| Posted Mar 23, 2016
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Knight of Cups (2015) |
I wondered at times whether Malick and Lubezki are as seduced by the glitz and flesh of Los Angeles in very much the same way the film accuses Bale's character of falling for superficial distractions. - Nerdist
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| Posted Mar 04, 2016
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Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016) |
Fey's work is strong, yet it's difficult to squash the impression that this could be a more powerful movie, and an even more significant showcase for Tina Fey. - The Playlist
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| Posted Mar 04, 2016
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