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Scott Marks
Scott Marks's reviews only count toward the Tomatometer® when published at the following Tomatometer-approved publication(s):
San Diego Reader
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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You Resemble Me (2021) |
It’s not often that Human Rights Watch sends a narrative feature our way, but when they do it’s a moment worth cherishing. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Jun 06, 2022
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Luzzu (2021) |
The film goes exactly where one doesn't expect. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Dec 02, 2021
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The Old Ways (2021) |
It eventually picks up, but not before dragging us through a number of addiction tropes. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Nov 03, 2021
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The Conservation Game (2021) |
Harrison's approach to getting answers would make the late Mike Wallace proud. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Aug 12, 2021
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The Marksman (2021) |
Eastwood's former 1st AD-turned-director Robert Lorenz leads with an uncluttered visual style, a respect for his characters framed in juxtaposition with the land that would make his former boss proud. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted May 06, 2021
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Ordinary Love (2019) |
A veritable primer on how to come through a crisis without being crushed under the weight of sentimentality. In Hollywood terms, there is nothing ordinary about this love story. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Feb 20, 2021
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The Swerve (2018) |
A relentlessly unshakable albeit unpleasant ride, particularly when filmmaker Dean Kapsalis slaloms around audience expectation, something he skillfully accomplishes for the first two-thirds of the picture. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Oct 27, 2020
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Belly of the Beast (2020) |
Inside the belly of documentarian Erika Cohn's Beast lurks a monstrosity more appalling than horror fiction. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Sep 22, 2020
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Skin: A History of Nudity in the Movies (2020) |
In closing, one must applaud the filmmakers for their wisdom in including the single most important full frontal romp committed to film in the past 20 years: Ken Davitian's nude wrestling match with Sacha Baron Cohen in Borat. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Sep 01, 2020
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The Beach House (2019) |
The film offers no explanations; the horror lies just out of sight, somewhere below the widespread horizon line. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Jul 07, 2020
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Rewind (2019) |
Unquestionably difficult to watch - wait until you learn details of Uncle Harold's "punishment" - Neulinger's heroic act of bravery will hopefully encourage and inspire others to come forward. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Jun 26, 2020
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Working Man (2019) |
First-time director Robert Jury's Working Man finds suspense amidst the humdrum, and love among the rubble of a marriage put on hold. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Jun 16, 2020
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Driveways (2019) |
This is one of those quiet gems where we get dropped into the lives of a handful of characters at what turns out to be a crucial turning point in all their lives. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted May 14, 2020
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GBF (2013) |
Director Darren Stein's frequently on-target satire had me laughing enough to keep it interesting. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted May 08, 2020
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Hansel & Gretel Get Baked (2013) |
The gore gets to be a tad gratuitous, but for the most part [Duane] Journey has a ball ripping into genre conventions. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Apr 30, 2020
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Buffaloed (2019) |
This low rent She-Wolf of Wall Street is not without its charms - it's hard not to find some room in one's heart for a film that works so hard to restore the word "jagoff" to popular usage. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Feb 14, 2020
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The Traitor (2019) |
Show me a classic cosa nostra saga that doesn't affirm the importance of family and... well, I'll show you Marco Bellocchio's The Traitor, everything one hoped The Irishman would be but wasn't. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Feb 14, 2020
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The Assistant (2019) |
Green, the first filmmaker to give narrative voice to this subject, posits her day in the life of a witness to workplace gangrene as a grueling example of cinema as frustration. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Feb 14, 2020
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Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words (2020) |
One of the most controversial political subjects of his generation is thus afforded an unduly sympathetic portrait - but how else would Pack have been able to get Thomas to sit still long enough for the interview portion of our program? - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Feb 01, 2020
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The Last Full Measure (2019) |
Not bad for a regulation military movie, but I must confess to a wandering attention span; how else could I notice the cigarette that Jackson removes from the pack of Marlboros is an American Spirit? - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Feb 01, 2020
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The Gentlemen (2020) |
Telegraphing dialogue, Tarantino-speak tributes, and a third act plot logjam are tantamount to bringing ants to the picnic, but there's enough repellent on board so as not to bother or distract too much. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Feb 01, 2020
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Cold Case Hammarskjöld (2019) |
In his own way, the ever-present director is as much a scene-hogger as Joaquin Phoenix with one glaring difference: Brügger's mercenaries are the real-deal, not heavy-handed, makeup-streaked clowns with mommy and daddy issues. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Jan 29, 2020
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63 Up (2019) |
At first glance, 21 Up played as somewhat of a novelty. That was over forty years ago. Today, it stands as one of cinema's greatest achievements, a use of the medium that's at once blatantly logical and profoundly affecting. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Jan 29, 2020
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The Irishman (2019) |
It didn't take a genius to see that television was finally poised to win the war against movies. I just didn't expect my teacher to be leading the charge against theatrical exhibition. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Jan 29, 2020
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Richard Jewell (2019) |
Has there been a time since the Man With No Name first rode into town when Eastwood wasn't at the top of his game? Don't believe me? Check out Richard Jewell. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Jan 29, 2020
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Midnight Family (2019) |
At 81 minutes, you won't be bored, but don't be surprised if the car ride home finds you questioning how an audition reel for a reality television program earned a theatrical release. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Jan 29, 2020
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Earth (Erde) (2019) |
It's a case of the meaningful point in question given a meaningless treatment. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Jan 29, 2020
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Underwater (2020) |
There's no better feeling than starting the New Year right with an affectionate, action-packed genre picture. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Jan 29, 2020
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Quezon's Game (2018) |
It may not always qualify as great cinema, but when it comes to presenting a fascinating, emotionally rewarding history lesson, you'll be hanging on every scene. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Jan 29, 2020
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Dolittle (2020) |
It is with deep and abiding regret that we report the passing of Robert Downey, Jr. - one of the last of his generation of trailblazers - over to the dark side. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Jan 29, 2020
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Just Mercy (2019) |
It's good acting at its finest in this preaching to the choir "right to life" drama that might have worked had the filmmakers chosen to show the audience a little mercy by not constantly talking down to them. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Jan 29, 2020
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The Hottest August (2019) |
August 2017 was not the hottest on record. Not even close. If one can't get the title right, what chance is there of everything else falling into order? - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Jan 29, 2020
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Cunningham (2019) |
I maintain as much of an appreciation for modern dance as I do for watching golf on TV. But this is a movie, and as such, anything can be, and in this case is, rendered cinematic. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Jan 29, 2020
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Dolemite Is My Name (2019) |
It's well worth leaving the house for. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Dec 19, 2019
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Midway (2019) |
The digitized combat looks like something traced and transplanted from another war, one that took place in a galaxy far, far away. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Nov 22, 2019
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Honey Boy (2019) |
When it comes to cinema as therapy, LeBeouf put his time (and ours) to superb use here. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Nov 22, 2019
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Last Christmas (2019) |
Still, it's worth a visit to the multiplex to behold cinematographer John Schwartzman (National Treasure: Book of Secrets, The Founder) accept the challenge of illuminating a feature almost entirely by Christmas lights. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Nov 22, 2019
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The Good Liar (2019) |
Wait for Britbox. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Nov 22, 2019
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Synonymes (2018) |
As stiff-neck storytelling goes, this is pretty damn impressive. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Nov 22, 2019
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The Warrior Queen of Jhansi (2019) |
The pounding hooves that whisk us through the pre-credit montage recall the manner of storytelling audiences lapped up throughout the '60s, but which is now the stuff that Hallmark Channel dramas are made of. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Nov 19, 2019
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The Report (2019) |
A film as thought-provoking as this should pack more thrills; the majority of the suspense is generated from Driver's countenance, not Burns' ability to captivate an audience. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Nov 19, 2019
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By the Grace of God (2018) |
One is prone to expect excess in a film by François Ozon, [but he] wisely opts to frame the fact-based events as a straightforward crime drama. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Nov 19, 2019
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Zero Dark Thirty (2012) |
When it comes to establishing and maintaining tension, there wasn't a better American genre picture released this year. Refrain from viewing it as historical record and you won't leave disappointed. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Oct 28, 2019
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The Addams Family (2019) |
Much closer in spirit to Charles Addams' ghoulishly byzantine etchings (Lurch was indeed an escapee from a home for the criminally insane) and the '60s sitcom it spawned than Barry Sonnenfeld's sleepy and pukey remodelings. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Oct 12, 2019
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Official Secrets (2019) |
Do yourself two favors: see the picture, and if you're unfamiliar with the outcome of the case, avoid the Google before purchasing a ticket. It'll make for a much more nerve-wracking time at the movies. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Sep 27, 2019
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Hustlers (2019) |
As good as Lopez and her onscreen accomplice Constance Wu are, they can't act what isn't in the script; other than a dedicated work ethic, we're never given access to their thoughts. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Sep 27, 2019
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Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice (2019) |
CNN Films could have taken a lesson from its subject by not pulling any punches. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Sep 27, 2019
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Rambo: Last Blood (2019) |
As a fan of the series, I wished for a stronger sendoff with a lot less comic book splatter. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Sep 27, 2019
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Ad Astra (2019) |
For most of its running time, Ad Astra amounts to a rather somber and sterile two-hour orbit. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Sep 27, 2019
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Ms. Purple (2019) |
It may look and feel like Hou-Hsiao Hsien (Millenium Mambo) and sound like Wong Kar-Wai (In the Mood for Love), but writer-director Justin Chon (Gook) doesn't have what it takes to do all that paraphrasing and still make the film his own. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Sep 27, 2019
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