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The Filtered Lens

The Filtered Lens is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this publication only count toward the Tomatometer® when written by the following Tomatometer-approved critic(s): Matthew Dougherty.

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Rating Title | Year Author Quote
B
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend (2020) Matthew Dougherty The special is still very much in the jolly spirit of the series, and finds its way to a rewarding finish that makes the journey worthwhile.
Posted Aug 09, 2021  Edit critic review
B+
The Suicide Squad (2021) Matthew Dougherty While not quite the breath of fresh air that, say, Birds of Prey was last year, this is still the all too rare superhero flick made with purpose outside of what's coming next.
Posted Aug 06, 2021  Edit critic review
B-
Nine Days (2020) Matthew Dougherty As Nine Days essentially becomes a slow unfurling of Will's criteria to be granted the gift of life, we're never made to understand why his criteria is important to begin with.
Posted Aug 04, 2021  Edit critic review
A-
The Green Knight (2021) Matthew Dougherty Countless shots look as if they were painted directly into a medieval storybook. The film's aesthetic is a mixture of wonder and darkness that feels like it taps into the very origins of fantasy as a genre.
Posted Jul 30, 2021  Edit critic review
B+
Black Widow (2021) Matthew Dougherty Black Widow earns its title by deepening and celebrating the titular heroine with a story that feels genuinely personal.
Posted Jul 09, 2021  Edit critic review
B+
Zola (2020) Matthew Dougherty What could have been a zany screwball comedy that plays like a list of insane anecdotes thankfully gets a more thoughtful, sincere touch.
Posted Jul 01, 2021  Edit critic review
B+
Luca (2021) Matthew Dougherty It's a simple but rewarding message well-told via a small scale story. Pixar's choice not to go too deep on this one simply allows the film to be what it wants to be.
Posted Jun 18, 2021  Edit critic review
B+
A Quiet Place Part II (2021) Matthew Dougherty By no means is A Quiet Place Part II a perfect film, but as a piece of popular entertainment constructed as a purely cinematic thrill, a more perfect Welcome Back to Theaters movie hasn't yet presented itself.
Posted May 28, 2021  Edit critic review
A-
Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) Matthew Dougherty It's as much a character study as it is a depiction of history, and with obvious parallels to our current moment, it actually advances the conversation rather than merely keeping it alive.
Posted Feb 16, 2021  Edit critic review
A-
Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar (2021) Matthew Dougherty Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar is so ridiculously out there, and the simple truth is that many of these big comedic swings land almost perfectly.
Posted Feb 13, 2021  Edit critic review
A
Promising Young Woman (2020) Matthew Dougherty Promising Young Woman is a rare breed of cinema-an instant classic and one of the only genuinely unpredictable features of the last few years.
Posted Dec 29, 2020  Edit critic review
A-
Soul (2020) Matthew Dougherty Soul is sneaky in a way that reminds you never to underestimate Pixar.
Posted Dec 27, 2020  Edit critic review
B-
Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) Matthew Dougherty It's hard not wish it was more fleshed out and nuanced.
Posted Dec 26, 2020  Edit critic review
B+
Sylvie's Love (2020) Matthew Dougherty On paper, Sylvie's Love is simple as hell, but with its two romantic leads having such unmovable ambitions, it powers its period setting into a more modern take on love.
Posted Dec 23, 2020  Edit critic review
B-
Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (2020) Matthew Dougherty You'll forget most of what happened in the plot within just a few minutes of the credits rolling, but the cheer it offers is likely to last longer.
Posted Dec 17, 2020  Edit critic review
B+
Black Bear (2020) Matthew Dougherty Even with its flaws, Black Bear is an enthralling, visceral experience.
Posted Dec 17, 2020  Edit critic review
A
Minari (2020) Matthew Dougherty Minari is the art of filmmaking at its most precise and efficient without forgoing the canvas quality of the frame.
Posted Dec 17, 2020  Edit critic review
B+
Happiest Season (2020) Matthew Dougherty It's refreshing to see a bright and shiny Christmas movie acknowledge that, for some people, family isn't going to be right answer at this time of year.
Posted Nov 26, 2020  Edit critic review
B
Run (2020) Matthew Dougherty While it doesn't bend the rules or invent any new ones, Run ticks all the boxes it needs to in surprising ways to come out on top.
Posted Nov 22, 2020  Edit critic review
A-
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020) Matthew Dougherty The sequel doesn't just repeat its predecessor's gimmicks for a new era, it builds off of them to create a new kind of movie magic, one that that catches important bigots and liars in the act, with their pants down.
Posted Nov 02, 2020  Edit critic review
B
Enola Holmes (2020) Matthew Dougherty ...a smart but messy piece of popular cinema that twists the cliches it hits just enough to skirt by.
Posted Sep 29, 2020  Edit critic review
A-
Nomadland (2020) Matthew Dougherty ...this astounding work not only cements Zhao as a director to stay excited about, it positions her as a visual poet approaching the skill and lyricism of Terrence Malick.
Posted Sep 25, 2020  Edit critic review
B+
I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020) Matthew Dougherty As with Anomalisa and Synecdoche, New York, I'm Thinking of Ending Things is a valuable, personal expression that gets the very best from everyone involved.
Posted Sep 06, 2020  Edit critic review
C+
Mulan (2020) Matthew Dougherty Gorgeous as the sets and cinematography can occasionally be, the film still feels safely engineered to be for American audiences.
Posted Sep 04, 2020  Edit critic review
B+
Yes, God, Yes (2019) Matthew Dougherty Yes, God, Yes will undoubtedly resonate profoundly with the specific audience its net is trying to capture.
Posted Jul 30, 2020  Edit critic review
C
The Old Guard (2020) Matthew Dougherty The Old Guard is far too serious for its own good.
Posted Jul 16, 2020  Edit critic review
B
Relic (2020) Matthew Dougherty Relic feels like the first effective film in the genre to really feel inspired by and react to Hereditary.
Posted Jul 15, 2020  Edit critic review
B+
Palm Springs (2020) Matthew Dougherty Director Max Barbakow, marking his debut, and writer Andy Siara craft a wonderfully smart, weird vehicle for Samberg, whose goofy smile and wide-eyed joke delivery continues be a winning combination.
Posted Jul 13, 2020  Edit critic review
B+
Babyteeth (2019) Matthew Dougherty It's a film that earns the label of tragicomedy more than most others with similar aspirations.
Posted Jun 23, 2020  Edit critic review
A
Da 5 Bloods (2020) Matthew Dougherty The director's style is often the opposite of boring, but at two and a half hours, Da 5 Bloods cruises by without so much as a slow stretch.
Posted Jun 13, 2020  Edit critic review
B
The King of Staten Island (2020) Matthew Dougherty Pete Davidson cements his typecast as a blunt, irresponsible stoner with a heart of gold here, but it hasn't lost an ounce of its appeal or charm.
Posted Jun 12, 2020  Edit critic review
A-
Shirley (2020) Matthew Dougherty As Shirley builds on itself, creating an intricate web of fearless psychological expressions, Decker proves herself not just a student of the auteurs of yore, but a talent in her own right who appears to be here to stay.
Posted Jun 05, 2020  Edit critic review
B
The Vast of Night (2019) Matthew Dougherty Despite a 1950s setting and an unnecessary framing of the film as if it were an episode of a Twilight Zone-esque sci-fi anthology, there's a sense of discovery to The Vast of Night that supersedes its nostalgia.
Posted May 29, 2020  Edit critic review
B
Blue Story (2019) Matthew Dougherty Blue Story's ambitions therefore far outweigh its minor faults. And with this execution and knack for artistic flare, Rapman may be a talent to watch out for in the future.
Posted May 08, 2020  Edit critic review
B+
Bad Education (2019) Matthew Dougherty Finley doesn't break the wheel aesthetically, but cinematically, there's more style here than one might expect from the subject matter.
Posted Apr 26, 2020  Edit critic review
B-
Butt Boy (2019) Matthew Dougherty The unfortunate truth is that Butt Boy holds its good stuff in for so long that it often feels like an extended tease for jokes and genre send-ups that it doesn't seem like it will ever get to.
Posted Apr 10, 2020  Edit critic review
A-
The Hunt (2020) Matthew Dougherty The film feels like the physical manifestation of the constant war of words on Twitter and other channels. There's subtle, sly points made about the escalation of anger online, and how that's directed at people we've never met.
Posted Mar 16, 2020  Edit critic review
B+
Big Time Adolescence (2019) Matthew Dougherty Gluck makes for a strong relatable lead, with some incredible comedic timing on more than one occasion, but it's Davidson who runs away with the film's spirit.
Posted Mar 14, 2020  Edit critic review
B+
Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020) Matthew Dougherty Hittman knows how to employ her environments and her camera to extract much raw emotion from most scenes.
Posted Mar 13, 2020  Edit critic review
B+
First Cow (2019) Matthew Dougherty The pacing is deliberate, but never boring, moving along at a nice clip while taking time to let the environment be the real star.
Posted Mar 12, 2020  Edit critic review
B+
Swallow (2019) Matthew Dougherty Swallow is the kind of watch you won't forget. For all its shifting narrative choices and its raw intensity, it still manages to go down easy and come out the other end unscathed.
Posted Mar 07, 2020  Edit critic review
B+
The Invisible Man (2020) Matthew Dougherty This marriage of sheer filmmaking prowess and worthwhile themes make The Invisible Man among the most impressive horror remakes of our time.
Posted Mar 05, 2020  Edit critic review
B+
Saint Frances (2019) Matthew Dougherty It's a story of youthful discovery that manages to be engrossing as it takes us through a great many ideas, most of which are addressed thoughtfully with emotional consideration.
Posted Mar 04, 2020  Edit critic review
C+
Blood on Her Name (2019) Matthew Dougherty ...a good yarn is a good yarn, and the mismatch of the film's various elements can't fully derail the good ideas at play here.
Posted Mar 02, 2020  Edit critic review
B+
Premature (2019) Matthew Dougherty Howard and Boone have great chemistry, but they're just as strong performers apart as they are together.
Posted Feb 22, 2020  Edit critic review
C+
VFW (2019) Matthew Dougherty You can definitely do worse in the grindhouse realm in 2020 than VFW, but you can certainly do a lot better, too.
Posted Feb 18, 2020  Edit critic review
B+
Ordinary Love (2019) Matthew Dougherty Little gestures of kindness throughout keep their marriage emotionally resonant when the harder, louder conversations inevitably come into play.
Posted Feb 16, 2020  Edit critic review
B
A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon (2019) Matthew Dougherty This sequel could do with fewer recycled references to the genre it joins, but the experience is still light and frothy enough that the smile likely won't leave your face as it breezes by.
Posted Feb 15, 2020  Edit critic review
B
Come to Daddy (2019) Matthew Dougherty Come to Daddy is smartly paced, sharply made, and consistently thrilling, even if it leans a little too hard onto its sentimental story rather than playing that as a B-movie as well.
Posted Feb 08, 2020  Edit critic review
B+
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020) Matthew Dougherty Birds of Prey isn't perfect, but it sure is fantabulous, and that's because Harley finally landed in the right hands: her own.
Posted Feb 07, 2020  Edit critic review
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