Steve Pond
Steve Pond's reviews only count toward the Tomatometer® when published at the following Tomatometer-approved publication(s):
TheWrap
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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Eileen (2023) |
It’s both a tour de force for a cast led by Thomasin McKenzie and a sign that Oldroyd hasn’t lost his unsettling touch in the seven years since his last film. - TheWrap
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| Posted Mar 01, 2023
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Kiss the Future (2023) |
"Kiss the Future” is a portrait of a city and a people who used culture to fight back; it’s also the story of a rock ‘n’ roll band exploring the limits of how its music can impact the real world. - TheWrap
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| Posted Feb 24, 2023
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All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) |
This is a war movie from the perspective of the losers, visually spectacular but by turns infuriating and heartbreaking. - TheWrap
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| Posted Sep 21, 2022
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The Swimmers (2022) |
It makes for an awkward fit at times, and El Houdini lays the melodrama on thicker than the nuance, but there’s no denying that the story packs a punch. - TheWrap
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| Posted Sep 16, 2022
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Don't Worry Darling (2022) |
Wilde's new film gives you plenty to admire, from its look to yet another strong performance from the reliably terrific Florence Pugh, and just as much that is frustrating. - TheWrap
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| Posted Sep 05, 2022
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The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) |
It’s his quietest movie and, in many ways, his most touching, which is not to say that it won’t make you squirm in your seat as you wonder if it’s OK to laugh at what he’s throwing at you. - TheWrap
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| Posted Sep 05, 2022
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Theater of Thought (2022) |
A movie about exploring the mind – and if the mind we’re exploring most of the time is Herzog’s, well, there are far worse tour guides through this territory. - TheWrap
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| Posted Sep 05, 2022
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Icarus: The Aftermath (2022) |
If the first “Icarus” occasionally felt as if Fogel had happened upon a riveting subject but wasn’t quite able to do it cinematic justice, “Aftermath” is the work of a stronger and more assured director. - TheWrap
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| Posted Sep 05, 2022
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Squaring the Circle (2022) |
A treat for anyone with a taste for rock, for rock imagery and for the glories that can be found in that piece of cardboard wrapped around a record. - TheWrap
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| Posted Sep 05, 2022
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If These Walls Could Sing (2022) |
Often charming and never less than affectionate, but it’s also slight, a pleasing but scattershot love letter to a building, a crosswalk and an era. - TheWrap
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| Posted Sep 04, 2022
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Tíu (2022) |
Apart from a brief blast toward the end, it’s a relentlessly understated approach that doesn’t capture the range of music Of Monsters and Men makes – but it’s a beautiful take on the band nonetheless, and one that never wears out its welcome. - TheWrap
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| Posted Jun 16, 2022
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Elvis (2022) |
There’s enough energy and flash... to overcome most nit-picking, and Butler throws himself into a performance that’s wildly physical but never cartoonish or disrespectful. - TheWrap
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| Posted May 25, 2022
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Tori and Lokita (2022) |
In 88 succinct and effective minutes, it sketches a heartbreaking portrait of young refugees clinging to each other in a Europe that is far from welcoming. - TheWrap
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| Posted May 24, 2022
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Moonage Daydream (2022) |
Abandons all thought of straightforward narrative in favor of an immersive and purposefully mysterious and chaotic Bowie experience. - TheWrap
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| Posted May 24, 2022
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Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble In Mind (2022) |
A tidy 73-minute romp through Lewis’ career that manages to fit in about a dozen staggering performances of “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” but still leaves you wishing there was room for a couple more. - TheWrap
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| Posted May 23, 2022
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War Pony (2022) |
The movie sometimes feels as aimless as moments in the lives of the characters it depicts, but that helps give it the intimacy of a story told from the inside, not the outside. - TheWrap
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| Posted May 21, 2022
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Hunt (2022) |
Lee pulls off a suspenseful puzzle in which shifting motives and dense plots keep the audience guessing until a big and fairly ludicrous action scene at the finale. - TheWrap
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| Posted May 20, 2022
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Armageddon Time (2022) |
One of the least sentimental entries in what has typically been a seriously sentimental genre of film, and one of the least nostalgic examples of a form that is almost by definition nostalgic. - TheWrap
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| Posted May 19, 2022
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Tchaikovsky's Wife (2022) |
A bold and stylish work that slips in and out of fantasy and isn’t afraid to use music and sound design as a weapon... unforgiving and relentless, and as cold as it is bold. - TheWrap
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| Posted May 18, 2022
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Final Cut (2022) |
In its own particular and seriously deranged way, “Final Cut” is as much a valentine to the act of filmmaking as Hazanavicius’ Oscar-winning film “The Artist” was when it debuted in Cannes back in 2011. - TheWrap
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| Posted May 17, 2022
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Lux Æterna (2019) |
You have to hand it to Noe, because it is kind of mesmerizing in its perverse single-mindedness, and the fact that “Lux Aeterna” is only 50 minutes long makes it more endurable. - TheWrap
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| Posted May 15, 2022
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Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story (2022) |
As someone who has been to Jazz Fest many times, I was frustrated by “Jazz Fest” and also thrilled by it, and I recognized the frustration and the thrills as being part and parcel of the festival experience. - TheWrap
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| Posted Mar 17, 2022
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My Old School (2022) |
It's hardly monumental for people without a personal connection, and it wears pretty thin over the course of an hour and 44 minutes. Still, the tribulations of high school are universal, and the film is stylish and inventive enough to be a fun ride. - TheWrap
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| Posted Jan 29, 2022
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Nothing Compares (2022) |
It's a potent film that explores the roots of the brilliant but troubled Irish singer, but it also turns her recent years into an afterthought, bypassing many of the highs and lows of the last two decades. - TheWrap
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| Posted Jan 22, 2022
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When You Finish Saving the World (2022) |
A veritable symphony in awkward conversations; if you're not cringing half the time, you're not paying attention. - TheWrap
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| Posted Jan 21, 2022
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Every Single Minute (2021) |
It's hard not to wish that director Erika Hnikova would come down a little harder on her subjects now and then. But neutrality also makes an artistic statement, and you have to give her credit. - TheWrap
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| Posted Jan 07, 2022
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The Auschwitz Report (2020) |
In a way, this is a side of the Holocaust we rarely see on screen: the reluctance of Western bureaucracy to accept a truth that they can barely comprehend. - TheWrap
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| Posted Sep 24, 2021
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The Survivor (2021) |
Foster is the centerpiece at every moment. Fiercely committed to a degree that's almost scary, he's not easy to watch, but it's still hard to take your eyes off him. - TheWrap
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| Posted Sep 14, 2021
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Encounter (2021) |
For a film that tries to be a bravura piece of genre-hopping cinema, "Encounter" too often feels confused rather than assured. - TheWrap
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| Posted Sep 13, 2021
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The Forgiven (2021) |
A dark and dirty morality play where nobody's very concerned with morals, John Michael McDonagh's "The Forgiven" takes some extremely questionable behavior and makes it as intriguing as it is off-putting. - TheWrap
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| Posted Sep 13, 2021
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The Guilty (2021) |
Fuqua, like Möller before him, doesn't really give you time to sit back and think about it. "The Guilty" stays in one place but moves like a tough, efficient action flick; it's a thrill ride in an office chair. - TheWrap
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| Posted Sep 10, 2021
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Dear Evan Hansen (2021) |
Even if you go in with reservations, even if you don't succumb to its most extravagant moments, it sneaks up on you. Go ahead, smile or ache or shed a tear - you are not alone. - TheWrap
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| Posted Sep 10, 2021
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Old Henry (2021) |
At times you wish it could be more expansive, but the truth in this beautiful elegy is that you don't really need more action than what you can find in Tim Blake Nelson's eyes. - TheWrap
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| Posted Sep 07, 2021
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Becoming Led Zeppelin (2021) |
If you're a diehard fan, you'll probably glory in what the film delivers and wish there were more of it; if you're not, you may find yourself power-chorded into submission sometime before the 2-hour and 17-minute running time comes to an end. - TheWrap
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| Posted Sep 06, 2021
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Dune (2021) |
A formidable cinematic accomplishment, a giant mood piece that can be exhilarating in its dark beauty. - TheWrap
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| Posted Sep 03, 2021
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Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song (2021) |
An affectionate and open-hearted tribute to Cohen and his work, with an emphasis on the one song that might lure in the occasional uninitiated viewer. - TheWrap
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| Posted Sep 02, 2021
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The Restless (2021) |
Both actors are riveting in this sad duet. - TheWrap
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| Posted Jul 20, 2021
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Where Is Anne Frank (2021) |
Another daring and provocative use of animation with the power to haunt those to see it. - TheWrap
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| Posted Jul 15, 2021
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Evolution (2021) |
It's an odd, small and moving work that asks disquieting questions about identity after decades of trauma. - TheWrap
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| Posted Jul 14, 2021
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Blue Bayou (2021) |
A film that started out as a quiet, largely naturalistic drama turns more and more overwrought. - TheWrap
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| Posted Jul 14, 2021
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The Year of the Everlasting Storm (2021) |
Like the rest of "The Year of the Everlasting Storm," it's art coming to terms with the times we're living through, dark and strange and fully human. - TheWrap
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| Posted Jul 14, 2021
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Unclenching the Fists (2021) |
Cast mostly with amateur actors, the film is a dark slice of neorealism with a palpable sense of claustrophobia that Ada feels in her life and in her family. - TheWrap
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| Posted Jul 13, 2021
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Flag Day (2021) |
While the film sometimes struggles with disparate tones, it's a solid, subtle drama that opts in most cases for restraint over excess. - TheWrap
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| Posted Jul 13, 2021
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The French Dispatch (2021) |
It's best, maybe, to think of "The French Dispatch" as a series of exquisite miniatures - amusing, meticulously designed and impeccably executed, but maybe not adding up to much more than the sum of their parts. - TheWrap
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| Posted Jul 13, 2021
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The Velvet Underground (2021) |
It's a dark, disturbing and glorious film about a dark, disturbing and glorious band, and another sign that Haynes knows how to put music onscreen in a way that few other directors do. - TheWrap
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| Posted Jul 09, 2021
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Clara Sola (2021) |
Clara Sola mixes religion, mysticism and sexuality in a way that feels simultaneously odd, disquieting and richly rewarding. - TheWrap
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| Posted Jul 09, 2021
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Lingui, The Sacred Bonds (2021) |
[Director Mahamat-Saleh] Haroun lets the vivid characters and the remarkable actresses provide the propulsion, while his camera sits back and watches. - TheWrap
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| Posted Jul 09, 2021
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Val (2021) |
The draw may be a treasure trove of old footage, but the film is really about looking at the past to make peace with the present. - TheWrap
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| Posted Jul 07, 2021
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The Story of Film: A New Generation (2022) |
Cinema is a conversation and often an argument, and Mark Cousins is a hell of a fun guy to have an argument with. - TheWrap
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| Posted Jul 07, 2021
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Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road (2021) |
The film is apt to become wearying to all but the most diehard fans of Wilson and the Beach Boys... even if the trip is never quite as enlightening as we'd like, the soundtrack to that trip is transcendent. - TheWrap
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| Posted Jun 16, 2021
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