Thom Ernst
Thom Ernst's reviews only count toward the Tomatometer® when published at the following Tomatometer-approved publication(s):
Original Cin
Movies reviews only
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Boston Strangler (2023) |
This highly watchable telling of the infamous 60s-era murder case winningly puts the spotlight on the female reporters who battled systemic sexism to tell the story. - Original Cin
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| Posted Mar 16, 2023
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To Leslie (2022) |
To Leslie deserves an audience. It’s a solid, albeit somewhat conventional film about a woman who chronically makes bad choices. And Riseborough in the title role is good. Really good. - Original Cin
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| Posted Feb 28, 2023
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Pacifiction (2022) |
Postcard perfect, Pacifiction offers more in the way of visuals than in substance, with an overlong three-hour plot that is, at turns, ponderous and engaging. - Original Cin
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| Posted Feb 23, 2023
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Knock at the Cabin (2023) |
Knock at the Cabin doesn’t send you home with a clever epiphany that has you rethinking everything you just saw. What he gives you is an ending that you never have to think about again. And a film to match. - Original Cin
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| Posted Feb 02, 2023
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Infinity Pool (2023) |
This is arthouse vacation horror, closer to Spring Breakers than Hostel. But it’s also science-fiction. And it’s the sci-fi that moves the horror beyond shock, pushing the limits with its violence and graphic scenes, nudity, and sex. - Original Cin
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| Posted Jan 30, 2023
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Plane (2023) |
Actually three films in one, Plane maintains Gerard Butler’s rep as the go-to guy for formulaic, derivative action movies. - Original Cin
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| Posted Jan 11, 2023
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M3GAN (2022) |
Director Wan’s winking horror about the downside of artificial intelligence hits lots of marks but feels derivative and oddly tame. - Original Cin
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| Posted Jan 06, 2023
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Women Talking (2022) |
Words are action, and Polley sculpts those words as though they were three-dimensional set pieces ready to pop from the screen. Women Talking is her most accomplished film to date: An intimate portrayal of a group driven to the brink of rebellion. - Original Cin
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| Posted Dec 23, 2022
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Empire of Light (2022) |
Sam Mendes’ valentine to old-school movie houses is jumbled but heartfelt and rewards thoughtful consideration. - Original Cin
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| Posted Dec 07, 2022
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The Leech (2022) |
The comedy rests on boundaries being pushed, morals reframed, and actions manipulated. The inevitable conflict is less between good and evil than between comfort and discomfort, tranquility and chaos. It calls to mind Darren Aronofsky's underrated Mother! - Original Cin
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| Posted Dec 06, 2022
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Violent Night (2022) |
Ignore the Neigh-Slayers and Enjoy This Counter-Christmas B-Movie. - Original Cin
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| Posted Dec 01, 2022
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Bones and All (2022) |
A dark, unsettling film. I don't doubt the intent of the film is to disturb. This is a movie to be appreciated, not liked, and if the measure of a film's success is whether it fulfills its intent, then Bones and All is a definite success. - Original Cin
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| Posted Nov 23, 2022
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Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022) |
More fun and more comedic than its predecessor. The twists resonate stronger than the original and are not as easy to see coming. Plus, the reveals (of which there are a few) resonate with the satisfaction of a game well played. - Original Cin
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| Posted Nov 22, 2022
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Stay the Night (2022) |
Jeyapalan's script is witty, charming, and filled with affection. An unforgettable debut in a simple but pleasing comedy. - Original Cin
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| Posted Nov 17, 2022
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The Menu (2022) |
The Menu is the most entertaining ensemble film since Knives Out, and the most engaging horror-satire since Get Out. But no matter what comparisons and assumptions are made, The Menu will not be the movie you expect. - Original Cin
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| Posted Nov 10, 2022
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Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) |
Wakanda Forever is far from a failure, except that where there should be excellence, there is a middling feeling of watching something spectacularly competent. - Original Cin
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| Posted Nov 09, 2022
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Prey for the Devil (2022) |
Prey for the Devil’s tactics might be cheap, but they worked on me. - Original Cin
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| Posted Oct 28, 2022
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Halloween Ends (2022) |
This final installment is…well…it’s as good as it is bad. And the contradiction might just mean that Green has made a horror classic into a next-level horror classic. At the very least, it has some of the best kills in the franchise. - Original Cin
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| Posted Oct 13, 2022
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Catherine Called Birdy (2022) |
Director Lena Dunham’s spry, Medieval-set coming-of-age story is a spry feminist hymn… if you don’t look too closely. - Original Cin
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| Posted Oct 07, 2022
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Amsterdam (2022) |
Director David O. Russell’s period farce has an incredibly starry cast but its plot (and logic and direction) is MIA. - Original Cin
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| Posted Oct 04, 2022
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Smile (2022) |
It's plain creepy when pleasant feelings we attribute to a smile break down in the face of horrific acts. If only Finn had more faith in the effect of his premise. Instead, he relies more on jump-scares - which is to horror what tickling is to laughs. - Original Cin
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| Posted Sep 29, 2022
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Pearl (2022) |
A genuinely creepy horror. West chooses methodic movements rather than jump scares to terrify the audience. And he never loses the movie’s underlying sense of humour that is as clever as it is demented. - Original Cin
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| Posted Sep 16, 2022
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Burial (2022) |
Burial squanders any goodwill by carelessly revealing spoilers and by being… well… not very scary. - Original Cin
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| Posted Sep 01, 2022
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My Old School (2022) |
My Old School is an original, fascinating, and compelling documentary that tacks on a gimmick to better tell its story. Although Cumming’s participation can't fairly be called a gimmick if his role makes the film work. - Original Cin
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| Posted Jul 28, 2022
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Glasshouse (2021) |
Egan's refusal to bend to genre conventions can be refreshing. The story veers away from science-fiction and into melodrama—a chamber room apocalypse done with grace and decency as if to say, "The ruin of humankind is no excuse for bad manners." - Original Cin
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| Posted Jul 21, 2022
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Fair Game (1986) |
Released for the first time in North America, this so-called Ozploitation thriller about a violently assaulted woman exacting revenge on her attackers hasn’t aged well and raises uncomfortable questions about the genre. - Original Cin
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| Posted Jul 20, 2022
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Attack on Finland (2021) |
Despite abundant artillery, terrorists disguised as caterers, military strategizing, and filthy rich people in imminent danger, Attack on Finland achieves the level of a dry espionage drama with only a few surprises to elevate it from the mundane. - Original Cin
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| Posted Jul 01, 2022
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The Black Phone (2021) |
The Black Phone doesn’t disappoint, at least not so much as it delivers in ways unexpected. - Original Cin
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| Posted Jun 24, 2022
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Slash/Back (2022) |
As horror movies go, Slash/Back is tame. Not that the film is bloodless. Nor is it without tension. But mostly it plays like a loving tribute to the movies that first-feature director Nyla Innuksuk grew up with, like The Goonies and Attack the Block. - Original Cin
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| Posted Jun 23, 2022
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Watcher (2022) |
Though reminiscent of Hitchcock, Polanski and others, this white-knuckle thriller soars on strong performances and its eastern European setting. - Original Cin
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| Posted Jun 03, 2022
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Crimes of the Future (2022) |
As divisive as you’d expect from Cronenberg, Crimes is at once a head-scratcher and emotionally stunted. - Original Cin
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| Posted May 31, 2022
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Sam Now (2022) |
Frustrating, heartfelt, and indeed, delightful. - Original Cin
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| Posted May 19, 2022
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Firestarter (2022) |
Director Thomas seems committed to maintaining a status quo with King's novel and a significant nod to the '84 film, but to a surprisingly lesser effect. - Original Cin
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| Posted May 13, 2022
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The Innocents (2021) |
In films where nasty kids do nasty things, The Innocents is a breed of its own. Vogt makes room for empathy, but does not diminish the film’s disturbing take on the workings of a child’s mind when given the power to dictate survival on their own terms. - Original Cin
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| Posted May 12, 2022
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Stanleyville (2021) |
Weird though watchable, Stanleyville could be better with a sharper focus. But first-time filmmaker Maxwell McCabe-Lokos clearly aims high. - Original Cin
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| Posted May 06, 2022
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Children of Sin (2022) |
Insane righteousness has recently been portrayed in full gory glory to far better effect in director Ti West’s X. This one works best as a late-night curiosity for the insomniac too numbed by exhaustion to be critical. - Original Cin
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| Posted May 05, 2022
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The Sadness (2021) |
For all its bone snapping, eye-gouging, face in the deep-fryer gore, The Sadness is good. Not just genre-specific good, but cinema good. - Original Cin
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| Posted Apr 27, 2022
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Deep Water (2022) |
Deep Water is an Aesop Tale for grown-ups minus the moral. Lyne is in the business of fantasy. The biggest fantasy Lyne sells in Deep Water is of a world where no available moment to have sex is wasted. - Original Cin
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| Posted Mar 18, 2022
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Wildhood (2021) |
Hannam is a talent in control of their work. What is on the screen, captured in the performances and in the frame of the director's eye, shows a formidable truth. - Original Cin
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| Posted Mar 11, 2022
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Scarborough (2021) |
The debut feature from co-directors Nakai and Williamson captures all the grit and beauty of its source material, offering fantastic performances from its young cast. - Original Cin
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| Posted Mar 02, 2022
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Studio 666 (2022) |
Amateur-level acting is one of several debits undermining this well-intentioned but lame Foo Fighters mockumentary-horror-comedy mashup. - Original Cin
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| Posted Feb 24, 2022
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Uncharted (2022) |
Despite its glittery cast, Uncharted is a bust and further proof that video games make lousy source material for movies. - Original Cin
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| Posted Feb 17, 2022
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The Cursed (2021) |
Director Ellis heavily atmospheric period piece takes some of the bite out of its werewolf plot, but there are ample rewards for those into the genre. - Original Cin
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| Posted Feb 16, 2022
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A Banquet (2021) |
Paxton's chilling debut is a psychological horror of a new stripe, exploring areas of mental illness, religious hysteria, and the intense, inequitable relationships between mother and daughter. - Original Cin
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| Posted Feb 16, 2022
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Death on the Nile (2022) |
Branagh's reverence to Agatha Christie is like well played parlour music. - Original Cin
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| Posted Feb 10, 2022
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Scream (2022) |
2022's Scream continues to successfully set up horror tropes and play on them to an adequate level of humour, if not actual dread. - Original Cin
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| Posted Feb 03, 2022
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The 355 (2022) |
Even with all the boxes checked, The 355 is not the full-on all-female actioner it hopes to be. There is a lot of talent here, maybe too much for a lesser film like this. - Original Cin
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| Posted Jan 27, 2022
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Zeros and Ones (2021) |
Ethan Hawke's dual role as twin brothers almost salvages director Ferrara's head-scratching thriller. Almost. - Original Cin
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| Posted Jan 17, 2022
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See for Me (2021) |
Canadian director Randall Okita's exceptional and unexpected thriller sets the standard for genre films of to follow in 2022. - Original Cin
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| Posted Jan 12, 2022
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The King's Man (2021) |
Not nearly as thrilling as it should be, this origin story to the Kingsman franchise is elevated by a superb Ralph Fiennes and, well, relative action. - Original Cin
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| Posted Dec 20, 2021
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