Creative Loafing

Creative Loafing is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this publication only count toward the Tomatometer when written by the following Tomatometer-approved critic(s): Allison Keene, Felicia Feaster, Matt Brunson
Rating Title/Year Author
3/4 Good Boys (2019) Matt Brunson A late-summer bookend to the early-summer Booksmart, Good Boys may not match the earlier picture's overall excellence but gives it a decent run in the humor department. EDIT
Posted Aug 17, 2019
3/4 Blinded by the Light (2019) Matt Brunson Like this summer's sleeper hit Yesterday, Blinded by the Light serves as another ode to classic rock and all that it represents. EDIT
Posted Aug 17, 2019
2.5/4 Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019) Matt Brunson A slight fright night. EDIT
Posted Aug 17, 2019
1/4 Scream for Help (1984) Matt Brunson It's a buffet of badness. EDIT
Posted Sep 30, 2018
2/4 Good Times (1967) Matt Brunson As for Sonny's acting talents, let's just say he makes Ringo Starr look like Daniel Day-Lewis by comparison. EDIT
Posted Sep 30, 2018
2.5/4 The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday (1976) Matt Brunson I can't say that the picture is a success, but fans of bawdy comedies will appreciate at least some of its choices. EDIT
Posted Sep 30, 2018
1/4 Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) Matt Brunson Exorcist II: The Heretic is a perfect mix of tedium and hilarity, and it's easy to understand why audiences back in the day actually threw items at the screen (you'll doubtless fight similar urges). EDIT
Posted Sep 30, 2018
3.5/4 The Day of the Jackal (1973) Matt Brunson Director Fred Zinnemann, scripter Kenneth Ross, and editor Ralph Kemplen (earning this film's sole Oscar nomination) all deserve high marks. EDIT
Posted Sep 30, 2018
2.5/4 The Bride (1985) Matt Brunson The Bride might be inspired by Mary Shelley, but its nature seems to draw from Robert Louis Stevenson. Aping the latter's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, this feels like two separate movies battling for the upper hand, with the end result basically being a tie. EDIT
Posted Sep 30, 2018
3/4 The Baby (1973) Matt Brunson A terrific twist ending is what puts this one over the top. EDIT
Posted Sep 30, 2018
3/4 American Animals (2018) Matt Brunson Here's a movie that takes a tattered genre and manages to add some fresh elements to it. EDIT
Posted Sep 30, 2018
3.5/4 My Man Godfrey (1936) Matt Brunson This scintillating comedy was the first film to be Oscar-nominated in all four acting categories. EDIT
Posted Sep 24, 2018
3/4 Gold (1974) Matt Brunson Sandwiched between the releases of Roger Moore's initial two outings as 007, this benefits from director Peter Hunt's able handling of the tense mining sequences as well as engaging performances from the entire cast. EDIT
Posted Sep 24, 2018
3.5/4 Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018) Matt Brunson The strength of this film is that it never allows the myth to eclipse the man. EDIT
Posted Sep 17, 2018
3/4 The Virgin Soldiers (1969) Matt Brunson The story proves affecting in its look at boys in wartime. EDIT
Posted Sep 17, 2018
2/4 The Seventh Sign (1988) Matt Brunson Not to be confused with Ingmar Bergman's masterpiece The Seventh Seal (as if!), The Seventh Sign is an ofttimes admirable yet mostly silly supernatural thriller. EDIT
Posted Sep 17, 2018
2.5/4 Gloria (1980) Matt Brunson Cassavetes was always at his best when he was making raw and uncompromising indies (e.g. Faces, Shadows), and he was invariably always less interesting when he tried to guess what general audiences wanted to see (like here). EDIT
Posted Sep 17, 2018
3.5/4 Deep Red (1975) Matt Brunson This exemplary giallo is clever enough to use its utterly compelling mystery to examine issues of gender identity and fluidity. EDIT
Posted Sep 17, 2018
2/4 Rapid Fire (1992) Matt Brunson A disposable action yarn. EDIT
Posted Sep 10, 2018
3/4 The Last Hunt (1956) Matt Brunson Ripe for rediscovery. EDIT
Posted Sep 10, 2018
3/4 Upgrade (2018) Matt Brunson With its emphasis on technology, slightly futuristic setting, and fondness for disturbing developments, Upgrade feels like an episode of Black Mirror that somehow managed to break free from its Netflix surroundings and emerge unscathed on the big screen. EDIT
Posted Sep 10, 2018
3.5/4 The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) Matt Brunson On a visual level, the movie qualifies as poetry in stop-motion. EDIT
Posted Sep 10, 2018
3/4 The Naked and the Dead (1958) Matt Brunson A flawed yet fascinating motion picture, one that traffics in gritty intensity yet also makes room for the expected concessions to convention and cliche. EDIT
Posted Sep 10, 2018
3/4 The Hot Rock (1972) Matt Brunson Those seeking something a little more off the beaten path than The Natural or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid should check out this entertaining caper yarn. EDIT
Posted Sep 10, 2018
1/4 The Horror of Party Beach (1964) Matt Brunson Like Robot Monster, Eegah! and other grade-Z atrocities, it's the sort of mindboggling film that triggers amusement rather than anger at its absolute ineptitude. EDIT
Posted Sep 10, 2018
3.5/4 The Changeling (1980) Matt Brunson Director Peter Medak opts for exposition and atmosphere over jump-scares and other cheap dramatic devices. EDIT
Posted Sep 10, 2018
1.5/4 The Unborn (1991) Matt Brunson Swiping from both the classy Rosemary's Baby and the cheesy It's Alive, this often risible flick is merely stillborn. EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2018
3/4 The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (1983) Matt Brunson Director and co-scripter Robert M. Young packs his picture with seasoned character actors who add grit rather than glamour. EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2018
2.5/4 Strait-Jacket (1964) Matt Brunson The twist ending is one of the most obvious ever put on film, but Crawford's campy histrionics and some neat stylistic flourishes make this worthy entertainment. EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2018
3/4 The Tingler (1959) Matt Brunson Perhaps William Castle's most outrageous film, The Tingler also stands as one of his best. EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2018
3.5/4 Home From the Hill (1960) Matt Brunson A rich family drama anchored by Robert Mitchum's fine performance and further distinguished by superlative support, by George (two of them, actually). EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2018
2.5/4 Never So Few (1959) Matt Brunson The love story is commonplace and hampered by a noticeable lack of chemistry between Sinatra and Lollobrigida -- the war material is similarly humdrum until a late-inning development. EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2018
3.5/4 Heaven Can Wait (1943) Matt Brunson What begins as a sprightly comedy eventually turns into an affecting look at loneliness, ageism and mortality. EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2018
2/4 Deep Rising (1998) Matt Brunson Ya gotta give a sliver of credit to any movie that would include the term "Half-Digested Billy" in its closing credits. EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2018
3.5/4 Village of the Damned (1960) Matt Brunson An atmospheric and intelligent watch. EDIT
Posted Aug 21, 2018
1.5/4 Supergirl (1984) Matt Brunson While 1978's Superman remains the best superhero movie ever made, this desultory spinoff wouldn't even crack the genre's top 50 (or 60, or 70...). EDIT
Posted Aug 21, 2018
1.5/4 Return of the Living Dead Part II (1988) Matt Brunson This derivative sequel lacks the potency of its predecessor, which clearly possessed "More Brains!" EDIT
Posted Aug 21, 2018
2/4 How to Talk to Girls at Parties (2017) Matt Brunson All three of John Cameron Mitchell's previous pictures -- Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Shortbus, and Rabbit Hole -- landed on my year-end 10 Best lists, so imagine my disappointment to find that his fourth feature comes nowhere near their heady heights. EDIT
Posted Aug 21, 2018
3.5/4 The Day After (1983) Matt Brunson A major event by any measure, this ABC production resonated far beyond the boob tube, with controversy swirling around its creation, content and broadcast. EDIT
Posted Aug 21, 2018
3/4 Tales From the Crypt Part II (1973) Matt Brunson Its tales are of comparable quality to those found in its predecessor, Tales from the Crypt. EDIT
Posted Aug 12, 2018
3/4 Tales from the Crypt (1972) Matt Brunson The best vignette finds Peter Cushing delivering one of the best performances of his long career. EDIT
Posted Aug 12, 2018
2.5/4 On Chesil Beach (2017) Matt Brunson It's a movie that stumbles out of the gate. But after a fumbling first act, the story deepens alongside the narrative conflicts. EDIT
Posted Aug 12, 2018
1/4 Mac and Me (1988) Matt Brunson A movie that continues to live in infamy. EDIT
Posted Aug 12, 2018
3.5/4 Cradle Will Rock (1999) Matt Brunson While writer-director Tim Robbins uses this entertaining film to touch upon capitalism and class warfare, he's mainly interested in championing artistic expression. EDIT
Posted Aug 12, 2018
3/4 Tully (2018) Matt Brunson Some will see the plot pirouette that opens the third act as a brilliant narrative shift while others will feel it's a cheap dramatic device -- neither party will be entirely right or wrong. EDIT
Posted Aug 7, 2018
2/4 In the Mouth of Madness (1995) Matt Brunson While it's more ambitious than most Carpenter works from this period, it's not any more satisfying. EDIT
Posted Aug 7, 2018
2/4 Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992) Matt Brunson Boasts excellent visual effects but otherwise relates a mediocre story. EDIT
Posted Aug 7, 2018
3/4 Someone's Watching Me! (1978) Matt Brunson Like Michael Mann with The Jericho Mile, it ably demonstrated that Carpenter was someone too skilled to only be confined to boob-tube fodder. EDIT
Posted Aug 7, 2018
2.5/4 The Revolt of Mamie Stover (1956) Matt Brunson This adaptation of William Bradford Huie's novel offers brunette Jane Russell with atypically red hair and brunette Agnes Moorehead with atypically blonde hair. And that's about it for novelty value. EDIT
Posted Aug 7, 2018
1.5/4 Piranha II: The Spawning (1981) Matt Brunson The fish in this flick can not only bite but can also fly -- a twist that isn't terrifying as much as it's laughable. EDIT
Posted Aug 7, 2018