The Atlantic
Tomatometer-approved publication
Rating
Title/Year
Author
1
Halloween (2018)
In its last 30 minutes, Halloween finally stops playing the hits and tries something really different. I won't spoil beyond that, but it works.
Posted Oct 18, 2018
2
Mid90s (2018)
Hill may well turn out to have a growing talent for directing. But he needs to match his subtler insights to a script that feels less derivative.
Posted Oct 17, 2018
3
Beautiful Boy (2018)
Van Groeningen methodically demonstrates how that can count for little in the face of crystal meth, but that's the only takeaway from Beautiful Boy that felt fresh.
Posted Oct 13, 2018
4
Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)
There might be too much going on, but as the final act descends into carnage, Goddard is at least trying to say something.
Posted Oct 11, 2018
5
First Man (2018)
First Man is about Armstrong's landmark achievement, but it's just as much about a country's grinding, maniacal fixation on getting him there.
Posted Oct 10, 2018
6
Hold the Dark (2018)
The film never coheres outside of those flashes, ultimately delivering a disappointing, confusing, but undeniably fascinating experience.
Posted Sep 28, 2018
7
Free Solo (2018)
It's this profound, human tension that makes Free Solo such a gripping and rewarding documentary to watch.
Posted Sep 28, 2018
8
The Old Man & the Gun (2018)
Lowery's film is an easy-breezy celebration of Redford's charisma and a fitting swan song given that it might be his final on-camera role.
Posted Sep 26, 2018
9
The Sisters Brothers (2018)
It has the painterly visuals of a classic film, but its lead characters are black-hatted villains whose road to redemption is mostly motivated by exhaustion rather than guilt.
Posted Sep 22, 2018
10
Life Itself (2018)
In Life Itself, everyone's fate is in the hands of Fogelman, and he wields that power with terrible cruelty.
Posted Sep 20, 2018
11
Fahrenheit 11/9 (2018)
A disjointed, occasionally powerful, often grating grab bag of recent political events, a mess that's forgivable only because it does reflect the messy state of the world.
Posted Sep 20, 2018
12
The Predator (2018)
The Predator is a confused, sloppy mess of a film, overstuffed with zingy one-liners and lacking in coherence.
Posted Sep 14, 2018
13
Sierra Burgess Is a Loser (2018)
Much of the film is cringeworthy, and not in the instructive, empathetic manner of Bo Burnham's Eighth Grade.
Posted Sep 11, 2018
14
A Star Is Born (2018)
An invigorating paean to the joys of making art, the momentum that comes with sudden inspiration, and how swooningly romantic it can all feel.
Posted Sep 10, 2018
15
16
The Little Stranger (2018)
The entire film has the sense of something being profoundly, and mercifully, upended; the result is engrossing, satisfying, and more than a little heartbreaking.
Posted Aug 30, 2018
17
Operation Finale (2018)
18
Support the Girls (2018)
Support the Girls somehow manages to do it all, and in the form of a breezy, heartwarming workplace comedy to boot. There won't be another film like it this year.
Posted Aug 24, 2018
19
Searching (2018)
A clever update on a housebound Hitchcock thriller like Rear Window, one that can make a series of Google searches play out like a high-wire action scene.
Posted Aug 24, 2018
20
Minding the Gap (2018)
The emotional intelligence Liu, Keire, and Zack demonstrate in their moments of self-analysis is what leaves Minding the Gap ending with something a lot like hope.
Posted Aug 20, 2018
21
Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
22
Madeline's Madeline (2018)
The movie is at times deliberately off-putting. But it's anchored by a star-making turn from Helena Howard, who plays the fascinating, inscrutable figure at its center.
Posted Aug 10, 2018
23
BlacKkKlansman (2018)
Rather than letting the audience reassure themselves that the story is rooted in the past, Lee firmly points the film's conclusion to the present, and to the future.
Posted Aug 9, 2018
24
Like Father (2018)
25
This is a film about Cameron's core personhood, and how it stands up to concentrated efforts to transform it, and it's told with quiet steeliness and grace.
Posted Aug 3, 2018
26
Christopher Robin (2018)
It's an odd, melancholic experience that at times recalls Terrence Malick as it does A. A. Milne, but there will certainly be some viewers in its exact wheelhouse.
Posted Aug 3, 2018
27
Mission: Impossible-Fallout doubles as a manifesto for the ridiculous spy thriller, pitting Hunt's boundless optimism against Walker's cold-blooded realism.
Posted Jul 25, 2018
28
Blindspotting (2018)
'Blindspotting' has enough verve, humor, and passion to recommend it-even as it overplays its hand in its final minutes.
Posted Jul 20, 2018
29
Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018)
'Day of the Soldado' would be hard to stomach at any time. It feels particularly worthless now.
Posted Jul 19, 2018
30
Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
A light and sunny entry in the ongoing Marvel canon that gets by on the cast's easygoing chemistry.
Posted Jul 19, 2018
31
Eighth Grade (2018)
What most stunned me about 'Eighth Grade' was how well directed it is. It's rare that teen movies have the kind of visual acuity and verve that Burnham achieves here.
Posted Jul 19, 2018
32
It's hardly the worst movie of the year-Van Sant is too competent a filmmaker for that, even now-but it's frustrating for how dashed-off every element seems.
Posted Jul 19, 2018
33
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018)
Here We Go Again is a viewing experience best described as a long nap on the beach while staying at a chain resort. It's extremely pleasant, if a little lacking in imagination.
Posted Jul 17, 2018
34
That Williams remains elusive by the movie's end only amplifies the feeling of how original and irreplaceable he was.
Posted Jul 17, 2018
35
Uncle Drew (2018)
The jokes could be dirtier, the plot looser, the basketball action more gleefully ludicrous. Instead, everything feels very competent but safe.
Posted Jul 8, 2018
36
Leave No Trace (2018)
Leave No Trace is one of the best films of 2018 and promises to make a star of McKenzie.
Posted Jul 8, 2018
37
Damsel (2018)
As an indie film with a clever gimmick, it's worth seeing, though it never quite sustains the sweeping feel of its first two scenes.
Posted Jul 8, 2018
38
Hannah Gadsby: Nanette (2018)
39
Set It Up (2018)
Love! Assistants! Wordplay! This film has it all-at least by the standards of a fun, disposable romantic comedy, the likes of which Hollywood rarely bothers to release anymore.
Posted Jun 22, 2018
40
The viewer might be left with a few decent frights, but at this point the mortal terror of Spielberg's original film has been diminished beyond repair.
Posted Jun 22, 2018
41
Ocean's 8 (2018)
42
Hotel Artemis (2018)
It's unfortunately anticlimactic; what at first looks like a potential cult classic becomes a movie you might catch on basic cable in a year. Still, there are worse fates.
Posted Jun 18, 2018
43
One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.
Posted Jun 18, 2018
44
Incredibles 2 (2018)
While it takes time to build up steam and set up its plot mechanics, once everyone is in costume and letting loose, it's an exhilarating ride.
Posted Jun 13, 2018
45
Hereditary (2018)
Aster has crafted a story with one foot in the world of the tense kitchen-sink drama and the other in something far more supernatural.
Posted Jun 7, 2018
46
Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018)
47
American Animals (2018)
48
The Tale (2018)
The Tale is above all a work of profound empathy, as a look inside someone's psyche would have to be.
Posted May 25, 2018
49
Fahrenheit 451 (2018)
And that's the problem with Fahrenheit 451: It works so ferociously to be relevant that it forgets to make sense.
Posted May 21, 2018
50
First Reformed (2018)