The Atlantic

Tomatometer-approved publication
Rating Title/Year Author
Jojo Rabbit (2019) David Sims Waititi is trying to strike an impossible balance here, and while he wins a few big battles, he ends up losing the war. EDIT
Posted Oct 18, 2019
The Lighthouse (2019) David Sims It's funny, high-spirited, and giddily loopy, a descent into madness told with the energy of a sea shanty. EDIT
Posted Oct 18, 2019
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019) David Sims It's not a film that quite rises to the level of "good," but it is transfixing-a dizzying hodgepodge of ideas powered by the welcome return of Jolie to the big screen. EDIT
Posted Oct 16, 2019
The King (2019) David Sims To quote another of the Bard's royal characters, it ends up feeling like a tale full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. EDIT
Posted Oct 16, 2019
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019) Shirley Li Lives up to Breaking Bad's legacy of propulsive storytelling. The film is a visceral, ruminative, and emotionally satisfying epilogue EDIT
Posted Oct 11, 2019
Parasite (2019) David Sims All the viewer knows is that Bong is telling a story about humans, which means it can be a perfect comedy until it becomes a tragedy. EDIT
Posted Oct 10, 2019
Gemini Man (2019) David Sims Lee is innovating and looking backwards at the same time, and the viewing experience is as bewildering as that sounds. EDIT
Posted Oct 9, 2019
Dolemite Is My Name (2019) David Sims Murphy seems revitalized, and he gives this pleasant recounting of life on the Hollywood margins a jolt of energy anytime the camera is pointed his way. EDIT
Posted Oct 4, 2019
Joker (2019) David Sims As Joker gets grimmer and descends further into bloody violence, it becomes little more than a horror show, bludgeoning its viewers out of any chance at insight. EDIT
Posted Oct 2, 2019
Ad Astra (2019) David Sims The lesson of the film is a straightforward one-that in the future, people will still need to rely on one another-but Ad Astra communicates it with staggering profundity. EDIT
Posted Sep 18, 2019
Downton Abbey (2019) Sophie Gilbert I, too, got swept up in this Disney-movie fantasia of benevolent, gracious aristocrats and their plucky servants all working together to... serve dinner to the king. Downton does that to you. EDIT
Posted Sep 16, 2019
The Goldfinch (2019) David Sims The film suffers from both an excessive faithfulness to its source and a general failure to translate that material into anything close to a gripping onscreen narrative. EDIT
Posted Sep 15, 2019
Hustlers (2019) David Sims A lush, lavish joy that's difficult to forget. EDIT
Posted Sep 11, 2019
To All the Boys I've Loved Before (2018) Hannah Giorgis Thrills in part because most viewers are all too familiar with what it feels like to baldly deny feelings for another person even as they become patently obvious to everyone else. EDIT
Posted Sep 9, 2019
Sorry to Bother You (2018) Hannah Giorgis Sorry to Bother You is as much a character-driven story about the gentrification of Oakland -- and the Bay Area writ large -- as it is an absurdist anti-capitalist fable. EDIT
Posted Sep 9, 2019
If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) Hannah Giorgis Jenkins's If Beale Street Could Talk is a gorgeous, enveloping film -- and one of its most poignant triumphs is how vividly it captures the depth and complication of intimacy among its black characters. EDIT
Posted Sep 9, 2019
Dave Chappelle: Sticks & Stones (2019) Hannah Giorgis Sticks and Stones registers as a temper tantrum, the product of a man who wants it all -- money, fame, influence -- without much having to answer to anyone. EDIT
Posted Sep 9, 2019
Falling Inn Love (2019) Hannah Giorgis There are few surprises here, but plenty of revelations. EDIT
Posted Sep 9, 2019
Little (2019) Hannah Giorgis Little is mostly a charming comedy with a killer soundtrack and heart to spare. EDIT
Posted Sep 9, 2019
Us (2019) Hannah Giorgis A sharp, often funny meditation on the terrifying power of human connection. EDIT
Posted Sep 9, 2019
The Lion King (2019) Hannah Giorgis The Lion King captures just enough of the original's warmhearted excitement -- and introduces enough new delights -- to feel like more than a cynical Disney money grab. EDIT
Posted Sep 9, 2019
Guava Island (2019) Hannah Giorgis Glover and Murai assemble a magnetic cast who are, quite simply, a joy to watch. EDIT
Posted Sep 9, 2019
Ocean's 8 (2018) Hannah Giorgis There's a sweet satisfaction in watching as Ocean pulls it off. EDIT
Posted Sep 9, 2019
Native Son (2019) Hannah Giorgis At times quite visually stunning, but with tonal incongruities that make for a disjointed viewing experience. EDIT
Posted Sep 9, 2019
Take Me to the River (2014) Noah Berlatsky The film's interest in contemporary performers doesn't rob it of a sense of history. EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2019
3 Days to Kill (2014) Noah Berlatsky 3 Days to Kill really cares about its parental themes, with neurotic and bizarre results. EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2019
Divergent (2014) Noah Berlatsky The film is more interesting than the average bad movie precisely because it so gratuitously, and even thematically, fails to fit together. EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2019
Sabotage (2014) Noah Berlatsky In Sabotage, the plot is too circuitous to give you that adrenaline rush of fitting finality, especially with all the collateral damage along the way. EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2019
Homefront (2013) Noah Berlatsky The car chases aren't done especially well, but overall, Homefront delivers the enjoyment you'd expect from a shoot-'em-up. EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2019
At Middleton (2013) Noah Berlatsky At Middleton is a bittersweet romantic comedy set in an exotic locale-a small liberal arts college campus. EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2019
That Awkward Moment (2014) Noah Berlatsky In That Awkward Moment, only men have friends-which suggests that the movie believes, despite its protestations to the contrary, that only men are people. EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2019
The Revisionaries (2012) Noah Berlatsky The film is both riveting and infuriating. EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2019
The Muslims Are Coming! (2012) Noah Berlatsky The comics are not especially funny. EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2019
Muscle Shoals (2013) Noah Berlatsky Even with its disappointments, Muscle Shoals can't help but make a hopeful sound. EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2019
The Spectacular Now (2013) Noah Berlatsky The movie wasn't smart enough to deal with the interesting protagonists it started with, and so it reverted to trope. EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2019
Drinking Buddies (2013) Noah Berlatsky Drinking Buddies is that thing that they say doesn't get made much anymore-a well-executed, charming, effective, and plausible romantic comedy. EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2019
Ginger & Rosa (2012) Noah Berlatsky The film simply opts for cheap lyrical reconciliation and a shrug. EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2019
Olympus Has Fallen (2013) Noah Berlatsky One of the most depressing and despicable films I have ever seen. EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2019
The Host (2013) Noah Berlatsky The acting, as well as Andrew Niccol's writing and direction, are all awful; I can't in good conscience recommend that anyone see this film. EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2019
Playing for Keeps (2012) Noah Berlatsky Playing for Keeps recycles tired, flawed lessons about masculinity. EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2019
Shame (2011) Noah Berlatsky Shame is, indeed, a perfect distillation of the suffering-guy archetype. EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2019
The Adventures of Tintin (2011) Noah Berlatsky [The] Adventures of Tintin is what you'd expect: a competent Hollywood stunt-fest. EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2019
The Devil Inside (2012) Noah Berlatsky If The Devil Inside has any innovation to make to the exorcism film genre, it's iteration. EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2019
Beneath the Blindfold (2012) Noah Berlatsky In presenting the words of torture survivors, rather than of politicians, apparatchiks, and wonks, the film can't help but change one's perspective on the policy debate. EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2019
Chronicle (2012) Noah Berlatsky Happily, and to my surprise, Chronicle's turns out to provide quite a bit of genre fun, and a touching little parable to boot. EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2019
Justice (2011) Noah Berlatsky The set-up is painfully contrived, and the film is littered with the usual plot holes. EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2019
Lockout (2012) Noah Berlatsky This movie is vacuous. EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2019
The Queen of Versailles (2012) Noah Berlatsky The Siegels are fascinating because they both are and aren't us, and the film's pleasures are correspondingly-a la reality tv-made up of equal parts jealousy, sympathy, and schadenfreude. EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2019
Cosmopolis (2012) Noah Berlatsky Cosmopolis, based on the Don DeLillo novel, is less forthright and substantially less enjoyable, but the same general themes are recognizably in place. EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2019
In Time (2011) Noah Berlatsky The film's central metaphor is so sublimely obvious it feels like it's been stolen from a forgotten Star Trek script. EDIT
Posted Aug 28, 2019