Polygon

Tomatometer-approved publication
Rating Title/Year Author
The Swordsman (2020) Toussaint Egan If you're looking for period-piece martial arts drama with engrossing performances and pulse-pounding swordplay, it's definitely worth a watch. EDIT
Posted Feb 23, 2021
Some Like It Hot (1959) Matt Patches The madcap energy is right up there with Bridesmaids or 30 Rock, and it's a shame to imagine that it's black-and-white veneer would keep people away. EDIT
Posted Feb 23, 2021
I Care a Lot (2020) Joshua Rivera Pike works wonders to make a thin story feel full and satisfying to watch in the moment, but once it's over, the thinness starts to become bothersome, especially given the arresting subject matter at its core. EDIT
Posted Feb 22, 2021
The Half of It (2020) Karen Han The idea of a teenage version of Cyrano de Bergerac seems to lend itself to pure romantic fluff, but Wu imbues it with incredible depth and consideration. EDIT
Posted Feb 20, 2021
Flora and Ulysses (2020) Petrana Radulovic With Lawler commanding her scenes - her dynamic with Hannigan and Schwartz sparkles - Flora & Ulysses sometimes transcends its bland hijinks into cute and heartwarming family dynamics. EDIT
Posted Feb 19, 2021
Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) Roxana Hadadi Uneven methodology robs Judas and the Black Messiah of the propulsive energy it could have... by viewing [Fred Hampton] primarily through the lens of his detractors rather than his champions, he's guaranteed an uneven execution. EDIT
Posted Feb 16, 2021
Saint Maud (2019) Jesse Hassenger By most reasonable standards, Saint Maud is a good horror movie. EDIT
Posted Feb 14, 2021
Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar (2021) Matt Patches A cult-movie-on-arrival just waiting to be discovered... Whether it's improvisation or the result of years inside each other's heads, the material beams off the screen. EDIT
Posted Feb 12, 2021
To All the Boys: Always and Forever (2021) Petrana Radulovic While the movie contains some genuine heartfelt moments, the thread connecting them all is flimsy, and the core conflict is overdone. EDIT
Posted Feb 12, 2021
The Forty-Year-Old Version (2020) Robert Daniels Everything about The Forty-Year-Old Version feels fresh. EDIT
Posted Feb 12, 2021
Malcolm & Marie (2021) Quinci LeGardye While the film is a stylistic treat on the surface, it has very little depth. EDIT
Posted Feb 8, 2021
Space Sweepers (2021) Kambole Campbell The interplay between these characters is the film's saving grace, and the reason it's still mostly a joy to watch. EDIT
Posted Feb 8, 2021
A Glitch in the Matrix (2020) Siddhant Adlakha An emotional Trojan horse, smuggling viewers into these subjects' lives and the way they process information. EDIT
Posted Feb 6, 2021
Finding 'Ohana (2021) Petrana Radulovic For the most part, [director Jude] Weng weaves adventure and sentimentality together, but when it comes down to it, Finding 'Ohana works when it focuses on the ohana at its core. EDIT
Posted Feb 5, 2021
John and the Hole (2020) Matt Patches The level of craft John and the Hole brings to its ideas makes it worthy of chewing on. EDIT
Posted Feb 3, 2021
His House (2020) Robert Daniels His House is a terrifying debut that breathes a fresh voice into the haunted-house subgenre. EDIT
Posted Feb 2, 2021
Cryptozoo (2021) Tasha Robinson Cryptozoo winds up as a window into a decidedly uncommercial mind, and a form of storytelling that isn't the practiced, polished committee effort that comes out of animation houses like Disney and DreamWorks. EDIT
Posted Jan 31, 2021
Prisoners of the Ghostland (2021) Matt Patches [F]or anyone worn thin by the homogeny of American superhero cinema, there's an entire back catalogue waiting for you. Prisoners of the Ghostland is a great, digestible start. EDIT
Posted Jan 31, 2021
Earwig and the Witch (2020) Tasha Robinson It's barely more than a short story, and Ghibli's adaptation adds little to the stripped-down narrative. EDIT
Posted Jan 31, 2021
How It Ends (2021) Tasha Robinson It's a pleasant enough hangout movie, and someday it may be held up as a slanted portrait of what mid-2020 felt like for people privileged enough to ignore politics. But it still feels like a minor movie in the face of a major catastrophe. EDIT
Posted Jan 31, 2021
CODA (2021) Matt Patches Authentic, sensitive, and playful, CODA remains human even as it tugs at the heartstrings. EDIT
Posted Jan 29, 2021
The Little Things (2021) Robert Daniels Hancock, in what might be his best film, grazes with greatness by constructing an enthralling thriller that relies on the talent of its three leading men to mine regret for mystery. EDIT
Posted Jan 26, 2021
Soul (2020) Robert Daniels Even with the film's bid for a suspension of racial disbelief, the racial-passing narrative in the second act of Soul is acutely bizarre. EDIT
Posted Jan 25, 2021
Promising Young Woman (2020) Delia Harrington For all of Promising Young Woman's merits, it still uses trauma and sexual violence to teach a lesson to the unenlightened, while telling actual survivors that the price of justice is our lives. EDIT
Posted Jan 25, 2021
The White Tiger (2021) Siddhant Adlakha The film is full of potent human drama (largely coming from Adarsh Gourav's performance), but as an examination of the world's intersection with modern India, it usually lands on the wrong side of inauthentic. EDIT
Posted Jan 23, 2021
Outside the Wire (2021) Roxana Hadadi A disappointingly tidy conclusion for what had the potential to be a far more challenging film. EDIT
Posted Jan 19, 2021
Tenet (2020) Ben Kuchera I love Tenet so much, despite its frustrations. Nolan wants to keep pushing the boundaries of these kinds of blockbusters, and that means he's going to fail as much as he succeeds. EDIT
Posted Jan 19, 2021
One Night in Miami (2020) Siddhant Adlakha In spite of its heavy subject matter, it's also one of the most electrifying and downright fun historical dramas to come out of Hollywood in years. EDIT
Posted Jan 15, 2021
War Dogs (2016) Ben Kuchera Tthe whole thing has a breezy, surprisingly low-stakes "isn't the system really at fault here?" feel to it. Which makes War Dogs an enjoyably goofy, if rote, look at the banality of war profiteering. EDIT
Posted Jan 5, 2021
Cradle 2 the Grave (2003) Matt Patches Nearly 20 years later, the breezy, no-stakes filmmaking is a welcome diversion from movies with too much budget, too many cooks, and too much pressure to be Truly Great. EDIT
Posted Jan 5, 2021
Sound of Metal (2019) Tasha Robinson The film is startlingly artful for a directorial debut, and endlessly surprising. EDIT
Posted Jan 5, 2021
Another Round (2020) Tasha Robinson The film features its share of trauma and tragedy, and the final sequence is bittersweet, but it's also one of the most purely entertaining, magnificent moments on film in 2020. EDIT
Posted Jan 5, 2021
Soul (2020) Tasha Robinson It's funny, surprising, and powerful, but above all, it feels like Pixar returning to the core values that used to define it as a creative house, and returning to the inspiring industry leader it used to be. EDIT
Posted Dec 28, 2020
We Can Be Heroes (2020) Petrana Radulovic We Can Be Heroes is a rarity: A kids movie actually made for kids, bringing what was special about Spy Kids to a new generation, and a complete delight on its own. EDIT
Posted Dec 25, 2020
Monster Hunter (2020) Chelsea Stark It's hard to say if it's comprehensible to someone who doesn't love the series, but its bombastic action hardly lags during its hour-and-a-half run time. EDIT
Posted Dec 21, 2020
Skylines (2020) Tasha Robinson It's perfectly passable low-key science fiction, almost certainly destined for a fast trip to Netflix, where it can be taken up as an amiable evening's viewing. EDIT
Posted Dec 21, 2020
Tron: Legacy (2010) Kambole Campbell There's an undeniable appeal at its core - in its sincere approach to ridiculous concepts, in its resistance toward quipping at its own expense. EDIT
Posted Dec 18, 2020
Max Cloud (2020) Andy Crump Characters like Sarah - and for that matter, Jake and Rexy - are as crucial to a satisfying gaming experience as big bruiser types like Max... After all, they make Max Cloud a fully satisfying moviegoing experience. EDIT
Posted Dec 18, 2020
Promising Young Woman (2020) Roxana Hadadi Those scenarios aren't exactly nuanced, but [Emerald] Fennell gives a voice to the exasperation of being treated purely, and only, like a sexual object, and [Carey] Mulligan lives and breathes that rage. EDIT
Posted Dec 18, 2020
Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) Seanan McGuire A Wonder Woman story in 2020 could be uplifting and inspiring, and this film is neither. EDIT
Posted Dec 15, 2020
The Prom (2020) Roxana Hadadi There's too much of Corden to ignore in The Prom, but there isn't much to like. EDIT
Posted Dec 14, 2020
News of the World (2020) Robert Daniels A leaden, drawn-out Western that's saved by its two knowing lead performances and a reverence for how the right stories can heal divisions. EDIT
Posted Dec 14, 2020
Songbird (2020) Jesse Hassenger Songbird isn't as expensive, noisy, or misanthropic as a proper Bay film, but it's every bit as cynical, never less than when it's insisting that this is a hopeful pandemic story. EDIT
Posted Dec 10, 2020
The Midnight Sky (2020) Robert Daniels In the end, The Midnight Sky doesn't match Clooney's past directorial highs. EDIT
Posted Dec 9, 2020
Mank (2020) Jesse Hassenger Mank luxuriates in its dreamy atmosphere. EDIT
Posted Dec 7, 2020
Tudo Bem no Natal Que Vem (2020) Brian Moylan It's startlingly philosophical for a Christmas movie, but that's all balanced out by the great verbal and physical comedy, including a hilarious ongoing gag about Jorge's contentious mustache. EDIT
Posted Dec 7, 2020
Ammonite (2020) Siddhant Adlakha Its approach to queer history as coded, long-buried document is its most exacting facet. But as a story of science, hidden desire, and sparks re-igniting the soul, it's a languid affair. EDIT
Posted Dec 5, 2020
Godmothered (2020) Petrana Radulovic The result is a movie that interrogates Disney tropes but actually delivers on dismantling them. EDIT
Posted Dec 4, 2020
Antarctica (2020) Petrana Radulovic The movie works best when director Keith Bearden plays up the weirdness and brings the characters together, but it'd be stronger if Kat and Janet's storylines shared more of a solid thread. EDIT
Posted Dec 2, 2020
Alien Xmas (2020) Tasha Robinson There's nothing particularly wrong with Alien Xmas, a cute supplement to a long canon of Christmas-in-peril stories. But there's nothing here that would make it a classic worthy of inspiring future canon entries, either. EDIT
Posted Dec 1, 2020