The Week

Tomatometer-approved publication
Rating Title/Year Author
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) Andy Crump Witnessing the act of artistic creation lets the film's audience appreciate the connection between love, desire, and especially memory. EDIT
Posted Feb 14, 2020
Downhill (2020) Jesse Hassenger For all of its unwillingness to go blackly comic, Downhill is a well-observed character dramedy, and Louis-Dreyfus makes a lot of its observations. EDIT
Posted Feb 13, 2020
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020) Jeva Lange The only time I've not felt talked down to by a comic book movie that purports to be feminist. EDIT
Posted Feb 7, 2020
Gretel & Hansel (2020) Jeva Lange While Gretel and Hansel is another contribution to this year's better-than-average crop of January horror films, it is also a movie that you could -- and maybe even should --- show your kids. Really. EDIT
Posted Jan 31, 2020
The Assistant (2019) Jesse Hassenger The Assistant is a detailed day-in-the-life portrait of office drudgery, but it has the tension of a thriller... And does a powerful job immersing the audience in a toxic workplace. EDIT
Posted Jan 30, 2020
Color Out of Space (2019) Jeva Lange Color Out of Space harkens back to horror's more trashy, gonzo, B-movie roots -- and is ultimately all the more bold and brilliant for it. EDIT
Posted Jan 24, 2020
Weathering With You (2019) Maya Phillips Despite the beauty the film finds in destruction, it never fully answers the question of what happens to love in a world that's sinking. EDIT
Posted Jan 22, 2020
Little Women (2019) Jeva Lange In this case, the change fits, elevating Alcott's original story from being one about unfulfilled artistic ambition, into one, uniquely, about craft. EDIT
Posted Dec 26, 2019
Cats (2019) Jesse Hassenger That this material seems incapable of articulating any reason for its existence may be its greatest fealty to the cruel and unknowable animal kingdom. Cats is stubbornly meaningless. EDIT
Posted Dec 23, 2019
Daniel Isn't Real (2019) Andy Crump 2019 hasn't been an especially strong year for horror, but with Daniel Isn't Real, at least it's ended on a high note. EDIT
Posted Dec 16, 2019
Richard Jewell (2019) Jesse Hassenger There's something both contradictory and admirable about the way Eastwood dashes off these versions of real events, making them quick but not exactly conclusive, with none of the social-media certainty of a declarative tweet. EDIT
Posted Dec 16, 2019
Queen & Slim (2019) Jesse Hassenger At its best, the movie extends a sense of generosity and humanity toward a variety of characters the sorta-couple encounters on their journey. At the same time, Queen & Slim doesn't feel fully equipped to grapple with the issues it raises. EDIT
Posted Dec 2, 2019
Knives Out (2019) Noel Murray What makes it such a crowd-pleaser is that [Rian] Johnson also expresses a reassuring optimism that human decency will prevail, and that justice will favor the hard-working and good-hearted over the pernicious and self-serving. EDIT
Posted Dec 2, 2019
Frozen II (2019) Brendan Morrow Frozen 2 is no soulless retread but rather a much more narratively complex, visually inventive, and thematically interesting follow-up than anticipated. Its reach at times exceeds its grasp, but the effort is consistently admirable. EDIT
Posted Nov 21, 2019
Lady and the Tramp (2019) Jeva Lange What might have been a paint-by-numbers remake is given sparkle and charm by a cast that seems actually invested in bringing their characters to life. EDIT
Posted Nov 7, 2019
Dolemite Is My Name (2019) Noel Murray Dolemite Is My Name features [Eddie] Murphy's best performance in 20 years. EDIT
Posted Oct 29, 2019
Zombieland: Double Tap (2019) Brendan Morrow All in all though, bogged down by familiar plot beats and comedy cliches, Double Tap seems destined to become one of those highly-anticipated but mediocre follow-ups that fails to leave a lasting impression. EDIT
Posted Oct 18, 2019
Jojo Rabbit (2019) Jeva Lange Shamefully, now is not a bad time to be a Nazi. But rather than explore the set up, Jojo Rabbit rushes ahead, once again, to the punchline. EDIT
Posted Oct 18, 2019
Parasite (2019) Jeva Lange In terms of sheer enjoyment alone, Parasite delivers. The movie is as darkly funny as its director, and even with a runtime just on the far side of two hours, it never loses its momentum. EDIT
Posted Oct 10, 2019
Mister America (2019) Andy Crump The film means to deride that power through representation and succeeds -- but too well, both for its own good and the good of the audience. EDIT
Posted Oct 10, 2019
The Irishman (2019) Jeva Lange The Irishman is every bit as clever, startling, violent, and obsessively purposeful as the colorful metaphor that serves as its alternate title. EDIT
Posted Sep 30, 2019
The Day Shall Come (2019) Andy Crump It's the parody the country deserves in the All Lives Matter era. EDIT
Posted Sep 27, 2019
Loro (2018) Andy Crump [Toni Servillo's] performance is at once a recreation of the [Silvio] Berlusconi people know domestically as well as internationally and a farcical rebuke of everything he stands for. It's satire of highest contempt. EDIT
Posted Sep 23, 2019
The Goldfinch (2019) Jeva Lange What was director John Crowley thinking when he set about faithfully duplicating all of Tartt's same mistakes? EDIT
Posted Sep 13, 2019
It: Chapter Two (2019) Jeva Lange [Andy] Muschietti and his team are clearly fans of their source material, and they treat the story with a generous humor that even [Stephen] King, in all his self-seriousness, didn't loan to the book. EDIT
Posted Sep 6, 2019
Ready or Not (2019) Aaron Bady With the exception of a somewhat disappointing ending, Ready or Not is actually a very pointed and effective satire, political because it isn't "political." EDIT
Posted Aug 26, 2019
Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling (2018) Maya Phillips Change is overwhelming, is what Static Cling seems to say, but it also shows what good can come with it. EDIT
Posted Aug 22, 2019
Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus (2019) Maya Phillips Enter the Florpus picks up pretty much where the show left off, like an hour-long episode of the original series, but one that's often softened around the edges. EDIT
Posted Aug 22, 2019
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019) Jesse Hassenger It's still fun to watch [Dwayne] ohnson and [Jason] Statham bicker. But the self-conscious japery brings them closer than expected to Expendables territory, and allows Vanessa Kirby to run away with the movie. EDIT
Posted Aug 2, 2019
Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood (2019) Brendan Morrow [Quentin] Tarantino has the confidence to rely almost entirely on character, setting, and mood to keep a film of his afloat. And in this case, Once Upon a Time in ... Hollywood sure does float. EDIT
Posted Jul 30, 2019
Îmi este indiferent daca în istorie vom intra ca barbari (2018) Andy Crump Radu Jude has turned Antonescu's words against him, using the authoritarian's callous proclamation as the title of his latest movie. The effect is so damning that if Antonescu lived today, he may find that he cares after all. EDIT
Posted Jul 22, 2019
The Lion King (2019) Jesse Hassenger The 2019 version of The Lion King is an apex of faux-live-action animation, with an impressive volume of photorealistic effects. It may be the dullest technological game-changer ever made. EDIT
Posted Jul 15, 2019
The Farewell (2019) Noel Murray This is a purposeful and crowd-pleasing film that never hits any of its points too hard, because [Lulu] Wang has too much to cover to let any one message drown out the others. EDIT
Posted Jul 12, 2019
Annabelle Comes Home (2019) Brendan Morrow By giving us both the best of Annabelle and the best of The Conjuring, Annabelle Comes Home gets to have twice as much fun as it would have were it a traditional second sequel, including with callbacks to both series. EDIT
Posted Jun 28, 2019
Toy Story 4 (2019) Brendan Morrow Toy Story 4 is still great, and it works by respecting its predecessor's conclusive nature while offering a few additional thoughts rather than attempting to start over with a clean slate. EDIT
Posted Jun 24, 2019
Nightmare Cinema (2018) Andy Crump The horror of the late 2010s is rich in variety, no mistaking it, but Nightmare Cinema encapsulates variety all on its own. EDIT
Posted Jun 21, 2019
Toy Story 4 (2019) Jeva Lange I didn't expect Toy Story 4 to give me evil doll nightmares and philosophical dread over my own baffling existence. Still, how glad I am that it did. EDIT
Posted Jun 21, 2019
Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese (2019) Cyrena Touros Rolling Thunder [Revue: A Bob Dylan Story By Martin Scorsese], if not a faithful portrait of a lightning-in-a-bottle moment of music history, is a triumph of Dylan's never-ending myth-making. EDIT
Posted Jun 17, 2019
The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019) Aaron Bady It's the sort of movie Wes Anderson would make if Wes Anderson made a movie about gentrification. EDIT
Posted Jun 11, 2019
Dark Phoenix (2019) Jesse Hassenger The series ends recalling its strengths, but not fully embodying them. EDIT
Posted Jun 7, 2019
Rocketman (2019) Gregory Wakeman Bohemian Rhapsody this is not. EDIT
Posted May 31, 2019
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) Andy Crump Catastrophe's so much more entertaining when wrought by kaiju. EDIT
Posted May 31, 2019
Aladdin (2019) Jeva Lange It does make me wish Guy Ritchie had not tried so desperately to walk the line between a conventional Aladdin remake and something with a little more pizazz. EDIT
Posted May 24, 2019
Avengers: Endgame (2019) Jesse Hassenger Infinity War may have proved that Marvel can pull off a massive superhero crossover event, but Endgame shows how much better these movies are when they pay attention to people, too. EDIT
Posted Apr 25, 2019
Captain Marvel (2019) Jesse Hassenger What really stands out about Captain Marvel, then, is its approach to its hero's origin. Unlike Marvel's typically heavy-handed exposition, this movie only hints at a backstory it never truly reveals. The restraint is refreshing. EDIT
Posted Mar 7, 2019
Glass (2019) Jesse Hassenger With its many characters alternately showcased and neglected, Glass is a strange movie. In its haunted, haunting way, it's also a satisfying one. EDIT
Posted Jan 18, 2019
Aquaman (2018) Jesse Hassenger [Aquaman's] delightful silliness does point to what these movies should have been doing all along: standing alone, rather than trying to reconcile the weird worlds of its various heroes for premature team-ups. EDIT
Posted Dec 20, 2018
If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) Jeva Lange If Beale Street Could Talk is what happens when everything in a movie comes together: the source material, the actors and actresses, the set designers, the music. Whether the Academy recognizes that or not, Beale Street is a treasure. EDIT
Posted Dec 14, 2018
Cam (2018) Jeva Lange The whole premise would be silly if it didn't feel quite so real. EDIT
Posted Nov 16, 2018
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018) Jesse Hassenger The Crimes of Grindelwald appears to be, first and foremost, made "for the fans." But the series' age agnosticism seems less about providing all-ages entertainment than a refusal to think of these fans as actual people. EDIT
Posted Nov 16, 2018