The Week

Tomatometer-approved publication
Rating Title/Year Author
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
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) Jeva Lange No horse better demonstrates being above the nonsense of mankind than Franco's. It watches with the aloofness and bored disinterest of a spectator. How exactly a horse can truly appear impassive, I don't know exactly, but this one does. EDIT
Posted Nov 9, 2018
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) Jeva Lange The problem is, inevitably the songs end. And when they do, you might wish you'd just put on a record instead. EDIT
Posted Nov 2, 2018
Lords of Chaos (2018) Eve Tushnet Director Jonas Åkerlund handles this cruel and sad material with sensitivity. He lets you laugh at Euronymous' pretensions and his Mean Girls-style cruelties, and makes you recoil from the destruction and desecration the band promoted. EDIT
Posted Nov 1, 2018
The Hate U Give (2018) Jesse Hassenger But at its best, George Tillman Jr.'s film has a gravity and forthrightness missing from so many movies aimed at younger audiences. EDIT
Posted Oct 19, 2018
Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018) Jeva Lange McCarthy's Lee is the most sensitively and complexly balanced character of her career. EDIT
Posted Oct 19, 2018
Apostle (2018) Andy Crump A brutal piece of work, which, if you're familiar with director Gareth Evans' aesthetic, is like describing the sun as hot; he treats his supporting characters as pieces of meat to be relieved, screaming, of their breath, whether by gun or spear or worse. EDIT
Posted Oct 18, 2018
The Kindergarten Teacher (2018) Candice Frederick All too often white feminism, as portrayed on the silver screen, highlights female complexity at the detriment of non-white characters. The Kindergarten Teacher is, unfortunately, no exception. EDIT
Posted Oct 12, 2018
Venom (2018) Jesse Hassenger The best supervillains tell us something about ourselves and our heroes. Venom crawls into its hero's head and realizes it has nothing to say. EDIT
Posted Oct 11, 2018
First Man (2018) Noel Murray First Man helps audiences appreciate the wild ride of lunar exploration, but also the awe and wonder of it all. EDIT
Posted Oct 11, 2018
A Star Is Born (2018) Noel Murray The actors' performances are often raw and improvisatory, like something out of a 1970s movie. EDIT
Posted Oct 5, 2018
Maximum Impact (2018) Jeva Lange Some movies are so bad they're good. Maximum Impact, however, is just bad. Irredeemably bad, in fact. EDIT
Posted Sep 28, 2018
The Oath (2018) Jesse Hassenger The Oath is a little scattershot and ends with a narrative cop-out, but Haddish comes out of it looking more (to borrow a favorite word of hers) ready for stardom than ever. EDIT
Posted Sep 28, 2018
Night School (2018) Jesse Hassenger It has all the hallmarks of Hart's films: a convoluted story that goes out of its way to paint Hart as an insecure but hard-working go-getter, bad CG-augmented slapstick, pointless but plot-required deception, and unearned swells of sentimentality. EDIT
Posted Sep 28, 2018
The Old Man & the Gun (2018) Andy Crump The Old Man & the Gun is ostensibly Redford's final on-screen role; in August, he announced his retirement from acting. If he makes good on that pledge, he's capping off his sterling filmography with a dazzling crowd pleaser... EDIT
Posted Sep 28, 2018
Fahrenheit 11/9 (2018) Andy Crump For the informed viewer, Fahrenheit 11/9 doesn't say anything that hasn't been said already. Instead, the film takes everything we already know and reinterprets it in service of condemning a stagnant and self-absorbed liberal political machine... EDIT
Posted Sep 21, 2018
American Dharma (2018) Jeva Lange American Dharma is a frustrating excavation of a man at the height of his narcissism. EDIT
Posted Sep 19, 2018
Science Fair (2018) Jeva Lange Science Fair is a testament to what happens when girls' inclinations are nourished and supported, when values are aligned. EDIT
Posted Sep 19, 2018
Laissez bronzer les cadavres (2017) Andy Crump Let the Corpses Tan is uniquely dizzying and occasionally hallucinatory - a one of a kind piece of madness driven by the art of the edit. EDIT
Posted Aug 31, 2018
Support the Girls (2018) Jesse Hassenger Lots of movies like to tell stories about grit, determination, and perseverance. Support the Girls understands, and even finds rueful humor in, the ways those things can still lead to a dead end. EDIT
Posted Aug 23, 2018
BlacKkKlansman (2018) Andy Crump Lee shapes his adaptation with a certain frenetic energy, eschewing traditional historical tics and instead leapfrogging across genres... The effect of his genre-swapping is as dizzying as it is immensely satisfying. EDIT
Posted Aug 10, 2018
The Meg (2018) Jesse Hassenger Director Jon Turteltaub, a longtime hand at live-action Disney movies, doesn't have the ruthlessness required to goose either the suspense or the mayhem of a giant-shark movie. EDIT
Posted Aug 9, 2018
Mission: Impossible -- Fallout (2018) Jesse Hassenger The Mission: Impossible movies are not emotional experiences, but a visceral expression of Cruise's dogged desire to remain an action star. Even with top-notch filmmakers at the helm, he's become the true auteur of this series. EDIT
Posted Jul 26, 2018
Teen Titans GO! to the Movies (2018) Jesse Hassenger The success of these cartoons comes down to a willingness to reinterpret characters with both visual and thematic adventurousness. EDIT
Posted Jul 26, 2018