Brightest Young Things

Tomatometer-approved publication
Rating Title/Year Author
2/5 Being Frank (2018) Alan Zilberman It needs strong performances to elevate its mediocrity, so instead we are left with a film straining for modest goals it cannot achieve. EDIT
Posted Jun 21, 2019
4/5 The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019) Alan Zilberman The Last Black Man in San Francisco will not stop NIMBYism, but it remains an important, lyrical drama that strikes appropriate notes of anger and hope. EDIT
Posted Jun 14, 2019
4/5 Plus One (2019) Alan Zilberman Once you get past all the jokes about bad speeches and shuttles to the venue, there is a smart, winning romantic comedy that actually has something to say. EDIT
Posted Jun 14, 2019
3/5 Rocketman (2019) Alan Zilberman Unlike Rami Malek, Egerton actually sings in Rocketman, and while his voice is not a replica of John's, it is soulful enough to actually be convincing. EDIT
Posted May 31, 2019
3.5/5 Deadwood: The Movie (2019) Alan Zilberman All the actors easily reprise their roles, finding notes of grace and savagery while recreating a stylized, hopeful view of how individuality can clash with civilization. EDIT
Posted May 31, 2019
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015) Jeff Spross It's not a great film, but the performances are all fun, and Guy Ritchie's direction is one of the most enjoyable and luxurious deployments of pure style I've seen in a long time. EDIT
Posted May 27, 2019
4/5 Double Lives (2018) Alan Zilberman You may not know a single word of French, but you've probably been to a dinner party like the ones in this film. EDIT
Posted May 24, 2019
0.5/5 The Biggest Little Farm (2018) Alan Zilberman This film is a bit like what what would happen if Timothy Treadwell, the subject of Grizzly Man, directed a film about himself without an assist from Werner Herzog. EDIT
Posted May 17, 2019
4/5 Dogman (2018) Alan Zilberman Too few films have the courage to see their premise to such an inexorably poignant conclusion. EDIT
Posted May 10, 2019
4/5 Peterloo (2018) Alan Zilberman By accepting Leigh's latest on its own terms - as a nakedly fierce polemic - you'll come to share his outrage. EDIT
Posted Apr 12, 2019
3.5/5 Pet Sematary (2019) Alan Zilberman A creepy, back-to-basics horror film that blurs the line between grief and madness. EDIT
Posted Apr 5, 2019
1.5/5 Yardie (2018) Alan Zilberman Like directorial talent, on-screen charisma is not a thing you can teach. You either have it, or you do not. EDIT
Posted Mar 25, 2019
2.5/5 Climax (2018) Alan Zilberman By Noé standards, it is pretty tame, but it is ultimately pointless. EDIT
Posted Mar 8, 2019
5/5 Apollo 11 (2019) Alan Zilberman Buzz Aldrin said this film gets as close to the real thing as anything he's experienced. When go see it, you'll understand that he is not exaggerating. EDIT
Posted Mar 1, 2019
63/100 Aquaman (2018) Trisha Brown Aquaman shows that someone at DC finally learned the most important lesson of superhero films: no one wants to spend over two hours in a theater with a bunch of characters they wouldn't go to get beers with. EDIT
Posted Feb 21, 2019
2.5/5 2019 Oscar Nominated Shorts - Animation (2019) Alan Zilberman What makes this crop of shorts interesting, but ultimately somewhat tedious, is their thematic similarities. EDIT
Posted Feb 8, 2019
2.5/5 Velvet Buzzsaw (2019) Alan Zilberman Gilroy replaces Nightcrawler's twisted logic with metaphors so obvious they would laughed out of freshman art seminars. EDIT
Posted Feb 1, 2019
3.5/5 Serenity (2019) Alan Zilberman The constraints of traditional criticism are not equipped to do this film justice. It is too bonkers for that. EDIT
Posted Jan 25, 2019
3/5 Escape Room (2019) Alan Zilberman The characters may freeze, drown, drop from great heights, and get poisoned, but nothing is more exciting than the tension of whether they can work together. EDIT
Posted Jan 4, 2019
88/100 The Guilty (2018) Vesper Arnett Director Gustav Möller might be a hypnotist. The Guilty is gripping tragedy, and is strongest in its focus on sound and storytelling. EDIT
Posted Dec 26, 2018
97/100 Nothing Like a Dame (2018) Svetlana Legetic This is for you if you enjoy gorgeous homes, crisp accents, and great pashminas during moments where Judi Dench has a reason to call herself a "menopausal dwarf" in the context of being cast to play a legendary beauty. EDIT
Posted Dec 26, 2018
5/5 If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) Alan Zilberman This film shows us that love without risk is hardly love at all. EDIT
Posted Dec 21, 2018
Across the Universe (2007) Svetlana Legetic It's a little slow going in the start, but once their engines are revved up, every swirl and lick are thought out with care and love... EDIT
Posted Dec 14, 2018
4/5 The Favourite (2018) Alan Zilberman It succeeds as the nastiest high stakes workplace comedy you'll see all year. EDIT
Posted Nov 30, 2018
4/5 A Private War (2018) Benjamin Freed It's a reminder that the victims of war need their stories told, a responsibility that sometimes comes at the cost of the storytellers themselves. EDIT
Posted Nov 20, 2018
2.5/5 El Ángel (2018) Alan Zilberman At one point, a filmmaker must draw a line in the sand so his audience knows how to react. This movie dances across such a line until it is no longer there. EDIT
Posted Nov 16, 2018
5/5 Widows (2018) Alan Zilberman Widows may be a tough film, but maybe we're all a bit tougher nowadays. This film knows we are up for it. EDIT
Posted Nov 16, 2018
4.5/5 On Her Shoulders (2018) Alan Zilberman This is the rare, uncanny film that genuinely puts you in the shoes of its subject. EDIT
Posted Nov 2, 2018
3.5/5 Wildlife (2018) Alan Zilberman A confident, melancholy drama that uses sharp observation to make larger points about the endless fissures in American family life. EDIT
Posted Oct 29, 2018
3/5 The Happy Prince (2018) Alan Zilberman It is a poignant reminder of how intellect and desire do not simply disappear once we get older. EDIT
Posted Oct 19, 2018
4/5 First Man (2018) Alan Zilberman Neil Armstrong left his family behind and traveled over 200,000 miles for work, and First Man understands what that says about him. EDIT
Posted Oct 12, 2018
2.5/5 The Old Man & the Gun (2018) Alan Zilberman The trouble is that writer/director David Lowery drains the story of any tension, suspense, or conflict. EDIT
Posted Oct 5, 2018
4/5 Free Solo (2018) Alan Zilberman This is the rare documentary that is more terrifying than a horror movie. EDIT
Posted Oct 5, 2018
79/100 Science Fair (2018) Alan Zilberman When so much of our mental energy is spent in politics, it is refreshing to see a (largely) apolitical film celebrate humanity at its finest. EDIT
Posted Sep 28, 2018
94/100 Mandy (2018) Max Bentovim In the end, Mandy is either extremely for you or it is extremely not; I feel bad for you if you're in the latter camp. EDIT
Posted Sep 26, 2018
4/5 () Alan Zilberman As the film reaches its tragic final minutes, it is clear Foley is given the treatment he would want and deserve. EDIT
Posted Sep 21, 2018
2.5/5 Lizzie (2018) Alan Zilberman This vision of Lizzie Borden is ultimately too timid and dispassionate to be transgressive. EDIT
Posted Sep 21, 2018
1/5 The Nun (2018) Kaylee Dugan If you're not going to be scary and you're not going to be interesting, you have to be fun. EDIT
Posted Sep 14, 2018
0/5 Peppermint (2018) Ross Bonaime Garner's next revenge mission should be taking out whoever convinced her this was a good idea. EDIT
Posted Sep 14, 2018
2/5 The Apparition (2018) Ross Bonaime At almost two-and-a-half hours, it has too much searching for answers for its own good. EDIT
Posted Sep 14, 2018
1.5/5 The Bookshop (2017) Max Bentovim It mostly feels like somebody pedaling in place on a stationary bike who thinks they're on a bonafide journey. EDIT
Posted Sep 14, 2018
2.5/5 Operation Finale (2018) Ross Bonaime It's hard to ignore how excellent this story would've been, had it been told by filmmakers with a stronger grasp of the material. EDIT
Posted Sep 14, 2018
4.5/5 Crime + Punishment (2018) Jeff Spross The film's tone is angry, yes, but also shot through with sadness and exhaustion. EDIT
Posted Sep 14, 2018
2/5 Papillon (2017) Benjamin Freed There's a reason studios rarely attempt to remake a Steve McQueen movie. EDIT
Posted Sep 14, 2018
3.5/5 Juliet, Naked (2018) Diana Metzger It's not necessarily challenging and leans on the audiences' love of the actors a lot, but if audiences are up for that task it's a really sweet, satisfying watch. EDIT
Posted Sep 14, 2018
.5/5 The Happytime Murders (2018) Ross Bonaime Grossing out your audience isn't going to solve your problems and make your film work. EDIT
Posted Sep 14, 2018
3.5/5 White Boy Rick (2018) Alan Zilberman Longtime fans of gangster movies may be surprised or even unnerved by what they see, but they won't soon forget it. EDIT
Posted Sep 14, 2018
4/5 Madeline's Madeline (2018) Alan Zilberman Sound bonkers, right? I guess you'll just have to see it for yourself. EDIT
Posted Sep 7, 2018
2.5/5 We the Animals (2018) Alan Zilberman Zagar's stubborn desire to keep things subjective are what make this a memorable film, although that same decision is also what undermines its ultimate impact. EDIT
Posted Aug 31, 2018
4.5/5 Support the Girls (2018) Alan Zilberman It continuously upends expectations of where it will go, until it becomes a comedy of specific, deep empathy. EDIT
Posted Aug 24, 2018