Cinemayward

Cinemayward is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this publication only count toward the Tomatometer® when written by the following Tomatometer-approved critic(s): Joel Mayward
Rating Title/Year Author
2.5/5 Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) Joel Mayward WW84 shines brightest when Gadot and Pine are on-screen together. EDIT
Posted Dec 23, 2020
4/5 Tenet (2020) Joel Mayward "Tenet" succeeds in somehow transcending the audience's basic understanding of time and narrative while nevertheless keeping them engaged and entertained for the film's entirety. EDIT
Posted Dec 23, 2020
3.5/5 Promising Young Woman (2020) Joel Mayward Writer/director Emerald Fennell's "Promising Young Woman" is bold, brilliant, and blistering in its evisceration of our male-dominated culture, while Carey Mulligan's daring performance is a career-best. EDIT
Posted Dec 22, 2020
3.5/5 Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020) Joel Mayward It is arguably [Boseman's] strongest on-screen performance, and were he to be honored with a posthumous Oscar, it would certainly be earned. EDIT
Posted Dec 19, 2020
4/5 Wolfwalkers (2020) Joel Mayward In a cinematic age where CGI reigns supreme, Wolfwalkers' defiant aesthetic in its messy hand-drawn style is at once nostalgic and forward-looking, a beautiful simplicity on the far side of complexity. EDIT
Posted Dec 16, 2020
4/5 Time (2020) Joel Mayward ...the lyrical formal approach Bradley adopts with 'Time' elevates an already-compelling story into the realms of transcendence. EDIT
Posted Dec 16, 2020
4.5/5 Sound of Metal (2019) Joel Mayward Sound of Metal is a film with perfect narrative rhythm; the cinematic story makes interesting, poignant decisions for the entirety of its runtime. EDIT
Posted Dec 13, 2020
2.5/5 Mank (2020) Joel Mayward I'm sad to report that 'Mank' might be the least interesting thing David Fincher has ever directed. EDIT
Posted Dec 7, 2020
5/5 Nomadland (2020) Joel Mayward It is an achingly moving work of transcendent cinematic art which is, paradoxically, humble and confident, fanciful and true, a film of realist authenticity and formalist wonders. EDIT
Posted Dec 2, 2020
4/5 Palm Springs (2020) Joel Mayward "Palm Springs" brings both levity and poignancy...by reminding us of the gift of presence. EDIT
Posted Dec 2, 2020
1/5 Hillbilly Elegy (2020) Joel Mayward I will pull no punches: Ron Howard's Hillbilly Elegy is simply awful. EDIT
Posted Nov 26, 2020
4.5/5 First Cow (2019) Joel Mayward Like the oily cakes Cookie and King-Lu create, the film's ingredients are simple, but the results are richly delectable and well worth coming back for seconds. EDIT
Posted Oct 31, 2020
1.5/5 Rebecca (2020) Joel Mayward The 2020 Netflix version of Rebecca is a romantic psychological thriller entirely devoid of genuine romance, psychological depth, or thrills. EDIT
Posted Oct 23, 2020
4/5 David Byrne's American Utopia (2020) Joel Mayward It's a percussionist's paradise which demonstrates a perfect rhythm between effervescent joy and no-nonsense political urgency. EDIT
Posted Oct 18, 2020
4/5 Shithouse (2020) Joel Mayward Those who dismiss the film based on its title alone may miss out on a deeply affecting and profound portrayal of late adolescence which pays tribute to the coming-of-age tradition even as it forges new emotional pathways. EDIT
Posted Oct 12, 2020
5/5 Dick Johnson Is Dead (2020) Joel Mayward Kirsten Johnson has crafted a memento mori imbued with both sincere love and aesthetic depth. This is a film I want to revisit and contemplate, a film I feel compelled to write articles or entire books about. EDIT
Posted Oct 3, 2020
3.5/5 Possessor: Uncut (2020) Joel Mayward "Mind-bending" takes on multiple meanings when the human psyche is depicted as neon-lit melting faces and other visceral body-dissolving abominations seen under strobe-effect. EDIT
Posted Oct 1, 2020
3/5 The Social Dilemma (2020) Joel Mayward There is both an urgency and a helplessness to the prophetic message of The Social Dilemma: we must change how social media functions, but we may not have the will power or attention span to do so. EDIT
Posted Sep 16, 2020
3/5 Cuties (2020) Joel Mayward Doucouré's attentive, empathetic, and daring coming-of-age film reminds us of the urgent need for empathy and critical thinking in a social media era. EDIT
Posted Sep 12, 2020
2/5 I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020) Joel Mayward It's a maudlin, misanthropic mess which revels in its own opacity, a puzzle film which intentionally hides the pieces. EDIT
Posted Sep 10, 2020
2/5 Tesla (2020) Joel Mayward For all its electrifying potential, I found little to keep my attention, less still to ponder afterwards in terms of What It All Means. EDIT
Posted Aug 19, 2020
3.5/5 Yes, God, Yes (2019) Joel Mayward Yes, God, Yes is far less about teens trying to get laid and more about a genuine search for the truth in all of its existential, metaphysical, and erotic glory. EDIT
Posted Jul 28, 2020
3/5 She Dies Tomorrow (2020) Joel Mayward "She Dies Tomorrow" is Albert Camus meets David Lynch, a darkly absurdist fable about our fear of mortality and its unsettling capacity to spread. EDIT
Posted Jul 24, 2020
3/5 Shirley (2020) Joel Mayward "Shirley" is powerfully perturbing, anchored by the superb lead performances from Moss and Stuhlbarg. EDIT
Posted Jun 4, 2020
3/5 Dads (2019) Joel Mayward When it's not being a How-To-Dad film, it is a kaleidoscopic celebration of genuinely good fathers, at-once affecting and affirming. EDIT
Posted May 9, 2020
3.5/5 Nighthawk (2019) Joel Mayward Visceral and incendiary, Bacurau is a political punch to the gut and a mental machete to the head. EDIT
Posted Mar 25, 2020
3/5 Onward (2020) Joel Mayward For a film about magic, I wish Onward had more...well...magic. [...] Despite its conventionality and corporate feel, Onward is nevertheless an enjoyable and affecting romp. EDIT
Posted Mar 1, 2020
3/5 Taylor Swift: Miss Americana (2020) Joel Mayward It's a well-crafted work which reveals only as much as the camera-aware Swift chooses to reveal. EDIT
Posted Mar 1, 2020
2.5/5 Bombshell (2019) Joel Mayward Bombshell fails to be either smart satire or incisive political drama, which makes it just offensively banal. EDIT
Posted Jan 10, 2020
4/5 Little Women (2019) Joel Mayward It's a warm hug of a film, comforting and life-giving in its graciousness. EDIT
Posted Dec 29, 2019
3/5 1917 (2019) Joel Mayward ...an ambitious and thrilling war film, a filmic formal exercise with gumption. EDIT
Posted Dec 26, 2019
2/5 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) Joel Mayward I find its lack of faith-in its audience, in its predecessors, in itself-disturbing. EDIT
Posted Dec 19, 2019
3.5/5 The Two Popes (2019) Joel Mayward I still found myself converted by Hopkins and Pryce skillfully portraying this divine bromance. EDIT
Posted Dec 19, 2019
0/5 6 Underground (2019) Joel Mayward By being exceedingly stupid, morally depraved, and dreadfully dull, "6 Underground" pulls off a hat-trick of Very Bad Filmmaking. EDIT
Posted Dec 14, 2019
4/5 Marriage Story (2019) Joel Mayward Though it does get ugly, it's also paradoxically beautiful in its raw sincerity. EDIT
Posted Dec 8, 2019
4.5/5 The Irishman (2019) Joel Mayward A cinematic memento mori, "The Irishman" (aka "I Heard You Paint Houses") is one of Martin Scorsese's all-time greatest films. EDIT
Posted Dec 6, 2019
1.5/5 Jojo Rabbit (2019) Joel Mayward Rather than laughter or tears, "JoJo Rabbit" elicits only cringes, groans, and yawns. EDIT
Posted Dec 6, 2019
3.5/5 Knives Out (2019) Joel Mayward Sharp and cutting in its not-so-subtle critique of class warfare and ideologies, even as it serves it all up in a rambunctious caper, a hilarious whodunit (or whodonut). EDIT
Posted Dec 1, 2019
4/5 A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019) Joel Mayward Like Fred Rogers himself, the film is disarming and subversive in its optimism and hope. EDIT
Posted Nov 24, 2019
3/5 Missing Link (2019) Joel Mayward An underrated delightful romp, "Missing Link" takes a conventional adventure story and infuses it with a progressive ethos. EDIT
Posted Nov 17, 2019
4.5/5 Light From Light (2019) Joel Mayward Paul Harrill's radiant Light from Light dazzles gradually, illuminating our minds and hearts through its quietly affecting aesthetic. EDIT
Posted Oct 25, 2019
Something, Anything (2014) Joel Mayward Quiet piano music accompanies the beautiful, intimate cinematography, eliciting comparisons to Kieslowski's "Three Colors: Blue" in its affecting and melancholy portrayal of a woman walking through a season of grief. EDIT
Posted Oct 24, 2019
1/5 The Laundromat (2019) Joel Mayward Even if you buy into its message, The Laundromat is an embarrassment. EDIT
Posted Oct 21, 2019
3/5 Emanuel (2019) Joel Mayward A good, if simple, reminder that grace truly is amazing, especially when we've walked in the shadow of death. EDIT
Posted Oct 16, 2019
2.5/5 Joker (2019) Joel Mayward It's an appropriate film for its eponymous antagonist...repellent in its wanton depravity, it's still maddeningly captivating, and sure to spark strong reactions. EDIT
Posted Oct 6, 2019
4/5 High Life (2018) Joel Mayward High Life is willing to stare into the hopeless void and discern a particle of optimism. EDIT
Posted Sep 22, 2019
3.5/5 Ad Astra (2019) Joel Mayward We may look to the stars for answers, but Ad Astra suggests that they, too, are only human. EDIT
Posted Sep 18, 2019
2/5 Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood (2019) Joel Mayward Like much of the Cult of Tarantino that eager audiences worship, "Once Upon a Time" might be meaningful and/or shocking if it weren't so barbaric, predictable, and vapid. EDIT
Posted Aug 26, 2019
2/5 Her Smell (2018) Joel Mayward Like its lead character, Alex Ross Perry's Her Smell is a chaotic, draining mess, an emotional rollercoaster where they forgot to buckle the safety belts. EDIT
Posted Aug 24, 2019
3.5/5 Wild Rose (2018) Joel Mayward With Jessie Buckley's performance in Wild Rose, a star is born. EDIT
Posted Aug 2, 2019