The Maine Edge

The Maine Edge is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this publication only count toward the Tomatometer® when written by the following Tomatometer-approved critic(s): Allen Adams
Rating Title/Year Author
5/5 Nomadland (2020) Allen Adams [A]n intimate epic of the American west...quiet and expansive all at once, a film enamored of the broad openness of the landscape while gently acknowledging how easy it is for individual lives to get lost in the vastness that is America. EDIT
Posted Feb 23, 2021
4.5/5 I Care a Lot (2020) Allen Adams It can be tricky, embracing a story in which almost everybody is a legitimately bad person...thanks to the tremendous talent of the cast, we can engage with these characters even as we wish them the worst. And that, friends, is one successful dark comedy. EDIT
Posted Feb 23, 2021
2.5/5 Blithe Spirit (2020) Allen Adams It's a perfectly fine film. Better than I expected actually, though ultimately, it doesn't live up to its pedigree either in terms of source material or of ensemble...Purists may balk, but honestly, you could do worse. EDIT
Posted Feb 23, 2021
3.5/5 Flora and Ulysses (2020) Allen Adams Not an all-timer, but a pretty darned good diversion. If nothing else, it's a welcome reminder to the youngsters out there that heroes come in all types of package - big and small. EDIT
Posted Feb 23, 2021
5/5 Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) Allen Adams [A] story about anger, both the righteous kind and the fearful kind...Fred Hampton's death was a tragedy, one long overlooked by too many; thanks to this film and the blazing heat of Daniel Kaluuya's performance, perhaps it will be overlooked no longer. EDIT
Posted Feb 16, 2021
4/5 The Map of Tiny Perfect Things (2021) Allen Adams The Map of Perfect Things works because it doesn't try to do too much, instead choosing to fold its charming central pairing into a fairly standard model...A fun watch that doesn't pretend to be anything more. EDIT
Posted Feb 16, 2021
4.5/5 Little Fish (2020) Allen Adams This is a movie that is almost wholly uncynical about love - a rarity in and of itself...To forget what we've done and where we've been is to forget who we are, both to other people and to ourselves. EDIT
Posted Feb 16, 2021
4/5 Young Hearts (2020) Allen Adams At its (very large) heart, this movie is about reminding us that high school romance is innocent, yes, but it also comes with difficulties. Dealing with those difficulties is part of the adolescent experience - an experience portrayed wonderfully here. EDIT
Posted Feb 16, 2021
3.5/5 Ruth: Justice Ginsburg in Her Own Words (2019) Allen Adams [W]hile the film's impact is ever-so-slightly dulled by the outsized events that occurred between the conclusion of filming and the present, the talents of Mock and her team largely make up for it. EDIT
Posted Feb 16, 2021
2.5/5 Bliss (2021) Allen Adams Bliss is a movie whose ambitions outstripped its execution. Mike Cahill is a legitimate talent, the kind of auteur of whom genre filmmaking could use more, but his eyes were bigger than his stomach on this one. EDIT
Posted Feb 12, 2021
4/5 Fake Famous (2021) Allen Adams As a social experiment, Fake Famous is a mixed bag. As a documentary, it's a success. Anyone interested in this world and the way it works will find this film plenty engaging. Bilton and company are doing it for the 'Gram. EDIT
Posted Feb 12, 2021
2/5 Malcolm & Marie (2021) Allen Adams Levinson's pedestrian direction and his own haughty, score-settling script largely waste the two genuine talents in the center of the frame. A swing and a miss. EDIT
Posted Feb 12, 2021
3.5/5 The Little Things (2021) Allen Adams The Little Things could have been a very good movie. Should have been, really. So many of the pieces were there...Unfortunately, it never quite reaches the heights (or depths, if you will) that you might expect. EDIT
Posted Feb 3, 2021
4/5 The Dig (2021) Allen Adams [W]ell-executed costume drama...speaks low and moves slow. Subtle and judicious with its charms, the film won't be everyone's cup of tea, but if it is yours, well ... you'll dig The Dig. EDIT
Posted Feb 3, 2021
4/5 Palmer (2021) Allen Adams Palmer is an emotional roller coaster of a movie, sweet and sad and quietly funny...some great performances and a heaping helping of sincerity...It's not quite great, but it's plenty good enough. EDIT
Posted Feb 3, 2021
5/5 Derek DelGaudio's In & of Itself (2020) Allen Adams [A] masterful piece of work, one that takes full advantage of its unconventional structure and the idiosyncratic skill set of its creator. Smart and sad, it's a highwire balance of passion and pathos that simply refuses to do what you expect it to do. EDIT
Posted Jan 26, 2021
4/5 Clapboard Jungle: Surviving the Independent Film Business (2020) Allen Adams It's a project of refreshing honesty, with McConnell standing front and center; he's as forthcoming with his failures as he is with his triumphs. That willingness to share everything, warts and all, is what endows the film with its charms. EDIT
Posted Jan 26, 2021
4/5 The White Tiger (2021) Allen Adams Think of this movie as an Indian version of A Bronx Tale, only with liberal sprinklings of class anxiety and a heaping helping of Scarface energy...The White Tiger is the antihero's journey. EDIT
Posted Jan 26, 2021
5/5 One Night in Miami (2020) Allen Adams It is rare for a film to have even one brilliant performance; One Night in Miami has four...Challenging and unapologetic, it is cinematic dynamite...Watch this movie. It'll be a night you will never forget. EDIT
Posted Jan 19, 2021
2/5 Outside the Wire (2021) Allen Adams It's all familiar, and not in a fun way. Equal parts middling Terminator sequel and off-brand Training Day, the film fails to take flight at every turn; seemingly every moment meant to soar lands with a thud. EDIT
Posted Jan 19, 2021
2/5 The Ultimate Playlist of Noise (2021) Allen Adams The Ultimate Playlist of Noise is well-intentioned and competently-made, but it simply can't hit all the notes to which it aspires...Formulaic and forgettable, but fine. In the end, the sounds on this playlist just aren't that catchy. EDIT
Posted Jan 19, 2021
2/5 Locked Down (2021) Allen Adams Locked Down suffers from wanting to do too much despite myriad internal and external limitations. Sometimes, less is more ... and this probably would have been one of those times. EDIT
Posted Jan 19, 2021
4.5/5 Herself (2020) Allen Adams "Herself" is quiet, quality drama...Charming and funny even as it proves unafraid of portraying bleakness, it frames reinvention as a difficult journey, but one whose destination makes it worthwhile. EDIT
Posted Jan 14, 2021
4/5 Pieces of a Woman (2020) Allen Adams [Pieces of a Woman] digs its fingers into your soul, unrelentingly showing the difficulties, overt and subtle alike, that come with dealing with loss. EDIT
Posted Jan 14, 2021
5/5 Soul (2020) Allen Adams [O]ne of the year's best films...smart and sharp and thought-provoking, all while offering plenty of lighthearted goofiness. It looks great, it sounds great ... it IS great. Soul shines - and sings. EDIT
Posted Dec 28, 2020
3.5/5 Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) Allen Adams [D]oesn't quite capture the same lightning in a bottle energy of the previous film...some great set pieces, solidly charismatic lead performances and a couple of really going-for-it supporting turns...a flawed-but-satisfying moviegoing experience. EDIT
Posted Dec 28, 2020
4/5 The Midnight Sky (2020) Allen Adams The Midnight Sky doesn't give us the usual noisy end of the world narrative...With Clooney leading the way both onscreen and behind the camera, it is a film built on the idea that, when all else fails, we should turn our gaze upward. EDIT
Posted Dec 27, 2020
5/5 Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020) Allen Adams [A] GREAT movie, intimate and intense and marked by brilliant and memorable performances. The power of its message might have overwhelmed lesser lights, but Boseman, Davis and the rest prove more than up to the challenge. It sings. EDIT
Posted Dec 24, 2020
3.5/5 Greenland (2020) Allen Adams Greenland isn't a great film, but it is far better than I expected it to be...It doesn't all make sense, but it doesn't have to - just go along for the ride and you'll have a good time. EDIT
Posted Dec 24, 2020
3/5 Sister of the Groom (2020) Allen Adams Sister of the Groom has its charms, even when its characters are behaving unpleasantly...It's lightweight and occasionally uneven, but in the end, it's a wedding you won't regret having attended. EDIT
Posted Dec 24, 2020
4/5 Gap Year (2020) Allen Adams Gap Year is an interesting document, a filmed record of a unique path to the NBA...well paced and spaced, though I might have liked to see a little bit more - the story is engaging enough that I think it could have carried another 20 minutes. EDIT
Posted Dec 16, 2020
3.5/5 Let Them All Talk (2020) Allen Adams [A]n extremely watchable, albeit light, story of renewed and new connections. It's not a film where a lot actually happens, but the people to whom stuff isn't happening are engaging enough to get you to stick around. A good hang. EDIT
Posted Dec 14, 2020
3/5 The Prom (2020) Allen Adams If you go in with relatively low expectations and don't think too hard about the specifics, you'll have a good time. Start pulling threads, however, and it will start to unravel...And hey - it was better than Cats. EDIT
Posted Dec 14, 2020
1/5 The Stand In (2020) Allen Adams [The] lack of consistency leaves you wondering just what the aim was. Of course, if the goal was a movie that can't figure out if it's Bowfinger or Single White Female, well ... mission accomplished? EDIT
Posted Dec 14, 2020
3.5/5 Safety (2020) Allen Adams Sometimes, it doesn't matter if you know your buttons are being pushed, so long as they're pushed well. Safety pushes them well enough. EDIT
Posted Dec 14, 2020
5/5 Mank (2020) Allen Adams One could argue that Mank [is] a love letter to Hollywood - just not the kind we're accustomed to seeing...a far more toxic sort of love, the kind of unhealthy, obsessive romance that too often ends in tears and pain - just as this one does. EDIT
Posted Dec 9, 2020
5/5 Sound of Metal (2019) Allen Adams "Sound of Metal" isn't a feel-good film by any stretch; it is at times incredibly bleak...However, between the compelling story, the outstanding lead performance and the unforgettably innovative sound work, it is certainly touched by greatness. EDIT
Posted Dec 9, 2020
0.5/5 Love, Weddings & Other Disasters (2020) Allen Adams Imagine Love, Actually with a moderately serious head injury and an abject absence of understanding regarding either humor or basic human relationships and you're in the ballpark. EDIT
Posted Dec 9, 2020
3/5 Godmothered (2020) Allen Adams Godmothered is a Nilla wafer of a movie, one that goes down easy and is gentle enough for even the most sensitive constitutions...audiences can expect something cute, vaguely charming and completely forgettable. EDIT
Posted Dec 9, 2020
5/5 The Mystery of D.B. Cooper (2020) Allen Adams [A] fascinating look at the people who still, so many years later, insist on sharing their truth. Maybe the best part of the whole thing is this: Only one of them (if any) can be right, but it's easy to believe them all. EDIT
Posted Dec 2, 2020
4/5 Uncle Frank (2020) Allen Adams Uncle Frank is a lot of things - part family drama, part road movie, part coming out story - but it manages to largely avoid becoming the muddle that such a wide-ranging collection of distinctions might indicate. EDIT
Posted Dec 2, 2020
3/5 Hillbilly Elegy (2020) Allen Adams Hillbilly Elegy doesn't quite manage to become the capital-I Important film it wants to be...However, neither is it the abject disaster that so many seem eager to paint it. EDIT
Posted Dec 2, 2020
1.5/5 Superintelligence (2020) Allen Adams Ultimately, Superintelligence is neither super nor intelligent, but in all fairness, Middlingdimwittedness would be a terrible title. EDIT
Posted Dec 2, 2020
4/5 Happiest Season (2020) Allen Adams I had high hopes for Happiest Season, but the movie still managed to exceed them...thoughtful and hilarious and representational, a holiday rom-com extravaganza with something to say, though it never eclipses the medium with the message. EDIT
Posted Nov 23, 2020
4.5/5 Run (2020) Allen Adams Run is a taut, well-constructed thriller...the sort of wild story that could easily have spiraled out-of-control, but even those moments that go bonkers high manage to reach the top without ever going over it. EDIT
Posted Nov 23, 2020
5/5 Insert Coin (2020) Allen Adams If you're someone who spent part of their lives wanting nothing more than to hear that electronic shout of "Fatality!" or "Boomshakalaka!" - you will dig this movie...Insert Coin is 100% my jam - my NBA Jam. EDIT
Posted Nov 23, 2020
2/5 Vanguard (2020) Allen Adams This movie defies genre not by seamlessly blending, but by jarringly overstuffing - forget scene by scene, you barely know what kind of movie you're watching minute by minute. EDIT
Posted Nov 23, 2020
2.5/5 Buddy Games (2019) Allen Adams If you share my proclivity for juvenile humor executed by idiot man-children, you'll probably find something to like here. If you don't, feel free to take a pass; for you, when it comes to Buddy Games, the only way to win is not to play. EDIT
Posted Nov 23, 2020
2.5/5 The Nest (2020) Allen Adams Strong performances and an interesting aesthetic are enough to keep the film from falling completely flat, but ultimately, there's not a lot actually here, leaving The Nest to sit mostly empty. EDIT
Posted Nov 17, 2020
4/5 Le choc du futur (2019) Allen Adams It's leisurely and languid, the type of film that cares far less about plot than it does about the overall vibe. Often, that sort of attitude only serves to undermine the viewing experience. Here, it enhances it. EDIT
Posted Nov 17, 2020