NBC News THINK

NBC News THINK is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this publication only count toward the Tomatometer® when written by the following Tomatometer-approved critic(s): Ani Bundel, Jenni Miller, Noah Berlatsky, Ronda Racha Penrice
Rating Title/Year Author
Promising Young Woman (2020) Jenni Miller Writer/director Emerald Fennell has created a brilliant, black-hearted 21st century thriller that punctures the hypocrisy of a society less concerned with justice for survivors of sexual assault than the supposedly promising futures of their attackers. EDIT
Posted Dec 22, 2020
The Prom (2020) Ani Bundel It is the visual equivalent of a toddler on a sugar bender. Not that hyperactive children aren't hilariously cute -- but typically only in very small doses. The Prom, unfortunately, is 2 1/2 hours long. EDIT
Posted Dec 14, 2020
Nomadland (2020) Jenni Miller This modern American road trip movie is the kind of expansive, meditative film that demands the same kind of physical space as a blockbuster, along with patience and compassion -- which is something we could all use more of these days. EDIT
Posted Dec 7, 2020
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020) Aramide Tinubu Portraying the Mother of the Blues and dripped in fur and indignation, Viola Davis' Ma bursts through the screen and confinements of Rainey's era, standing tall and vibrant in each buttery frame of the film. EDIT
Posted Nov 25, 2020
Between the World and Me (2020) Ani Bundel Coates' personal story is thus universalized. Even though the viewer is aware these are stories written by one man, who lived one very singular life, they start to feel shared. EDIT
Posted Nov 23, 2020
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Reunion (2020) Ronda Racha Penrice Such praise, while well-intentioned, inadvertently glosses over just how trailblazing The Fresh Prince really was, a reality emphasized in HBO Max's highly enjoyable reunion special this week. EDIT
Posted Nov 20, 2020
Crazy, Not Insane (2020) Jenni Miller Lewis' theories simultaneously demystify serial killers and somehow make them more horrifying, because now they're simply human. EDIT
Posted Nov 19, 2020
Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (2020) Aramide Tinubu With Jingle Jangle, Talbert has reimagined what a Christmas musical can do and what it can represent for Black girls in particular. EDIT
Posted Nov 18, 2020
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020) Ani Bundel Sorkin's penchant for speechifying turns out to be perfect for a show trial that's being treated half as a circus and half as a soap box... It helps that everyone in this film is firing on all cylinders. EDIT
Posted Oct 19, 2020
The Glorias (2020) Jenni Miller Taymor is a Tony Award-winning director, but what works on stage whiffs on screen. EDIT
Posted Oct 1, 2020
Scare Me (2020) Jenni Miller The scariness comes from heightened tensions (made possible by the actors' face-contorting antics and light and sound design), but there are very few real scares or gore involved. EDIT
Posted Oct 1, 2020
Kajillionaire (2020) Sam Thielman A heist film - and an absolutely savage one - but less about receipt fraud and more about how, in their declining years, the Me Generation simply won't go away without taking everything they can carry with them. EDIT
Posted Sep 25, 2020
The Devil All the Time (2020) Ani Bundel Brutal, with a large twist of religious hypocrisy crossed with Southern noir, "The Devil All The Time" is an oddly meandering film, with little central cohesiveness to hold it together, other than everyone's capacity for extreme violence. EDIT
Posted Sep 17, 2020
Coastal Elites (2020) Aramide Tinubu Since it's not saying anything new or offering much in the way of entertainment, it simply feels like an endless, exhausting echo of the exact parts of our lives that drive us to seek escape in the movies. EDIT
Posted Sep 14, 2020
The Swamp (2020) Noah Berlatsky By arguing this is a bipartisan issue, the doc pushes talking points that will make it harder, not easier, to fix our multiple, overlapping political catastrophes. EDIT
Posted Aug 5, 2020
The King of Staten Island (2020) Noah Berlatsky Faced with a quirky and unusual new talent, Apatow, and Hollywood, disappointingly default to its usual formula... One of the chief frustrations of the film is that it's a first-rate ensemble drama trapped inside a gangly star vehicle. EDIT
Posted Jun 15, 2020
Artemis Fowl (2020) Ani Bundel It's not the worst two hours of entertainment (especially with mute and pause buttons near at hand). But it's not the next Wreck-It Ralph. EDIT
Posted Jun 15, 2020
Da 5 Bloods (2020) Aramide Tinubu Spike Lee takes his audience on a journey across the decades, putting a spotlight on the Black veteran experience in a way few filmmakers ever have. In doing so, he successfully links a film nominally about the Vietnam War to today's cultural battles. EDIT
Posted Jun 15, 2020
Becoming (2020) Candice Frederick "Becoming" is not trying to court controversy. Similar to her book, it aims to inspire young female supporters with the philosophy that "your story is your power." EDIT
Posted May 7, 2020
Bad Education (2019) Ani Bundel "Bad Education," which is far more intelligently laid out and researched, is poised to be the next big hit. And given the grift happening around us, the story couldn't be more timely. EDIT
Posted Apr 27, 2020
Extraction (2020) Noah Berlatsky The film has no surprises. "Extraction" is another in a dreary lineage of Chris Hemsworth roles that seem designed to make you forget everything you liked about Chris Hemsworth. EDIT
Posted Apr 24, 2020
Crip Camp (2020) Sara Luterman In "Crip Camp," the narrative is of overcoming the suffering caused by a society that refuses to include us in everyday life. EDIT
Posted Apr 6, 2020
Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears (2020) Ani Bundel Hopefully viewers will tune in and discover the magic of this radiant little show, and Acorn will see enough returns on investment to greenlight a sequel. In these dark times, we all need a bit more Phryne Fisher in our lives. EDIT
Posted Mar 23, 2020
The Hunt (2020) Noah Berlatsky Everyone else is just a distraction, or mildly satirical color. Blow them away and what's left is cheerfully exploitative entertainment. EDIT
Posted Mar 17, 2020
EMMA. (2020) Ani Bundel "Emma's" delightful confectionary makes blending old and new seem easy. EDIT
Posted Mar 9, 2020
The Invisible Man (2020) Noah Berlatsky The movie's success is in large part attributable to Moss, who spends large chunks of the film expressing terror, weariness, cunning, or desperate strength in the face of an invisible foil. EDIT
Posted Mar 2, 2020
The Call of the Wild (2020) Noah Berlatsky The book is a classic; the newest movie adaptation not so much. EDIT
Posted Feb 22, 2020
Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) Ani Bundel "Sonic the Hedgehog" is a film that works best without the Sonic character, which is to say it doesn't work very well at all. EDIT
Posted Feb 18, 2020
To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (2020) Ani Bundel Watching the sequel fail to meet this pretty low standard makes the first film seem less like a breakthrough moment and more like a lucky break for Netflix. Like John Ambrose, "P.S. I Still Love You" is nice, but that's about it. EDIT
Posted Feb 13, 2020
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020) Ani Bundel "Birds of Prey" serves as a reminder that the "Suicide Squad" concept wasn't wrong; it was just badly done. The new film finds a bit more joy amid the cracking limbs, and a lot more family. EDIT
Posted Feb 7, 2020
Taylor Swift: Miss Americana (2020) Ani Bundel Her (Taylor Swift) willingness to document the intimate process of discovering her voice makes "Miss Americana" a worthwhile portrait to check out, even if you don't download the single it's selling. EDIT
Posted Feb 3, 2020
The Assistant (2019) Elena Sheppard The film is more statement piece than great cinema... Green is a documentarian and that documentary approach is on display in the quietness of "The Assistant." EDIT
Posted Feb 3, 2020
The Gentlemen (2020) Jenni Miller A sexy, stylish ensemble cast in a London heist flick spitting out one-liners from a [Guy] Ritchie-penned twisty script can't save this lackluster throwback to a style of storytelling that's past its prime. EDIT
Posted Jan 24, 2020
Underwater (2020) Noah Berlatsky It's one of those horror films that suggests that, even if there are some survivors, the apocalypse has been postponed rather than banished. EDIT
Posted Jan 10, 2020
Little Women (2019) Jenni Miller [Greta] Gerwig's eye is flawless. EDIT
Posted Dec 30, 2019
1917 (2019) Noah Berlatsky In "1917," creators used their enormous technical talent to rationalize and justify an irrational, unjustifiable war. EDIT
Posted Dec 25, 2019
Cats (2019) Jenni Miller Perhaps the least chill Broadway musical of all time EDIT
Posted Dec 23, 2019
Bombshell (2019) Jenni Miller The movie can't quite stomach making Bombshell as edgy as they want to, deferring to a weaksauce female empowerment message instead of addressing the broader social questions. EDIT
Posted Dec 13, 2019
Playmobil: The Movie (2019) Ani Bundel Playmobil manages the live-action part, but without any clever twists. EDIT
Posted Dec 9, 2019
Marriage Story (2019) Jenni Miller Marriage Story has its own sort of happy ending - or at least a more hopeful one than the others we've seen before. EDIT
Posted Dec 6, 2019
Knives Out (2019) Ani Bundel Knives Out not only brings back this breed of manor house murder mystery - last a cult hit with the 1980s-era "Clue" - but proves that the current climate may be ripe for a full-scale modern revival. EDIT
Posted Dec 2, 2019
Queen & Slim (2019) Noah Berlatsky "Queen & Slim" director Melina Matsoukas is less interested in action and violence than in love. ....And that, as it turns out, makes the film both less predictable and more heartbreakingly political. EDIT
Posted Dec 1, 2019
Frozen II (2019) Ani Bundel A complete stunner, worth seeing on the big screen. EDIT
Posted Nov 25, 2019
Charlie's Angels (2019) Ani Bundel The good news is that the film is just as hilariously bad as the original and has a whole lot of fun in the process. EDIT
Posted Nov 18, 2019
Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) Noah Berlatsky "Terminator: Dark Fate," though, manages to fit its old clunky rotors and cogs smoothly into the socket of our apocalyptic present. EDIT
Posted Nov 1, 2019
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019) Ani Bundel It's a visually gorgeous movie...Unfortunately, the rest of the film is a muddled mess. EDIT
Posted Oct 21, 2019
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019) Ani Bundel For fans of the series, this is the closure for Jesse they always wanted. EDIT
Posted Oct 14, 2019
Joker (2019) Ani Bundel It turns out the piece of art that has caused such an uproar is nothing more than an incoherent, misbegotten and embarrassingly dull two hours. EDIT
Posted Oct 7, 2019
Judy (2019) Ani Bundel While the writing may be schmaltzy, star Renée Zellweger is brilliant in the titular role. EDIT
Posted Oct 2, 2019
Ad Astra (2019) Noah Berlatsky The movie goes a long, long way around the universe to find the same boring, cold-hearted action hero as ever. EDIT
Posted Sep 20, 2019