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
Where'd You Go, Bernadette (2019) Ani Bundel Not trusting the audience to follow the novel's non-linear timeline, Linklater unwound all the mysteries and strangest of all, never once lets Bernadette disappear. EDIT
Posted Aug 19, 2019
Dora and the Lost City of Gold (2019) Noah Berlatsky "Dora and the Lost City of Gold" is a kids film that is so hyperaware that it's a kids film that it ends up feeling more sophisticated than the vast majority of action movies marketed to the middle-aged. EDIT
Posted Aug 9, 2019
The Kitchen (2019) Jenni Miller The women's motivations are a weird, reductive mélange of female empowerment, but not everything about and starring women needs to be empowering. EDIT
Posted Aug 9, 2019
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019) Ani Bundel The Jason Statham-Dwayne Johnson film is still the most entertaining the franchise has been in years. EDIT
Posted Aug 5, 2019
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019) Ani Bundel "Once Upon A Time" takes this opportunity and mostly squanders it, reframing the murders as a story about white male heroism that does a disservice both to Tate and to the story Tarantino was ostensibly trying to explore. EDIT
Posted Jul 29, 2019
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019) Noah Berlatsky For all his self-reflection and self-dramatization, there are things about the movies the director refuses to see, or to put on screen. Without them, "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" is less a fairy tale than a false alibi. EDIT
Posted Jul 24, 2019
The Lion King (2019) Ani Bundel One wrong move, an awkward flick of the ear - or worse, when they start talking, because animals' mouths aren't designed to form human language - and the illusion is shattered. EDIT
Posted Jul 19, 2019
Stuber (2019) Noah Berlatsky Stuber is a generic action/comedy buddy movie that is neither very funny nor suspenseful. EDIT
Posted Jul 13, 2019
Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) Noah Berlatsky And "Far From Home" really is fun, all the way through to the Easter eggs and plot reversals in the multiple after-credits sequences. It is a movie that is fully aware of the joys of illusion, of fantasy and of its audience. EDIT
Posted Jul 2, 2019
Murder Mystery (2019) Ani Bundel Critics are right - the film isn't great. EDIT
Posted Jun 27, 2019
Toy Story 4 (2019) Ani Bundel Everyone gets time to tell their story, whether it's Duke Caboom or Buzz Lightyear. Everyone has their moment in the spotlight. EDIT
Posted Jun 24, 2019
Men in Black: International (2019) Noah Berlatsky This international reboot is inspired less by the 1990s than by the pre-1989 era of spy narratives. Going global in "Men in Black: International" means going back to the Cold War. EDIT
Posted Jun 20, 2019
Dark Phoenix (2019) Ani Bundel The film is simply a muddled, unnecessary retelling of a story already told badly, revealing how little creatively Fox has to offer. EDIT
Posted Jun 11, 2019
Late Night (2019) Jenni Miller What a pleasure "Late Night" is. EDIT
Posted Jun 7, 2019
Dark Phoenix (2019) Noah Berlatsky Kinberg took a famous narrative about how women can't control their own power, and made it into a story about how they can. EDIT
Posted Jun 7, 2019
Rocketman (2019) Ani Bundel Egerton may not always hit the notes perfectly, and one or two songs feel a bit it's Elton John night on "American Idol," but he throws himself into every number. The result, often, is magical. EDIT
Posted Jun 4, 2019
Aladdin (2019) Ani Bundel The rest of the movie feels like, at best, a pale imitation of the original cartoon, and at worst, embarrassingly bad. EDIT
Posted May 28, 2019
The Hustle (2019) Jenni Miller "The Hustle" is a great example of why audiences deserved more than a gender-swapped remake with but a few updated details. EDIT
Posted May 13, 2019
Pokémon Detective Pikachu (2019) Ani Bundel That the film is mostly watchable - and even enjoyable on some levels - is a minor miracle. EDIT
Posted May 13, 2019
Long Shot (2019) Ani Bundel In short, this film is not really a romantic comedy. It is a poor attempt at political satire in the wake of Trump's election that also includes a romance. EDIT
Posted May 7, 2019
UglyDolls (2019) Ani Bundel For a movie that will likely have a very popular Netflix kids run, it's actually pretty good. EDIT
Posted May 3, 2019
Avengers: Endgame (2019) Ani Bundel The directors have created a virtual nesting doll of homages which will be appreciated by the most hardcore of fans, but still have value for less devoted fans. EDIT
Posted May 3, 2019
Knock Down the House (2019) Jenni Miller The filmmakers couldn't have foreseen the outcome, but must have known that they were capturing an unforgettable moment in American political history. EDIT
Posted May 2, 2019
Dumbo (2019) Ani Bundel It's not terrible, but if not for some extremely pointed anti-Disney subtext, it would probably be yet one more forgettable film from Burton's later period. EDIT
Posted Apr 1, 2019
The Highwaymen (2019) Jenni Miller The filmmakers here were seemingly so sure on which side of the line Hamer and Gault stood that they missed any opportunity to make the audience wonder. EDIT
Posted Mar 29, 2019
Captain Marvel (2019) Ani Bundel A relatively good superhero blockbuster - and it's not trying to be anything more than that. EDIT
Posted Mar 11, 2019
Fighting With My Family (2019) Ani Bundel A surprisingly lovely piece, and a reminder that, no matter what the subject, movies always shine when everyone remembers the point is a great story told well. EDIT
Posted Mar 8, 2019
Widows (2018) Jenni Miller Ultimately "Widows" is terrific on its face as a crime thriller. It's violent, it's kinetic and it's beyond watchable. But if you want to pay a bit more attention...there's so much more happening under the surface. EDIT
Posted Mar 4, 2019
The Favourite (2018) Jenni Miller The Favourite, which features scatological humor, gout and a pet duck among its political and romantic court intrigues. EDIT
Posted Mar 4, 2019
Green Book (2018) Jenni Miller Once I shook off the glossy trappings of "Green Book" and its on-the-nose ending, I couldn't still enjoy the friendship brought to life on the screen. EDIT
Posted Mar 4, 2019
Alita: Battle Angel (2019) Ani Bundel It's ridiculously ambitious. It's gorgeous to look at, a technical marvel of a film that mixes digital and human characters into a single frame. It's just too bad the main plot isn't worthy of all the innovation. EDIT
Posted Feb 14, 2019
The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part (2019) Ani Bundel A movie about toys that reminds men it's ok to be kind and gentle? Now that's a message worthy of some playful brainwashing. EDIT
Posted Feb 8, 2019
Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018) Ani Bundel Cleverness aside, at the end of the day the real emotional center of this movie is (still) the friendship between Vanellope and Ralph. EDIT
Posted Feb 1, 2019
The Girl in the Spider's Web (2018) Ani Bundel It seems all the men so eager to make a profit off this series totally missed the memo about who the real monsters are - or buried it. EDIT
Posted Feb 1, 2019
Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) Ani Bundel An old school blockbuster film that is far more entertaining than it has any right to be. EDIT
Posted Feb 1, 2019
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) Ani Bundel Strong acting from Rami Malek and others can't hide the film's substantial plot flaws. EDIT
Posted Jan 31, 2019
The Meg (2018) Ani Bundel There's still something undeniably retro about it - at the end of the day, no one really matters except Statham, the shark and his poison-tipped harpoon gun. EDIT
Posted Jan 31, 2019
A Star Is Born (2018) Ani Bundel This is the rare, timeless reboot that people will want to watch again and again. That is, until it's remade. EDIT
Posted Jan 31, 2019
Mission: Impossible -- Fallout (2018) Ani Bundel A thrilling, surprisingly coherent film that feels two decades in the making. EDIT
Posted Jan 31, 2019
Christopher Robin (2018) Ani Bundel While not tremendously original, the film's one-two punch of nostalgia and storybook idealism is extraordinarily effective. EDIT
Posted Jan 31, 2019
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) Ani Bundel While the special effects have improved, time hasn't done the story any favors. Instead, those now in charge seem to have misunderstood the thing that made the original film work: The dinosaurs are the real heroes. EDIT
Posted Jan 31, 2019
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018) Ani Bundel This sort of complete escapism is just what the doctor ordered, and everyone involved knows just how important it is. EDIT
Posted Jan 31, 2019
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) Ani Bundel It may not be the reboot everyone wanted. But it's the one we deserve. EDIT
Posted Jan 31, 2019
Ocean's 8 (2018) Ani Bundel This is a film that clearly could not care less if the boys from earlier editions approve of it. There is something incredibly refreshing - and yes, even empowering, about that. EDIT
Posted Jan 31, 2019
The Kissing Booth (2018) Ani Bundel It feels like it was written by someone who simply digested everything she was told "romance" was supposed to be by the patriarchy, and vomited back at us. Nearly every cliché in the film feels cribbed from another movie. EDIT
Posted Jan 31, 2019
Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018) Ani Bundel A poorly written blockbuster filled with racist stereotypes. Hollywood should know better. EDIT
Posted Jan 31, 2019
Mid90s (2018) Ani Bundel Katherine Waterson and Lucas Hedges are brilliant at telling a story of home life and poverty that our main character is too young to fully understand. EDIT
Posted Jan 29, 2019
First Man (2018) Ani Bundel It is an effective - and affecting - immersive experience for those who wish to understand exactly what drives people like Elon Musk. EDIT
Posted Jan 29, 2019
Life Itself (2018) Ani Bundel A contrived, tone-deaf, misogynistic and violently bizarre work that whiplashes between being a Tarantino wannabe and a quiet indie, with an ending that only works if there was another installment coming next Tuesday. EDIT
Posted Jan 28, 2019
A Simple Favor (2018) Ani Bundel For those who may have written off Lively as a teen sensation now relegated to playing leggy blondes in B-list films like 2016's "The Shallows," her performance is a revelation. EDIT
Posted Jan 28, 2019