rec.arts.movies.reviews
rec.arts.movies.reviews is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this
publication only count toward the Tomatometer when written by the following
Tomatometer-approved critic(s):
Andrew Wright, Bill Clark, Bob Bloom, Brian Orndorf, Chris Bumbray, David N. Butterworth, David Nusair, Dragan Antulov, Drew McWeeny, Eric Lurio, Eugene Novikov, Frank Ochieng, Geoff Berkshire, Greg Dean Schmitz, James Sanford, Jeffrey Huston, Jon Popick, Josh Gilchrist, Karina Montgomery, Kristian M. Lin, Laura Clifford, Louis Proyect, Mac Verstandig, Mark R. Leeper, Matt Prigge, Michael Dequina, Michael J. Doyle, Phil Hall, Scott Mendelson, Scott Renshaw, Scott Tobias, Shane Burridge, Shay Casey, Susan Granger, Ted Prigge, Wallace Baine, Willie Waffle
Rating
Title/Year
Author
1
3/4
Hereditary (2018)
Writer/director Ari Aster has clearly studied the greats.
Posted Aug 10, 2018
2
B
3
B
12 Days (12 Jours) (2018)
Depardon's fly-on-the-wall approach suggests Frederick Wiseman with fewer cutaways and a more limited focus. The film is fascinating, but leaves us with many questions unanswered.
Posted Jun 28, 2018
4
3/4
Homicide (1991)
Quote not available.
Posted Dec 13, 2017
5
3.5/4
Homicide (1991)
Quote not available.
Posted Dec 13, 2017
6
2.5/4
Home Alone (1990)
A hit for its slapstick humor as well as the age-old theme of a kid who bests the grown-ups.
Posted Nov 10, 2017
7
Chasing Coral (2017)
The urgency of this problem requires people to become informed about the issues, starting with seeing the film either at the IFC or on Netflix.
Posted Jul 18, 2017
8
The Man Who Knew Infinity (2016)
Fascinating tale of an autodidact who died at the age of 32 leaving behind a body of work that ranks among the 20th century's most valuable.
Posted Dec 10, 2016
9
Hidden Figures (2017)
Great story and powerful performances in a film that dramatizes a neglected aspect of the Civil Rights movement.
Posted Dec 10, 2016
10
Merci patron! (2016)
11
Asperger's Are Us (2016)
Four young men with Asperger's discover that comedy is the best cure for what ails them.
Posted Nov 28, 2016
12
Off the Rails (2016)
A bittersweet documentary about a man who lived to drive subway trains and buses under false identity, the kind of work real employees regard as oppressive.
Posted Nov 28, 2016
13
Magnus (2016)
Mostly of interest for chess enthusiasts, it is a fascinating study of someone as gifted as Bobby Fischer but not burdened by madness.
Posted Nov 22, 2016
14
Mifune: The Last Samurai (2016)
15
Denial (2016)
This film benefits from a screenplay written by David Hare, arguably Britain's finest living playwright, who eschewed holocaust film cliches.
Posted Nov 19, 2016
16
Circle of Poison (2015)
It is the definitive film critique of pesticides that benefits from a wide array of scientific experts and activists including Weir himself who has credentials as both.
Posted Nov 18, 2016
17
Arrival (2016)
Octopuses from outer space can't begin to compete with Klaatu or ET.
Posted Nov 15, 2016
18
National Bird (2016)
By far the most effective treatment in either documentary or narrative film of the war crimes that will be linked with Barack Obama for decades to come.
Posted Nov 9, 2016
19
Peter and the Farm (2016)
20
Finding Babel (2016)
21
The Ivory Game (2016)
The first film since John Huston's "Roots of Heaven" that makes you want to support sainthood for the activists trying to end elephant poaching.
Posted Oct 22, 2016
22
Before the Flood (2016)
23
Into the Inferno (2016)
A reminder that volcanoes can be just as deadly as grizzly bears and just as much of an inspiration for arguably the world's greatest septuagenarian director.
Posted Oct 14, 2016
24
Homeland: Iraq Year Zero (2016)
25
The Birth of a Nation (2016)
Finally a film about slavery by an American director that is the artistic and political peer to Gillo Pontecorvo's "Burn".
Posted Oct 1, 2016
26
13th (2016)
Another work of genius from one of America's outstanding directors and social critics.
Posted Oct 1, 2016
27
The Hurt Business (2016)
28
Among the Believers (2016)
Surprise-surprise. Young boys and girls become Islamic fundamentalists in order to get a meal and a roof over their head. The answer is not Predator drones but ending inequality.
Posted Sep 30, 2016
29
Do Not Resist (2016)
In the 60s the left used to refer to the cops as an occupying army. This fine documentary shows how reality has caught up with the rhetoric.
Posted Sep 30, 2016
30
I, Daniel Blake (2017)
Ken Loach at his very best. It might be subtitled "Why Jeremy Corbyn became Labour leader". Succeeds as social commentary and as the story of an individual.
Posted Sep 28, 2016
31
Pay no attention to the "rottens". This is an outstanding film by the Dardennes about the difficulties of living a moral life under capitalism.
Posted Sep 26, 2016
32
SEED: The Untold Story (2016)
A model of scientific insight, story-telling and cinematic panache that reminds us that the future of life under capitalism is guarded at best.
Posted Sep 23, 2016
33
The Ruins of Lifta (2016)
34
A reminder of how documentary filmmakers are using the videocamera in the same way that earlier generation of revolutionaries used the printing press. BRAVO!
Posted Sep 16, 2016
35
Snowden (2016)
Pay no attention to the "rottens". This is vintage Oliver Stone and powerful story-telling about a true American hero.
Posted Sep 15, 2016
36
Command and Control (2016)
A close call with a gargantuan catastrophe and a risk that still exists as long as nuclear weapons exist.
Posted Sep 13, 2016
37
Neruda (2016)
38
Come What May (2016)
A poignant tale of a mass exodus that will certainly relate to today's tragedy, even if some shallow film critics can't make that connection.
Posted Sep 9, 2016
39
A film that explains the Arab Spring better than any documentary. My pick for the best foreign film of 2016 for now. I doubt that anything will surpass it.
Posted Sep 9, 2016
40
While rescuing Jews has been the subject of a number of fictional films, it takes a documentary to do justice to the decency of Waitstill and Martha Sharp.
Posted Sep 8, 2016
41
Landfill Harmonic (2016)
While "inspiring" is a hackneyed term in film reviews, in this case it really applies.
Posted Sep 8, 2016
42
Starving The Beast (2016)
Does for the attack on public universities what Charles Ferguson's "Inside Job" did for (or against) Wall Street chicanery in 2010. An exemplary film.
Posted Sep 8, 2016
43
3/4
Grandma (2015)
Lily Tomlin and her female counterparts excel in this drama/comedy/road movie hybrid -- a warm, small film, not earth-shattering, but genuine.
Posted Aug 31, 2016
44
1.5/4
Hail, Caesar! (2016)
I enjoyed their films. Particularly the early, good ones.
Posted Aug 31, 2016
45
In Order of Disappearance (2016)
A black comedy of the sort that Quentin Tarantino made before he burned out. "Pulp Fiction" with a Norwegian accent.
Posted Aug 25, 2016
46
Fatima (2016)
47
At All Costs (2016)
48
The Business of Amateurs (2016)
49
4/4
Locke (2014)
Together, Knight and Hardy take us on an extraordinary journey.
Posted Aug 15, 2016
50
2.5/4
I Smile Back (2015)
Silverman is excellent, but she could use a better script.
Posted Aug 15, 2016