MattPais.com
MattPais.com is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this
publication only count toward the Tomatometer when written by the following
Tomatometer-approved critic(s):
Matt Pais
Rating
Title/Year
Author
1
D
Home Team (2022)
You can really tell that Happy Madison changed its approach to humor and storytelling: A kid saying "My butthole" is used as a punchline just three times, not nine.
Posted Feb 1, 2022
2
C+
Zola (2021)
Doesn't know what to say about its crazy.
Posted Jan 28, 2022
3
C
A Hero (2022)
Eventually you really expect several people in A Hero to scream, 'Oh, come on!'
Posted Jan 14, 2022
4
A
The Lost Daughter (2021)
This is what people mean when they say they want to go out and see a film.
Posted Jan 5, 2022
5
A
Red Rocket (2021)
Deserves extensive analysis by anyone trying to understand the current state of America and where to go from here.
Posted Jan 5, 2022
6
B+
Don't Look Up (2021)
The new Idiocracy we deserve.
Posted Dec 30, 2021
7
B+
The Dig (2021)
If you think you will be bored, it's totally understandable. But you're also wrong.
Posted Dec 23, 2021
8
B+
The French Dispatch (2021)
Dizzying and surprising and perhaps a little too busy.
Posted Dec 23, 2021
9
B+
No Sudden Move (2020)
Steven Soderbergh can make a movie like this in his sleep. But that doesn't make it any less impressive.
Posted Dec 23, 2021
10
C
King Richard (2021)
It feels like there's more movie fighting to get in here, and King Richard refuses.
Posted Dec 23, 2021
11
A-
Spencer (2021)
A devastating portrait of the way things have always been done clashing with the urgency of reality, of a person against a system.
Posted Dec 16, 2021
12
D+
C'mon C'mon (2021)
Manipulative manipulative.
Posted Dec 12, 2021
13
A-
Pig (2021)
A terrifically serious movie.
Posted Dec 2, 2021
14
B-
If you're out on something that can be described as Saved by the Bell: The Reboot: The Movie: The Nightmare, that's fine. It's also your loss.
Posted Nov 27, 2021
15
C+
Breaking News in Yuba County (2021)
Shares its main character's instability until it falls apart completely, failing to mix broad attempts at humor with startling violence.
Posted Nov 19, 2021
16
B-
Red Notice (2021)
It's not called Red Notice (Taylor's Version), all descriptive and emotional and important. Red Notice needs few words: Action good. Lines funny. Movie fun enough.
Posted Nov 12, 2021
17
F
Home Sweet Home Alone (2021)
Like trying to capitalize on name recognition and winding up at Four Seasons Total Landscaping, but much, much less funny.
Posted Nov 12, 2021
18
B
The Beta Test (2021)
It might be a stretch to call the film The Player for the Me Too era, but you could make a case.
Posted Nov 8, 2021
19
B
The Harder They Fall (2021)
Should win an award for crushing its casting process.
Posted Nov 5, 2021
20
B
A searing feminist indictment of antiquated thinking.
Posted Oct 7, 2021
21
D+
Intrusion (2021)
Like You was loaded into a computer program that froze but forced us to watch the glitchy result anyway.
Posted Sep 23, 2021
22
B
The Voyeurs (2021)
The same policy applies to The Voyeurs as to social media: Take it too seriously at your own risk, but don't pretend there's nothing there to see.
Posted Sep 11, 2021
23
C
Freaky (2020)
Wouldn't seem so gruesomely indulgent if it felt like a story and not an outline.
Posted Sep 9, 2021
24
B-
Vacation Friends (2021)
Repetitive, exhausting, and sluggishly paced. I enjoyed it anyway.
Posted Aug 29, 2021
25
B
Werewolves Within (2021)
Moving swiftly through darkened scenery, drawing blood through menace that's silly and bloody, it seems both cheap and mandatory to call this Knives In.
Posted Aug 29, 2021
26
C+
Beckett (2021)
There is a point in Beckett where you really expect there to be a three-armed man.
Posted Aug 18, 2021
27
C+
Holler (2021)
Just because this common American song remains relevant doesn't mean it doesn't need some new lyrics.
Posted Aug 16, 2021
28
B+
The Suicide Squad (2021)
This movie is a lot, and a lot of it rules.
Posted Aug 6, 2021
29
D+
Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021)
Should've just been a cereal released exclusively at a theme park.
Posted Aug 6, 2021
30
A-
Bo Burnham: Inside (2021)
The year's best album, and a must-watch pandemic musical comedy.
Posted Jun 22, 2021
31
Friends: The Reunion (2021)
Emitted the vibe of people who feel like everyone should be grateful they at last came down from their cloud to grace us with superficial nostalgia.
Posted Jun 1, 2021
32
B+
We Are Your Friends (2015)
Assures that fighting uncertainty with action is the closest thing there is to hope.
Posted Jun 1, 2021
33
C
Sightless (2020)
There's suspension of disbelief, and there's far-fetched nonsense.
Posted Jan 21, 2021
34
C
Promising Young Woman (2020)
Just because the subject is important doesn't mean the movie's good.
Posted Dec 23, 2020
35
A
Spontaneous (2020)
I'm blown away that this strange, difficult movie exists and so deftly accomplishes the inherent hope and fear of 21st century America. Overlooked and amazing.
Posted Dec 19, 2020
36
A-
Rewind (2020)
An unshakeable portrait of sexual abuse's impact on a family, history as the source of explanations, and personality being at the mercy of experience and trauma.
Posted Dec 19, 2020
37
A-
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020)
Forget the abysmal Soul; this is the heart of music, and the experience that drives it.
Posted Dec 19, 2020
38
B+
The Invisible Man (2020)
Blends some of the year's best cinematography and special effects with a gasp-inducing story of abuse. Crisp and menacing.
Posted Dec 19, 2020
39
B+
Kajillionaire (2020)
Delivers several quintessentially July-ian scenes of astounding, unique power.
Posted Dec 19, 2020
40
D
Soul (2020)
Offensively implies -- in this year of all years -- that those who don't survive near-death experiences pass away because of a lack of inspiration or determination.
Posted Dec 11, 2020
41
D-
Friendsgiving (2020)
Fauci recommends staying six miles away from Friendsgiving.
Posted Oct 23, 2020
42
B
Shithouse (2020)
A portrait of raw, evolved sensitivity, tackling an emotional late bloomer in a way that is never ironic or played for laughs (but that can still be pointedly funny).
Posted Oct 16, 2020
43
D-
Hubie Halloween (2020)
We are at a point where a lot of people are embracing cruelty. Meanness disguised as comedy is cinematic gaslighting. And I've had it.
Posted Oct 9, 2020
44
D+
Love, Guaranteed (2020)
Like spraying an empty air freshener to cover a fart, Love, Guaranteed claims to indict fraudulent presentations of romantic possibility while becoming exactly that.
Posted Sep 4, 2020
45
C+
Chemical Hearts (2020)
Reinhart knows how to play sad without just moping. While the film's only a footnote in the coming-of-age genre, she's clearly ready to graduate.
Posted Aug 21, 2020
46
B+
Banana Split (2020)
Underrated ambitious, and fun as hell.
Posted Aug 6, 2020
47
B
I Used to Go Here (2020)
The kind of movie that your brain pokes at while your heart feels it still.
Posted Jul 30, 2020
48
B
The Rental (2020)
Lean and crisp like an envelope, and just as capable of piercing the skin.
Posted Jul 24, 2020
49
D+
Palm Springs (2020)
Its phoniness feels like painting a patio blue and calling it a pool, and then being dumb enough to jump in.
Posted Jul 12, 2020
50
D-
Artemis Fowl (2020)
Reminiscent of everything and better than nothing.
Posted Jul 7, 2020