Phoenix Magazine - Rotten Tomatoes

Phoenix Magazine

Phoenix Magazine is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this publication only count toward the Tomatometer when written by the following Tomatometer-approved critic(s): M.V. Moorhead
Rating
Title/Year
Author
1
In A Different Key (2021)

M.V. Moorhead

A wide-ranging yet intimate documentary about autism.
Posted Jun 24, 2021
2
Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020)

M.V. Moorhead

It's as assured a piece of filmmaking as you're likely to see, and an unsentimental, effective tacit reproach to the difficulty of accessing this procedure.
Posted Apr 6, 2020
3
Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)

M.V. Moorhead

It isn't quite awful... But it's pretty formulaic stuff.
Posted Apr 6, 2020
4
Emma. (2020)

M.V. Moorhead

[Director Autumn de Wilde] gets interesting work out of the cast, particularly Anya Taylor-Joy... but also an emotional punch to Emma's grief over her mortifying casual insult to Miss Bates (the excellent Miranda Hart).
Posted Mar 30, 2020
5
King Kong (1933)

M.V. Moorhead

Allow me to mildly suggest that you don't miss it.
Posted Mar 13, 2020
6
The Burnt Orange Heresy (2020)

M.V. Moorhead

Working from a script by Scott B. Smith, director Giuseppe Capotondi shows a confident, unhurried touch, and gets strong work from the small cast.
Posted Mar 13, 2020
7
The Hunt (2020)

M.V. Moorhead

It's really a self-pitying right-wing fantasy of victimization at the hands of liberals, featuring plenty of extremely gory violence, much of it against women.
Posted Mar 13, 2020
8
First Cow (2020)

M.V. Moorhead

It may be [director Kelly Reichardt's] best yet, formidable as both Wendy and Lucy and Meek's Cutoff were.
Posted Mar 13, 2020
9
Extra Ordinary (2020)

M.V. Moorhead

[A] charming Irish romantic comedy.
Posted Mar 6, 2020
10
Greed (2020)

M.V. Moorhead

[Steve Coogan's] a rand comic villain, and his vigor, along with the glamor and opulence of the Greek setting, helps to balance Winterbottom's insistent, almost Brechtian didacticism about the sources of Western one-percent wealth.
Posted Mar 6, 2020
11
Marked Men (1940)

M.V. Moorhead

This low-budget black-and-white crime drama, also called Desert Escape, has bad dialogue and corny plot twists, but it's worth catching... for several reasons.
Posted Mar 3, 2020
12
The Invisible Man (2020)

M.V. Moorhead

Overall, this is the most sustained exercise in Hitchcock-style suspense in some years.
Posted Mar 2, 2020
13
The Brother from Another Planet (1984)

M.V. Moorhead

[A] charmingly low-tech sci-fi indie.
Posted Feb 18, 2020
14
Spartacus (1960)

M.V. Moorhead

The movie is full of wonderful character players who have fun with Trumbo's ripe dialogue.
Posted Feb 18, 2020
15
Gretel & Hansel (2020)

M.V. Moorhead

Stretching the Grimm tale out to feature length required both some padding and a deliberate pace, but there's lots of macabre imagination on display in the picture, and a bit of heart to balance the darkness.
Posted Feb 7, 2020
16
The Traitor (2020)

M.V. Moorhead

We're asked to enter into sympathy with people we find morally horrendous, and perhaps to see in them a reflection on our own moral blind spots. [Pierfrancesco] Favino is so quietly commanding that he makes this happen.
Posted Feb 7, 2020
17
Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020)

M.V. Moorhead

I enjoyed this wacky, blackly slapstick girls' night out.
Posted Feb 7, 2020
18
Quezon's Game (2020)

M.V. Moorhead

Quezon's Game is a compelling labor of love, in part because it's a thrilling story, but also because of the leading man.
Posted Jan 31, 2020
19
The Gentlemen (2020)

M.V. Moorhead

In the end, of course, this is just another spin on the story of the veteran criminal who wants to make one last big score before he retires. But Ritchie's flashy style and discursive humor keep it lively.
Posted Jan 24, 2020
20
Bad Boys for Life (2020)

M.V. Moorhead

The two stars are still amusing with each other - [Martin] Lawrence's aggrieved kvetching bounces off of [Will] Smith's facile suavity.
Posted Jan 21, 2020
21
Dolittle (2020)

M.V. Moorhead

At its center is the authentically great actor Downey, bringing his one-of-a-kind persona of nervy nattering mixed with sad-eyed gravitas. Dolittle is a mess, but the star is always worth watching.
Posted Jan 21, 2020
22
Reality Queen! (2020)

M.V. Moorhead

I can't deny it made me laugh, but nothing in it seemed more imbecilic than "real" reality TV.
Posted Jan 10, 2020
23
Midnight Family (2019)

M.V. Moorhead

[An] astounding film.
Posted Jan 10, 2020
24
1917 (2020)

M.V. Moorhead

1917, shot by the great Roger Deakins, rambles around from open countryside to narrow trenches and tunnels with supple effortlessness.
Posted Jan 10, 2020
25
Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent (2017)

M.V. Moorhead

Other than in the broadest possible terms, I'm not sure we're given a clear sense of what makes Tower tick... But the movie is still watchable and amusing.
Posted Jan 7, 2020
26
Tyrus (2015)

M.V. Moorhead

As cinema, Tyrus is a polished, straightforward biography in the American Masters style, but two factors render it fascinating. First, there's the highly likable title character... Second, there's the chance to see his paintings.
Posted Jan 7, 2020
27
Saturday Church (2018)

M.V. Moorhead

The two styles -- naturalistic drama and extravagant musical -- coexist a little awkwardly in the same movie, but the result is heartfelt and original.
Posted Jan 7, 2020
28
Hippie Family Values (2018)

M.V. Moorhead

Running just over an hour, Hippie Family Values is a sweet, somewhat melancholy portrait of a community.
Posted Jan 7, 2020
29
The Bookshop (2018)

M.V. Moorhead

The Spanish director, Isabel Coixet, doesn't let the movie go cutesy; she gives it a lowering, sober atmosphere. And the actors give it bite.
Posted Jan 7, 2020
30
Operation Finale (2018)

M.V. Moorhead

Operation Finale, skillfully directed by Chris Weitz, and driven forward by another superb score by Alexander Desplat, is crisp and absorbing and satisfying, both as a thriller and as a moral drama.
Posted Jan 7, 2020
31
The Nun (2018)

M.V. Moorhead

The pleasant surprise about this very silly movie: how old-school hokey those chills are. The scare scenes and even the style of the acting wouldn't seem at all out of place in a Mario Bava Italian horror picture of the '60s.
Posted Jan 7, 2020
32
We the Animals (2018)

M.V. Moorhead

Without a trace of luridness, We the Animals manages to be heartbreaking and harrowing. What saves it from being depressing is the exhilaration of Zagar's direction, and the unbridled energy and unstudied authenticity of the cast.
Posted Jan 7, 2020
33
To Dust (2019)

M.V. Moorhead

Genuinely original and unpredictable. And while it's a meditation, eccentric but warm and often moving, on mortality and grief, the movie is also, once you adjust to its quiet, unforced rhythm, deeply funny.
Posted Jan 7, 2020
34
Bullitt County (2018)

M.V. Moorhead

McCracken's direction is expert, down to some flashy split-screen razzle-dazzle, and the performances... are volatile yet engaging.
Posted Jan 7, 2020
35
Impulso (2018)

M.V. Moorhead

Impulso is highly enjoyable in its own right.
Posted Jan 6, 2020
36
The Wedding Guest (2019)

M.V. Moorhead

The story feels realistic in a way that this sort of noir material doesn't, always... They're human, and I rooted for them.
Posted Jan 6, 2020
37
Ruben Brandt, Collector (2019)

M.V. Moorhead

Ruben Brandt, Collector is weird and cool and witty and seductive; I can't remember when an animated feature had this level of visual appeal for me.
Posted Jan 6, 2020
38
Wonder Park (2019)

M.V. Moorhead

It's a sweet story for a kiddie matinee on a slow afternoon; there are many funny moments, but it's maybe a little on the corny side.
Posted Jan 6, 2020
39
The Wind (2019)

M.V. Moorhead

For me, at least, this period shocker was spooky as crap.
Posted Jan 6, 2020
40
Storm Boy (2019)

M.V. Moorhead

It has the visual wonder and strangeness of a Carroll Ballard movie like The Black Stallion or Fly Away Home. And the skeptical-looking pelicans are surprisingly endearing.
Posted Jan 6, 2020
41
The Public (2019)

M.V. Moorhead

The canvas is broad, with lots of supporting characters and subplots, and while the writing is heavy-handed at times in the Golden Age of Television style, Estevez imbues the movie with a large and generous heart.
Posted Jan 6, 2020
42
Shazam! (2019)

M.V. Moorhead

[Shazam] was the hero of a movie serial back in the '40s, and a silly Saturday-morning show in the '70s, but this is his first full-on feature treatment, and it's a lot of fun.
Posted Jan 6, 2020
43
Little (2019)

M.V. Moorhead

The script, by Tracy Oliver and director Tina Golden, is episodic and scattershot, but the movie works anyway, as a showcase for Marsai Martin of TV's Black-ish, who gives a spectacular turn as the little version of our heroine.
Posted Jan 6, 2020
44
Sunset (Napszállta) (2019)

M.V. Moorhead

It's doubtful that any actress has had this many close-up shots since Falconetti in The Passion of Joan of Arc. But [Juli Jakab] makes the most of them, creating a deeply admirable heroine.
Posted Jan 6, 2020
45
High Life (2019)

M.V. Moorhead

It has the moody flavor of some "existential" '70s-era sci-fi dramas like Tarkovsky's Solaris or Douglas Trumbull's Silent Running, but with a more overtly sexual tone and with lovely, old-school special effects. I just wish it was more fun.
Posted Jan 6, 2020
46
Wild Nights with Emily (2019)

M.V. Moorhead

Even with the revelations about Dickinson's affairs, of course, it's hard to say whether her private life was truly this jolly. But the movie makes you hope it was.
Posted Jan 6, 2020
47
Stuck (2019)

M.V. Moorhead

The performers attack the tunes with vigor and bounce off of each other agreeably.
Posted Jan 6, 2020
48
Family (2019)

M.V. Moorhead

The revelation, however, is Taylor Schilling... She's hilarious, infuriating and likable all at once.
Posted Jan 6, 2020
49
Avengers: Endgame (2019)

M.V. Moorhead

I'm not naïve enough to suppose that anything I can say here is likely to change anyone's plans about going or not going, so I'll simply say that I enjoyed this silly but thrilling superhero free-for-all.
Posted Jan 6, 2020
50
The White Crow (2019)

M.V. Moorhead

In the last half-hour, at just about the point that you're as sick of Nureyev as his KGB chaperones must have been, the movie takes off irresistibly as a thriller.
Posted Jan 6, 2020