Seattle Weekly
Seattle Weekly is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this
publication only count toward the Tomatometer when written by the following
Tomatometer-approved critic(s):
Brian Miller, Robert Horton, Sean Axmaker, Tim Appelo
Rating
Title/Year
Author
1
Million Dollar Baby (2004)
A one-man shop who even composed the muted score for his movie, Eastwood reminds us how films are best created, like Maggie's destiny in the ring, with one's own hands.
Posted Feb 19, 2019
2
Head-On (2005)
The storytelling rhythms can be a little jarring, almost like early Spike Lee, but this seems true to the disconnect of Cahit's and Sibel's lives.
Posted Feb 19, 2019
3
Twin Sisters (2005)
Stamp collectors, this is the movie for you. For the rest of us, Lotte and Anna are nice but not very interesting characters,
Posted Feb 19, 2019
4
American Beauty (1999)
The point of American Beauty isn't just watching the perfect suburban shell crack, but seeing the characters glue their own version of it back together.
Posted Feb 19, 2019
5
Shakespeare in Love (1998)
You have to know a fair amount about the life and work of William Shakespeare to truly appreciate how deeply stupid this script is.
Posted Feb 19, 2019
6
Gladiator (2000)
Gladiator certainly feels like it was written by committee and template.
Posted Feb 19, 2019
7
Chicago (2002)
It's a high-wire act energized by its stars' amazement at their own reckless effrontery, a brash blast, and an original sight in a cinema cancerous with cautious recyclings.
Posted Feb 19, 2019
8
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
As competent, affecting biopics go, Mind won't win any prizes, but you've earned yourself the right for more awards consideration, mate.
Posted Feb 19, 2019
9
3.5/4
Arctic (2019)
The simplicity of writer/director Joe Penna's approach and the magnificence of Mads Mikkelsen's acting is more than enough to make this survival tale a gripping experience.
Posted Feb 14, 2019
10
3/4
If the sequel doesn't have the nonstop zing of the first movie, it's still the kind of thing that makes you grin from beginning to end.
Posted Feb 8, 2019
11
3/4
Stan & Ollie (2019)
They re-create some classic routines, with obvious affection; these are performers who understand comedy in their bones.
Posted Jan 24, 2019
12
4/4
Cold War (Zimna wojna) (2018)
Along with the off-center black-and-white cinematography, Pawlikoski's most effective tool here is the way music provides the pulse of the story.
Posted Jan 17, 2019
13
2.5/4
Aquaman (2018)
There aren't enough drumming octopi to make this movie memorable, an observation I thought I'd never have to make.
Posted Dec 21, 2018
14
3/4
Mary Poppins Returns (2018)
Crisply executed and refreshingly old-fashioned.
Posted Dec 21, 2018
15
2.5/4
If somehow those jokes could have been squeezed into a 90-minute package instead of a 117-minute feature, maybe Spider-Verse would have more zip.
Posted Dec 14, 2018
16
3.5/4
The Favourite (2018)
Serves as a corrective to all those fluffy period movies where pretty costumes and set design function as the cinematic equivalent of a bubble bath.
Posted Dec 7, 2018
17
4/4
Roma (2018)
18
3/4
Green Book (2018)
19
2.5/4
Widows (2018)
Tries to be a lot of different things: heist thriller, feminist statement, social-issue diagnosis. That's a lot to bite off, and 129 minutes isn't enough time for proper chewing.
Posted Nov 16, 2018
20
4/4
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)
It's like a beautifully embroidered needlework laid across a gravesite.
Posted Nov 16, 2018
21
2.5/4
Outlaw King (2018)
Operates in a glum, skeptical key.
Posted Nov 9, 2018
22
1.5/4
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
Has a dutiful, respectable air about it.
Posted Nov 2, 2018
23
3/4
Halloween (2018)
The fellow who put the mask in toxic masculinity is loose again.
Posted Oct 19, 2018
24
3/4
Sadie (2018)
"Plays as a kind of dark, slightly unreal fairy tale-like a Roald Dahl yarn where the kids take things just a little too far for comfort."
Posted Oct 19, 2018
25
3/4
First Man (2018)
Even if First Man doesn't fire on all cylinders, its unusual protagonist is fascinating in his blankness; here, the right stuff is downright cold-blooded.
Posted Oct 12, 2018
26
2/4
A Star Is Born (2018)
27
3/4
Blaze (2018)
"Blaze looks and sounds great; some of its images have a sensitively chosen-yet-offhand texture that seems to spring straight out of a vintage country song."
Posted Sep 28, 2018
28
2/4
The story carries less urgency as it ticks along, frittering away its energy amid all the special effects and sight gags.
Posted Sep 21, 2018
29
3/4
Mandy (2018)
Walks a fine line between the cool and the ridiculous, and then finally erases the line.
Posted Sep 14, 2018
30
2/4
Searching (2018)
It's possible this movie might work better streamed on your own laptop, as the windows-within-windows effect gets multiplied.
Posted Aug 31, 2018
31
3.5/4
Support the Girls (2018)
Hall assumes full ownership of this warm and funny film.
Posted Aug 24, 2018
32
3/4
Puzzle (2018)
With her pinched face and tiny stature (she regularly vanishes within Agnes' sweaters and jackets), Macdonald conveys a lifetime's experience of fitting into other people's plans.
Posted Aug 17, 2018
33
3.5/4
Akhavan has executed a quietly complete takedown of an ignorant practice.
Posted Aug 10, 2018
34
2.5/4
Generation Wealth (2018)
Greenfield's argument widens so far she loses focus.
Posted Aug 3, 2018
35
3.5/4
If a scene calls for people to parachute onto a building from 30,000 feet, why not throw in a lightning storm?
Posted Jul 27, 2018
36
3/4
Ultimately, it works in large part because of a fine cast, and Van Sant's sensitive work with them.
Posted Jul 20, 2018
37
4/4
Writer/director Jim McKay is clearly gifted at capturing authentic places and faces, and that's what gives On the Seventh Day its everyday enchantment.
Posted Jul 13, 2018
38
2/4
The King (2018)
Jarecki's after the big picture, and that's part of the problem.
Posted Jul 6, 2018
39
4/4
Leave No Trace (2018)
The beautifully observed details of this heroine's journey are heartbreaking.
Posted Jun 29, 2018
40
1.5/4
If it all sounds calculated, that's how it plays, although the film is peppier than the first Jurassic World.
Posted Jun 22, 2018
41
3/4
American Animals (2018)
Instead of thinking what a lark this all is, we realize somebody is going to get hurt because of these jackasses.
Posted Jun 8, 2018
42
3/4
Beast (2018)
43
3/4
Deadpool 2 (2018)
44
3.5/4
Tully (2018)
Conceals a tender heart within an outer skin of sandpaper.
Posted May 4, 2018
45
4/4
Zama (2018)
Gorgeous, sneakily funny, and amazing to hear, with its soundtrack of buzzing insects and screeching birds.
Posted Apr 27, 2018
46
2.5/4
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Infinity War gets by with a witty first hour and the starry appeal of the cast, but the gears really grind near the finish.
Posted Apr 27, 2018
47
2.5/4
Submergence (2018)
I did like the Germanic sobriety Wenders applies to the material-you never doubt something is at stake, even if the storytelling pieces don't always pay off.
Posted Apr 13, 2018
48
3/4
Isle of Dogs (2018)
Anderson's style becomes overbearing when deployed in a precious world populated by animated talking animals.
Posted Mar 29, 2018
49
3/4
Love, Simon (2018)
As bland as vanilla pudding. But unless you're completely vanilla-phobic, the movie's unforced good feelings are easy to enjoy.
Posted Mar 23, 2018
50
3.5/4
The Death of Stalin (2018)
Comes close to perfectly balancing comedy and savagery.
Posted Mar 16, 2018