The Straits Times (Singapore) - Rotten Tomatoes

The Straits Times (Singapore)

Tomatometer-approved publication
Rating
Title/Year
Author
1
4/5
King Richard (2021)

John Lui

Credit goes to director Reinaldo Marcus Green and screenwriter Zach Baylin for resisting the urge to make Williams an emotionally nurturing modern dad.
Posted Jan 27, 2022
2
4/5
Licorice Pizza (2021)

John Lui

Licorice Pizza's dialogue, cinematography, music, performances and locations work together to create a seamless world that is both nostalgic and deeply inviting.
Posted Jan 20, 2022
3
2/5
The 355 (2022)

John Lui

There is plenty to indicate that the story's breathless Around The World In 80 Days tone is deliberately tongue-in-cheek, but the directorial mishandling makes it feel off-puttingly repetitive.
Posted Jan 13, 2022
4
4/5
The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)

John Lui

This version from director Joel Coen, however, leans into theatrical minimalism -- the colours have been bled out into monochrome, the locations are expressed in geometrically stark, barely there props, and every syllable is consciously articulated.
Posted Jan 13, 2022
5
2/5
Scream (2022)

John Lui

The whole affair feels by-the-numbers and the self-awareness makes the mediocrity more and not less obvious.
Posted Jan 13, 2022
6
5/5
Nightmare Alley (2021)

John Lui

It has been a while since a movie that hits the quality quadrants of story, cinematography, acting performance and entertainment value has come along. Nightmare Alley checks all the boxes.
Posted Jan 13, 2022
7
3/5
West Side Story (2021)

John Lui

Spielberg's gifts as a storyteller do not quite cover the movie's biggest ask -- that viewers accept that dangerous gangs work out their differences through the medium of modern dance -- but he fully captures the exuberance that made the [original] a hit.
Posted Jan 6, 2022
8
4/5
The Hand of God (È stata la mano di Dio) (2021)

John Lui

Despite its over-familiar set-ups, Sorrentino's film, based loosely on his own experiences growing up in the city of Naples in the 1980s, is an attention-grabber.
Posted Jan 6, 2022
9
4/5
The Lost Daughter (2021)

John Lui

This anxiety-triggering psychological thriller covers the side of parenting no one talks about.
Posted Jan 6, 2022
10
4/5
House of Gucci (2021)

John Lui

The film really sparks into life when Lady Gaga's Reggiani is present. The singer-actress delivers an Oscar-worthy performance as the woman whose confident charm, over time, curdles into murderous rage.
Posted Dec 30, 2021
11
3/5
The King's Man (2021)

John Lui

Credit must be given to director and co-writer Matthew Vaughn for swerving into fresh territory when he could have made this a safe, lazy rehash.
Posted Dec 30, 2021
12
3/5
Silent Night (2021)

John Lui

A film with strong comedic moments, despite a tone that feels self-consciously edgy.
Posted Dec 22, 2021
13
3/5
The Matrix Resurrections (2021)

John Lui

Ignore the windbaggery and the fun begins, because the films have always been grounded in stylish comic-book action.
Posted Dec 22, 2021
14
3/5
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

John Lui

[There's] a satisfying feeling of closure that comes from catching up with characters who feel like old friends. It's a tragedy that this feels glib and undercooked, making this project feel more like a fan convention than a movie.
Posted Dec 16, 2021
15
4/5
The French Dispatch (2021)

John Lui

Those who like [The Grand Budapest Hotel] will find plenty to like here.
Posted Dec 9, 2021
16
4/5
The Power of the Dog (2021)

John Lui

[Cumberbatch] takes the mildly unlikable part of his superhero character from Doctor Strange and cranks it up several notches. Campion believes viewers will find this portrait of an abusive leader compelling -- and she is correct.
Posted Dec 9, 2021
17
4/5
Aline (2020)

John Lui

Even if you loathe Dion's music... this touching portrait of a singular talent stands on its own as a piece of entertainment.
Posted Dec 2, 2021
18
2/5
Last Night in Soho (2021)

John Lui

Wright's love for his characters, gorgeous 1960s songs on the soundtrack, time period and locale is clear. But, as they say, he seems to have misunderstood the assignment.
Posted Nov 24, 2021
19
4/5
The Rescue (2021)

John Lui

This is where the project shines -- the nuts and bolts of the operation are laid out in layman's language, minus the emotional manipulation that plagues too many documentaries.
Posted Nov 24, 2021
20
3/5
Encanto (2021)

John Lui

It takes an extraordinary effort to make plainness interesting and this movie almost succeeds.
Posted Nov 24, 2021
21
4/5
Belle (2022)

John Lui

Hosoda's refined sense of melancholy permeates this movie.
Posted Nov 18, 2021
22
4/5
Lamb (2021)

John Lui

There is, however, something grotesquely wrong about this picture of domestic bliss. The film makes the reason known from the start, but turns the screws by letting the consequences play out in all their strangeness.
Posted Nov 18, 2021
23
3/5
Saturday Fiction (Lan xin da ju yuan) (2019)

John Lui

If one can get over Lou's art school fascination with the look of that era, there is a workable, if credulity-stretching, story that comments on the parallels between show business and the art of spying.
Posted Nov 18, 2021
24
4/5
Pig (2021)

John Lui

This movie has plenty to say about fraught family relationships and the transformative power of a good meal, but Rob's takedown of fine dining makes this story of a man looking for his pig stand out from the pack.
Posted Nov 11, 2021
25
3/5
The Battle at Lake Changjin (2021)

John Lui

The patriotic sloganeering will likely leave many viewers cold, but this Chinese movie can be enjoyed as a work of bonkers battle action.
Posted Nov 11, 2021
26
4/5
Malignant (2021)

John Lui

This is a film-maker who knows his lane, sticks to it and obviously loves his material. The result is an idiosyncratic but highly watchable mix of gore, supernatural chills and mystery.
Posted Nov 4, 2021
27
4/5
Eternals (2021)

John Lui

Zhao, an arthouse director known for her award-winning dramas that imbue working-class struggles with poetry was hired to add a touch of prestige drama to a comic-book tale. She elevates the material in some places.
Posted Nov 4, 2021
28
4/5
The Card Counter (2021)

John Lui

Structurally, it is not complicated, but Isaac's layered, often unnerving performance as the wary poker player revealing his hand sells it.
Posted Oct 28, 2021
29
2/5
Antlers (2021)

John Lui

In this unremarkable horror movie centred on demonic possession, Cooper's fondness for grounding events in Americana trips him up.
Posted Oct 28, 2021
30
3/5
Halloween Kills (2021)

John Lui

It helps that morally good characters with strong backstories are as likely as anyone to get the chop.
Posted Oct 28, 2021
31
3/5
The Courier (2020)

John Lui

There is some spycraft here, but director Dominic Cooke (On Chesil Beach, 2017) puts an emphasis on revealing the humans behind the stoic facades.
Posted Oct 28, 2021
32
3/5
The Year of the Everlasting Storm (2021)

John Lui

The premise is ridiculously simple - take out your phone and film family members as they chat - but when your family is as expressive and poetic as Panahi's, most of your job is done for you.
Posted Oct 28, 2021
33
2/5
Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021)

John Lui

Like Brock, this movie is a hybrid, except for one entity - the over-caffeinated cartoon, which strangles the life out of the human story hosting it.
Posted Oct 28, 2021
34
3/5
The Guilty (2021)

John Lui

Gyllenhaal's controlled performance makes the extra loudness bearable.
Posted Oct 28, 2021
35
4/5
Zola (2021)

John Lui

Without the anchoring presence of Paige and Keough, though, this film might have been a disposable, candy-coloured tour of Florida sleaze.
Posted Oct 28, 2021
36
3/5
Drive My Car (2021)

John Lui

Even if one is aware that this film is as much a celebration of tone and mood as it is of plot, the play-within-a-play scenes go on even after the point is made.
Posted Sep 22, 2021
37
2/5
Queenpins (2021)

John Lui

This would have worked, if not for the misfired attempt at making the co-conspirators cheekily relatable and the underdeveloped observations about life in the American suburbs.
Posted Sep 22, 2021
38
4/5
Dune (2021)

John Lui

This reviewer is eager to find out what happens next.
Posted Sep 22, 2021
39
3/5
Candyman (2021)

John Lui

Coherence suffers because of an excess of characters, dialogue and plot convolutions, but DaCosta brings home a horror movie that feels scary, insightful and surprisingly laced with more than a trace of tragedy.
Posted Sep 22, 2021
40
4/5
One Second (2020)

John Lui

The elegant, sensitive photography, writing, acting and soundtrack come together to make this simple desert tale come alive.
Posted Sep 22, 2021
41
4/5
The Green Knight (2021)

John Lui

Also lovely to behold is Dev Patel's striking performance. His Gawain might be a naive mama's boy, but the knight-to-be is also an immensely likeable and relatable narrator of this weird tale.
Posted Sep 22, 2021
42
2/5
Free Guy (2021)

John Lui

The trouble with letting a gifted comedian like Waititi take over for a minute is that he is so good, he makes the rest of the movie look average.
Posted Sep 1, 2021
43
3/5
Raging Fire (2021)

John Lui

Director Chan loads it up with plenty of critique - Hong Kong's capitalist overlords are the real villains of the piece - and visual symbolism.
Posted Sep 1, 2021
44
2/5
Old (2021)

John Lui

The film tries to pretend that its central gimmick has not been given away by its posters and trailers. It is frustrating to watch characters stumble in the dark for so long.
Posted Sep 1, 2021
45
4/5
The Night House (2021)

John Lui

Hall makes Beth, a woman forced to draw on inner reserves when faced with sinister forces, a compelling, relatable presence.
Posted Sep 1, 2021
46
3/5
Reminiscence (2021)

John Lui

The feeling of groundedness is reinforced by the reliance on grand yet practical water-based sets and effects.
Posted Sep 1, 2021
47
4/5
Misha and the Wolves (2021)

John Lui

That is all one should know before watching this especially well-crafted investigative piece, which presents its information with briskness, clarity and zero filler material.
Posted Sep 1, 2021
48
4/5
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)

John Lui

As Wenwu, Tony Leung Chiu Wai is sensitively framed by director Cretton in a way that emphasises the Hong Kong veteran's most evocative weapon: his eyes.
Posted Sep 1, 2021
49
4/5
The Suicide Squad (2021)

John Lui

There is not much that can be said about the plot without ruining its best parts, but it can be noted that this is very much writer-director James Gunn's movie.
Posted Aug 4, 2021
50
4/5
The King of Staten Island (2020)

John Lui

Despite its flaws, this semi-autobiographical drama-comedy is great at the comedy, much less so with the drama - as frequently happens with Apatow.
Posted Jul 29, 2021