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Cassidy Olsen
Tomatometer-approved critic
Cassidy Olsen is a Dublin-based film writer with bylines at The Boston Globe, Film Comment, Dig Boston, and other publications.
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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Charli XCX: Alone Together (2021) |
The decision to frame the making of the album through the lens of individual fans, many of whom belong to the LGBT+ community, distinguishes Alone Together from many recent pop docs, giving the film a unique, inclusive perspective. - Little White Lies
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| Posted Mar 19, 2021
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Transit (2018) |
An on-the-road tale of stolen identity that's imbued with suffocating urgency and paranoia, Transit uses many of the conventions of noir to weave a Kafkaesque narrative about how memory functions in the face of trauma and political oppression. - The Improper Bostonian
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| Posted Mar 08, 2021
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High Life (2018) |
Combining aspects of horror, sci-fi and prison drama, the film is a challenging puzzle that even the most devout Denis fans may struggle to piece together, but that doesn't negate its thrilling, terrifying viewing experience. - The Improper Bostonian
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| Posted Mar 08, 2021
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Diane (2018) |
The clear-cut narrative of the film's first half blooms into something much more oblique, at times even surreal, diving into its lead's psyche and exploring the boundaries between who we are, who we were and who we will become. - The Improper Bostonian
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| Posted Mar 08, 2021
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Teen Spirit (2018) |
Minghella is more interested in revealing a carefully cultivated aesthetic than actually saying something with his debut. - The Improper Bostonian
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| Posted Mar 08, 2021
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Captain Marvel (2019) |
This nonlinear narrative adds interest beyond your typical origin story, but it's quickly overwhelmed by the same shtick that's in all these movies-uncompelling action sequences, recycled villains and flat direction. - The Improper Bostonian
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| Posted Mar 08, 2021
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The Aftermath (2019) |
The Aftermath is far from a great film, so deeply mired in genre conventions that playing a period piece drinking game while watching would have you in an ambulance within the first half-hour. But it's much too fun to get angry about. - The Improper Bostonian
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| Posted Mar 08, 2021
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Us (2019) |
Us introduces so many ideas that it can be difficult to focus. But it's fascinating to watch those ideas emerge, contort and dance around on screen, even if they don't always come together to form a cohesive story. - The Improper Bostonian
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| Posted Mar 08, 2021
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Climax (2018) |
The result is an interesting visual experiment, but a tedious and ultimately hollow one-scenes from other Euro horrors like Possession and Suspiria aren't so much referenced as flat-out recreated, as if Climax doesn't have anything new to add. - The Improper Bostonian
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| Posted Mar 08, 2021
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How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019) |
The film's logic is often unclear, and its insistence on some rather regressive jokes about marriage, sex and body type is disappointing and pedestrian, especially when compared to the comedy of the competing Lego Movie franchise. - The Improper Bostonian
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| Posted Mar 08, 2021
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Alita: Battle Angel (2019) |
Against all odds, Alita actually works. While previous live-action manga adaptations like Death Note and Ghost in the Shell came out bloated and disingenuous, Alita: Battle Angel is fun, fiery and focused enough to know what it's about. - The Improper Bostonian
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| Posted Mar 08, 2021
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High Flying Bird (2019) |
High Flying Bird is much colder, at times even clinical, and it's more interested in the long-term work of resistance than heist plots and celebrations. - The Improper Bostonian
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| Posted Mar 08, 2021
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Velvet Buzzsaw (2019) |
While the pulpy, by-the-numbers horror of the film's second half has the potential to be something awfully fun, Velvet Buzzsaw's overwritten and unfocused script sucks the joy out of even the most ridiculous of deaths. - The Improper Bostonian
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| Posted Mar 08, 2021
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The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part (2019) |
The Second Part is still a testament to the creativity that has blessed big-budget animation and children's programming in recent years-but everything can't be awesome forever. - The Improper Bostonian
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| Posted Feb 28, 2021
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Glass (2019) |
What was likely meant to be a meditation on the genre from Shyamalan comes off more like a lecture, one that will disappoint most superhero fans and skeptics alike. - The Improper Bostonian
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| Posted Feb 28, 2021
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Serenity (2019) |
Serenity's fleeting moments of fun absurdity and over-the-top performances aren't enough to make up for the odd, uncomfortable flatness that defines the rest of the film. - The Improper Bostonian
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| Posted Feb 28, 2021
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Five Feet Apart (2019) |
This young-adult tear-jerker is bogged down by cliche and a lack of vision, buoyed only by a fresh performance from lead actress Haley Lu Richardson and an honest conversation about the loneliness of disease. - The Improper Bostonian
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| Posted Feb 28, 2021
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The Beach Bum (2019) |
Korine has grown up and mellowed out, shifting his attention inward to make perhaps the only introspective and genuinely kind film of his entire career-all the while preserving his idiosyncratic directing style and penchant for the bizarre. - The Improper Bostonian
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| Posted Feb 28, 2021
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Gloria Bell (2018) |
Almost by extension of Moore's lived-in performance, Lelio's Gloria Bell is just as subtle and rewarding as the original, granting American audiences a new look into his brand of filmmaking through a simple story brimming with the comedy of life. - The Improper Bostonian
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| Posted Feb 28, 2021
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Luciérnagas (2018) |
Ramin's easily telegraphed relationship with Guillermo is not as illuminating as his kinship with a local hotel owner. Their solidarity, and the film's refreshingly irregular structure, make Fireflies worth catching. - Dig Boston
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| Posted Feb 28, 2021
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Nomadland (2020) |
It's a staggering portrait of a community searching for grace after being ravaged by American capitalism, and Zhao's greatest work yet. - Dig Boston
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| Posted Feb 28, 2021
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Lingua Franca (2019) |
A mesmerizing, often terrifying slice of social realism from a filmmaker in complete control of the world she's depicting. - Dig Boston
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| Posted Feb 28, 2021
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The Tax Collector (2020) |
A strong supporting cast and a handful of provocatively gruesome action sequences can't save the poorly-paced movie from Ayer's worst instincts: A reliance on macho moralism, uninspired visual language, and broad, often racist stereotypes. - Dig Boston
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| Posted Feb 28, 2021
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Sound of Metal (2019) |
Sound of Metal prioritizes the emotional and physical reality of its subject above all else, combining an observational view of the deaf community with an immersive portrait of a man caught between loss and recovery. - Dig Boston
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| Posted Feb 28, 2021
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First Cow (2019) |
Here Reichardt's fundamental interest in kinship in the face of capitalism is baked into each part of the film: The bond between Cookie and King Lu is as tender and personal as it is critical to each man's survival in the great Oregon wilderness. - Dig Boston
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| Posted Feb 28, 2021
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Rebecca (2020) |
This new Rebecca, helmed by Ben Wheatley, is but an imitation of what Hollywood glamour and greatness looked like in 1940, produced by a studio that's in the midst of a long-term project to zombify that era. - Dig Boston
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| Posted Feb 28, 2021
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The Souvenir (2019) |
By carefully presenting the most transformative, difficult relationship of her youth via an oblique, matter-of-fact style, Hogg makes The Souvenir beautiful yet cold, more of an interesting psychological experiment than a successful narrative film. - Arts Fuse
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| Posted Aug 13, 2019
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