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Daniel Rester
Daniel Rester's reviews only count toward the Tomatometer® when published at Tomatometer-approved publication(s).
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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Beverly Hills Cop (1984) |
Beverly Hills Cop is a classic buddy cop comedy. It is essential viewing for anyone exploring Murphy’s career. The sequels, including the new one, never quite hit the highs of Brest’s original 1984 film.
- Battle Royale With Cheese
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| Posted Aug 09, 2024
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Twisters (2024) |
Twisters does not change the disaster movie formula in really any way, and it’s not quite as good as the 1996 original. But it’s a fun piece of summer escapism with a diverse cast and plenty of thrills. - Battle Royale With Cheese
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| Posted Jul 27, 2024
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Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 (2024) |
Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 is all setup and little payoff as it lays the groundwork for further chapters. It can be tedious at times during its three-hour runtime.
- Battle Royale With Cheese
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| Posted Jul 16, 2024
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Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024) |
Furiosa is a well-made prequel despite never fully feeling like its existence is necessary. Miller still provides a world to get lost in, full of meticulous and kooky touches.
- Battle Royale With Cheese
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| Posted Jun 01, 2024
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Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024) |
The action sequences are thrilling, and Ball always makes sure they are in service of progressing the plot and not just spectacle for spectacle’s sake. - Willamette Week
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| Posted May 22, 2024
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Infested (2023) |
Despite its third act, Vanicek’s film is still one of the best spider horror films ever.
- Battle Royale With Cheese
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| Posted May 09, 2024
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Rebel Moon: Part Two - The Scargiver (2024) |
The Scargiver, however, fails to drive the story into any interesting direction and becomes monotonous with its action. - Willamette Week
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| Posted May 01, 2024
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Abigail (2024) |
Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett have a great eye for horror action, but the script by Stephen Shields and Guy Busick could have used a little more tightening. - Willamette Week
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| Posted May 01, 2024
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The Wages of Fear (2024) |
This Wages of Fear is a slick but unremarkable rendering of Arnaud’s premise, mostly sacrificing tense situations with the nitro in favor of clunky flashbacks and boring shootouts. - Willamette Week
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| Posted Apr 23, 2024
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Damsel (2024) |
The second half of Damsel grows repetitive, but Brown is a physically and dramatically compelling presence—and the dragon, menacingly voiced by Shohreh Aghdashloo, is frightening enough to make Smaug’s scales tingle. - Willamette Week
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| Posted Apr 10, 2024
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Sting (2024) |
Sting works best in its final thirty minutes when it starts to feel like Alien (1979) in an apartment building. The hour leading up to that section can be tedious at times. Even so, Sting is much better than most modern spider horror films overall.
- Battle Royale With Cheese
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| Posted Apr 10, 2024
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Road House (2024) |
Liman (The Bourne Identity, Edge of Tomorrow) delivers slick imagery and welcome chuckles, but for the most part, Road House is a generic and forgettable action flick missing its predecessor’s lurid spirit. - Willamette Week
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| Posted Mar 27, 2024
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Imaginary (2024) |
Imaginary finally gains momentum in the third act once the plot gets nutty, but by then it is too little too late. Wadlow has certainly made worse horror films than Imaginary, but his latest effort is still mostly toothless and unimaginative. - Willamette Week
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| Posted Mar 20, 2024
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Lisa Frankenstein (2024) |
Lisa Frankenstein won’t hit for all audiences, but it is easy to foresee it gaining a cult following, like the 2009 Cody-scripted feminist horror flick Jennifer’s Body. - Willamette Week
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| Posted Mar 08, 2024
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Madame Web (2024) |
As Cassie defends a group of teenage girls (including Sydney Sweeney) hunted by the nefarious Ezekiel (Tahir Rahim), it becomes clear that director S.J. Clarkson’s film is mostly just another dull attempt by Sony to spotlight Spidey’s side characters. - Willamette Week
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| Posted Mar 08, 2024
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Suncoast (2024) |
A film that evokes a specific moment in time without getting too heavy-handed with the nostalgia. - Willamette Week
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| Posted Mar 06, 2024
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Orion and the Dark (2024) |
While Orion and the Dark is kiddie fare, Kaufman does manage to squeeze in some jokes aimed at adults, while director Sean Charmatz brings Kaufman's script to life in colorful ways. - Willamette Week
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| Posted Feb 07, 2024
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I.S.S. (2023) |
I.S.S. is decent enough, but Shafir and Cowperthwaite should have injected more edge into the material and taken notes from Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat. - Willamette Week
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| Posted Jan 31, 2024
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The Beekeeper (2024) |
The Beekeeper alternates between being dull and so bad that it’s good. The script by Wimmer is terrible and Ayer’s direction is perfunctory. Statham, Hutcherson, and Irons occasionally give the film some buzz though. - Battle Royale With Cheese
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| Posted Jan 20, 2024
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He Went That Way (2023) |
Darling injects some visual style into He Went That Way, but the script by Evan M. Wiener feels made up of spare parts from the Coen Brothers’ films (despite this project being based on a true story and a book). - Willamette Week
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| Posted Jan 18, 2024
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Rebel Moon: Part One - A Child of Fire (2023) |
A simple but entertaining sci-fi yarn that wears its influences on its sleeve. - Willamette Week
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| Posted Jan 04, 2024
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Ferrari (2023) |
Ferrari doesn’t try to cover too much of its central figure’s life and accomplishments, like the recent Napoleon mistakenly did. Mann instead keeps the film fixed as he explores one hellish year in Enzo’s life. The results are frequently riveting.
- Battle Royale With Cheese
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| Posted Dec 19, 2023
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American Symphony (2023) |
Heineman captures moments both sweeping and subtle in Batiste’s life; in one scene Batiste guides a room full of dozens of musicians with enthusiasm, while in the next he faces depression. - Willamette Week
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| Posted Dec 06, 2023
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Thanksgiving (2023) |
Yes, the premise is silly, but the movie knows it, winking at the audience with absurd scenarios and over-the-top gore. - Willamette Week
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| Posted Dec 02, 2023
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Napoleon (2023) |
Much of Napoleon still works thanks to Scott’s guidance. The whole may be a mess, but the individual parts are often commendable.
- Battle Royale With Cheese
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| Posted Nov 27, 2023
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Big Easy Queens (2023) |
Big Easy Queens is a mess of ideas, but it has a lot of passion behind it. The film comes alive with its musical numbers and character interactions. Even though there are moments that fall flat, Dalton’s film put a smile on my face. - Film Threat
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| Posted Nov 14, 2023
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Five Nights at Freddy's (2023) |
Lulls settle in when Mike’s backstory is belabored or when a cop shows up repeatedly just to drop exposition, but the film should serve as a macabre-cute gateway horror picture for younger audiences and fans of the franchise. - Willamette Week
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| Posted Nov 09, 2023
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Butcher's Crossing (2022) |
Butcher’s Crossing is a simple but solid Western with beautiful locations. Cage turns in another intriguing performance to go along with his recent output, even though Miller never quite pops as much as he should. - Battle Royale With Cheese
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| Posted Nov 02, 2023
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The New Hands (2023) |
There are darkly funny moments sprinkled throughout, but Scullion never quite finds his footing. - Film Threat
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| Posted Oct 30, 2023
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Dark Harvest (2023) |
Dark Harvest might trip on itself at times, but it’s still a satisfyingly spooky seasonal offering from Slade. - Willamette Week
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| Posted Oct 25, 2023
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Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) |
Killers of the Flower Moon is another triumph from one of our greatest living directors. It’s a long film and not every single choice works, but it’s still very informative and entertaining. - Battle Royale With Cheese
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| Posted Oct 23, 2023
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The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (2023) |
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial sometimes drags and some of the minor supporting players as the witnesses can be weak. The film is still a solid swan song from Friedkin though, featuring strong lead performances and passages that make audiences think - Battle Royale With Cheese
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| Posted Oct 23, 2023
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Reptile (2023) |
Eventually, Reptile becomes tangled and leaves some of its subplots as loose ends, but Singer’s film is an impressively solid and slimy procedural. - Willamette Week
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| Posted Oct 18, 2023
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The Bell Keeper (2023) |
The Bell Keeper offers an enjoyable horror ride for undemanding genre fans. - Film Threat
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| Posted Oct 16, 2023
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Flora and Son (2023) |
Surprise, surprise: The filmmaker who introduced us to Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova and can still make musical movie magic. - Willamette Week
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| Posted Oct 05, 2023
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Elevator Game (2023) |
Like an elevator itself, Elevator Game is a functional machine that provides an instantly forgettable ride. - Willamette Week
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| Posted Oct 05, 2023
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Expend4bles (2023) |
While the first three films in the series showed grit and charm as they brought together old and new action stars for B-movie mayhem, Expend4ables is an embarrassing comedown. - Willamette Week
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| Posted Oct 05, 2023
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Unfair Exchange (2022) |
The script is given flat execution by Cornett and Love, though, leaving Unfair Exchange as an unfair viewing experience. - Film Threat
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| Posted Oct 03, 2023
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Night Explorers: The Asylum (2023) |
Webster makes a smooth shift into narrative filmmaking with Night Explorers: The Asylum. The writer-director brings some surprising turns to this ghost-hunting tale, though the execution has hiccups now and then. - Film Threat
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| Posted Oct 02, 2023
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Saw X (2023) |
For the most part, Saw X is a satisfying change of pace for the series. It is nowhere near as great as the original 2004 film, which was so surprising and fresh in its day, but it is the best of the sequels we have gotten. - Battle Royale With Cheese
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| Posted Oct 01, 2023
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El Conde (2023) |
Yes, El Conde leans on narration often and has a muddled final stretch, but it’s Larraín at his most original and darkly amusing. - Willamette Week
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| Posted Sep 28, 2023
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A Day and a Half (2023) |
[A] banal hostage thriller. - Willamette Week
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| Posted Sep 15, 2023
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Bad Things (2023) |
Although it gets points for representation, acting and a beautiful piano score by Jason Falkner, the film is a bit of a mess. - Willamette Week
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| Posted Aug 31, 2023
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Oppenheimer (2023) |
Oppenheimer is a long film, but it never causes a sense of ennui. The subjects are both intriguing and terrifying as Nolan warns against nuclear possibilities and character assassination. - Battle Royale With Cheese
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| Posted Aug 26, 2023
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Talk to Me (2023) |
Despite its minor issues, Talk to Me is still a hell of a debut feature and an excellent Australian horror picture. Wilde is absolutely terrific in it as Mia and the Philippous inject new ideas into ancient formulas. - Battle Royale With Cheese
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| Posted Aug 26, 2023
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Blue Beetle (2023) |
Blue Beetle is one of the last films in the soon-to-be-defunct DC Extended Universe... It’s too late to salvage the series, but Soto deserves credit for creating one of the more charming entries in a mixed-bad franchise. - Willamette Week
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| Posted Aug 24, 2023
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Heart of Stone (2023) |
Heart of Stone starts out decently enough with a big action sequence at a ski resort, but the script goes nowhere new as Stone hops from one exotic location to the next while chases and explosions are thrown in. - Willamette Week
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| Posted Aug 18, 2023
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Insidious: The Red Door (2023) |
Though Wilson is working with a bland script, he does show some promise as a director as he gets what juice he can out of the material. - Battle Royale With Cheese
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| Posted Jul 19, 2023
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Quicksand (2023) |
Quicksand does provide some minor enjoyment with unintentional laughs (some involving a snake), but most of the time the film is alternately boring and annoying. - Willamette Week
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| Posted Jul 19, 2023
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Extraction 2 (2023) |
Extraction 2 doesn’t quite match the quality of the John Wick and The Raid franchises, but it does an admirable job of trying to emulate them. - Willamette Week
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| Posted Jun 28, 2023
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