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G. Allen Johnson
G. Allen Johnson'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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Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger (2024) |
Personal insights aside, the highlights of “Made in England” are the exquisite, intoxicating images from the films themselves. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Aug 07, 2024
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Sing Sing (2023) |
The real-life members of the troupe like Maclin, mixed amongst accomplished actors such as San Francisco theater veterans Colman Domingo and Sean San José, make a winning combination for the best film I’ve seen this year. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Jul 31, 2024
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Touch (2024) |
Although it is astonishingly predictable, “Touch” is absorbing thanks to Kormákur’s commitment to authenticity. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Jul 10, 2024
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MaXXXine (2024) |
“MaXXXine,” clearly boasting a higher budget, stands as a bloody valentine to Hollywood. It’s a cesspool, all right, but it’s our cesspool, he seems to say, and guess what? Every once in a while true art comes out of it. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Jul 03, 2024
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Fancy Dance (2023) |
A finely crafted drama about a woman and her niece who are unwilling to let the hopelessness of her situation define her. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Jun 27, 2024
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A Quiet Place: Day One (2024) |
“A Quiet Place: Day One,” which has very little story, the film actually operates as a character study as well, but with barely any dialogue, it makes Sarnoski’s approach harder to pull off. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Jun 27, 2024
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Songs of Earth (2023) |
Some may be put off by the slow pace of “Songs of Earth,” but think of it as a feature, not a bug. It is meditative, contemplative and transportive. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted May 29, 2024
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The Beach Boys (2024) |
“The Beach Boys” is a breezy CliffsNotes version of the band’s ups and downs and cultural relevance and should interest established fans — even if they know it all already — and younger music enthusiasts who are looking for a window in. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted May 29, 2024
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Evil Does Not Exist (2023) |
For all the beautiful scenery and Thoreau-like contemplation, “Evil Does Not Exist” stalls, then implodes. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted May 08, 2024
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Unfrosted (2024) |
Seinfeld’s over-the-top, throw-in-everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach makes for an uneven film, with some gags inspired, others groan-inducing. But its 1960s period detail and constant parade of familiar faces keeps things rolling. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted May 03, 2024
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Abigail (2024) |
It’s basically an entire movie of people sniping at each other and doing the stupid things people do in bad horror films. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Apr 18, 2024
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Housekeeping for Beginners (2023) |
Stolevski obviously wants us to sympathize with these wounded characters who have been shunted aside by a cruel society, but that’s hard to do when they are so verbally cannibalistic. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Apr 08, 2024
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Remembering Gene Wilder (2023) |
“Remembering Gene Wilder” is a pleasant retro journey for fans and an efficient introduction to a comic genius for cineasts who might not know his work. It could have been so much more. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Apr 03, 2024
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Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024) |
“Godzilla x Kong” is exactly as you’d expect it to be: a popcorn movie with special effects that are better imagined than Marvel movies, rip-roarin’ action and monsters, monsters, monsters. It does its job. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Mar 28, 2024
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Late Night with the Devil (2023) |
This is an irresistible throwback to not only old-school horror, but old-school television. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Mar 20, 2024
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Arthur the King (2024) |
“Arthur the King” is so achingly predictable, it gives one paws — err, I mean, pause. It just doesn’t have the chops. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Mar 14, 2024
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Problemista (2023) |
Torres’ story isn’t great — “Problemista” feels like a series of sketches — but his ideas are interesting, sometimes even inspired. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Mar 07, 2024
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Io Capitano (2023) |
The late film critic Roger Ebert called movies an “empathy machine,” and “Io Capitano” stands as Garrone’s plea for empathy in a debate that sorely lacks it. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Feb 22, 2024
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Perfect Days (2023) |
The story relies on Yakusho to carry this movie, and that he does. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Feb 14, 2024
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The Peasants (2023) |
The Welchmans’ visual style is eye-popping — how they did it is shown during the end credits — but to what end? - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Feb 07, 2024
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The Tiger's Apprentice (2024) |
There’s no word on whether the rest of the trilogy is being considered for adaptation, but if so, it’s off to a solid start, with plenty of room for improvement. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Feb 01, 2024
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The Promised Land (2023) |
Played by Mikkelson as Clint Eastwood without the squint, Ludvig begins to wonder if the means of achieving respect comes at the cost of losing his self-respect. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Jan 30, 2024
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The Underdoggs (2024) |
Snoop has obviously made a real-life impact in his community. Too bad he couldn’t make one in reel life as well. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Jan 25, 2024
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Anselm (2023) |
Kiefer’s legacy is told through his breathtaking work, much of it depicting desolate, bombed-out landscapes. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Jan 17, 2024
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Self Reliance (2023) |
There are many laughs in “Self Reliance,” but overall the story is somewhat predictable and peters out to an unsatisfying resolution. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Jan 10, 2024
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The Boy and the Heron (2023) |
It has a direct conduit with the mind of its creator, who happens to be a genius and one of the best to ever do it. If this is it for Miyazaki, well, what a finish. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Dec 04, 2023
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All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (2023) |
The kind of evocative, impressionistic storytelling one might find in, say, films by Terrence Malick or Andrei Tarkovsky. It is a minimalist, observational masterpiece. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Nov 22, 2023
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Wish (2023) |
Part of the problem here is Disney’s fixation with old-fashioned stories of kings and castles and princesses. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Nov 17, 2023
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Thanksgiving (2023) |
“Thanksgiving” could have been a great horror movie. Instead, it’s one of those where if you’ve seen the trailer, you’ve seen the film. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Nov 15, 2023
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Four Daughters (2023) |
Arab voices in Western cinemas are all too rare, and “Four Daughters” is one of the best films of the year... - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Nov 09, 2023
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Fingernails (2023) |
“Fingernails” is a film about the nature of relationships, yet it seems to know little about them. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Nov 01, 2023
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Radical (2023) |
“Radical” follows a predictable formula, and Derbez, a major star in Mexico whose last American projects were the Hulu film “The Valet” and the Apple TV+ series “Acapulco,” lifts the material with his typical vibrant energy. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Nov 01, 2023
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Jules (2023) |
Quon, a Hollywood stuntwoman wearing a prosthetic suit, turns in an astonishingly moving silent performance. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Oct 25, 2023
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Dicks: The Musical (2023) |
Charles is perfect for the material: Imagine “Little Shop of Horrors” as conceived by some combination of John Waters and a gay version of Russ Meyer. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Oct 05, 2023
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Flora and Son (2023) |
Resistance to this emotional, melancholic gem is futile. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Sep 29, 2023
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26.2 to Life (2022) |
The film doesn’t deny that justice must be served, and those who commit crimes must pay. Its question is: How it is paid fairly to the satisfaction of victims and their families and to the benefit of society? - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Sep 21, 2023
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Superpower (2023) |
“Superpower,” one of several documentaries about the war in Ukraine, doesn’t break any news, but Penn, a two-time Oscar-winning actor and director of several feature films, is a skilled storyteller. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Sep 18, 2023
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A Million Miles Away (2023) |
The real José Hernández seems like a fascinating guy... He deserved a better movie. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Sep 12, 2023
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The Inventor (2023) |
Oftentimes da Vinci is pleasantly lost in the cosmos of his mind, what Willy Wonka called “Pure Imagination.” The target audience of “The Inventor” will surely relate. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Sep 12, 2023
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A Haunting in Venice (2023) |
No word on whether Branagh will make any more Poirot films, but with him being featured in 33 novels, 51 short stories and two plays, here’s hoping he has a film or two left in him. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Sep 10, 2023
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My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 (2023) |
This latest installation in the “Big Fat Greek” franchise is colorful and celebratory, eager to entertain and wears its heart on its sleeve. There’s something to be said for that. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Sep 07, 2023
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The Nun II (2023) |
“The Nun II” has some interesting ideas and some thrilling sequences... - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Sep 07, 2023
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The Good Mother (2023) |
Joris-Peyrafitte can’t decide what film he is making, and as a result we’re left with a jumbled mess with a slapped together resolution that will satisfy no one. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Aug 30, 2023
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You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (2023) |
Director Sammi Cohen takes an attention-deficit disorder approach to storytelling, in which every feeling and plot twist is punctuated by a current pop song, and any hint of emotion or thoughtfulness is interrupted by a needle drop. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Aug 24, 2023
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The Hill (2023) |
It is a cinematic case of confirmation bias, designed to fulfill preexisting values and beliefs. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Aug 24, 2023
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Golda (2023) |
Mirren portrays Meir in her darkest days at the height of the 1973 Yom Kippur War with empathy and loving subtlety. It’s hard to imagine anyone doing it better, and this is territory that was once mined by Ingrid Bergman... - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Aug 23, 2023
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Bottoms (2023) |
After watching this often uproarious, sometimes sentimental high school sisterhood revenge fantasy, it’ll be hard not to talk about “Bottoms.” - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Aug 23, 2023
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Landscape with Invisible Hand (2023) |
There is much to like. - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Aug 17, 2023
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The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023) |
A game cast filled with familiar faces and an eye-popping production design by Edward Thomas keeps “The Last Voyage of the Demeter” afloat for much of its two-hour running time, but the movie is eventually scuttled by the screenplay... - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Aug 10, 2023
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Afire (2023) |
Christian Petzold is one of the greatest working filmmakers in the world today. Here’s hoping he’s nothing like Leon, the insufferable narcissistic boor of a writer at the center of his 10th feature, “Afire.” - San Francisco Chronicle
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| Posted Aug 03, 2023
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