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Peter Rainer
Tomatometer-approved critic
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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Widow Clicquot (2023) |
This didn't pop my cork. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Aug 03, 2024
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The Abandon (2022) |
They do a pretty good of making it cinematic within that cubistic space, and the performers are strong. It keeps your attention. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Aug 03, 2024
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Mother, Couch (2023) |
I'm not sure what's going on in this film, but it does grip you because the characters are well-defined and the acting is terrific. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Aug 03, 2024
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Faye (2024) |
Ultimately, it does give you a sense of who she is -- maybe in spite of herself. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Aug 03, 2024
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Crossing (2024) |
A movie about respect and dignity. I thought it was quite extraordinary. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Aug 03, 2024
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Twisters (2024) |
I wasn't blown away by it... It's not particularly well-written. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Aug 03, 2024
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Alien Resurrection (1997) |
What sets it somewhat apart from the others is the artfulness with which it achieves a few of its effects. The film may be schlock, but it's a higher grade than we are accustomed to from this series. - Dallas Observer
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| Posted Jul 18, 2024
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A Family Affair (2024) |
It makes no emotional sense whatsoever. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Jul 13, 2024
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Daddio (2023) |
It's very fortunate that this is a two-hander with two very photogenic actors. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Jul 13, 2024
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Green Border (2023) |
It doesn't pull any punches on all sides. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Jul 13, 2024
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Janet Planet (2023) |
It all has a unifying vision because of the connection between these two women. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Jul 13, 2024
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Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 (2024) |
There's nothing original about it... But I thought it was a serviceable Western. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Jul 13, 2024
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Robot Dreams (2023) |
I greatly admire the voluptuous, free-form lyricism of animators like Hayao Miyazaki, but what Berger does here, in its own scaled-down way, is just about as robust. He’s a voluptuary of the everyday. - Christian Science Monitor
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| Posted May 29, 2024
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Evil Does Not Exist (2023) |
It does reflect some of the struggles in modern Japan between rural and urban, but I thought it was a little bit too slow and not up to par. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted May 13, 2024
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The Idea of You (2024) |
I liked Anne Hathaway in it and found it tolerable, but basically it's a harlequin dramedy. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted May 13, 2024
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Nowhere Special (2020) |
It had all the potential to be a weepy you'd avoid, but it's really quite sensitive, powerful, and beautifully acted. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted May 13, 2024
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Wildcat (2023) |
I think [Flannery O'Connor] was a great writer, but unapproachable in some ways. I'd say that for the movie as well. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted May 13, 2024
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I Saw the TV Glow (2024) |
Almost like a thesis film, but it does have a feeling for teen angst that stayed with me afterward. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted May 13, 2024
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Unfrosted (2024) |
There's a lot of not terribly funny jokes in this film. A lot of hit and miss, sort of like a Saturday Night Live show where three-out-of-five jokes are vaguely funny and the other two aren't. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted May 13, 2024
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The Fall Guy (2024) |
I found the film to be exhaustingly loud and not terribly inspired. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted May 13, 2024
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Steel Magnolias (1989) |
Instead of a soul-sister ensemble, what we get is a screenful of ego-pumped actresses clonking each other for the spotlight. - Los Angeles Times
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| Posted May 01, 2024
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We Grown Now (2023) |
The power of this film sneaks up on you. It glides from jubilation to heartbreak without missing a beat. - Christian Science Monitor
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| Posted Apr 18, 2024
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Kim's Video (2023) |
It's a fascinating story, but the movie is a mess. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Apr 17, 2024
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Le Samouraï (1967) |
One of [Jean-Pierre Melville's] best. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Apr 17, 2024
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Scoop (2024) |
It's very crisp and effective... You obviously know where it's going, but it's effective for what it does. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Apr 17, 2024
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Farewell, Mr. Haffmann (2022) |
As Holocaust dramas go, the advantage to this film is that, ultimately, it's a psychological study. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Apr 17, 2024
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Girls State (2024) |
I wish there had been a little bit more of the get-togethers so we could hear them talk a little more informally, but it's a fascinating movie. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Apr 17, 2024
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The Beast (2023) |
It's very slow and convoluted. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Apr 17, 2024
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Monkey Man (2024) |
For what it is, it's quite effective and Patel is a credible action hero. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Apr 17, 2024
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Free Time (2023) |
It kind of floats away as you're watching it, but it has a fascinating core idea... It's promising, and I'd like to see another film by this director. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Mar 23, 2024
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Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World (2023) |
I thought Jean-Luc Godard's influence was waning in the art world, but it's back with a real force in this movie. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Mar 23, 2024
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Remembering Gene Wilder (2023) |
As a documentary, I thought it was pretty okay. It's a lovefest with a lot of usual suspects. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Mar 23, 2024
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Shirley (2024) |
It's worth seeing, and the performances are strong, but it's a little cookie cutter. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Mar 23, 2024
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Limbo (2023) |
It's a strong movie. There are very few movies that I've seen from Australia that play this story up. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Mar 23, 2024
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Immaculate (2024) |
The scare factor is there, but it does go over the line in ways that aren't particularly profitable. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Mar 23, 2024
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Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024) |
There's a lot of self-referential backslapping throughout the film, but overall the problem is that there's too much going on. It's like the filmmakers couldn't figure out what story to tell, so they just threw everything into the mix. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Mar 23, 2024
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Dune: Part Two (2024) |
The best addition is Austin Butler as the baron’s bald-pated, hypervicious nephew. It’s official: Butler no longer looks or sounds like Elvis Presley. - Christian Science Monitor
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| Posted Feb 29, 2024
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Io Capitano (2023) |
The juxtaposition here of magical realism and hard realism, jarring at first, is emotionally overpowering. - Christian Science Monitor
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| Posted Feb 23, 2024
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Float (2023) |
I didn't think they had a whole lot of chemistry, which is a problem for a movie like this. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Feb 13, 2024
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The Monk and the Gun (2023) |
It's a charming movie and it wears its ethnography lightly. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Feb 13, 2024
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Suncoast (2024) |
This is a terrific little movie and was a surprise for me... The outstanding thing in this movie is Nico Parker. She's just an outstanding actress. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Feb 13, 2024
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Out of Darkness (2022) |
It turns didactic in the end in a way that serves as a disservice... But it is powerful in the sense that it does hold you, it's scary and it's well-shot. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Feb 13, 2024
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The Taste of Things (2023) |
The film periodically risks turning into a swoony fantasy. But it is a fantasy we can favor because it’s one we all can share. - Christian Science Monitor
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| Posted Feb 13, 2024
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Perfect Days (2023) |
At its best, Perfect Days shares the same haunting sense of stillness that characterized Wenders’ best work in films such as The American Friend and Wings of Desire. - Christian Science Monitor
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| Posted Feb 06, 2024
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Badland Hunters (2024) |
If you like Concrete Utopia, this really extends the madness of that film. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Feb 01, 2024
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Behind the Haystacks (2022) |
It's very good, structured from three characters' points of view... You do get a sense of really contrasting viewpoints. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Feb 01, 2024
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Under the Fig Trees (2021) |
A marvelous little movie. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Feb 01, 2024
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Sometimes I Think About Dying (2023) |
It's a terrible title for a terrific movie... Very sharply observed. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Feb 01, 2024
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The Greatest Night in Pop (2024) |
It's almost like they knew there'd be a film eventually made of this. They have an incredible amount of footage. - FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)
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| Posted Feb 01, 2024
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Wonka (2023) |
King is above all a pleasure-giver. He wants to heighten the knockabout joys of unfettered high spirits. - Christian Science Monitor
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| Posted Dec 15, 2023
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