>
Piers Marchant
Tomatometer-approved critic
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Anatomy of a Fall (2023) |
It's the director's commitment to eschew many of the trappings of its form that makes the film so resonant. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Jan 06, 2024
|
|
|
|
Napoleon (2023) |
For all the film's refusal to canonize its protagonist, it doesn't have terribly much to offer beyond its mocking portrayal of the former general, and the peppering in of expansive battle sequences in between. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Nov 27, 2023
|
|
|
|
The Exorcist: Believer (2023) |
The film's reasonably creepy first act laboriously sets up what might have been something good and jarring, only for the script to become a mishmash of barely considered ideas that mostly end up as demonic-hued piffle. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Oct 06, 2023
|
|
|
|
Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story (2023) |
The film goes down relatively smoothly, albeit blunt as a mallet to the skull, even as it never lets us forget for a second the corporation behind it all. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Aug 19, 2023
|
|
|
|
The Gullspång Miracle (2023) |
It doesn't solve any crimes, but it certainly offers a lot about human nature and our ability to cram the round peg of belief through the narrow square space of reality. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Jun 30, 2023
|
|
|
|
One Night with Adela (2023) |
Creating an atmosphere of dank dread is an accomplishment, but this one won't stay with you very long. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Jun 30, 2023
|
|
|
|
Rather (2023) |
Follows the greatest hits format, but hopscotches around between archived news clips from different eras, contemporary interviews with Rather and some of his professional associates, to produce an encapsulation of his life that feels properly vetted. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Jun 30, 2023
|
|
|
|
Asteroid City (2023) |
To be certain, there is still a lot to savor for Anderson fans, but with this film, he has reached a new level of complexity that might have plunged his already teetering emotional ratio into much less accessible territory. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Jun 23, 2023
|
|
|
|
Past Lives (2023) |
In Song's impossibly adept debut, she's able to find balance and harmony in the chaos of an ever-surging society. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Jun 23, 2023
|
|
|
|
The Blackening (2022) |
The movie is a pip, a bracing rush of originality that gives one hope for the oncoming summer deluge. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Jun 16, 2023
|
|
|
|
Elemental (2023) |
A film that maintains a sloppy grasp of its own basic mechanics, en route to a well-worn story that feels laden down with its own attempts at Deeper Meaning. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Jun 16, 2023
|
|
|
|
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) |
The combination of art and story produce an extraordinarily entertaining spectacle. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Jun 02, 2023
|
|
|
|
Fast X (2023) |
Dom -- and the film -- are so relentless with the notion of whatever family means, it all begins to feel like so much sentimentalist drivel, a colorfully patterned carpet designed to distract you from all the people losing money at the slot machines. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted May 19, 2023
|
|
|
|
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) |
This "Guardians" doesn't come with the same verve and moxie as the first two, but there is, at least, a sense of growth. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted May 05, 2023
|
|
|
|
Beau Is Afraid (2023) |
It's not a film about all the things that actually happen as much as it's a film about the feelings these events conjure up in us, the way they stir and poke at our own subconscious' terrors. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Apr 28, 2023
|
|
|
|
Chevalier (2022) |
It favors quick resolution and dramatic encapsulation to depth, a treatment that hardly does justice to Bologne. For a man who once bested no less than Mozart in musical combat, it's hard not to feel he deserves better. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Apr 21, 2023
|
|
|
|
Air (2023) |
[Air] at least seems to understand exactly what it is: an amusing time capsule, steeped in the irony that we all know just how pivotally successful this venture eventually becomes - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Apr 07, 2023
|
|
|
|
John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023) |
The film feels a good deal less inspired than in some of the series’ previous efforts. Instead, we get a sort of greatest hits medley, most of which feels pretty played out long before we finally reach the final, final, final confrontation. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Mar 24, 2023
|
|
|
|
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania (2023) |
Quantumania is a lifeless, mirthless CGI saturnalia that dispenses almost entirely with the emotional core of its characters. In its place, Peyton Reed and his production team have resorted to the worst sort of empty spectacle filmmaking. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Mar 03, 2023
|
|
|
|
Skinamarink (2022) |
I don't expect such a peculiar film will be for everyone, but for those of us still stuck with a potent sense of childhood dread, it's a sort of horrific revelation. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Feb 10, 2023
|
|
|
|
You Hurt My Feelings (2023) |
Collectively, these exquisitely rendered moments begin to form a much greater whole, creating a sense of the world for [Nicole Holofcener's] characters that somehow expands far beyond what we actually see of them. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Feb 10, 2023
|
|
|
|
Eileen (2023) |
Not everything works precisely, especially when the film takes its unexpected turn, but much of the groundwork is excellent, allowing it a wider than usual sort of berth. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Feb 10, 2023
|
|
|
|
Cat Person (2023) |
It moves from figurative to literal, in a way that actually reduces the tension, letting the audience off the hook, essentially, and dulling its resonance. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Feb 10, 2023
|
|
|
|
Magazine Dreams (2023) |
Watching the film is a bit like viewing a man barely holding onto a steel girder high off the ground, losing his grip finger by agonizing finger. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Feb 03, 2023
|
|
|
|
Fair Play (2023) |
Domont's film is about as pitiless as many of its characters, putting toxic masculinity under an unflinching microscope. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Feb 03, 2023
|
|
|
|
Infinity Pool (2023) |
A pretty chilling and clearcut condemnation of not just the super-rich, but also the human condition at large. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Feb 03, 2023
|
|
|
|
Knock at the Cabin (2023) |
Since the film is so bereft at portraying anything that feels genuine or realistic, the film loses any verite-type bite, and again galumphs into a kind of cartoonland, where the vast majority of the director's work ultimately resides. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Feb 03, 2023
|
|
|
|
Missing (2023) |
As a storytelling device, it turns out our desktops can be surprisingly engaging, at least the way this franchise works it. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Jan 27, 2023
|
|
|
|
Shayda (2023) |
It's not groundbreaking, exactly, but as a testament to female empowerment in a culture deadset against such movements, it does reverberate. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Jan 27, 2023
|
|
|
|
Space: The Longest Goodbye (2023) |
No easy answers or solutions, but Mizrahy's film asks important and intriguing questions about the physical cost of such a mission. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Jan 27, 2023
|
|
|
|
The Pod Generation (2023) |
The film looks terrific and Clarke and Ejiofor do fine work together, but Barthes, whose previous film, an adaptation of Madame Bovary that came out almost a decade ago, seems content to craft a social satire without much actual story attached to it. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Jan 27, 2023
|
|
|
|
Sometimes I Think About Dying (2023) |
It doesn't turn overly dramatic, to its credit, but it's not exactly earth-shattering either: It's the kind of film that turns a very small pebble into a subtle, gradual sort of ripple. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Jan 27, 2023
|
|
|
|
Broker (2022) |
It's all well-done, with a kind of rollicking energy (never quite dipping into farce, but presenting a world in which most people seem basically decent and generous in nature), but it doesn't hit the more transcendent notes of some of his best work. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Jan 26, 2023
|
|
|
|
The Son (2022) |
Whiny, manipulative dreck from Florian Zeller, the director of the vastly superior The Father, this melodrama goes from middling slow burn to bubbling boil over in short order. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Jan 26, 2023
|
|
|
|
Babylon (2022) |
It's all too much, and too predictable to rise up as transcendentally as Chazelle clearly hopes it will. It's a lot of time, effort, and money to bring us a story that has already happened countless times before. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Dec 27, 2022
|
|
|
|
The Fabelmans (2022) |
You can feel Spielberg struggle to make sure everyone is treated fairly but, then, if the divorce was so even-handed and well-received, why bother making a film about it in the first place? - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Nov 29, 2022
|
|
|
|
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022) |
While it might not have quite the richly satisfying subtext of the original, that sense of nearly perfect coherency, there is still a tremendous amount of fun to be had. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Nov 29, 2022
|
|
|
|
The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) |
McDonagh might well have set himself up with a considerably complex challenge, but -- as one critic who was decidedly not a fan of "Billboards" -- I'd have to say, in this case, he's more than met his mark. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Nov 04, 2022
|
|
|
|
The Good Nurse (2022) |
Lindholm's film is soberly effective, if dramatically tamped down. That kind of focused severity limits the emotional register for Chastain and Redmayne to a degree, but it also encourages the pair of powerhouses to internalize their performances. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Oct 28, 2022
|
|
|
|
Tár (2022) |
The reward for this approach is as rich as buttercream. Carrying nearly every frame of the film from stem to stern, Blanchett is absolutely brilliant, riveting in her portrayal of a woman empowered to rewrite her own history. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Oct 28, 2022
|
|
|
|
Black Adam (2022) |
There are moments for DC aficionados to thrill and enough of Johnson's comic timing to keep the film from being total dreck, but there's not much to see here you haven't already endured many times before. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Oct 21, 2022
|
|
|
|
Catherine Called Birdy (2022) |
So much of the film is propelled by the effervescent Ramsey, with her fetching underbite and genuinely mischievous, toothy smile, any story shortcomings get pasted over with a dollop of mud and whinnying sort of giggle. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Oct 14, 2022
|
|
|
|
Amsterdam (2022) |
With its overblown stylings, and wavy, melodramatic tone, it's as if we're watching the feature debut of Max Fischer, the precocious teenager from Wes Anderson's "Rushmore." That's not intended as a compliment. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Oct 07, 2022
|
|
|
|
Sanctuary (2022) |
The script, from Micah Bloomberg, is sharp and salty as a broken pretzel rod; and the soundtrack, from composer Ariel Marx, ranging from atonal blurts, to driving low-end strings, connects all the disparate pieces perfectly. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Sep 30, 2022
|
|
|
|
The Eternal Daughter (2022) |
There is, of course, a point to all this subterfuge and apprehension, having to do with memory, and the creation of art, among other things, but it's largely a film of mood and ambience, at which Hogg has proved to be almost eerily adept. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Sep 30, 2022
|
|
|
|
Triangle of Sadness (2022) |
Östlund mostly dispenses with subtlety in favor of a raucous sort of precision, setting up his gilded pins for the inevitable bowling ball hurtling at them. One imagines it won the top prize at Cannes for its raw audacity as much as anything else. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Sep 30, 2022
|
|
|
|
Blonde (2022) |
[Director Andrew Dominik] has always been an inventive visual stylist. Along with his extremely talented cinematographer, Chayse Irvin, and a fantastic crew... has created a reverent, emotionally vibrant palette from which to paint his damning portrait. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Sep 30, 2022
|
|
|
|
Aftersun (2022) |
Wells' extraordinary film shows just enough without telling us anything directly, an incredibly potent way to register grief and loss, and to display how much we will still never know about the people we love dearest. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Sep 16, 2022
|
|
|
|
The Whale (2022) |
Even if it is often despite the script's more frilly flourishes, it offers a substantial emotional payload. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Sep 16, 2022
|
|
|
|
Bros (2022) |
Following many of the standard sorts of rom-com hurdles, it plays along predictably well-worn grooves. But it also has many clever satiric touches and enough of Eichner's clever pop-culture gags to keep the engine humming. - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Read More
| Posted Sep 16, 2022
|