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Rossiter Drake
Rossiter Drake's reviews only count toward the Tomatometer® when published at Tomatometer-approved publication(s).
San Francisco, CA
Movies reviews only
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Tucker & Dale vs Evil (2010) |
It thrives on Tucker and Dale's winning personalities, and the chemistry so evident in the shrewd coupling of Tudyk and Labine, veteran performers who rarely enjoy top billing but make the most of it here. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Sep 30, 2011
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Moneyball (2011) |
I'm still wondering how people indifferent to baseball will respond to the story of the 2002 Oakland Athletics and their smartest-kid-in-the-sandbox general manager. But I will say this - the casting is strong, and the human drama has universal appeal. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Sep 22, 2011
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Final Destination 5 (2011) |
Do the kills measure up? They do, in a fashion as laughably over-the-top as you'd expect. The movie is as thrilling as a roller-coaster ride (another instrument of death, put to sinister use in Final Destination 3) and about as profound. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Aug 12, 2011
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The Guard (2011) |
It belongs to Gleeson, whose thickly accented growl lends a lyrical quality to McDonagh's wordplay in one of the year's funniest and most spirited offerings. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Aug 11, 2011
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Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) |
The runaway success of the franchise, which has long raised its middle finger at our collective intelligence, would seem to suggest otherwise, but if 'Dark of the Moon' is the final chapter of this inane trilogy, it is also the least insulting. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Jun 29, 2011
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Cars 2 (2011) |
Without the warm-hearted innocence Mater brings to screenwriter Ben Queen's madcap espionage adventure, Lasseter's sequel would be little more than a superior technical exercise, visually impressive but so slight as to seem superfluous. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Jun 25, 2011
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Beautiful Boy (2010) |
'Boy,' for all its exploitation of the sensational, is a tense affair that challenges us with questions we may never have thought to ask. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Jun 16, 2011
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Super 8 (2011) |
None of this is exactly fresh - '8' pays homage to venerable sci-fi clichés and revisits territory Spielberg has covered before. But what's so refreshing is how effortlessly entertaining it turns out to be. The plot's engine practically purrs. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Jun 09, 2011
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X-Men: First Class (2011) |
It reinvigorates the series with a sense of purpose and direction. It's exactly what the professor ordered to make the heroes of 'X-Men' seem super again. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Jun 06, 2011
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Hobo With a Shotgun (2011) |
There's nothing here that you haven't seen before in Lloyd Kaufman's Troma pictures and the grindhouse films of the '70s, save for perhaps better production values and an impressively grizzled Rutger Hauer. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted May 08, 2011
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Ceremony (2010) |
[Angarano] and Thurman have scenes of such honesty and raw emotional energy that it's almost possible to forgive "Ceremony" its sometimes sluggish pacing and its peevish protagonist. Almost, but not quite. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Apr 22, 2011
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Scream 4 (2011) |
It's exactly what a 'Scream' sequel should be - fun, feisty and, after 11 years out of sight and mind, both refreshed and refreshing. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Apr 14, 2011
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The Mechanic (2011) |
If Bronson moved to the cadence of a death march, a drawn-out requiem for an executioner losing his taste for the work, Statham's hurtles toward a climax that's less diabolical but more satisfying. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Jan 28, 2011
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The Company Men (2010) |
'Men' is neither as gritty nor as unsentimental as David Mamet's more uncompromising assessment of office politics, 'Glengarry Glen Ross,' but that doesn't mean there is no place for Wells' vision, which has its own resonance. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Jan 24, 2011
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True Grit (2010) |
A character actor rather than a Hollywood monument, Bridges so thoroughly cloaks himself in Cogburn's darkness that he threatens to disappear altogether. The same could never be said of Wayne, but the point of 'True Grit' is not to invite comparisons. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Dec 22, 2010
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Tron: Legacy (2010) |
Buoyed by its story, sometimes convoluted but hard to resist, 'Legacy' is a worthy sequel, both in its fantastic look and its admirable sense of wonder. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Dec 18, 2010
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Faster (2010) |
Johnson, as WWE fans quickly learned, has charisma to spare. In person, he is sharp-witted, funny and effortlessly engaging. Those qualities translate easily to the screen, but 'Faster' never gives him a chance. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Nov 26, 2010
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Tangled (2010) |
Seventy years after Walt Disney first sent Rapunzel's story into development comes Tangled, his empire's 50th animated feature and, since Pixar ushered the studio into the digital age with Toy Story, one of its most rewarding. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Nov 26, 2010
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010) |
Readers expecting everything plus the kitchen sink - or, in this case, seven magical Horcruxes - should not be disappointed. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Nov 19, 2010
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Skyline (2010) |
If 'Skyline' never seems interested in pushing the envelope, it at least begins with enough promise to suggest a competent thriller. No such luck. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Nov 14, 2010
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Monsters (2010) |
'Monsters' is no 'Jaws,' but the comparison is apt on one level: Edwards, like Spielberg, manages to sustain tension even in the absence of early or frequent payoffs. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Nov 07, 2010
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American: The Bill Hicks Story (2010) |
It is more a celebration than a lament, and the emotions it evokes are as potent as the force behind Hicks' most inspired comedy. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Oct 26, 2010
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South of the Border (2009) |
The film is one-sided, but it's a side rarely seen by U.S. audiences, most of whom get their news from sources including FOX, CNN and even The New York Times. (Stone skewers the lot.) - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Oct 26, 2010
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Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010) |
In hindsight, Stone should have left Gekko behind bars, a casualty of his own hubris and shark-like appetites, but here he is, back on the New York streets he once owned, in 'Money Never Sleeps.' And to what end? - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Oct 01, 2010
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The Social Network (2010) |
In some ways Fincher, who has portrayed serial killers both fictional ('Seven') and real ('Zodiac'), has never presented a character as remorselessly vicious as the implacable cyberpunk. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Sep 30, 2010
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The Romantics (2010) |
If only we had a better feel for these people, some reason to care as much as they clearly do, who's to say how satisfying 'The Romantics' might have been? - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Sep 24, 2010
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The Romantics (2010) |
If only we had a better feel for these people, some reason to care as much as they clearly do, who's to say how satisfying 'The Romantics' might have been? - 7x7
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| Posted Sep 24, 2010
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The Town (2010) |
'The Town' holds its own with crisp, ferocious dialogue and a disquieting aura of danger, most palpable when Jeremy Renner is on screen. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Sep 16, 2010
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Machete (2010) |
Rodriguez emphasizes style over substance, but the sheer audacity of his vision - the energy, the inventiveness, the extremes to which he's willing to take his gruesome sight gags - is his salvation. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Sep 02, 2010
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The Last Exorcism (2010) |
Fabian never makes a false move. Neither does Stamm, who understands that what's left off-screen is often more terrifying than what's on it. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Aug 26, 2010
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Piranha (2010) |
The violence is gory, gratuitous and convincingly staged, a credit to effects duo Howard Berger and Greg Nicotero, whose carnage looks impressively (or nauseatingly) real, even if the boobs are not. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Aug 24, 2010
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Piranha (2010) |
The violence is gory, gratuitous and convincingly staged, a credit to effects duo Howard Berger and Greg Nicotero, whose carnage looks impressively (or nauseatingly) real, even if the boobs are not. - 7x7
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| Posted Aug 24, 2010
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The Oxford Murders (2008) |
Hurt sells the silliness almost convincingly, but even from such a skillful pitchman it comes out sounding, finally, like junk. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Aug 13, 2010
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The Oxford Murders (2008) |
Hurt sells the silliness almost convincingly, but even from such a skillful pitchman it comes out sounding, finally, like junk. - 7x7
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| Posted Aug 13, 2010
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The Expendables (2010) |
The audiences for whom 'The Expendables' represents a wish belatedly fulfilled aren't expecting Shakespeare, but Stallone, once an Oscar-nominated screenwriter, is strictly on autopilot here. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Aug 12, 2010
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Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) |
It is a movie fueled by the lunatic inspiration of the very best games and cartoons, awash with stylistic flourishes and exhilarating, animé-inspired skirmishes that reflect the director's passion for both. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Aug 12, 2010
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Get Low (2009) |
The moment of revelation might have seemed hokey, but Duvall doesn't allow it. Instead, he makes the scene triumphant, guiding 'Get Low' to its final destination with the steadiest of hands. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Aug 06, 2010
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The Other Guys (2010) |
Do the jokes pay off? Mostly, yes, despite the movie's occasional sluggishness. McKay and Chris Henchy's script, aided by Ferrell's flights of inspired absurdity, works best when it takes the genre's best-known clichés and stands them on their head. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Aug 05, 2010
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Repo Men (2010) |
If only Sapochnik and Garcia had stuck more to their ideas than their guns, they'd really have something. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Aug 03, 2010
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Repo Men (2010) |
If only Sapochnik and Garcia had stuck more to their ideas than their guns, they'd really have something. - 7x7
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| Posted Aug 03, 2010
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Dinner for Schmucks (2010) |
The fault isn't Carell's. It lies with a script that fails to understand its characters and hypocritically decries their boorishness while unself-consciously parading its own - a comedy of bad manners that insults nothing except our intelligence. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Jul 29, 2010
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Dinner for Schmucks (2010) |
The fault isn't Carell's. It lies with a script that fails to understand its characters and hypocritically decries their boorishness while unself-consciously parading its own - a comedy of bad manners that insults nothing except our intelligence. - 7x7
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| Posted Jul 29, 2010
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Salt (2010) |
To Jolie's credit, she is a convincing action star. She can't, however, take the movie's reheated world tensions and make them seem fresh. Long after James Bond settled his score with the Russians, 'Salt' picks up his fallen torch and wields it clumsily. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Jul 25, 2010
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Inception (2010) |
Inspired at times by movie classics, modern and otherwise - 'Dark City' and 'Minority Report,' but also 'Metropolis,' 'Citizen Kane' and the best 007 adventures - it earns its place in the same conversation, a tribute to Nolan's ingenuity. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Jul 15, 2010
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The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010) |
By punctuating Bella's hand-wringing histrionics with moments of comic relief, Slade strikes a pleasing balance that future 'Twilight' directors might well find instructive. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Jun 30, 2010
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The Karate Kid (2010) |
Does the new version surpass its predecessor in any way? No. It takes the same story and feeds it back to us more or less intact, with only a few superficial alterations. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted Jun 13, 2010
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MacGruber (2010) |
MacGruber is clearly incompetent, so we expect his dim-witted schemes to fall flat. That they do, in stunningly predictable fashion, speaks to the movie's lack of imagination. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted May 23, 2010
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Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) |
What transpires during the course of 100 beautifully deranged minutes is lewd, crude and delightfully funny. Trying to make sense of it would be missing the point. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted May 23, 2010
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Clash of the Titans (2010) |
It has no aspirations to be anything more than the popcorn movie it is, and for those amiably disposed to the genre, that should be enough. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted May 23, 2010
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Robin Hood (2010) |
Like his weapons of choice, Robin Hood needs to soar; Scott has anchored him in a needlessly self-important tale that only rarely achieves the lightness of flight. - San Francisco Examiner
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| Posted May 14, 2010
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