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Stephen Silver
Tomatometer-approved critic
Biography:
Stephen Silver is a film critic for Splice Today, Broad Street Review and the Film Scribes podcast. The cofounder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle and a member of the Online Film Critics Society, Stephen is the former entertainment editor of TechnologyTell.com, and his work has appeared in RogerEbert.com, Tablet, New York Press, Philly Voice, Philadelphia Magazine, Screen Rant, the Jewish Telegraph Agency and AppleInsider. Stephen lives in the Philadelphia area with his wife and two sons.
Publications:
Critics' Group:
Location:
Philadelphia
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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Just a Bit Outside: The Story of the 1982 Milwaukee Brewers (2024) |
The whole thing is a rollicking good time, featuring talking-head interviews with the team’s surprisingly long list of Hall of Famers, - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Nov 08, 2024
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My Name is Alfred Hitchcock (2022) |
It’s just incredibly dumb, featuring baffling gags like McGowan-as-Hitch talking about modern technologies that came along decades after his death. - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Nov 08, 2024
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Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery (2024) |
I can’t determine whether Hoback got this right, but I liked that the film avoids the mistake of most past documentaries about crypto - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Nov 08, 2024
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64 Days (2024) |
We know they’re not smart guys, but agreeing to be followed on camera for that length of time, while planning a massive criminal conspiracy, was one of their dumber overall moves. - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Nov 08, 2024
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America's Burning (2024) |
The conclusion: “Our nation is bitterly divided, and the only solution is for everyone in both parties to come together and do everything I want.” - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Nov 08, 2024
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The Coddling of the American Mind (2024) |
These people have a point about some things, but the backlash has been much stronger than the original movement, and the film ultimately amounts to a jeremaid against a political tendency that’s already fallen out of favor. - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Nov 08, 2024
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Black Box Diaries (2024) |
Itō proves a compelling documentary subject, as well as a very talented filmmaker. - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Nov 08, 2024
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Music by John Williams (2024) |
It’s even more of a treat that the film focuses extensively on his long friendship with Spielberg and the towering cinematic legacy of their many collaborations. - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Nov 08, 2024
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Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band (2024) |
Road Diary is part of a seemingly endless series of recent documentary projects, all on different streaming services - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Nov 08, 2024
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Heretic (2024) |
Engages with questions of theology and religious faith in a shallow, half-assed manner, while it’s also overly talky, paced oddly, and looks like crud. - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Nov 08, 2024
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Emilia Pérez (2024) |
When I first heard the premise, my reaction was that it sounds intriguing, but difficult to pull off. The filmmakers didn't pull it off. - Splice Today
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| Posted Nov 08, 2024
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No One Died: The Wing Bowl Story (2024) |
Provides a rollicking, very funny history of this only-in-Philly cultural oddity, complete with testimonials from several of the veteran competitors, - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Nov 01, 2024
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Men of War (2024) |
It’s more of what Corben does best: A seemingly too-wild-for-real-life true story, involving colorful figures and men in way over their heads, touching at least in part on the world headquarters of such things, Miami, Florida. - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Nov 01, 2024
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The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (2024) |
It’s a very inventive way to tell such a story, and it’s presented successfully. - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Nov 01, 2024
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Blitz (2024) |
It never quite finds that extra gear that the director’s best work has always had, nor does it carry much of McQueen’s signature. - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Nov 01, 2024
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Memoir of a Snail (2024) |
The film is dark and often heartbreaking but ends in a lovely payoff. - Splice Today
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| Posted Nov 01, 2024
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Anora (2024) |
Another stylized story from the margins of Americana by Sean Baker.Think of it as Pretty Woman, if the Richard Gere character had been a 21-year-old drunken idiot. - Broad Street Review
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| Posted Oct 27, 2024
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September 5 (2024) |
The film manages to keep the tension up for 90 minutes, even if you know going in exactly how it turned out. - Broad Street Review
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| Posted Oct 27, 2024
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La Cocina (2024) |
The plot is way too busy, with way too many characters to serve. - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Oct 27, 2024
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The Seed of the Sacred Fig (2024) |
It’s a fine work, one that absolutely made me wish for the Iranian regime to collapse as soon as possible. - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Oct 27, 2024
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Who by Fire (2024) |
It’s a well-crafted film, with Lesage’s camera gorgeously photographing the Quebec woods, although the running time is a bit long-winded, at 161 minutes.
- The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Oct 27, 2024
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The Room Next Door (2024) |
It feels a lot like an Almodovar film. I liked it fine, but it doesn’t quite have the go-for-broke spirit of the director’s best work, - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Oct 27, 2024
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Separated (2024) |
It’s a worthwhile film, featuring testimony by some of the people involved, although it doesn’t have quite the same oomph as the best of Morris’ work - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Oct 27, 2024
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The Last Republican (2024) |
Overall, I enjoyed the film. But the question is, how much does any of this matter? - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Oct 27, 2024
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Eephus (2024) |
Lund has assembled a fine approximation of what a Massachusetts beer league would look like, including a lot of men who are a lot older, fatter, slower and drunker than what you would think a “baseball player” is. - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Oct 27, 2024
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Nickel Boys (2024) |
This feels like a gimmick, but it’s really not- it’s a nontraditional but extremely effective way of telling this story. - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Oct 27, 2024
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The Brutalist (2024) |
Earns the ultra-long running time with great performances (especially from Brody and Pearce), a story with epic reach and scope, and lots of big ideas. - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Oct 27, 2024
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Conclave (2024) |
Gives a half-dozen great actors meaty roles as scheming cardinals, while also engaging, albeit at the surface level, with thorny questions of theology - Splice Today
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| Posted Oct 27, 2024
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Rumours (2024) |
A fantastic idea for a movie executed well, with some exceptions. - Splice Today
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| Posted Oct 27, 2024
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Saturday Night (2024) |
No, it doesn't have anything really overarching to say, nor is it particularly historically accurate. But I enjoyed it a lot. - Splice Today
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| Posted Oct 17, 2024
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The Apprentice (2024) |
There are two fine performances, but the film has nothing new or substantive to say about Trump, Cohn, their relationship, Trump’s rise, or the circumstances under which this period led to Trump’s political career. - Splice Today
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| Posted Oct 11, 2024
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Joker: Folie à Deux (2024) |
A colossal mess. It isn’t a “fascinating failure” but rather an infuriating one. - Splice Today
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| Posted Oct 11, 2024
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¡CASA BONITA MI AMOR! (2024) |
Fascinating, even if it made me question how such a restaurant with that much overhead could be economically viable. - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Oct 11, 2024
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Child Star (2024) |
Doesn’t bring much new. For one thing, most of these stories have been told many times before - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Oct 11, 2024
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Happy Clothes: A Film About Patricia Field (2023) |
The documentary about the now 85-year-old Field was way more fascinating than I expected it to be. - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Oct 11, 2024
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Look Into My Eyes (2024) |
A more honest documentary about psychics would expose them as predatory frauds who are stealing people’s money. - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Oct 11, 2024
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#Untruth: The Psychology of Trumpism (2024) |
Not especially different from just watching MSNBC for any given 90 minutes. - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Oct 11, 2024
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From Russia with Lev (2024) |
A worthwhile explanation of how the 'Russia story,' for the most part, was always true, and Giuliani and other clowns' obfuscation was nonsense. - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Oct 11, 2024
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Fly (2024) |
There's the matter of the fate of one of the subjets, which adds poignancy, as well as some ethical questions. - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Oct 11, 2024
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Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid (2024) |
While never boring, Matt Tyrnauer’s film isn’t likely to be remembered in 30 years, the way The War Room was. - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Oct 11, 2024
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We Live in Time (2024) |
The overall film is a success, thanks to a smartly structured script and winning performances from both leads - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Oct 11, 2024
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Piece By Piece (2024) |
A creative idea, and it always looks really cool, but overall it can’t overcome the usual music documentary cliches. - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Oct 11, 2024
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Eno (2024) |
What’s been created is a revealing portrait of the now 76-year-old Brian Eno and a truly inventive way of making films. - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Oct 11, 2024
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Greedy People (2024) |
Yes, this is a Coen Brothers knockoff. But as such knockoffs go, it’s not bad. - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Oct 11, 2024
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Winner (2024) |
The best of the Winner films so far, and more of a fully-formed biopic of Winner, and how she ended up where she did. - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Oct 11, 2024
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The Outrun (2024) |
A great performance is in the service of a not-so-great movie - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Oct 11, 2024
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Daaaaaali! (2023) |
If historical verisimilitude is what you’re looking for, you won’t find it here. But if it’s surrealism, you seek… - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Oct 11, 2024
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Red Rooms (2023) |
A deeply disturbing thriller that discusses the modern true-crime obsession and the unhealthy parasocial relationship many true-crime TV and podcast fans have with the genre. - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Oct 11, 2024
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Megalopolis (2024) |
Ahuge mess, with a million different things going on, actors delivering performances that don’t mesh, and big and bold ideas about the future of humanity sitting uneasily with unapologetic silliness. But I'm glad it exists. - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Sep 25, 2024
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Will & Harper (2024) |
If this sounds like a smug lecture about tolerance, that’s not what the movie is. It never loses sight that these are comedy people who spend much of the road trip trying to crack each other up. - The SS Ben Hecht
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| Posted Sep 25, 2024
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