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Erik Anderson
Tomatometer-approved critic
Publications:
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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Maria (2024) |
After Jackie and Spencer, Maria beautifully concludes Pablo Larraín’s exquisite trilogy with the hand of a true maestro, giving Angelina Jolie the performance of her career and La Callas the diva send off she deserves. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Sep 05, 2024
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Twisters (2024) |
There’s something else missing from Twisters; a spark. While so much of the new film takes notes from the first, the friction and chemistry between Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton was a driving force and an underlying motivation. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Jul 17, 2024
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Inside Out 2 (2024) |
While still mining some pitch perfect humor and laughs (the ‘Sarchasm’ is probably the film’s best pun), the film curiously shies away from going too dark. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Jun 12, 2024
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Dìdi (2024) |
Nestled somewhere between Eighth Grade, the Oscar-nominated doc Minding the Gap and PEN15, Dìdi (弟弟) hits all the right notes of the AIM age, My Space and Motorola Razr phones for its 2008 Bay Area-set story. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Jan 29, 2024
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In the Summers (2024) |
In the Summers owes a bit to Moonlight and Aftersun in its storytelling but carves out its own path in a way that spells a bright future for Lacorazza. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Jan 29, 2024
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A Real Pain (2024) |
It’s among the most brittle and beautiful work of Eisenberg’s career. Spectacular work. I know it’s only the end of January but I don’t hesitate to say that I think A Real Pain will remain one of the best films of the year. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Jan 29, 2024
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Thelma (2024) |
June Squibb is absolutely winning as Thelma, full of grit and vulnerability in this gem of a film and Margolin directs with the energy of an action movie that keeps its 97 minute run time full speed ahead. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Jan 25, 2024
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Ponyboi (2024) |
...a unique take on the crime thriller, an exciting perspective and one that balances farce with heart in mostly the right measures. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Jan 25, 2024
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Love Me (2024) |
That [they] are voiced by Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun are as good as you can get but they end up being one of the few saving graces of the film, a largely unoriginal and lethargic mishmash of WALL-E, Her, Good Night Oppy and the SIMs. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Jan 25, 2024
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Wonka (2023) |
Wonka is full of charm and Chalamet is an absolute delight here. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Dec 04, 2023
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Memory (2023) |
[Michel Franco] lets the performances do the emotional heavy lifting while never letting the narrative feel exploitative – and it really pays off. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Sep 17, 2023
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Solo (2023) |
Félix Maritaud – who’s also on a roll thanks to films like Sauvage and BPM – plays the charming yet destructive Olivier with utter precision. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Sep 16, 2023
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Woman of the Hour (2023) |
Woman of the Hour is truly about...how hard it is to navigate a never-ending dark tunnel of inequality and abuse and how women’s everyday existence is often an act of courage, rebellion, and resilience. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Sep 15, 2023
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The Teachers' Lounge (2023) |
The film’s framing device is brilliant, taking a Farhadi-esque approach where one small incident, which might seem trivial at first, results in a series of consequences that truly reveal the faults of a school and social system. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Sep 14, 2023
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All of Us Strangers (2023) |
Like 45 Years, Haigh knows how to close a film and the final shot of All of Us Strangers will be a part of me forever. Haigh has created a timeless masterpiece and one of the best films of the year. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Sep 06, 2023
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Rustin (2023) |
[Colman Domingo] It’s a career-defining performance, one of tender vulnerability and clashing anger that feels built on a passion of hundreds of years. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Sep 02, 2023
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Bros (2022) |
It’s in the spaces in between where Eichner and Stoller’s script excels. They stick with the classic structure of the rom-com but color just outside the lines to make the universal very specific, giving us one of the best films of the year. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Sep 19, 2022
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Stowaway (2021) |
It's not often you can find genuine human drama wrapped inside a shiny, slickly-produced, special-effects-laden sci-fi thriller, but you have it in Stowaway - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Apr 23, 2021
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Mank (2020) |
...the film's final moments will give cineastes and film historians a lot to talk about as we witness the face-off we've been waiting for and a final salvo that takes aim and fires a deadly shot. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Nov 06, 2020
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Osmosis Jones (2001) |
...one of the smartest, funniest and most eye-popping films of the year. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Apr 07, 2020
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Donnie Darko (2001) |
It's a dense, complicated and amazing amalgam of genres and influences that really defies any constraints. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Apr 07, 2020
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The Deep End (2001) |
One of the great things about films like this is that it understands the circumstances it puts its unlikely heroine in are outlandish and yet rooted in deep truth and realistic actions by its characters. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Apr 07, 2020
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Lantana (2001) |
Lantana is an embarrassment of riches. Its beautiful storytelling as its thread of conflict and insinuation are used to expose unsettling truths. A real gem of rich performances that should not be overlooked. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Apr 07, 2020
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Series 7 (2001) |
A bleak dead-end at our potential cultural void, it's nevertheless a scary and hilarious film. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Apr 07, 2020
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L.I.E. (2001) |
The performances across the board are superb, with Cox giving one of the very best of the year. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Apr 07, 2020
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Little Joe (2019) |
With this strange but intriguing concept, Hausner makes a strong commentary on materialism and technology's impact on human life. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Jan 19, 2020
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Transit (2018) |
An interesting, if not completely satisfying, drama. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Dec 20, 2019
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Queen & Slim (2019) |
[Queen & Slim] joins films like Fruitvale Station and Blindspotting as important stories that must be told and must be told from and by the Black perspective. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Nov 16, 2019
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Just Mercy (2019) |
Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx shine in the true story of a man wrongfully imprisoned and the civil rights hero who fights for him in Destin Daniel Cretton's new film. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Sep 07, 2019
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Waves (2019) |
[Waves is] a stunning examination of the dynamics of an upper-middle class African-American family, teenage relationships, trauma and forgiveness. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Sep 03, 2019
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Judy (2019) |
Zellweger knows a bit about being chewed up and spit out by the Hollywood machine and the gaggle of media that want to focus on every flaw, every alleged surgery or unsuccessful marriage. It's part of what makes her the perfect choice to play Garland. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Sep 01, 2019
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Ford v Ferrari (2019) |
James Mangold's thrilling race car drama stars Matt Damon as Carroll Shelby and Christian Bale as Ken Miles, two racing legends at the center of a duel for vehicular dominance that steps on the gas and never lets up. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Aug 31, 2019
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Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché (2018) |
[Pamela] Green has created a crucial piece of the puzzle of the origin of cinema as we know it and a seminal documentary on film history. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Aug 26, 2019
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The Lion King (2019) |
But nothing will prepare you for just how funny, how exactly right Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen's takes on the meerkat Timon and warthog Pumbaa are. They are a match made in comedy heaven and one of film's all-time great comedy duos. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Jul 11, 2019
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The Farewell (2019) |
It's not always easy to create a story that is both acutely and culturally specific while also being thematically universal. Often, adherence to one over the other loses the nuances of both. It's to Wang's credit that her highwire act is a triumph. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Jul 10, 2019
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Rocketman (2019) |
Taron Egerton is absolutely electric as Elton John in Dexter Fletcher's imaginative, brash and dazzling musical biopic of the legendary musician. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted May 23, 2019
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Aladdin (2019) |
The film's signature song, the Oscar-winning "Whole New World," fares a bit better and Massoud and Scott sing their hearts out to great affect. Overall, Aladdin has flashes of greatness but ends up an overlong retread. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted May 22, 2019
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Booksmart (2019) |
Just when you think you didn't need another 'last night of high school before graduation' movie, Olivia Wilde's Booksmart comes along and bursts through as one the best, funniest and most heartwarming of them ever made. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted May 18, 2019
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Vice (2018) |
If you're able to stay for the truly awful mid-credits sequence though - one that I can only describe as masturbating with your own tears as lube - then you can revel in a level of diabolical cynicism that's directed at everyone. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Dec 17, 2018
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Mary Queen of Scots (2018) |
At the center [of Mary Queen of Scots] are fiery women fighting for their rightful place, queer representation and diverse casting that elevate this period drama and raises the bar for future ones. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Nov 17, 2018
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On the Basis of Sex (2018) |
For On the Basis of Sex, which shrinks in the shadow of the successful documentary RBG from last spring, missing details and character motivations become crucial missteps in a film that is still probably guaranteed to be an inspirational crowdpleaser. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Nov 10, 2018
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Suspiria (2018) |
Luca Guadagnino has concocted a witches' brew of primal sisterhood that isn't for the faint of heart or patience. It's a visually and morally challenging film that will leave you pondering its existence and meaning long after you've left the theater. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Oct 26, 2018
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Boy Erased (2018) |
Joel Edgerton has crafted a compassionate family drama with extraordinary performances from Lucas Hedges, Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Sep 18, 2018
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If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) |
Barry Jenkins follows up his Oscar-winning Moonlight with another masterpiece; a lush, visual love story and the first ever film adaptation of James Baldwin's work - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Sep 18, 2018
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Widows (2018) |
Debicki's Alice gets the most to do after Davis (who utterly dominates this film, in the best and Viola Davis-y way) and I hope this is her big breakthrough. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Sep 17, 2018
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Green Book (2018) |
The success of these moments, of the entire film, is the chemistry between Mortensen and Ali and whether it's high comedy or serious drama, theirs is as perfect as can be. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Sep 17, 2018
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Beautiful Boy (2018) |
Timothée Chalamet doesn't miss a beat... with another astonishing performance, navigating emotional highs and lows like a seasoned veteran. It never feels like a calculation or a manipulation. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Sep 13, 2018
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Destroyer (2018) |
Even if the structure doesn't always sync up and the script tends to overcomplicate itself, it's Kidman's go for broke performance, Kusama's fearless direction and a superbly thrilling third act that make this high-octane neo-noir impossible to ignore. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Sep 12, 2018
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A Star Is Born (2018) |
This may be the fourth version of this film and story but it forges its own path, on its own terms and is vibrant, personal and raw in its examination of celebrity, romance and the cost of fame, love and, addiction. - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Sep 07, 2018
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Whitney (2018) |
As one interviewee says early in the film, "When you don't deal with secrets, they never go away." - AwardsWatch
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| Posted Aug 27, 2018
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