Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes
Publications list

Showbiz 411

Showbiz 411 is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this publication only count toward the Tomatometer® when written by the following Tomatometer-approved critic(s): Leah Sydney, Roger Friedman.

Prev Next
Rating Title | Year Author Quote
4/4
Holding Liat (2025) Roger Friedman The very powerful film — eligible for an Oscar, now playing at New York’s Film Forum and starting Friday in Los Angeles — should be seen by everyone because it humanizes a horrific time that resonates even more today.
Posted Jan 15, 2026  Edit critic review
4/4
Marty Supreme (2025) Roger Friedman The bottom line is that Josh Safdie’s made an incredibly entertaining movie, full of fun, that ends on an uplifting note. Audiences won’t be able to get enough of 30 year old Chalamet
Posted Dec 02, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/4
Wicked: For Good (2025) Roger Friedman "Wicked For Good" continues the idea that The Wizard of Oz — a befuddled con man in "The Wizard of Oz" — is evil, doing Trumpian like things like caging the flying monkeys and dozens of other animals as if they were arrested immigrants.
Posted Nov 18, 2025  Edit critic review
2/4
Die My Love (2025) Roger Friedman The initial hype was that Lawrence gave an incredible performance even if the movie wasn’t worth it. . But a movie only counts if people want to see it. Otherwise, what’s the point?
Posted Nov 16, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/4
Song Sung Blue (2025) Roger Friedman Jackman and Hudson. They have lots of chemistry, and make lovely music together. With Jackman, it’s not a big surprise. Didn’t you see “The Music Man”? But Hudson — daughter of Goldie Hawn — finally gets a spotlight and uses it with grace and wit.
Posted Oct 28, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/4
In the Hand of Dante (2025) Roger Friedman This is the kind of movie we used to see from the great auteurs of the 70s like Scorsese, who is also executive producer of this film. “In the Hand of Dante” is the kind of exciting work we see infrequently now and need so much for cinema to survive.
Posted Oct 24, 2025  Edit critic review
4/4
Roofman (2025) Roger Friedman Tatum and Dunst have chemistry off the charts. Plus there’s a stellar cast put together by the legendary Bonnie Timmerman including Peter Dinklage, Ben Mendelsohn, Uzo Adaba, LaKeith Stanfield, Juno Temple, Melonie Diaz, Molly Price, and Tony Revolori.
Posted Oct 15, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/4
Is This Thing On? (2025) Roger Friedman Cooper is really a director, and he looks for moments in all of the scenes that lift what could be well trodden business into something sweet, poetic, and funny.
Posted Oct 12, 2025  Edit critic review
4/4
Jay Kelly (2025) Roger Friedman George Clooney and Adam Sandler lead a really stunning cast who never miss a beat. Baumbach, directing from a screenplay he wrote with actress Emily Mortimer, has made maybe his most accessible and embracing film, certainly since “The Meyerowitz Stories."
Posted Sep 30, 2025  Edit critic review
4/4
Garland Jeffreys: The King of In Between (2025) Roger Friedman The King of Inbetween” is a love letter...It’s about a mixed race poet from Brooklyn with the musical chops of everyone from the Rolling Stones to Goffin and King, who couldn’t bend to any genre.
Posted Sep 23, 2025  Edit critic review
4/4
One Battle After Another (2025) Roger Friedman PTA has taken the bare bones of a story about American revolutionaries in the 1970s and overhauled it completely. ...It might be Anderson’s best work ever, and it will be the heavy favorite in awards season.
Posted Sep 17, 2025  Edit critic review
4/4
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale (2025) Roger Friedman Fellowes lays it all out in a finely tuned screenplay. He imbues his characters — especially the younger ones — with enough prescience to be aware that their royal life is undergoing a seachange.
Posted Sep 09, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/4
Caught Stealing (2025) Roger Friedman It’s a violent punk comedy full of visual splendor. If you’re not too sensitive, this film is kind of a late summer relief.
Posted Aug 27, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/4
Highest 2 Lowest (2025) Roger Friedman Denzel: he’s one name now. He can do no wrong. Even with Jeffrey Wright seriously trying to pull attention as the second banana, Denzel knows to pay out his charms slowly. By the time he builds to a crescendo, you see what greatness on film can be.
Posted Aug 12, 2025  Edit critic review
1/4
Happy Gilmore 2 (2025) Roger Friedman It’s 29 years since the original. Sandler now releases his comedies on Netflix, which doesn’t give viewing numbers and no box office reports exist. He can just churn out garbage, and not worry what anyone has to say.
Posted Jul 27, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/4
The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) Roger Friedman What Shakman has pulled off is no small thing. He’s given these characters a satisfying environment that is clever and sweet and comforting while letting them lampoon their own comic book history.
Posted Jul 22, 2025  Edit critic review
4/4
Superman (2025) Roger Friedman Gunn has given the new DC Comics Superman the energy of his first “Guardians of the Galaxy” movie without the total sarcasm but still stressing profundity about the character and his self-appointed mission in life.
Posted Jul 08, 2025  Edit critic review
B+
Any Day Now (2025) Roger Friedman “Any Day Now” isn’t perfect, but when Guilfoyle gets to sing the Standells’ “Dirty Water” it’s like that moment in Belfast for Jamie Dornan. Marty is a man of many layers and Guilfoyle makes the most of his nuanced past.
Posted May 19, 2025  Edit critic review
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (2025) Roger Friedman se are continually reminded by everyone that “only Ethan” can save the world. The hero worship is anted up as high as possible. This is amazing since Ethan never eats, goes to the bathroom, or sits down. God bless him.
Posted May 14, 2025  Edit critic review
C+
Rust (2024) Roger Friedman it’s style over substance. The screenplay by Baldwin and Souza is Costner Lite for a modern western. The story is one cliche after another: hard livin’, High Noon shoot outs, barroom brawls, the local call girls, an occasional Native American.
Posted May 02, 2025  Edit critic review
B+
The Penguin Lessons (2024) Roger Friedman The extremely charming and well made film stars Steve Coogan, Jonathan Pryce, and an actual penguin. The latter may actually be up for Best Supporting Actor.
Posted Mar 29, 2025  Edit critic review
4/4
The Alto Knights (2025) Roger Friedman Bottom line: Levinson and co have made what we now call “a real movie,” worth go to see in a movie theater. That’s kind of a relief after going through this Oscar season.
Posted Mar 19, 2025  Edit critic review
2/4
The Electric State (2025) Roger Friedman When they [the actors] speak you can actually see the gears turning as the actors try to figure what they’re saying.
Posted Mar 15, 2025  Edit critic review
4/4
A Complete Unknown (2024) Roger Friedman Chalamet could have come off as an impersonator doing an “SNL” sketch. Instead, he inhabits Dylan self-effacingly. Among rock and roll biopic performances this one is right up there with Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn and Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison.
Posted Dec 11, 2024  Edit critic review
4/4
Babygirl (2024) Roger Friedman “Babygirl” could take the route of “Fatal Attraction” as Samuel starts popping up on Romy’s home turf. But Reijn won’t let it go that way. She avoids cliches throughout and always has her eye on a third act.
Posted Dec 07, 2024  Edit critic review
3/4
The Outrun (2024) Roger Friedman You can’t take your eyes off of Ronan. She’s a beacon of light in a dark passage.
Posted Dec 07, 2024  Edit critic review
The Brutalist (2024) Roger Friedman It looks like a masterpiece, it’s long, and rises to enormous heights many times during its showing. You could say it’s like a piece of Brutalist architecture.
Posted Dec 07, 2024  Edit critic review
Maria (2024) Roger Friedman Jolie gives a great performance in a weird movie, but that’s okay. Her commitment to Callas — who lives on prescription drugs — is noteworthy.
Posted Dec 07, 2024  Edit critic review
4/4
A Real Pain (2024) Roger Friedman Every bit of the first pages of Eisenberg’s screenplay set up the cousins quickly. David is serious and committed to a life plan — wife, kid, job. Benjy is a mess. Culkin peels away his layers, he’s revealed as someone who demands attention and gets it.
Posted Oct 29, 2024  Edit critic review
3/4
The Last Showgirl (2024) Roger Friedman A gem of a film that has come to Toronto with no distributor. It boggles the mind but Anderson can not only act, she evinces an intelligence and sensitivity no one could have bet on.
Posted Sep 15, 2024  Edit critic review
3/4
Unstoppable (2024) Roger Friedman No one had JLo on their scorecard for Best Supporting Actress this year. But Lopez gives and stirring and gritty performance as Judy Robles the mother who overcame poverty and domestic abuse to guide the eldest of her five children to victory.
Posted Sep 15, 2024  Edit critic review
4/4
The Room Next Door (2024) Roger Friedman “Room” washes over you with a lyrical poetry and a wry sense of humor so that it’s never maudlin. The sound of it is so authentic you’re happy to go on this ride.
Posted Sep 15, 2024  Edit critic review
4/4
Conclave (2024) Roger Friedman This is filmmaking at its best, and will only be more admired and praised as the season proceeds.
Posted Sep 15, 2024  Edit critic review
3/4
Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) Roger Friedman This is the only Marvel movie this year, after a string of failures. Enjoy it like a dessert.
Posted Jul 23, 2024  Edit critic review
A Quiet Place: Day One (2024) Roger Friedman Nyongo’o gives a tour de force performance. She reminded me of Cicely Tyson, with that level of intensity and warmth.
Posted Jun 27, 2024  Edit critic review
2/4
The Bikeriders (2023) Roger Friedman The movie feels like an uncooked omelet. It's a first act, third act, and nothing in between.
Posted Jun 21, 2024  Edit critic review
4/4
The Great Lillian Hall (2024) Roger Friedman Apparently, “The Great Lillian Hall” is a last minute entry from HBO/Max in the Limited Series/TV category. After watching it tonight, I’d say nominations are in order for Jessica Lange — if not a win — as well as Rabe and Bates.
Posted Jun 03, 2024  Edit critic review
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024) Leah Sydney Epic, chaotic and over the top “Furiosa” is a mayhem filled, perfect popcorn escapist movie!
Posted May 20, 2024  Edit critic review
3/5
Unfrosted (2024) Roger Friedman When the movie’s over, slide it under your bed like a copy of MAD Magazine, and forget about it. One day it might be worth something.
Posted May 03, 2024  Edit critic review
Hit Man (2023) Leah Sydney "Hit Man" is a twisty, funny, wildly entertaining and a laugh out loud clever ride. Don't miss it!
Posted Apr 17, 2024  Edit critic review
2.5/4
Civil War (2024) Roger Friedman It’s hard to know who to root for...Why is everyone so angry? How can there be a civil war without any passion or emotion? Garland either knows and doesn’t want to say, or is leaving it up to interpretation.
Posted Apr 11, 2024  Edit critic review
Scoop (2024) Leah Sydney "SCOOP" is a mega entertaining and impressive watch. The train wreck of the Prince Andrew BBC Newsnight Interview is told masterfully, with a thrilling tone to match.
Posted Apr 06, 2024  Edit critic review
Road House (2024) Roger Friedman In the old movie, ...Swayze never looked like he worked out. He was a dancer, who maybe practiced Tai Chi. Gyllenhaal is sculpted like he’s been working with a trainer 24/7.
Posted Mar 21, 2024  Edit critic review
4/4
Irena's Vow (2023) Roger Friedman Chemistry is everything in movies, and Archambault has made a seriously gripping film that seems almost like a light-hearted fable but never flinches from the horrors of the Holocaus
Posted Feb 22, 2024  Edit critic review
3/4
The Boys in the Boat (2023) Roger Friedman What makes “The Boys in the Boat” so timely is that the American Olympic team went to Berlin at a time when Hitler was securing his power. The sight of him being defeated by Americans is very satisfying.
Posted Dec 15, 2023  Edit critic review
4/4
Maestro (2023) Roger Friedman Cooper’s movie about composer Leonard Bernstein is brutal and brilliant.
Posted Nov 03, 2023  Edit critic review
Ron Delsener Presents (2023) Roger Friedman You could think of “Ron Delsener Presents” as the flip side of Clive Davis’s “Soundtrack of Our Lives.” The two films together explain quite a bit about the record and music businesses, and how the culture rooted itself from the 60s til now.
Posted Oct 01, 2023  Edit critic review
Fair Play (2023) Leah Sydney “Fair Play” is the edgiest, coolest, sexiest and most provocative film of the year! Don't miss it!
Posted Sep 30, 2023  Edit critic review
Nyad (2023) Roger Friedman Please let’s give Annette Bening her Oscar already. She trained for this thing like a professional athlete, is never anything but authentic in her portrayal of Nyad. It’s the performance of a lifetime, after many, many others.
Posted Sep 22, 2023  Edit critic review
She Came to Me (2023) Roger Friedman “She Came to Me” doesn’t sound like it would work and no studio would ever greenlight it. But the material is enchanting. Miller is full of surprises and nuances.
Posted Sep 22, 2023  Edit critic review
Prev Next