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Sojourners

Sojourners is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this publication only count toward the Tomatometer® when written by the following Tomatometer-approved critic(s): Abby Olcese, Joe George, Zachary Lee.

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Rating Title | Year Author Quote
4/5
The Monkey (2025) Joe George Despite its occasional supernatural nods ... The Monkey isn’t interested in showing anyone how to live. It’s more interested in pitch-black comedy and gross-out gags.
Posted Mar 05, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. (2022) Joe George As much as the Childs insist their lives are blessed by God's favor, pointing to their giant house and luxury clothes, Honk for Jesus constantly shows their suffering.
Posted Jul 20, 2024  Edit critic review
4.5/5
Tár (2022) Joe George By placing the credits at the start of the film, Tár insists that oft-ignored people matter — even if Lydia pretends that they do not.
Posted Jul 20, 2024  Edit critic review
4.5/5
Asteroid City (2023) Joe George With its over-saturated pastel desert landscapes and impeccably blocked compositions, Asteroid City foregrounds inauthenticity.
Posted Jul 20, 2024  Edit critic review
3/5
A Haunting in Venice (2023) Joe George [W]hen Branagh plays up the despair lurking inside Poirot, A Haunting in Venice illustrates the battle between doubt and faith
Posted Jul 20, 2024  Edit critic review
5/5
Perfect Days (2023) Joe George Unlike most modern cinema, the theme of Perfect Days isn’t delivered via conflict.
Posted Jul 20, 2024  Edit critic review
One Life (2023) Abby Olcese Winton’s determination was indeed amazing, but as the drama shows, his efforts depended on many people who did what they could to help -- many drops in an ocean of good.
Posted May 18, 2024  Edit critic review
God & Country (2024) Abby Olcese It’s commendable that the film takes this problem seriously and practically, providing a sense of hope for those of us given to despair.
Posted Feb 27, 2024  Edit critic review
The Zone of Interest (2023) Abby Olcese The Zone of Interest shatters the compartmentalization that allows us to say “we would never do that” and “it can’t happen here.”
Posted Feb 09, 2024  Edit critic review
The Devil Conspiracy (2022) Abby Olcese The Devil Conspiracy, like many of its faith-based cinematic relatives, is a disappointingly bland take on a subject that has many unexplored possibilities.
Posted Jan 28, 2023  Edit critic review
The Mole Agent (2020) Abby Olcese One of the most important things art -- especially narrative art -- can do is inspire us to show empathy for others... Chilean filmmaker Maite Alberdi's documentary The Mole Agent is a heartwarming testament to this type of kindness.
Posted Oct 23, 2020  Edit critic review
The Farewell (2019) Abby Olcese Rogert Ebert once described the movies as "a machine that generates empathy." The Farewell lovingly lives into that metaphor.
Posted Aug 01, 2019  Edit critic review
The Hate U Give (2018) Abby Olcese The drama in The Hate U Give is always necessarily heightened, but with the film at over two hours long, it can sometimes feel exhausting. But it's hard to criticize the film for this, because that exhaustion is part of the point.
Posted Oct 16, 2018  Edit critic review
The Front Runner (2018) Abby Olcese The Front Runner remains something of an enigma. In the quest to retain the humanity of the characters on all sides of the conflict, Reitman ends up with a film that's not just dramatically inert, but is unclear about what it wants to say.
Posted Sep 19, 2018  Edit critic review
Monsters and Men (2018) Abby Olcese The ideas the film explores are worthy, but the execution is disappointing. Monsters and Men feels unfinished... The film contains the start of an important conversation, but the credits roll on an incomplete thought.
Posted Sep 13, 2018  Edit critic review
Eighth Grade (2018) Abby Olcese Crucially, Kayla's emotions are never treated as a joke. Burnham has immense respect for his character's fragility and earnestness, as does Fisher, who brings an uncanny naturalism to her performance.
Posted Jul 31, 2018  Edit critic review
Sorry to Bother You (2018) Abby Olcese Sorry to Bother You is wild and over-the-top. But like all good satire, the paths it takes are still recognizable. Boots Riley is always pointing the finger right back at us.
Posted Jul 16, 2018  Edit critic review
Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018) Abby Olcese Refreshing in its affirmation that Rogers really was the compassionate man we grew up watching. It also proves to be a necessary film in its presentation of love as a practice, one requiring intentionality and constant growth.
Posted Jun 25, 2018  Edit critic review
Tully (2018) Abby Olcese An offbeat ode to motherhood.
Posted May 09, 2018  Edit critic review
Avengers: Infinity War (2018) Abby Olcese Infinity War is a sobering reminder that even the biggest, strongest communities sometimes face adversity that results in sacrifice, uncertainty, and loss.
Posted May 02, 2018  Edit critic review
I Feel Pretty (2018) Abby Olcese I Feel Pretty, is such a letdown. It's an idea with plenty of opportunities to go to interesting places. Instead, it stays in a spot that feels clichéd, dated, and even narrow-minded.
Posted Apr 25, 2018  Edit critic review
Come Sunday (2018) Abby Olcese Sometimes, the film tells us, there are no good answers. All we can do is sit with our thoughts and do our best to love each other well.
Posted Apr 19, 2018  Edit critic review
Ready Player One (2018) Abby Olcese But more often than not, it falls into the same trap, preferring to throw reference after reference at the screen without exploring why the sources of those references resonate with the characters, or the audience.
Posted Apr 04, 2018  Edit critic review
Love, Simon (2018) Abby Olcese This is a film that believes everyone deserves a sweet, sappy movie love story, especially people who are often denied them.
Posted Mar 21, 2018  Edit critic review
A Wrinkle in Time (2018) Abby Olcese A Wrinkle in Time may not be as strong as it could be, but it is well-intentioned, admirably earnest, and gloriously weird in ways that can still connect with audiences. I
Posted Mar 09, 2018  Edit critic review
Black Panther (2018) Abby Olcese Director Ryan Coogler's addition to the Marvel stable is a gorgeously realized experience.
Posted Feb 16, 2018  Edit critic review
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) Abby Olcese Rian Johnson's wildly fun and thoughtful entry into the Star Wars canon finds its heroes at a precarious turning point.
Posted Dec 14, 2017  Edit critic review
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) Abby Olcese It's worth noting that McDormand's performance in the role is one of the best this year; she's raw, grounded, and wickedly funny.
Posted Dec 06, 2017  Edit critic review
Coco (2017) Abby Olcese Coco is a fun, touching movie, one that takes joy in the culture it depicts and invites viewers from other cultures along for the party, in ways both respectful and educational.
Posted Nov 29, 2017  Edit critic review
The Square (2017) Abby Olcese [Director Ruben] Östlund's skewering of passive modern culture and our instinct for self-preservation is both relentless and instantly relatable.
Posted Nov 16, 2017  Edit critic review
Murder on the Orient Express (2017) Abby Olcese Kenneth Branagh's new big-screen adaptation of Christie's novel is a diverting, gorgeous-looking film that struggles a little at showing the humbling effect that dilemma has on the great detective.
Posted Nov 16, 2017  Edit critic review
Thor: Ragnarok (2017) Abby Olcese Director Taika Waititi's Marvel debut bursts at the seams with creative pleasure that communicates the same sense of fun that was clearly present on set.
Posted Nov 03, 2017  Edit critic review
Suburbicon (2017) Abby Olcese It's a setup ripe with allegorical potential, but while Suburbicon is built on good bones, it's an unfocused mess that wastes its opportunity.
Posted Nov 02, 2017  Edit critic review
Blade Runner 2049 (2017) Abby Olcese Liberation doesn't have quite the same effect when it's done by white people, for other white people.
Posted Oct 06, 2017  Edit critic review
mother! (2017) Abby Olcese The way to respond to a challenging movie like this, and to those who share its worldview, isn't to dismiss them - mother! is far too ambitious and interesting a film for that.
Posted Sep 27, 2017  Edit critic review
Whose Streets? (2017) Abby Olcese Sabaah Folayan and Damon Davis' film is an unflinching account of the ordinary people who found themselves caught up in the fight for justice following [Michael] Brown's death.
Posted Sep 22, 2017  Edit critic review
Step (2017) Abby Olcese However, there is much about director Amanda Lipitz's movie that feels surface level, a trait that feels particularly troubling when her subjects represent issues (namely poverty and systemic racism) that deserve a much deeper dive than they get here.
Posted Aug 17, 2017  Edit critic review
The Big Sick (2017) Abby Olcese The Big Sick is a comedy with real meat and meaning, something that's been lacking from the genre in recent years.
Posted Jul 13, 2017  Edit critic review
The Journey (2016) Abby Olcese Despite occasional plodding, The Journey's overall message is more important now than ever.
Posted Jul 11, 2017  Edit critic review
Baby Driver (2017) Abby Olcese It's less a movie than a feature-length exercise in editing and sound design. While that makes for a thrilling picture, the overall result is a movie that feels empty.
Posted Jun 27, 2017  Edit critic review
La La Land (2016) Abby Olcese While (the film has) an optimistic, positive message, it loses potency by showing just how little room there is for real life - with all its compromises and challenges - in the dreams of its main characters.
Posted Jun 27, 2017  Edit critic review
The Invitation (2015) Abby Olcese The Invitation presents audiences with characters trying to move on from terrible experiences. It also presents two different ways of approaching the healing process, and the failing of a community to support those in pain.
Posted Jun 27, 2017  Edit critic review
Hacksaw Ridge (2016) Abby Olcese The effect of seeing that character's (Doss) unwavering, steadfast faith instead of the inner struggles it must have taken to get to that point misses a big opportunity for teaching and discussion.
Posted Jun 27, 2017  Edit critic review
Hidden Figures (2016) Abby Olcese It's mostly fine but largely forgettable, with a script that suffers from flat characters and which treats its story less like the powerful drama it is and more like a straight line evenly peppered with plot points.
Posted Jun 26, 2017  Edit critic review
A United Kingdom (2016) Abby Olcese Unfortunately, the film does its subjects little credit, suffering from directing and writing choices that keep it from achieving its potential.
Posted Jun 26, 2017  Edit critic review
I Am Not Your Negro (2016) Abby Olcese I Am Not Your Negro is a fitting tribute and introduction to James Baldwin - stylish, to-the-point, and full of truths as timely now as they were when Baldwin first put them into writing. It is not to be missed.
Posted Jun 26, 2017  Edit critic review
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) Abby Olcese There's a certain weight here that hasn't necessarily been present in most of the other films. And that, plus the film's talented, diverse cast, makes Rogue One a truly unique twist on the familiar format.
Posted Jun 26, 2017  Edit critic review
Moana (2016) Abby Olcese The film's qualities go beyond mere positive, escapist fun. Moana's emphatically non-traditional, non-whitewashed take on Disney's princess films make it one of the most important movies of 2016.
Posted Jun 26, 2017  Edit critic review
Arrival (2016) Abby Olcese The level of intelligence and respect the film has for its audience is refreshing. Its moments of emotion (and there are whoppers) feel earned, not forced.
Posted Jun 26, 2017  Edit critic review
The Birth of a Nation (2016) Abby Olcese As art, its message is timely, its harsh images necessary, and its emotion undeniable.
Posted Jun 26, 2017  Edit critic review
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