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Celluloid Dreams

Celluloid Dreams is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this publication only count toward the Tomatometer® when written by the following Tomatometer-approved critic(s): Peter Canavese.

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Rating Title | Year Author Quote
3/4
Griffin in Summer (2024) Peter Canavese A funny, heartbreaking, true-to-life indie comedy...willing to go into usually unexplored areas about our social behavior while retaining a deadpan wit.
Posted Sep 29, 2025  Edit critic review
3/4
Boys Go to Jupiter (2024) Peter Canavese A home-grown, quirky, deadpan absurdist alt-animation feature directorial debut...colorful, weird and wonderful.
Posted Aug 18, 2025  Edit critic review
2.5/4
Coup! (2023) Peter Canavese Pleasantly grandiose, but deeply cynical social satire, ultimately redeemed by its two lead performances.
Posted Nov 19, 2024  Edit critic review
3/4
I'll Be Right There (2024) Peter Canavese A charming character study about a mother's bottomless love, which is both beautiful and pathological...a fantastic showcase for Falco.
Posted Oct 07, 2024  Edit critic review
Hundreds of Beavers (2022) Peter Canavese The director needed to kill his darlings. It's a little too long, but by the end it has justified feature length, and it's funny and fun.
Posted May 22, 2024  Edit critic review
3/4
The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed (2023) Peter Canavese Plays like a Daniel Clowes graphic novel come to life. Odd and a little difficult, but it demystifies sexual kink and its strength as a comedy is that it's willing to go there.
Posted May 14, 2024  Edit critic review
3/4
Aisha (2022) Peter Canavese A humble, well-made movie about immigrant refugees.
Posted May 11, 2024  Edit critic review
2.5/4
Música (2024) Peter Canavese It brims with creativity...[but] if you get past its explosion of style...it starts to diminish rapidly.
Posted Apr 24, 2024  Edit critic review
2.5/4
Green Lantern: Beware My Power (2022) Peter Canavese A fun and exciting space action adventure in the 'Guardians of the Galaxy' mold which takes a bold and controversial twist that makes for some interesting, nuanced storytelling.
Posted Aug 14, 2022  Edit critic review
3/4
The Bob's Burgers Movie (2022) Peter Canavese A fun--and funny--movie in the continuity of the TV series, and in a blu-ray release replete with a slew of deep dive extras.
Posted Aug 14, 2022  Edit critic review
2/4
The Lost City (2022) Peter Canavese An unofficial remake of 'Romancing the Stone' with a big movie star cameo. Dull, obvious and very familiar with a script that just pokes along.
Posted Aug 14, 2022  Edit critic review
2.5/4
Mija (2022) Peter Canavese An immigration and music documentary--nice, stretched a bit thin, but what's here is interesting.
Posted Aug 13, 2022  Edit critic review
2.5/4
He Dreams of Giants (2019) Peter Canavese A respectable companion piece to "Lost In LaMancha" and a straightforward 'making of' documentary about "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote." A must-see for Terry Gilliam fans.
Posted Aug 13, 2022  Edit critic review
2/4
Luck (2022) Peter Canavese A kids movie version of the kill scenes from the "Final Destination" horror movie franchise.
Posted Aug 13, 2022  Edit critic review
3.5/4
Aftershock (2022) Peter Canavese An absolutely vital and timely documentary about the obscene maternal mortality rate in America and the systemic racism that pervades its healthcare system.
Posted Aug 11, 2022  Edit critic review
3/4
Vengeance (2022) Peter Canavese A Generation X 'Chinatown'. An ambitious, fish-out-of-water comedy, an existential mystery and a social satire of modern disconnection and the post-truth era.
Posted Aug 08, 2022  Edit critic review
3/4
Resurrection (2022) Peter Canavese Walks an unsettling line between realism...and something else. Creepy, spooky, unsettling and powered by excellent performances.
Posted Aug 08, 2022  Edit critic review
3.5/4
Not Okay (2022) Peter Canavese 'Dear Evan Hansen' meets 'Mean Girls'--an increasingly rare kind of contemporary comedy that has great concept, funny jokes, a strong message about trauma and the use of fame, and sharp execution.
Posted Aug 08, 2022  Edit critic review
2/4
DC League of Super-Pets (2022) Peter Canavese An adequate animated family adventure comedy aimed at kids, generically plotted and thematically thin but one that gives new meaning to 'rescue pets.'
Posted Aug 08, 2022  Edit critic review
3/4
Prey (2022) Peter Canavese A good premise for a Predator movie if you think it's worthwhile making a Predator movie. It should be at least this good.
Posted Aug 08, 2022  Edit critic review
2.5/4
Heartbreakers (1984) Peter Canavese A typically strong special edition blu-ray from Fun City Editions--a buddy picture about the volatile, horny, jealous male ego. On that level it works pretty well but hard to watch today because the women are portrayed as strictly foils for the men.
Posted Aug 07, 2022  Edit critic review
3/4
Flatliners (1990) Peter Canavese Ready for a critical reappraisal? This 1990 neo-gothic psychological horror movie attempts to be a modern day version of Frankenstein. Great screenwriter Peter Filardi interview on this Arrow Video 4K that might turn around people who think it's silly.
Posted Aug 07, 2022  Edit critic review
3.5/4
I Love My Dad (2022) Peter Canavese Very funny, psychologically fascinating (and also very icky) black cringe comedy.
Posted Aug 06, 2022  Edit critic review
2.5/4
1982 (2019) Peter Canavese Falls a bit short in sticking the landing, but there's lots here to hang a movie on; it's well-acted and a rarity in the current live-action cinema landscape in that it puts children in realistic situations exploring their emotional journeys.
Posted Aug 05, 2022  Edit critic review
3.5/4
My Old School (2022) Peter Canavese An endlessly fascinating true crime documentary of an unusual story with the hall of mirrors casting of Alan Cumming. Bizarre in the best way.
Posted Jul 30, 2022  Edit critic review
1/4
Good Burger (1997) Peter Canavese Cheap and pandering kiddie comedy featuring strictly lowest common denominator storytelling and humor, although sometimes so stupid it's funny.
Posted Jul 26, 2022  Edit critic review
2.5/4
Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands (1976) Peter Canavese Overlong and mostly flat sex comedy--some brilliant flourishes but it doesn't even seem interested in the complexity of its own premise either in its farcical possibilities or its implications about male/female relationships.
Posted Jul 26, 2022  Edit critic review
3/4
Where the Lilies Bloom (1974) Peter Canavese A slightly corny YA story (written by Earl Hamner, Jr., music by Earl Scruggs) but it makes for a comfortingly old-fashioned, G-rated happy-sad movie.
Posted Jul 26, 2022  Edit critic review
2.5/4
Native Son (1951) Peter Canavese A real oddity in literary and cinematic history. Rushed and somewhat clumsy in its narrative it lacks the full impact of the novel but boasts visual impact. An interesting enough historical relic worth seeing.
Posted Jul 25, 2022  Edit critic review
3/4
The Duke (2020) Peter Canavese Director Roger Michell's final movie is a charming comedy/drama set in 1961 depicting the infamously true story of how Goya's portrait of the Duke of Wellington was stolen from the National Gallery by an unlikely thief.
Posted Jul 24, 2022  Edit critic review
2.5/4
Potato Dreams of America (2021) Peter Canavese Oddly put together and tonally awkward in its blend of satire and coming-of-age drama but it does have an appealing surrealist quality to it that makes a virtue out of its low budget. (Dark Star PIctures blu-ray review).
Posted Jul 24, 2022  Edit critic review
2.5/4
The Wheel (2021) Peter Canavese Understated relationship drama about two couples--one about to get married and the other about to get a divorce. Well-acted and talky, albeit a bit programmatic and script-y.
Posted Jul 24, 2022  Edit critic review
2/4
The Gray Man (2022) Peter Canavese Spectacular in a garishly stylized way somewhere on the spectrum between John Woo and Michael Bay. Big, loud, dumb escapist spy thriller stuff with nothing to say but a lot to shoot at, chase and blow up.
Posted Jul 24, 2022  Edit critic review
2/4
Beba (2021) Peter Canavese Messy and not very effective auto bio documentary that ultimately fails to convince us that it's a story worth telling.
Posted Jul 24, 2022  Edit critic review
3/4
Anything's Possible (2022) Peter Canavese Empathetic high school teen romcom with a trans protagonist. Savvy about teen life and teen romance, never sacrifices its comic energy, and refuses to succumb to stupidity like other teen romcoms often do.
Posted Jul 24, 2022  Edit critic review
3.5/4
We Met in Virtual Reality (2022) Peter Canavese Groundbreaking documentary that takes place entirely within VR chat rooms and the virtual created universes in which its participants meet, oftentimes in more beautiful worlds than our own.
Posted Jul 24, 2022  Edit critic review
3.5/4
Marty (1955) Peter Canavese Classic Paddy Chayefsky script and a charming and interesting examination of people who don't normally get movies devoted to them.
Posted Jul 24, 2022  Edit critic review
2.5/4
Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) Peter Canavese Too much to handle in less than two hours and feels simultaneously lazier and more overwrought than earlier entries, but an effective escapist event nonetheless.
Posted Jul 24, 2022  Edit critic review
3/4
Girl in the Picture (2022) Peter Canavese Not a whole lot better or a whole lot worse true crime documentary, but if this is your jam you'll probably find it compelling.
Posted Jul 24, 2022  Edit critic review
3/4
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (2022) Peter Canavese Lesley Manville's the main reason to see this working class, Queen-For-A-Day, belle of the ball fantasy.
Posted Jul 24, 2022  Edit critic review
3/4
Both Sides of the Blade (2021) Peter Canavese Claire Denis' very interesting love triangle passive-aggressive cold war relationship saga is like a neo-noir without the crime.
Posted Jul 24, 2022  Edit critic review
1.5/4
Persuasion (2022) Peter Canavese Dakota Johnson's very good but even she can't overcome the choices made in this 'Fleabag' externalization of the beloved Jane Austen novel.
Posted Jul 24, 2022  Edit critic review
3/4
Don't Make Me Go (2022) Peter Canavese On paper this hacky plot must have sounded terrible but the actors sell it, making their characters elicit empathy and the entire concept believable.
Posted Jul 21, 2022  Edit critic review
3/4
Gabby Giffords Won't Back Down (2022) Peter Canavese Respectful, very emotional, calibrated-for-inspiration and smartly structured documentary on Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords.
Posted Jul 21, 2022  Edit critic review
3/4
She Will (2021) Peter Canavese An eccentric art house horror movie--visually striking, trippy, dreamlike and reminiscent of the more fringe genre movies of the 80s in how it follows its own muse.
Posted Jul 21, 2022  Edit critic review
2.5/4
Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) Peter Canavese A bit overrated but worth seeing for the great Michelle Yeoh in a very trendy, nth-degree multi-verse, live-action cartoon concept film. (Lionsgate 4K blu-ray).
Posted Jul 21, 2022  Edit critic review
2.5/4
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022) Peter Canavese Starring Nicolas Cage as "Nicolas Cage". Featherweight but reasonably fun. As a movie it's not that good but for Cage fans (he's great here) it's a must-see.
Posted Jul 21, 2022  Edit critic review
3.5/4
Miami Blues (1990) Peter Canavese Alec Baldwin's first starring role as a thuggish anti-hero in this terrifically cast eccentric crime comedy/drama. A movie of its time (1990) that holds up today.
Posted Jul 21, 2022  Edit critic review
1.5/4
Desperate Hours (1990) Peter Canavese Michael Cimino at his strangest and most bizarre. A lot of good actors here but the premise has become tiresome through repetition and the many head scratching choices it in as the plot lurches along don't help.
Posted Jul 21, 2022  Edit critic review
2.5/4
Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022) Peter Canavese Good plot, fast-moving, just weird enough to be funny and a little subversive, deeply silly and completely unpretentious but fails to exploit all the possibilities of an origin story.
Posted Jul 21, 2022  Edit critic review
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